Passive observers

When people first hear of Chris, they may become interested or fascinated. While some will degenerate into white knights, A-Logs, enablers, weens or carpetbaggers, there are those who choose to keep their distance from Chris and don't want to be a negative influence on him. These select people are what we call passive observers. They enjoy observe Chris's antics from the delightful view of the moral high-ground while not directly interfering with his life, and recognise that Chris really needs help from the people around him and trained professionals, not random people on the internet.

The CWCki as passive observers

Some passive observers decide to record the more interesting and comedic events of Chris's life. On the CWCki, avoiding direct contact with Chris is essential — along with trying to remain as neutral and unbiased as possible — but a little ribbing is okay, so long as it doesn't go too far. The CWCki's wealth of information over the years has been gained from Chris's inability to keep information to himself - his incredible honesty has made sure we know everything we need to know without having to befriend him.

Open-ended questions have also been a good way to get information in the past, as we've discovered from the Mailbags, and details of how to ask Chris a good question are provided below. Chris tends to interpret yes-or-no questions without subtext; for example, one person asked him if he listens to music while working on the comic, and he simply replied "yes". He missed that there may have been subtext (what kind of music, does it help/distract you, has it ever provided inspiration, etc.), and didn't provide much information. However, he has a tendency to be incredibly candid when asked an open-ended question.

Criteria

Passive observers are very strongly discouraged from doing the following:

• Attempting to contact Chris — Do not directly message Chris on any of the social platforms he is on. If Chris tries to contact you or mentions you in a comment, just ignore him.
• Defending Chris — Chris is by no means innocent, and he is beyond help from people who aren't professionals, which you most likely aren't.
• Expressing hatred for Chris and over-exaggerating his flaws — For the simple reason that this makes you no better than Chris. If you really hate whatever Chris is doing, you don’t need to threaten or otherwise get actively involved with him over it.
• Encouraging Chris’ bad habits — Playing along with his lifestyle is a very bad idea, as it only gives him more of a reason to remain as childish as ever.
• Attempting to troll or annoy Chris — This is not only is most likely to fail, it's also fruitless and often comes back to bite you in the ass.

Q&A advisory guidelines

In some scenarios, it’s perfectly fine to ask Chris questions under some set conditions:

• Make sure your question is actually for getting important details from Chris.
• Don't get too intimate with him. Chris is not your friend and likely never will be.
• Avoid asking repetitive questions like “When’s the next comic coming out?” or “Is Barb still alive?”.
• On the rare chance that Chris vehemently refuses to answer, just leave it at that and stop asking. If it doesn't work the first time, chances are it won't work the next hundred times.
• Your question must not be a negative influence on Chris.

If you are an editor of the CWCki and you'd like to ask Chris a question yourself, then you should post here. Just be sure to look through the various Discord Q&A sessions in order to make sure that your question hasn't already been asked, and remember to follow the guidelines.

Why passive observation works

Concerns with privacy

In the post-Idea Guys era, users of Kiwi Farms have made it a habit to dox people who tried to contact Chris with the express purpose of getting directly involved in his life for their own ends as a deterrent.

See also

• Unholy Quintet - How not to observe Chris.