Just gonna say it first, I'm not out to disagree or pick a fight with you, but I've been waiting to have this discussion since the last webtoon thread got banhammered by a mod.
To preface I've ALSO had a completely great experience on Webtoon. Getting the first 1k subs was definitely a slow climb, but from there, my comic has steadily been growing and now my weekly updates get around 200-300+ subs and consistently rising views. So what do I have to complain about, right?
My main nitpick with the current Discover features is that when they were first announced, they were marketed as features meant to help smaller Discover titles - basically giving creators incentive to publish on Discover.
This is a screenshot I took of the Fresh pick a few weeks ago. The left is what was presented in the site notice, and the right is what we got a few weeks in. Granted, not every week has been like this, but for the most part, there is a reoccurring trend and clear repetition in Fresh Picks AND Recommended.
(I have absolutely nothing against the artists or comics chosen which is why I censored their titles. My main point is the Romance genre dominates the entire section and these comics already have several thousand subs.)
You can't stop bias on any media platform, I agree. Not every comic is going to get a spotlight, that's impossible. BUT that doesn't mean we have to accept the way things are. Hell, after last night, I'm convinced Webtoon staff lurks this forum because they chose 7 comics from my Cross-promotion thread to feature on their Discover section all in one night. Coincidence? Clearly, I'm just a crazy conspiracy theorist amirite?
Our voices have been heard, so asking people to stop voicing their concerns or brushing them off as invalid will only allow companies (Webtoon, Tapas, whoever) to ignore smaller creators. It might not affect you, but it's clearly affecting a lot of other people, so why shoot them down?
I agree there are a lot of factors that can result in fluctuating stats, and I personally can't comment on anything about the algorithm. I'm mostly just discussing their way of handling spotlight. Feel free to agree or disagree, but I'd like to keep this discussion casual and not throw anyone under the bus.