Failed Projects: Take Down or Leave Up

[HGohwell]

Well, the title says it all. When you decide a project is failed, do you take it down or do you leave it up?

I personally, I lean towards leaving them up, but I know lots of people take them down so when they start a new project there's no sign of past failure. I know some people who feel the need to delete their account and create an entirely new identity just in case anyone remembers their name attached to a failed project (which definitely feels extreme but ok). But I understand both sides. I can see why you don't want people to see that you've failed before but I can see how that adds to the idea that big name creators just pop up out of nowhere. But I also think it's cool to let the readers see how far you've come, it's always interesting to look into your favourite manga artist's histories and see their non-started or cancelled projects and see what's been reused and rebooted after all.

Note: I'm not talking about deleting it completely or throwing it away, I'm talking about publically, like removing it from Tapas or whatever sight you're hosting on.

So, where do you stand? When you decide a project isn't going to work, do you leave it up or do you purge it?

[Questionable_Liquid]

I've had a couple of failed projects. I did take them down, but not because of I wish to not show any previous failures.

I took them down because there would be no point to show them. Even if my projects would last for a year and were to fail.

Here is my over-optimistic view on this. You see, there are thousands of new creators, if not then hundreds, in Tapas. I don't want my failed projects getting attention. Instead, I want the new ideas open to the eyes of those who want something new.

I don't know if people delete their progress after taking down their project from the public. I think that's quite silly. That's time spent work and you throw it away in the trash. Unless that work has somehow made you detest it, then I would see a reason to throw it away.

Keep your progress even if it failed! That's progress and evidence that you have improved upon yourself as a creative thinker!

[LadyOttoline]

I have a failed project and I've left it up. Heck, I'll post it here. I knew it was going to be a hard sell for many reasons. It's not a romance novel and those do best on tapas. It was about a pandemic and it was coming out during covid. It's about parenting and that isn't a popular topic on tapas.

But I'm not going to get famous publishing on tapas. That's not why I'm here. I'm here to share the stories I'm proud of in hopes that they will find the reader who needs them.

I love this book. I'm proud of this book. I finished this book right before covid and it will never have a future because of covid. But I'm clinging to the hope that some day someone else with find it and enjoy reading it. Because that the best I can hope for for all my books.

The Three Palms | Tapas

[VibrantFox]

I have several old/failed projects that I've debated about deleting in the past and still would like to but the only thing preventing me from doing so is that it's the only remaining archive i have of my old digital art.

i definitely understanding sharing your past works or showing your improvement but I think i'm at a point now i'd like to just move on from it and onto other work. i think maybe if i were allowed to or able to archive it (like genuinely archive it) in a way that it's shown separately from the rest of my work (similar to deviantart's junk folder category) maybe i wouldn't mind. so while things like making whole new accounts or deleting everything may seem extreme it's an action i can't blame some folks for. shedding the past and moving forward fresh can sometimes just be a big relief

[DokiDokiTsuna]

It depends on how you define 'failed':

If 'failed' = 'project I announced and got all excited about and then just...never followed through on', that's just a normal day for me. ^^; If I deleted all my new 'shiny new project in development' art posts, half my gallery would be gone.

If 'failed' = 'project I put a lot of time and effort into and years later realized was a big amateurish dumpster fire'...it causes me a lot of pain, but I usually leave those up, too. Partly because when I was a kid, me and my dumpster fires were actually somewhat popular...if Adult-Me can't say the same, what right does she have to deem Kid-Me's work unfit for public viewing...? 6_6;
There's some nostalgia involved, too...and I guess a feeling of 'duty' to leave them up as a legacy. Like...it's all me. Taking them down would feel like burning history books...it may not be pretty, but it happened, and it helped make me what I am today.

