How do you guys feel about Webtoon/Tapas in general

[jensrichard77]

No one is ever looking in Fresh

But... I am

[starry-sea]

yes but most people Are Not, which is the issue

[Iris-Grimoire]

Creators read creators, that ends up being a thing - the forums are a perfect example, I'm gonna read those self-promo threads because I know the struggle of starting out, whiile a reader doesn't really care until they're told why they should care. But it's a difficult balance, because if you favor consuming new comics too much, you might get WT's bad community practices of demanding episodes to be longer, better, faster, stronger, etc.

[starry-sea]

there's always going to be bad apples though, even with tapas' current system there's still people who say stuff like that

[Iris-Grimoire]

Bad apples maybe, but when the FIRST thing you hear every time there's a thread about Webtoons on social media is "the comments there are horrible", there's a problem. I've seen people on Tapas delete their mirrors there because it was starting to become harassment, not just demanding more content, also making gross comments about the characters. This does happen here, but there's the tools to remove them, and it's less common.

[starry-sea]

I'm kind of confused on what your saying? you're saying comics shouldn't get more traffic because they'll end up like webtoon? but if comics get more traffic here and there's tools to delete bad comments what is the issue?

[YangKoete]

I'm a little ticked Webtoons took so many good comics from Tapas.

[Jenny-Toons]

No, they're saying that, unlike Webtoons, Tapas at least has means to take care of harrassment and communicate with your audience.

You don't have profiles on Webtoons.

People can only know you have a comic if they can search it up or if you've promoted it. And even then, it just shows your comics.

Don't have a comic? You're just a name. It's kinda no different than an anonymous messaging board unless you get regular commenters. Can't block spam, can't send announcements, can't send pms.

You can report comments, but that barely works, tbh.

And it's because of this that you hear so much about the harrassement. There would probably be the same level if Tapas had a similar set up.

[starry-sea]

that is 100% true and I agree with you, but I also don't see how promoting smaller comics or creating incentive to browse fresh/new for readers would contribute to those issues?

[Iris-Grimoire]

I didn't say there's no good way of doing it, I mean that copying WT's way of promoting comics ain't it. Acting like the site spits out good comics 24/7 and it's like you're getting the whole store for free+premium, making a disconnect between readers and creators. Letting people customize and moderate on Tapas is already a very nice difference (though we almost lost a lot of customization), since it becomes that artist's space, not just the website the person is interacting with where they click and cool comic appears.

[seru]

I started around 2016...and uploaded on both platforms.

Tapas

Pros
-Geared towards creators
-Moderation of your comment section
-Blocking users
-Customization
-Direct messaging

Cons

-Lack of creator support (monetary wise compare to Webtoons)
-UI is cluttery
-Visibility if you're new is almost impossible
-Comics are scattered all over the place (premium and free comics are mixed)
-Algorithm change (website update) is messed up.
-Search engine can be improved

Webtoons

Pros
-Large built-in audience to grow your brand/comic.
-Large creator compensation via Beta-credit and better CPM on ads (HUUUGE PLUS ON WEBTOONS since money talks)
-Algorithm was updated and can help up and coming creators
-Spotlight is always changing to promote new comics

Cons
-No moderation on comments
-Childish audience
-Overly sensitive safety guidelines in terms of adult and violent content despite flagging as mature and self censoring.
-If you don't have anime style, 90% chance your comic will not do well. Majority of the audience expect typical Korean romance and/or BL.

[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.