Comics Feed not as good as it used to be?

[RosesnWater]

It’s difficult for me to pinpoint when the change happened, but a year ago, when I first started Tapas, the comic feed felt really diverse and there were all types of comics being shown there. I’d find a new comic every week (albeit only popular ones). Now it feels like I see weekly updates of the same comics (The VERY popular ones) And the Premium comics tapas is trying to advertise and nothing ever changes, just whose at the top.

Has anyone else noticed this and would it be possible to go back to the old setup? Is than even something that people want?

[RosesnWater]

just an update, currently the least popular comic there is 5.7k subscribers and they’re usually at the bottom

[skicoak]

You're basically talking about a fundamental debate here... What is Tapas's responsibilities in terms of how they use their in house assets?

Some will argue that they are only using "good" business sense by pushing properties/creators they profit the most from.

Some will argue that popularity is an accurate metric and by pushing already popular properties/creators it allows readers to find in demand content faster.

I lean towards them pushing more properties/creators that haven't reached a larger audience but are quality content that could expand Tapas readership. If you ever wanna hear my TED talk about how the American comic scene has been slowly choking itself to death for decades by mainly only catering to a shrinking fanbase/demograhic...just push the button. Lol!

[TheDWrek83]

I'm sure I'm in the minority but I never give the main page/comic feed a second glance. Granted I haven't been here that long but I honestly have next to no interest in what's being "pushed" on me.

Upon first glance I saw genres I'm not really interested in, and it all looks very "samey". I'm sure there's good stuff there that I'll come across at some point someway but... the whole thing just looks very crowded and chaotic.

I agree with @skicoak's good business sense comment because well, why wouldn't they?

Personally I enjoy finding comics via these forums for example, with creators I could possibly interact with via comments on their work. I'd say 95% of the comics I subscribe to are just that. So in that sense the comics feed doesn't really bother me as a reader because I don't really use it as a method of discovering things. As a creator yeah it would be nice if a little diversity could land me a shot of being featured one day but that's not my goal either so, eh.

Although now I'm curious as to how it used to look like.

[antonioIII]

Welp, i use the app, and i were pretty bothered. Because my feed is always filled with romance comics including BL and GL(they are still romance/drama but more specific).
I found and configured my fav genres to "action, mystery and horror" expecting that the romance comics 'd disappear and my home feed 'd be finally filled with punches and scarry monsters but... yeah. No changes...

[FritzC]

I agree, I also remember when they actually showed the "fresh" comics, or newly updated comics, at the start of the front page so you could actually find smaller comics without going 12 pages deep into a genre

[MeltingCORE]

I'll be honest, I don't pay the main feed much attention since it's mainly promotion for mega-popular series I generally have no interest in. This isn't hate, I do understand that Tapas would want to promote comics/novels they're making money from. But I tend to look through the forums for authors I want to read. (This is where I'm finding fellow sci-fi authors/worldbuilders.)

[RosesnWater]

I get what you’re saying with regards to the comics being pushed and I don’t exactly mind Tapas advertising on the main page of their site (which they do frequently) but I think that since a lot of premium comics turn up in the staff pick lists and the home page for the app, they shouldn’t be appearing in the comic feed. I’d like to see other comics that aren’t the exact same thing I’ve seen for the last few months. So although I totally think tapas does have a right to push the comics they’re trying to sell, it goes over the top when it’s in the comic feed.

[RosesnWater]

Well it’s hard to describe, But for example in the comics feed they now have additional comics appearing when you scroll down that have ‘staff pick’ right bellow the episode. These are comics that are already being advertised on the main page of the app and have no business being in the comic feed, this means that because we have these new comics being pushed into the comic feed, we’re kicking out someone who isn’t a ‘staff pick’ or ‘premium’ comic. I found a lot of the stuff I really like before and although you still had to be at least a little popular to get on the comic feed, there was still room for creators who didn’t 1000 subs on there.

[RosesnWater]

Yah, now I pretty much go to the genre rankings to see what’s come up, usually those are pretty good and have an okay diversity

[darthmongoose]

I've just assumed for a while that the Tapas staff have a mandate that means at least some of every category (except maybe community picks) must be premium and/or Tapas Originals for business reasons.

I really can't complain when I've been on the front page three times this year with my action comic that's under 1k subs. It did seem like the last few months Tapas was pushing very hard on these big shiny imported comics, both on the front page and in off-site advertising, but the last couple of weeks have been more focused on community-made content, so I'm hoping things are getting better after the community spoke out about the issue.

[RosesnWater]

I mentioned it late, but what I mean to say is I don’t mind tapas advertising I regularly check out the home page to see what’s hot or new and I enjoy it, but the comics feed is different. They shouldn’t be advertising there because comic feeds are for recently updated stuff and they show the most recent comic page posted.

For example Sera and the Royal Stars is a staff pick comic that’s new and is also premium, it is currently on the comic feed, fourth or third from the top. It’s not usually in the feed So that’s a clue that unlike comics like ‘eyes on me’ or ‘apathetic boyfriends’ who got there on their own merits, this is one of those comic being pushed by tapas and is already advertised elsewhere.

I hope that makes sense! I noticed the same issue with Wattpad where they would host a big yearly competition and it was a big issue of wether the paid novels Could participate in the writing competition, because obviously the site already had a predisposition to them that favoured them unfairly against every other novel.

[Macarenaoftime]

I'm kind of getting tired of "business proposal" advertisement. From promotions to the comic feed, It's everywhere!

[TheDWrek83]

Hmm, I can kind of see what you're saying. I don't much care for the way things are done there but at the same time I get it.

All we can do is support each other I suppose. Checked out your comic just now, I really like it. Subbed.

[RosesnWater]

Ah, thanks! honestly I don’t usually advertise on the forums because I’ve already hit that point where people are more likely to see my stuff anyway, I feel there’s a lot people are potentially missing because the way some things are set up. Though I do really like the genre rankings because there’s so much new stuff there every day ^^

[spadedigsbutts]

I agree for sure too! I joined around the same time and I've been having a tougher time finding some nice niche comics