Supporting web comics
I have this conflict about supporting webcomics. I read about 26, from dailies to weeklies to whenever-the-heck. And as more and more of my favorites have turned to cartooning full-time, I've realized how important it is to support them financially. They're living the dream, and their success making a living as an artist is nearly as important to me as the comic itself.
But here's where I run into a problem... many webcomic artists primary source of revenue (outside of advertising) is selling paper compilations of the comic. The comic I've already read. I'm trying to reduce the clutter in my house, and buying paper copies of something I've already read online works against that. And I've proven to myself that when I do buy them, don't read them.
Some have t-shirts and mugs (and all that Cafe Press stuff), but that's mostly just more clutter.
When it comes down to it, I just want to give these artists money, without having to spend $20 to give them $5, and end up with some physical product I don't actually want. Buying a $20 book means three other artists I don't give $5 to, because $20 is my budget.
But many of these artists don't have tip jars. Some do, and they get my money, but some simply don't (seem to) want "donations"... they want to make their money through advertising and selling physical products. But when the primary product is the comic, I don't think it's "charity" when a fan wants to pay you for it. I don't think it reflects badly on the artist to have a tip jar... it's not a sign of an amateur. It's a sign of good business sense... never stand in the way of a customer wanting to hand you money.