If more people stopped complaining about their lack of popularity and made strides to become more popular, there would be no reason to complain. 
Agreed.
I also think some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining while that energy could also be used for something good.
Absolutely agree. Premium tends to not be my cup of tea but that doesn't mean they didn't start with success instantly they had to work too. Wish people would spend more time working on Perfecting their craft instead Of this crabs in a bucket mentality its really made the forums kind of unenjoyable 
At least in my experience... complaining is a waste of time and helps no one. I'd rather work harder and keep my mouth shut. No one needs my stinky opinions.
(Sometimes I do my share of griping, but most of the time I keep my thoughts to myself.)
Yeah....that's not quite what happened at all.
Most of the heat they got was for giving advice that wasn't consistent with the new realities of Tapas. Telling people who had been grinding for years and only had low double digit subscriber counts that the keys to replicating their success was "being active on the forums" and "posting regularly" was gonna create a divide....no matter how well meaning the advice was.
Negative energy corrodes productivity. I have to agree with you on that one. I've had a lot more success with my art ever since I learned to just mellow out.
Fact is, we're not all going to make the "big leagues". A lot of us are going to succeed, OR fail miserably in different ways. Someone once told me, if you can't afford to fail, you can't afford to succeed. Failures should teach us to keep trying new paths, new methods, new ideas. Success, especially if it's incredible and "overnight" crap, tends to make us lazy and withdrawn, focusing on just that ONE success. Success in a way, makes us stop trying to get better. That's why we have to treat success the same way as failure - in either event, we continue full steam ahead.
I'm not saying they were perfect. But I do remember a lot of arguments over premium creators getting "special treatment" (I remember that was a big one) and how it's unfair Tapas gives extra perks to the people they're paying and invested in.
And I wasn't saying they just got hate for giving advice, I mean they got hate in general. Why would you give advice, even if some people didn't think it was that great, to a forum that was constantly complaining about how much they hated your work?
I mainly had to chill out on myself and stop using self deprecating language. Once I stopped calling myself a stupid idiot for making a little mistake, that worked wonders XD
Maybe I'm not reading every post on the forum, but "constantly" and "nightmare" seems a little over the top.
I'm glad your response to me asking for creators to treat each other with respect is "wow you're exaggerating".
I think there is a line between constructive criticism and plain bashing.
Of course popular works did something well, that is why they are popular. Maybe they targeted an unidentified niche, have a likable cast or unique worldbuilding, or a factor we may not even have considered.
Constructive criticism of a work, no matter their popularity is a vital tool to reach success. Of course that also means recognizing the flaws on the works we love. To accelerate our growing as writers and artists we need to be able to distinguish what works, when it works and why.
It took me awhile to realize that I was no longer a 'newbie' and actually had skills in my craft. Once I did realize, it became a lot easier to just fix a mistake I saw instead of beating myself up over it... also realizing that I will literally never stop learning ways to improve my craft allowed me to be a LOT more chill on myself. Otherwise I used to do the same thing. I was constantly like 'wow, I'm so stupid. How did I not realize that this would be better as xyz and this grammar rule exists for a reason.'
It bothers me though that a lot of popular artists don't seem to have a library of their own, which kind of tells me, "Well, these creators are all about themselves and have no desire to help others". That's the kind of turn-off that makes me unsubscribe fast. When WE get to 1,000 subscribers or so, (because we eventually will), we'll certainly keep reading and commenting and liking as many comics as we can. That's what the Tapas community is all about.
I think I said it before, it's pointless to be in competition with one another. We should all be helping each succeed, by subbing, commenting, liking whatever we really like. I KNOW no one is obligated to do anything here...but I wish more people would think like we do and feel great doing something to help others.
A lot of popular creators just don't have time for it, they are sitting there drawing for 16 hours every day 
You can hide your library. Mine is hidden. I tend to assume big creators are the same. I don't like the idea of people knowing what I'm reading. I like a bit of privacy there.
Yeah, a creator who's consistently being featured on the top of the front page should be aware that's a huge advantage to their subscriber count. Giving advice that doesn't reflect that and implies that the people who haven't reached that point just aren't working "hard enough" is a double edged sword.
And it's a bit antiquated.
I see our community happiness czar understands that things have changed and is trying new stuff to push smaller creators. The simple new reality is Tapas has to get involved to get projects over now...self grinding only gets you so far.
Seconded.