Now, if 'failed' = 'project I put a lot of time and effort into that...no one really paid any attention to' I will delete it faster than you can blink. The very second it starts to upset me it's just -- BAM -- gone.
Call it vanity, I guess. I don't like to be reminded of how inconsequential my passion is to the world at large...if said project is in a space I don't visit very often, I could just ignore it forever. But if I have to come back to it and look at '13 views 0 favorites 1 comment' every blessed day I'm gonna get fed up very fast.
At least if it sits in my personal archives I can visit it without being reminded of how much no one cares...

[migxmeg]

I'd leave it up. I find improvement super interesting and very inspiring - it was such a thrill to go back and look through early one shots from one of my favorite manga artists. Seeing echoes of the characters from their successful series and ideas they were throwing around... incredible. If by some luck my artwork/Mig's stories ever reach someone(s) that would find it interesting to go back and look through any of the earlier stuff, I'd like to leave the option.

I get satisfaction looking back at things I posted in the past too :).

[Caro]

I don’t like leaving stuff on platforms where people can SEE the amount of subs and comments. I already don’t put my stuff on these platforms to begin with but if I did I wouldn’t want people to see it in that way so I’d move it to a personal site where the archive of your work can exist without the context of “failure” whatever that means to you. Then its just an archive of experiments rather than a graveyard.

I start and stop tons of comics in the 20-60 page range just to test the waters with a new story and if I’m not feeling it or the audience isn’t biting I put it away and keep on my Patreon for folks who want to see those early stage things.

[NickRowler]

I think it depends. Some of my first webcomics looked like trash and they were not really anything that most people would even want to read. And I feel like if you are in a situation where you strongly dislike your work and no one would notice if it was gone, then remove it if you want to.

However, if it did have a fan following, I think some people might be upset if it went missing.

Tho, I do have an old comic which I marked as hiatus but I don't think I will ever get back to it. I ended up uploading it to Tapas anyways because I just like the aesthetics of it, even if it will forever stay incomplete. So you could keep something up because you think it might have some value even if it is a failure.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Now, if 'failed' = 'project I put a lot of time and effort into that...no one really paid any attention to' I will delete it faster than you can blink.... I don't like to be reminded of how inconsequential my passion is to the world at large... being reminded of how much no one cares

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. You're "strumming my pain".

[Kaydreamer]

I've never actually had any large scale projects before this one, so this is a hypothetical for me. (My current one is doing well enough that I completely intend to see it through. Even if it didn't grow at all from here on out - I have readers who've made it abundantly clear that they're hanging on what happens next.)

If I did start something which I wanted to abandon, or which I couldn't see through, I wouldn't remove it entirely from the online space. It's a part of my development as an artist, and some people may really like it and want to go back to read it for whatever reason. What I would do is remove it from Tapas and Webtoon, so it doesn't clutter up my hypothetical library, and then re-post it on a personal site, or something like Comicfury. That way, people can access it if they wish, but it doesn't give anyone the impression that I have a tendency to abandon projects part-way through. (Which can give potential readers cause for concern, as if they fall in love with a current project, they may worry that I'll give up before the story reaches a satisfying conclusion.)

[Daisy]

The first draft of my novel was a fail and I asked my readers if they want it to be taken down or leave it up. I'm indecisive about it to be honest. I do want it to be taken down because I didn't want to be reminded by it but I want to leave it up for the readers who haven't caught up with the remaining chapters. I also enjoy reading their comments and the reaction they have on certain scenes, it was a waste to start doing it all again in a new blank slate.

I ended up choosing the latter since most of my readers agreed on it. I might reread it again and see the difference and progress I have with my writing too.

[rajillustration]

Hot take but this usaully isn't an issue because I'm on a different platform or I switch up my username every 5 years or so. Platforms come and go, some last longer than others, but I'm really not concerned about anyone going into like my live journal archives to find my fiction i wrote in high school (all the image links are broken anyway) . I used to make a little crafting blog, Google deleted it for me when they stopped supporting blogger. Nothing is permanent (back up your comics)

That and while I may not have huge numbers, making comics are a part of my portfolio, they have helped prove i can draw and ive seen some commissions pop out of it, so like, how are you defining failure and why should the demographics of tapas say what's a success or not.

