How do you guys feel about Webtoon/Tapas in general

[ratscout]

Can't really talk about Webtoons since I do novels, but Tapas is alright. As far as novel posting goes, I do prefer it to all other platforms, but it still has a lot of problems. The main reason why I prefer is has to do with a kinder, more mature audience and the fact that Tapas blessedly does not do ratings (seriously, what are other novel platforms thinking by having ratings? Any schmo who hasn't even read your story can come by and give it 1 star).

I think my biggest problem with Tapas lately is that there seems to have been an algorithm change where your story is basically invisible if it happens to be fantasy or romance and does not have a big audience. I think it gets swallowed up by bigger stories that get a crap-ton likes more than yours does whereas before it doesn't?

Tapas also blatantly features popular stories far more than it used to. Like... Staff-picks (which they appropriately changed to "Novels we love, curated weekly") used to just feature up-and-coming authors, now they just seem to rotate between novels that are super-popular and ones that are premium (with maybe one or two novels that are new/have small audiences). I'm pretty sure I've seen the same novels being featured for 3 rotations. I actually preferred it when they had a popular novels section at the top of the page and had a staff-picks for novels near the bottom so that they could feature smaller stories without hurting their bottom line. shrugs

[Aykay]

Three of this weeks staff picks for novels are three premium novels that are already in the top ten. I've seen at least two promoted within the last three or four weeks. Quite possibly all three.

[starry-sea]

yeah, I personally don't think premium novels or comics should be in staff picks...even webtoons doesn't do that. I think staff should reserve those spots for the self publishers

[Aykay]

What makes it weirder is they are four sections for trending on the front page. Premium novels and comics. And free novels and comics. But staff picks are mixed.

I feel like there's a plethora of ways to promote premium content on rotation without limiting free comics and novels.

[unicornfield]

I haven't used webtoon as a creator yet, but as a reader, Webtoon has the big name webcomics like Tower of God and UnOrdinary, plus a decent thriller section. Otherwise I prefer using Tapas.

[wnmoore966]

I feel the same about distinguishing free from paid stuff. I'll get a notification about a new comic, get really excited by the summary, and then find out that I have to pay to read past the first 5 updates. It's just frustrating and I'd rather not deal with the site altogether. I prefer Webtoons, because I know that most of what I click on will eventually be free to read. I used to constantly read on Tapas a couple years ago, but now I only keep up with is Fangs and Heartstopper. And I've just recently bought the hard copies for both so I don't need Tapas anymore. It's a shame, but I guess Tapas appeals to other people and that's fine.

[jensrichard77]

I'll get a notification about a new comic, get really excited by the summary, and then find out that I have to pay to read past the first 5 updates.

Just click here and you will only get what's free

[irresponsiblepics]

I really don't like Webtoons for the following reasons.
Newcomers like myself have little chance of getting even remotely seen.
It seems to me they focus on their own popular strips.
No community spirit. No forum.
Hate the layout.
Hate that its mostly Anime look stuff front and centre (though Tapas is guilty also) There are other styles!

On Tapas I can tap fresh and get some new content by new creators.
Thus giving newbs a chance to at least have it be seen.
No such luck on Webtoons (unless im missing something)

Fine for established creators but bad for everyone else.

[azzy-m]

To be fair, the anime-styled comics show up more in Popular and similar places because they're, well, what get popular, most of Webtoons' audience are teenage girls (like... me) and would gravitate towards comics with that kind of style cuz that's what they're used to. Lots of them are weebs, people. A lot of them really like reading manga.

Still sucks though, but I can't entirely blame Webtoons for that. They're a company that needs to make money, so the algorithm kinda picks up on those anime-styled comics because a lot of people are reading them.

[MeltingCORE]

I'll be honest, I'm still not sure why Webtoons is so heavily linked to Tapas. Are they owned by the same people? Or is it because they're both popular sites for webcomics? (Sorry if this is a silly question!)

Anyways, I only use Tapas for my novel. I honestly have really enjoyed being on the site and have had great engagement. I think that's partially because of how active the forums are - which is awesome. I do wish though that the content being uploaded was... a bit more cognizant at times. I don't want to name anyone involved but a friend had an incident on the site recently that really hurt their feelings and I completely understood why. Basically, I wish comments and reviews could be moderated better (like the author can moderate their comments and reviews on their works before they go online).

[M.ComicFan]

I'll be honest, I'm still not sure why Webtoons is so heavily linked to Tapas. Are they owned by the same people? Or is it because they're both popular sites for webcomics?

Pretty sure it's because they are both webcomic sites.

[KiabIce]

I wish webtoons had a forum like Tapas but they don't! That is a bummer

[azzy-m]

I'm guessing because Webtoons and Tapas are the most popular comic hosting sites and many creators post on both. They also have similar audiences.

Also the fact Webtoons doesn't have a forum or anything, so many Webtoon creators come to the Tapas forums for tips, talk about comics, or just in general hang out.

[jensrichard77]

Also the fact Webtoons doesn't have a forum or anything

From another point of view.
I think that tapas would have big troubles if WT had the same good stuff for the creators that Tapas have.
I only came here in the beginning because of how it works. Then I tried out WT because people said that's where the reader is.
And at that time, if WT was as awesome as Tapas from a creators view, I would have jumped.
But now, 2 years later I ONLY wish to stay at Tapas.

[bakasama25]

They're both Korean and started push the Webtoon format.

[ratique]

They're both Korean

Hola - actually, Tapas is an US company.

[nostalgicroxas]

I don't know about Webtoon as either or a user so can't speak on that.

Tapas:

Reader::
Decent on navigation both on desktop and app; tags seem useless; search function works; not an endless scrolling to keep finding "new" content is sad; site openly advertises how many Likes a work has (not a good feature imho); easy to binge read the works and find more by the creator you like; hard to find "more works like this" because some are just so unique

Creator::
1. Dashboard stats front and center with a daily breakdown for all 3
2. Comments are not treated as a measurable stat (good thing)
3. Likes are featured as a thing to entice readers to read something (bad thing)
4. Iffy support on formatting for novels
5. Easy to upload text or images (novel or comic)
6. Schedule feature
7. Schedule into the future feature
8. Schedule and forget
9. Schedule and let life go sideways for a few weeks, no prob.
10. Site "attention" does not demand socializing from an introvert with no time

[gabriellabalagna]

I know, me too. There's no good way to connect with people on Webtoons. There aren't even notifications to keep track of comments.

[jensrichard77]

There aren't even notifications to keep track of comments.

I did send an e-mail to the customer service about that and they answered something like this:
”Thank you for contacting us. Your feedback is important to us. We are glad to be in contact with our user”

Then I replied:
”This is what I’m talking about. I wish to Get in contact with my readers as you wish to be in contact with me”

Then:
Nothing....

[M.ComicFan]

I did send an e-mail to the customer service about that and they answered something like this:”Thank you for contacting us. Your feedback is important to us. We are glad to be in contact with our user”

That's an automated confirmation email saying that they got your email and that someone will respond later.

They probably didn't answer back because they thought your reply was rude.