Episode not appearing in website fresh - why?!

[Ghost-Dog]

Yes this is worrying if the mature tag is the delineator here. It seems it must be as that was the only thing different about this episode.

I would love an official clarification on whether or not the fresh section is meant to be a level playing field by definition/intention or is that just an ideal I’m projecting onto it.

[Ghost-Dog]

Hi again,
So after the comic still not appearing after 16 hours, I tried reposting without the mature tag (as the only feedback I've gotten in the forum is in agreement with me that I didn't need it) and my comic is still not appearing in the website fresh section, so this seems to confirm the idea that my comic has been somehow 'hidden'. Can someone look into this please not only to get it unhidden but to give me an explanation of what caused this - as I need to know if I can rely on the fresh section or not. As I mentioned, I have anxiety issues and things working consistently and predictably is important for me. So if someone could help me sort this out I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

[Ghost-Dog]

I seem to be getting silence here now. I’ve put off emailing Tapas as I didn’t want two people looking into the same issue but if I don’t get a response soon I’ll go ahead and email.

Is the feedback@ tapas email the technical support email?

Thanks.

[Ghost-Dog]

Yay, I’ve appeared in Fresh! but still hoping a Creator Happiness Manager here can explain what happened? Or maybe my email to tapas worked and they’ll email me an explanation. Thanks whoever fixed it.

[SleepingPoppy]

As a quick tangential pointer, you can't really rely on the 'fresh' section to accumulate subs anyway; very few readers ever search for new comics there.

You and @Zugaikotsu already kind of hashed this out, but I wanted to just add my two cents here. I'd chalk up at least 80% of my growth to the fresh section (5K subs, so thats a decent amount of home grown growth, even if it's not "popular"), so at the very least, success may vary. I would guess being "on trend" genre ways makes the fresh section more effective, along with the obvious good thumbnail, etc. And Tapas mucking with Fresh's functionality and visibility obviously means mileage will vary.

*Not countering any good points about using other methods to grow. The more avenues one can tap into the better.

[Ghost-Dog]

Thanks for sharing. It’s good to know the fresh section can build your readership over time.

[SleepingPoppy]

Yeah, I think how interested people are in the genre makes a big difference, at a guess. But it's not only genre, because I specifically get most of my subs on my update days. I know I've popped into trending and such too, but I've never been featured or anything.

Also, Ratique mentioned checking Fresh the next day, so it's possible it was just a normal delay? But if it's connected to either being tagged mature, or a bug, I hope Ratique will let us know. Tapas can be good at communicating, but some things they unfortunately keep close to their chest, so you never quite know. =P

[Ghost-Dog]

What do you mean when you say a ‘normal’ delay. My first five episodes all appeared immediately so perhaps I have a false expectation. How long do you consider a normal delay? And do you know why some are instant and some have the delay? Thanks, I’m new!

[Ghost-Dog]

Someone said I wasn’t in the dated section either so it seems maybe something deeper was up. Could my comic have been flagged and was awaiting someone to check it?

[SleepingPoppy]

Episodes will not appear instantly in the fresh or popular sections. It may take a while.

I'm referring to this. So "normal delay" is in probably there are internal reasons episodes don't appear instantly. I know one reason it can be wonky has to do with preventing fake spam accounts that publish their nonesense. At a total guess, maybe if there's a lot of new episodes published around the same time, it causes a delay.

Someone said I wasn’t in the dated section either so it seems maybe something deeper was up. Could my comic have been flagged and was awaiting someone to check it?

You could have been flagged, but they also could have just missed you when searching. I was going to actually check, but I didn't since you said you appeared in Fresh, I assumed things were fine. Edit: I will say. Ratique probably would have mentioned it if you were pulled and that was why you didn't appear in Fresh. Though maybe they just hadn't looked into it yet, since they wanted to see in the first place if it was just a delay. I'm sorry I can only guess about background machinations!

[Ghost-Dog]

Yes I’m assuming the dated section is fine now. But what do you find when you publish? How often is it instant vs there being a delay? I’d like to correctly set my expectations.

[SleepingPoppy]

I've never noticed a delay, but I schedule my updates ahead of time, and they can go live while I'm working and don't check until later. That I'm aware of, it's always seemed immediate.

I guess its worth noting that I'm also only on the website though. I don't appear on the app anyway due to mature content. =P

[Ghost-Dog]

Thanks so much for the information SleepingPoppy. I really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your day/evening!

[SleepingPoppy]

You too! Best of luck!

[Zugaikotsu]

Lol, mine appeared more than a day later... but already under all the other releases (what would be its original placement if it has been updated at the time it was uploaded), what pushed it to bottom, so the 'point' of being in fresh, that is to be on the top for a little while, was gone. XD

Well.. let's keep working, I guess...

[ratique]

Hola!

Unfortunately we're unable to respond to forum messages right away. Thank you for being patient.

As I mentioned, series sometimes take time before appearing as they're working through out system. If they don't appear for more than 24 hours, feel free to let us know so we can ensure everything is working smoothly. I do not recommend deleting and re-uploading episodes, as that can cause further delays - I'm glad it seemed to work out this time.

Cheers!

[foxnflames]

You needed a fourth person this happens to me every time I post a mature chapter. Mine’s novel, but mine gets hidden for like two days before it re-enters the algorithm. I don’t see the same delay with the non mature updates

[Zugaikotsu]

Oh, man, oh man, oh man.... don't tell me it's BL, is it?

[foxnflames]

Close. It had LGBTQ+ as the main tag. But now I’m under BL and have a mature update in about a week or so

[Zugaikotsu]

I feel more suspicious now, but at least it doesn't seem to be a BL exclusive issue. This is very shady of them, still, and against their TOS, but I think it can't be helped.