Any posts that you don't like to see on the forums?

[renaissancebadger]

That “why you stopped reading a comic/novel” thread hurt so bad. I didn’t even read more than a few responses and I just kept feeling like every post was about my work. Threads that only have negative comments on people’s work really scare me. They’re not adding anything productive and seem more like vague-posting than anything else. Idk I struggle with imposter syndrome 90% of the time and stuff like that makes me want to lay down and never work on anything ever again.

The “looking for artist” threads only really bug me because it’s so unbalanced. Please pay your artists and do so fairly!! There’s a lot of work that goes into each panel!

I also agree that the ones that are just for promoting a single comic or novels every update are tacky. I skip right over those.

My first post on here was a discourse thread about my comic and how others would act meeting the main character/discovering his magic. I felt that introducing my story and OC would only be beneficial if it was a shared experience and I got to learn about a lot of other characters and stories with it. Looking back it does seem a bit exploitative, as the emphasis was on my work, but it was still nice to meet people and RP a little bit.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Gotten a few of those. It's not fun to be ignored or even kind of attacked for doing what is essentially a favor. I usually like and bookmark the reviews I get for future reference. Though there was one time I didn't (cuz I thought it was a poor review) but I still said thanks anyway!

[ninjashira]

Yes! It takes so much time and effort and experience to write up a good review, and it's so infuriating when the OP doesn't respond or like or anything. Even worse, if they find some flimsy excuse for every single point you brought up and brush it off casually, like you didn't just spend half an hour of your time trying to help them out.

Or almost worse, you spend all this time and effort to write up a really in-depth review, and you point out several places where they're really successful, and a few points where they could improve, and provide draw-overs or links to references they can use to improve, and their response is...

Thanks.

It makes it hard to convince myself to take the time to critique people when they ask for it if that's the appreciation that comes of it.

[VibrantFox]

That “why you stopped reading a comic/novel” thread hurt so bad. I didn’t even read more than a few responses and I just kept feeling like every post was about my work. Threads that only have negative comments on people’s work really scare me. They’re not adding anything productive and seem more like vague-posting than anything else. Idk I struggle with imposter syndrome 90% of the time and stuff like that makes me want to lay down and never work on anything ever again.

I've come to either actively avoid these kinds of threads of blow thru them at the speed of sound because half my stories are merely in development and i refuse to have these kinds of takes kill what little motivation i already have

like i'm all for opinions on what people like or don't but when there's much heavier emphasis on the negative rather than a balance in weighing the both the bad and the good then i'm just going to ignore it

one of the reasons i'm just looking through the door crack of this thread because the complaints about threads 99% of the time are about the same thing we always complain about. more suggestions on what to add to improve things rather than ragging on the usual suspects please

[migxmeg]

Ngl every time I see this happen to you I die inside a little. Like... again??? Really??

[IndigoShirtProd]

Yes! Catch me getting no response after spending two hours on a review and you might catch me throwing something at the nearest wall.

And I know someone doesn't have to like or agree with anything I say in a review but damn if it isn't disheartening to get nothing at all.

[crowstories]

That “why you stopped reading a comic/novel” thread hurt so bad. I didn’t even read more than a few responses and I just kept feeling like every post was about my work. Threads that only have negative comments on people’s work really scare me. They’re not adding anything productive and seem more like vague-posting than anything else. Idk I struggle with imposter syndrome 90% of the time and stuff like that makes me want to lay down and never work on anything ever again.

Oof, that's legit, and I'm sorry I didn't think more about the negative impact before participating in that thread. Personally I found some of the points brought up to be useful, as it made me rethink some things I'd been considering for my story, and I find it easier to adjust my plans preemptively than to change a plot point that's already in my story, but yeah... I also suffer from imposter syndrome, and I can definitely see how that kind of thread would not help.

[crowstories]

I think most of the actual post types have been named by now, so I'll mention a type of response that I've come to dread...

I avoid sub for sub threads, and often will specifically mention that I don't do sub for sub when I participate in other promotion threads, so WHY do people still respond like, "I subbed to your story, support me too!". I recently stopped posting my "thanks for subscribing" graphic to people's walls because somebody responded to it asking that I sub to their comic that I'm not interested in (and guess what? They don't ever read my novel!!).

[DualDragons]

Oh yeah, I dislike that too
People who sub to your story and then ask you to support them too (and they don't even read or like your story). It's why I immediately delete or mute those posts (especially if someone is bold enough to post it on my wall)

[renaissancebadger]

I'm glad you found some use in it!! I think, given the right circumstances, it could be beneficial - especially if you use it as a guide (as long as you acknowledge not everything everyone says is going to be helpful)

The only reason I'm writing my novel is pure unadulterated selfish desire. I didn't intend to share it so it's not really edited for mass consumption I suppose. A lot of the points in that thread hit straight home, especially given the rambling nature of the first two episodes. I probably never should've even looked but part of me is always going to be curious and I should really learn better.

