I wouldn't be too concerned about 'shameless promotion' when you realize half the threads here are "PROMOTE YOUR LAST CHAPTER!"
Which, I'm not knocking that, its a good thread concept for artists and it certainly does help you get more views, but we have, like, a lot of those threads.
Nah, we can't just sit around avoiding "shameless promotions" and hope that our viewers just start piling in. We gotta make them happen--Defeating the algorithm is a good place to start. Like, share, comment on things other webcomic artists do on Twitter, and it just picks up steam on other people's timelines.