RIP: UserFriendly.org

[thewayne]

The daily web comic that was a joy to web developers and computer geeks for about 12 years or so, has finally been shut down. The comic started in 1997 by Illiad, J.D. Frazer, about a Canadian ISP and the people who ran it, covering all things geek and HTTP. In 2009 updates became rather sporadic, but continued looping daily with an occasional

Comments

[thespian15]

That's sad when things disappear like that. :(
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

A low of web comic artists are not professional artists and thus can't rely on their web site for full support/revenue. That was the case of User Friendly. It was a lot of fun, and Illiad enjoyed doing it, but he was very clear that he was a professional programmer first and if the web site didn't make enough to be self-supporting, he was willing to give it up.

I don't think he ever really tried to market it heavily, which would have helped. But some people really don't like to market things and promote themselves, especially when they're geeks! They want to program! Speaking from experience here.

I'm not saying the above is 100% accurate, but I'm pretty sure in broad strokes it is.

[felisdemens]

Oh, damn. I met my husband on the forums for UF. I was fond of it in the abstract even though I hadn't gone there in years.

[thewayne]

That is incredibly awesome! I like the fact that my wife found me on an online dating web site, but yours is a cooler story! Sorry it has gone away, but at least you have the story and it could reappear some day, though no guarantee the boards would be part of a restoration.