I will say, I seek out reviews if the person seems interested in actually giving out advice, rather than just being mean, and I take those reviews to heart. I love constructive reviews and people should ask for them only if they're ready to hear what the reviewer has to say. If you're not going to acknowledge the review/thank them honestly for their time, don't ask for a review.

[kinleypavone]

Writers looking for artist posts tend to be pretty bad(not always, just mostly). I think the way they're phrased tends to be deceitful in the sense that when they offer to "split the revenue", it might mislead those who don't know better into thinking there's even a decent likelihood of making any money at all. If two people just vibe and want to work on a story together, that's great, but I think both parties are better off long term if they start out will full honestly. I just don't want to see young people getting scammed or not understanding the full scope of the situation they're signing up for.

Other than that, there's not really anything else here that bothers me. To each their own and if it's not my cup of tea(like sub for sub or threads that get super toxic/negative), I just move on, ya know? I get that not everyone wants to get into deep discussions/share deeper details of their story and that all of us want more views on these platforms that can be hard to get seen on, so I understand why those types of threads exist in the first place.

[crowstories]

Yeah... I think most people are more inclined to be constructive when reviewing a specific person, rather than venting about general gripes. Not everyone, but most lol

[Bokyongyo]

Lol yeah I agree. This is why I usually tend to lean toward saying "Please be blunt as humanly possible" when I ask for critiques on tapas or even in a educational setting. Saying the work is all sunshine and rainbows won't help anybody grow and in a way while possibly giving a boost to the creator's confidence short term, it can really hurt artistic development in the long run.

Like I know I don't have 0 skill in terms of art but staying in this bubble like I have nothing I don't need to work on in said art will completely ruin any type of progress I could make in the future

I remember you and a few others giving me a critique on how to improve how my comic looks just from a paneling/readability stand point and have just been keeping it at the back of my mind every time I start the process for formatting for vertical scroll digitally and how much it helped just clean up how my comic is presented and flowed.

[LCT_m_a_d]

Quality vs Speed comparing threads.

As topics they always end up passive-aggressively throwing shade to their counterpart and tends to fall into the same divide in sentiment. Or just a one sided rally of people saying the exact same thing.

Speed - Perfection is evil, I'm just not trying to show off, sarascribbles vs wlop, not enough representation etc...
Quality - Artists don't practice enough, I work harder, sarascribbles vs wlop, not enough representation etc...

[Freemints30]

"thread on anything, talk about your characters and what makes them unique and how they can murder you"

Post: (link to work and nothing more) read to find out

And I know I sound awful but.. posts from clearly really young kids asking why they don't have immidately 100 subs within the first week. Like.. I just feel bad, cus they went in with WAAY to high expectations..

Kinda like the kids thinking youtube gaming can still make them the next pewdiepie or dream nowdays

[marbl]

Sub for sub is definitely one that hits high on the list, a high subscriber count doesn't mean anything if that's all it is: no views or interactions across episodes.

Also like @Reveal said, comments that don't give constructive criticism and instead blindly praising a creator's work is another annoying one.

I'm definitely guilty for partaking in both of these, but as I've been here longer I see how these don't help and instead hurt.

[PKLucky]

If there was a way to block sub4sub threads specifically, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I remember doing sub4subs on deviantart, youtube, etc when I was younger and all that did was flood my feed with stuff I didn't care about. So yeah, I actively avoid those.

[LunarScyphozoa]

Fricking hate sub4subs and “get me to this milestone” threads

[liaroger]

So apparently I was tagged here but the post is gone so I have no idea what it said ...

Anyway, I was thinking about how to clean up the forum a bit and thought maybe we could have monthly "drop your link" threads, much like those monthly "post your latest page" threads - but one ONE per month, where everyone can post ONCE, perhaps with a template (Title, genre(s), synopsis, link, maybe a few images or extracts from your comic or novel). I suggest monthly threads because otherwise they'd get overwhelming and no one would actually look at them, and people would just spam their links over and over again in order to be seen. It would be nice if important and monthy threads could also be pinned so people who just want to drop their link can find them right away and don't make their own, Idk if pinning is even possible though.
But doing all of that might create an overwhelming amount of work for the mods ...
Like, I think creative and interesting threads that ALSO contain self-promo should still be allowed (smth like "write a limerick about your comic or novel and drop your link" or "How do you approach this worldbuilding problem + drop your link if you like") because they can actually be quite interesting and frankly, I'm more likely to click on someone's link if they wrote something cool or interesting than just click on random comic or novel links with no further information. But a lot of people might use this as a loophole and create link dropping threads that only require a minimum amount of effort (like "What's your favourite colour + drop your link") so Idk ... it really depends on how much work the mods can take on.
But it would be nice in general if we didn't have so many threads with the exact same purpose - not even just similar themes, they just do the same thing.
Idk. I guess there are ways to clean up the forums but they all require a lot of work and the community is big and posts fast and there are A LOT of people who spam self-promo and sub4sub so I guess that's a big part of the problem.

[SpavVy]

The aspiring writer looking for a manga artist that's paid in split revenue truly irritates my soul. Like just how much do they think they will get out of revenue anyway? There's no way in hell I would gamble with that.