You have to learn to be objective with the data we've been given, and some aspects of the data on likes and faves are helpful, but it isn't perfect. a lot of people read who aren't logged into the app so they aren't leaving likesbut may like it, there are a lot of numbers where we don't know why or why not someone likes something or if they are a bot. you have to learn to not take it personally and not be ashamed if it has those low views. You have the taste to know what's good, and if it's a good piece leave it up.

[enokignocchi]

I would put it up? It helps gain traction I suppose...if you look at it from a marketing POV. Once you have a desired fan base, you can take it down. However if the failed projects contain morals, values and other sensitive topics that may potentially hurt your following, just take it down. I know its hard, but make a copy if you like

[Legendofgenii]

I wouldn’t say failed, but I left my comic up (on Smack Jeeves) and had a really long break (10 years Life stuff. )

When I came back to it last year (because I got a message that Smack Jeeves were closing) all the comments from readers asking me to continue etc. really inspired me to start up again.

[coppermouflon]

I have removed stuff from online in the past, and I definitely had and I expect to have failures in the future as well. However, it's not if I consider it a failure that gets me to remove it. It's whether I've completed the work or not.

If I started something and never finished it (meaning it's a half-finished story online) then I prefer to take it down. Simply because I wouldn't want someone to find it, start reading it, and maybe even like it, only to discover it's not finished and the story leaves them hanging. I hate when that happens, and I don't want to do it to anyone else.

If I have the whole story completed, then I will leave it up there. Even if it's "bad". Someone might like it and it is part of my journey, how I hopefully improved over time by creating.

It's also why recently I started uploading stuff that I have completed only. Yes, it will take a few months for everything to be available to the reader (it's in episodes) but I have actually written the whole thing and I'm already working on something else in the background.

But I had uploaded half stories in the past that I never completed, and those I have removed.

[thedude3445]

I've never removed any failed projects that actually posted, except botched continuations of already finished projects. Almost everything I made before age 18 is gone due to Nintendo City, Smackjeeves, and MSPA Forums all dying over the years, but if I had the time to upload it all back in their semi-original form, I would definitely do it. I like looking back at my old crappy stuff I never finished.

Only time I would take something down is if I am already remaking it and don't want people to discover secret spoilers if they go internet hunting. That hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it ever will, because most of the time going back to old failed projects is less effective than simply cribbing old ideas and putting them into a brand-new one.

[SagaHolmgaard]

Hmm I've never really looked at a project and thought 'well this one is a fail' to be honest xD. But I have some abandoned WIPs out there. I couldn't delete them - I'm too attached to them for that. And I know that there are people out there who liked them, so I'd like to still let them have the chance to reread if they wanted to.

Sometimes I've left the outline for the story idea in the final chapter. This feels good when I know for sure that I won't be able to return to a project, since at least the readers will get to know what happened. But there have also been times when I've come back to abandoned WIPs years upon years later, and finished them! And people have been psyched to see me come back! So that's why I kind of don't want to delete anything. Unless I knew for sure that I was going to re-write the whole thing.

[fleurravenbooks]

i wouldn't have a heart to delete them, unless its something im deeply ashamed of ( like i think it's poorly written or whole premise of story is horrible to me now)

[BarBarKetrab]

I would definitely leave all of my failed projects up. It's nice to have a little archive of all of your things somewhere that you (and others) can look at whenever you feel like it. Like you said, it feels really fulfilling to look at all of your old stuff and see how much you've improved over time. Plus, if you happen to forget a lot of details about your past work, it can make for an entertaining, albeit probably cringey, read.

[jmhenry]

I've thought about taking down the old version of LOSTLAND, but I left it up, for history's sake. I don't know where the current version will be headed in the future, but if it somehow takes off from where it is, I'd like to have the old version up as a reminder that we all start from somewhere. It's pretty rare to see, I think