Son of Stuck Funky and the Barbara Streisand Effect

Since its earliest days, the internet has provided a medium where people of like minds could gather to discuss items of common interest. Sometimes the discussions took place on community sites like  Livejournal and MySpace or more recently Facebook and sites of that ilk. Other times, the discussion took place on privately hosted sites. In all case, people gathered to comment (and snark) on the common theme, whether it was politics, music or comics.

Sometimes, however, the author of the discussed content (particularly in the case of music or comics) sought to quell the discussion if the conversation turned less than flattering. For example, Brooke  McEldowney who draws Pibgorn and 9 Chickweed Lane requested that GoComics, which hosts his work, remove the comments section so that readers can’t comment on his material. Greg Evans who draws LuAnn doesn’t permit comments at Comics.com anymore.

Last week, through his lawyers, Funky Winkerbean creator, Tom Batiuk, sought to shut down the comic satire site, Son of Stuck Funky, which was hosted on WordPress.com.  WordPress complied with the “cease and desist” notice and closed the website down. I am pleased to say that with some minor adjustments, Son of Stuck Funky is now self-hosted and back in business just as snarky as ever. It remains a site on the internet worth visiting.

Let me be clear, Tom Batiuk is a horrible storyteller, but he could be a great one if he lived in the same world (the real world) as the people who read his strip daily. He routinely maims and disfigures his characters annually, but they are his creations and as the author he is entitled to do that. And that is the point. Funky Winkerbean is a copyrighted work that provides a livelihood for its creator. It is reasonable for Mr. Batiuk to take all steps necessary to protect the revenue stream his creation provides for him and his syndicate. However, by doing what they did as clumsily as they did (they made no attempt to directly contact the blog owner, but rather went directly to the host), his lawyers have unintentionally given Son of Stuck Funky tremendous free publicity (and potentially a much, much larger audience).

Whether it is Hamlet’s Queen Gertrude or Barbara Streisand, the lesson is the same. Nothing really dies on the internet and the way to make something go away is to not call attention to it. Those who live in the real world know this. Those who don’t live in Mr. Batiuk’s world.

3 comments

  1. Nice to hear someone covering this that doesn’t take the “snark blogs are all thieves and totally deserve to be C&D’d into nonexistence” tone that the Daily Cartoonist & 99% of its commenters are taking. While Batiuk may be legally in his rights to complain about the use, he used his usual lack of tact & basic human decency, and what is in all likelihood another attempt to make his name known as a Great Artiste (just like his fake cancer charity dedicated to his fictional beloved) has backfired & shown what a bastard he truly is. He is so wantonly bad at his livelihood that, frankly, he doesn’t deserve it, and anyone who says otherwise should be forced to read his strip to realize just what a louse they are supporting.

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