The Red Meat Construction Set

RMCS FAQ

Does Max know about the RMCS?

We were talking one evening and Max came up with the idea of some sort of interactive comic thing. I hacked out a successful proof-of-concept, and told him that it was going well and that I'd like to continue messing with it. He seemed OK with the idea.

Max hasn't been good at answering his email, so I don't know what he thinks of the site. I'm keeping the same policy as my original, unofficial Red Meat website; If this offends him, at any point he's free to let me know and I'll take the site down.

Does Max have a userID? Does he vote?

Nope. Though I'd be interested to know how he'd vote on certain comics.

Can I vote a whole bunch of times for a comic?

Sure, but only the last vote counts. The RMCS keeps your ballot around: when you vote on a previously voted-for comic, your old ballot is discarded and your new ballot is used to figure the new comic's score. No one can stuff ballot boxes. You can change your mind as often as you want.

How are votes tallied?

Formerly, votes were averaged per-comic to create a comic score. Due to differences in voter behavior, a z-score adjustment is applied to each vote, per voter. Basically, your mean vote score is subtracted from each of your votes, then this number is divided by your votes' standard deviation. This equalizes "lowball" and "highball" voters, among other things. Above-average comics are above 0, below-average comics are below 0. Z-scores are averaged to form a comic score, and each comic is averaged to create a user score. Z-scores basically take into account that a vote of 9 on a comic is harder to get (and therefore worth more) from someone who typically votes low on everything than it is for someone who votes high on everything.

For more information, read the discussion on the RMCS Forum.

What do you use to make this site work?

I use php for the main content generation. There's a mySQL database back-end for storing the comics, user information, and votes.

You seem to take this thing pretty seriously.

Well, yes and no. Technically, getting this thing working is fun. But what really interests me is what people find funny. The abstract concept of humor: what makes something really hit you as being humorous. Your sense of humor is just as sensitive as your sense of smell: I'm intrigued how subtle changes in timing or word order can alter the effect of a comic so much. This is probably why I've put so much time into vote statistics and the ability to associate votes and comics with users. Some day I hope to provide a general, unified theory for why some things are funny.

I think this would be funnier if we could add our own characters

Theoretically, I agree that more characters can concievably open more humor possibilities. Realistically, people have a hard enough time writing good stuff with current comics. If you want you can ask me to add a character and I will if your comic idea is brilliant and won't fly without him/her. If you really want you can just hack the site and fool the CGI into substituting a nonstandard character. It's been done.

So, any tips on how to write a good comic?

First, let me say that I'm definitely not the authority here. Everyone (including me) gets one vote, and my opinion isn't any more valid than anyone else's. Except that I run the site so I get to write this here and they don't. Neener neener.

First and foremost, read the original! Not every comic would rate a 10 in my book, but Max is an absolute genius when he's in prime form.

Elements that work for me:

Timing, timing, timing! There are far too many comics here that could easily get huge ratings if small changes were made. Move all the dialog into the first and third bubbles. Remove that one sentence that isn't adding anything. Don't just hack out a comic and submit it: read it through a few times and see that everything works together in the best way possible.
Delayed humor. The ideal time for a comic's punchline to hit isn't in the beginning. It isn't in the middle or at the end either. Sometimes it's about five seconds after you're done reading the comic, when the funny hits you like a hundred-pound bag of sand.
The crucial phrase. Many of the really good comics have that one brilliant phrase that's crucial to the humor. Don't write the first thing that comes to mind: take the time to get your dialog right.

Themes that don't work for me:

Look, maw! A queer! Wierd sex comics can be done right, but ordinary sexual "deviance" is common enough in the real world that simply making a character a dominatrix, a transvestite, or a fetishist without going anywhere with it really isn't funny to me. This applies particluarly to Milkman Dan. Milkman Dan is a child tormentor, not a child molestor.
Character-dependent humor. Yes, we know that Earl is funny-looking. Yes, we know that Milkman Dan does mean things. Yes, we know that Karen is a Squee-like little kid who is victimized by everyone. Yes, the burning skull is a burning skull. Simply writing another comic where this IS the joke doesn't really do anything.
Funny setting, but no actual joke. A setting is not a joke. It's a SETTING, and without an actual joke in the setting it goes nowhere. See above.
Unnatural character usage. It doesn't work, for me anyway, when the comic redefines the characters or their relationships with one another. Sure, Karen could curse like a sailor. But is this necessarily a joke? Is it a good joke?
Poop-concept humor. I don't mean poop humor. I mean the kind of humor that was popular in second grade, the kind where you could just say "poop" and the whole class would break up laughing. Simply working "poop", or "penis", or "gynecologist" into a comic doesn't do much for me. Poop humor, I.E. feco-centric humor executed well, can still be pretty good.
The DFC has a guide that also offers many comments on what is and isn't funny.

Every rule has its exception. For every "tip" above, I can point to a comic written here or by Max or someone else that flagrantly violates it with positive, impressive results.

If you think you're the first smartass to try writing a comic that simultaneously violates every above rule, you're not.