Yknow, I stopped reading the MDT’s (Main Discussion Threads in the Story Development Forum over at Megatokyo) about a month ago. I’ve never let the MDT discussions effect the story i’ve planned out, and in many ways i’ve kind of used it as a way to guage what people think of the storyline and if what i’m trying to get across in the comics is working or not. Reading these forums for the first part of any chapter is not healthy for me because it is the same old bullshit i deal with time and time again - i start a story thread, and it gets picked to peices before there is any real data for people to play with. I recently realized that this is counter productive for me, and decided that i really needed to curb my feedback intake. Will i loose touch with the readers and will MT suddenly become really crappy? I don’t know. I do know that i do what i want to do, and the only thing negative feedback does is give me an ulcer, so i might as well skip on the ulcer. 
When i start many storylines with new elements, it leads to nothing more than bizzare speculation that is soon corrected as more strips are introduced. Then there are the more controversial elements or things that have a lot of stereotypes attached to them, which ALWAYS initially result in a lot of people bashing what i am doing for either shallowness or lameness or for having no real purpose to the story, as some sort of lame cop-out or cheap laugh. Later, of course, after 10 more strips where things become clearer, these same people find that there is a lot to chew on in terms of story development, character development, social, psychological and philosophical (depending on how deep you read into it) commentary. And, of course, the ever present issue of perceptions.
Perceptions not only of the characters to each other, but of the readers as you bring YOUR perceptions to the story as well. Sometimes this makes for a pretty interesting mix, sometimes it falls flat, but they are never as ’shallow’ or ‘lame’ as i always get accused of near the beginning of them. Excuse me for trying to take lame stereotypes and memes in anime (and there a fuckload of them) and trying to do something profound with them. I’m really getting tired of getting thwacked around for it. I am making fun of them, and that requires USING some of them.
I have only once let one of these story threads drop (the conscience subplot) and why did i let it drop? Because i let the commentary get to me. I was more afraid of what people were saying that i was of not properly finishing my ideas. I suppose other creators have these kinds of problems, getting cold feet about their ideas, but i also think that other creators aren’t dealing with every page they do being scrutinized as they tell the story. That’s what’s fucking wrong with webcomics, and why people rag on MT for being a sucky webcomic while joke-a-day comics are considered the gold standard. Boo hoo for me because i am trying to do something more complicated in a medium that doesn’t quite fit what i’d doing and trying to get people to pay a bit more attention than the average media-saturated human being can manage these days.
Yes, i know, Blame the medium, blame the readers, it’s not my fault, yadda yadda. It is a fact that I have to deal with within the realities of the medium I am trying to work. If I challenge that medium, I have to be prepared to take a lot of shit for it. I do, and have, for years. It’s nice to say “just wait, the final end product is great” but if people get turned off or don’t enjoy the process as it happens, then they might not go back and read it as an “end product”. It’s a fine line to walk, and i’ve mistepped on both sides of that line many times over the years.
Anyways, its the same problem i have every time something potentially stereotypical shows up in the comic: Let me fucking finish before you start hanging my head on a pike. Give it a fucking rest.
And my apologies for the “Emo” and “angsty” rant. Feel free to go ahead and fall back on the same old labels you all like to throw at me on a regular basis.
pirotunes: Silent Hill OST - “Dance With Night Wind”