It might be me but...

I signed on there (4Laughs) back at the start of the year and seem to remember that it was terribly slow taking pages to load etc. In the end I got fed up and gave it a miss.

I have been trying it out again last few nights and in my case at least, the so***ng thing keeps freezing and won't link page to next page without a tiresome wait and in many instances it doesn't bother its arse at all, necessitating a close down browser scenario and then back again. It then works for another few clicks before locking once more.

Question:

Is this just me or is the site powered by a very frail hamster whose wheel is fecked? Or is the fault my end? If it is I'm puzzled cos everywhere else on t'web is fine.

Not just you, I can never get on the bloomin' thing.

4Laughs is frustratingly rubbish (technically speaking). It errors about 50% of the time for me. Especially in the evenings when there's no-one there to kick the Hamster.

I joined about a year ago but have yet to do a post. Dont know why I havent. Going by this though I may not bother EVER.

Ah good. So I maybe don't have to buy a new computer with go-faster stripeage after all.

I've stopped using but always used firefox instead of explorer and I had no problems.

Yeah, it's the flash upload thing that always fails on me.
I'll be trying to upload an audio clip and almost every PC I try (and I have access to all sorts of types of PC's, with diff software and browsers) will not let the upload thingy work.
Any thoughts?

As a website developer I'm shocked at how amateur their site is, I even offered help but they didn't take it up so I wouldn't waste your time with it. It does work better in Firefox.

I just don't see the point of the site. Its updated and judged by a media company, not a production company and most competitions are judged by one person and not everyone. Given that humour is subjective how is that a fair sample?

I know lots of people complained about that and the site, but they've never fixed anything. What kind of commitment is that? Plus this league table business, it seems to be running forever.

Its a waste of time that should be used for writing your own stuff. And this is from someone who actually won a few comps and got a few 'prizes'.

I still like 4laughs ... I too have won a few 4laughs comps and prizes...

On 4laughs there are a lot of warts it's true, as listed in the above posts.

But it's been great for networking and the competitions have maybe stretched us to try things we wouldn't have otherwise...

Perhaps the most notable example is the Late Scott H Mitchell (Yielding) who had never tried animation before it came up in a 4laughs comp and he then went on with Terry Mynott (whom he met on 4laughs) to win a commission from 'Comedy Box' for 12 episodes of a Star Trek animation... sadly he died too soon to complete it (bloody sad that...)

Personally for me it's not about 'easy web access' I can get that on plenty of shit sites that don't help me... 4laughs has been good to me and good for me... so for me, all (or most) is forgiven!

Frankie xxx

P.S. I met 'The Slaggs' on 4laughs so for me that alone makes 4laughs my pal...

Quote: Frankie Rage @ July 31, 2007, 10:50 PM

I still like 4laughs ... I too have won a few 4laughs comps and prizes...

On 4laughs there are a lot of warts it's true, as listed in the above posts.

But it's been great for networking and the competitions have maybe stretched us to try things we wouldn't have otherwise...

Perhaps the most notable example is the Late Scott H Mitchell (Yielding) who had never tried animation before it came up in a 4laughs comp and he then went on with Terry Mynott (whom he met on 4laughs) to win a commission from 'Comedy Box' for 12 episodes of a Star Trek animation... sadly he died too soon to complete it (bloody sad that...)

Personally for me it's not about 'easy web access' I can get that on plenty of shit sites that don't help me... 4laughs has been good to me and good for me... so for me, all (or most) is forgiven!

Frankie xxx

P.S. I met 'The Slaggs' on 4laughs so for me that alone makes 4laughs my pal...

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Sorry Frankie, but I don't think you should have to settle for mediocrity when its got Channel 4 plastered all over it. The fact that it can't fulfill its most basic criteria of providing a working website says it all.

The concept has been hacked together and rushed through with very little thinking of what will happen in the future. Its an amateur-run site, you'll find better collabarators here (Most are 4Laughs ppl are here).

Its true the comps were good for exploring new areas but the complexity of entering them via the site and the random judging doesn't make it worth it. I would have stayed if they had fixed some basic but critical problems they have with the site but its clear they don't have any further contact with the developers or they just don't care. Either way its poor.

Alternatively, this site is genius. It has no funding or support right? Yet there is good quality writing, comps, advice and more success stories. And the site works. Stuff gets judged by the majority too.

If 4Laughs was what it should be it would be great and i still hold out hope but I've been doing that for quite a while now...

The issue that stopped us from uploading was the licence terms when submitting - it 'seemed' to grant them a licence to exploit content to third parties. Not saying that was/ or is their intention but it would have negated us from licensing out our content ourselves. Might be wrong, but that's the way I read it.

I was however fortunate to win one of their script competitions and have Baby Cow animate it - opened up a few doors (not with Baby Cow though!) - so I am extremely grateful for that.

Also 5 years ago, as the more 'mature' writers on here will vouch, there were hardly any opportunities for new writers. Now, there are competitions galore and a plethora of outlets for creative nibbling.

Fair comments guys, including Mr Nuts!, we all see it the way we see it... I like 4laughs and it's been good for me (I think) what more can I say...

Love,

Frankie xxx

I think if you made a living out of trying to develop quality, robust websites and you know how amateur some of the mistakes are then you maybe less forgiving.

Again, I was sold on the concept and the labels but realised its a bit smoke and mirrors over there. I'm also a bit bitter about how the whole Yielding situation was handled.

Quote: ContainsNuts @ August 2, 2007, 10:40 AM

I think if you made a living out of trying to develop quality, robust websites and you know how amateur some of the mistakes are then you maybe less forgiving.

Again, I was sold on the concept and the labels but realised its a bit smoke and mirrors over there. I'm also a bit bitter about how the whole Yielding situation was handled.

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Fair comment mate. Maybe the budget was too small or some 'Manager' made some wrong decisions, etc. I'm not a web developer so I don't know. I know as a user that it's not a robust site, that's true.

The Yielding thing was poorly handled early on but has recovered somewhat. His death was sudden and Zeals original thread that got deleted was a fairly rushed together 'in shock' kind of a thing... But Channel 4 seems to be a place where all kinds of mistakes get made...

Quote: Nick Rivers @ August 1, 2007, 12:02 PM

The issue that stopped us from uploading was the licence terms when submitting - it 'seemed' to grant them a licence to exploit content to third parties. Not saying that was/ or is their intention but it would have negated us from licensing out our content ourselves. Might be wrong, but that's the way I read it.

View original

Thats exactly the reason why I have never bothered with the site. As soon as I read those conditions I knew that its something I should not get involved in.