Opinions on featured content and why it bothers me

haha Back on topic guys, leave casual conversation to PM's and shiz lol Thanks! <3

True, and sorry for calling it a failed tv show pitch. But that doesn't mean the work isn't bad and the transition isn't bad. It's bad and the transition is worse. The fact that you chose Learning Curves as your very first Tapisode raises questions about transparency, the ability of your team to choose quality products, and the quality check/editing ability of your editor team.

I second this question.

Fair point.

Then why didn't it occur to you that reading with CAPITALIZED BOLD and CAPITALIZED ITALIC is a chore? Were there no single editor who stopped on their track and said that this needs further editing and rewriting? You've just proved how unprofessional the whole thing is, from the writers' to the editor team. This is paid content, isn't it? What are you going to do after this has been pointed out to you? Will you fix it or will you leave it as unprofessional as it is now?

Well sorry, then maybe next time prove it to us by providing PROFESSIONAL content. They're professionals, you're professionals, it's PAID content, so what I'm asking for is actually elementary, right? I didn't ridicule their previous job, I pointed the hypocrisy of the marketing of what your CEO said the quality is (Hollywood writers) vs the actual quality (BuzzFeed lazy writing quality).

Your Senior Editor said it himself that your team doesn't do poor quality, it's not in your DNA. Well, what's this then? Until then I won't be convinced that there's no some sort of favoritism going on because how else such POOR quality content managed to be up there, endorsed, featured and financially backed?

By ignoring I meant that you chose to create different products (novel and tapisode, even the coins are not for webcomic creators) as an excuse to hire outside people (those who never worked in webcomic/comic industry). You could've make them open for public like your webcomic or hire select artists like you did with premium section but you acted as if they don't exist.

If the products you're selling are actually of high quality done with love and care I wouldn't complain at all. I would think that you're trying to set a bar for them to follow but no, the quality check is so bad it's almost nonexistent. With erotica novels and CP tapisode, I think you're going on a desperate path to make money and you don't care where they come from.

No, it's not okay. Most webcomic creators' audience in Tapastic are general people with teens being the main target. By making the app 17+ you're already limiting or eliminating their audience from the get go. Is it okay for video rental to rent porn? Yes, if they put it separate from general video. Is it okay for porn rental to rent kid's animated shows? Yes, but who will buy them?

Learning Curves is already a perfect example. It's a tapisode that fits Tapas' rating and audience but once you promote them to Tapastic's audience, it becomes very out of place. How about stories which are aimed at kids like your very own admin @CindyFoster 's webcomic? Will the kids be able to convince their parents to buy something from 17+ app? Will parents even bother to search something for their kids in Tapas?

Tapas should've been a different app, webcomics in Tapas should've been everything aimed at 17+. You might say that the app enjoys growth but how certain are you to say that they're the same diverse audience as before and not a new audience who're only looking for mature content? This mentality shows that you no longer care about webcomic and the artists behind them. If you decide to abandon webcomic, or that it's no longer your main focus, please be honest about it. Don't use webcomics as a bait to attract people then ask them to spend money on things they don't care about.

It's okay if you chose that though, your company, do what you want. But please be TRANSPARENT and do what YOU SAID. Don't say you care about webcomic and the creators but then backstab and abandon them (eliminating support program, making the app 17+ while previously you were strict with NSFW contents and making NSFW creators unwelcome, even new pay feature is not for webcomic creators). Don't say/demand professional and high quality then produce poor, unprofessional quality yourself. Live up to your words and the standard you set. At this point, your actions don't match your words.

A few days after my post about you're not caring about creators, suddenly you're giving out survey about a plan that was already leaked few months ago. I don't know your intention but the timing is so horrible, I can't help but laugh bitterly. Well I guess it's good that you're finally starting to give attention back to webcomic creators again. I'm willing to give you one last chance and I can only hope you're staying true to your words now. Hopefully you will release that feature in near future, instead of giving them false hope and only release them infinite months later.

I apologize if I sound harsh or if it seems like I'm trying to smear Tapastic, I'm not. I love Tapastic, I love the creators, I frequent the forum and I know who's who (quite disappointed that some frequent forum posters don't say anything here and some who did immediately take a stance of blindly defending Tapastic and just hope for the best), I even taught my friends how to whitelist Tapastic from their adblocks. I feel absolutely betrayed by Tapas/Tapastic's action for the past few months, this was the last straw and I need explanation.

Just to be clear, I have no issue with 17+ rating and content, but I think Tapastic should have a different app so creators with general content have a place for their webcomics. I also think it's okay for Learning Curves to exist, or for Tapastic to feature them if they want (but please no email/Tapastic website feature, because email and Tapastic website are not 17+, put NSFW where they belong). I'm not against it or want it taken down since what's done is done, even though I'm concerned about the story having underage children sex (I don't know about Google store but I heard they're pretty strict with CP). I do want them to edit/rewrite them properly since it was just lazy and I hope the editor team will choose better quality stories next time.

I also agree that no one should be policing what's healthy and what's not, let readers decide. Better NSFW filter is good, even though I feel it'll be redundant in the app, but don't censor/ban artists for the things they create. I only have issues with the whole process because it was unprofessional from start to end. It reeks neglect, double standard, favoritism and hypocrisy, and showed how far Tapas/Tapastic have fallen when it comes to webcomics and quality, something I honestly don't wish to happen.

This x1000.

If the app is going to be so different from the site and host different content, that's fine. But I don't think there's going to be much of an overlap in demographics between the people downloading an app where they can read romance novels and the people who want to read most of the webcomics that are currently popular on the site. As others have stated, the site seems like it's audience is primarily teens and young adults.

Asking the creators who make YA content to focus on the app which is rated 17+ is asking them to halve their audience, which is why most creators will probably not make that leap. Which is also fine, I know it's not mandatory. It's just hard to see where things are going when the disconnect between the platforms is so large and most of the focus seems to be on the app.

I don't disagree that there's a divide between the app and the desktop site that isn't really beneficial to us creators, and that some of the content they've chosen to feature is questionable, but the 17+ rating has not come about because of Learning Curves or that awkward smutty fiction someone found the other month. The Tapastic desktop site allows some NSFW content in its webcomics, and there are plenty of comics not suitable for kids that turn up in popular and trending. The only reason the Tapastic desktop site isn't 17+ is because there's nobody to stick an age rating on it like there is on the App Store and on Google Play.

This thread brings up so many intriguing points that I made an account just to post this. I've been a lurker of Tapastic for at least a year now and watched it make the transition into Tapas. I do not not want this to be another long assessment of the numerous decisions that got executed and went terribly wrong. At the end of the day, Tapastic is, after all, a start-up and effed up as things can get, sustaining a start-up is tough (and "tough" probably doesn't even do it justice).

I'm feeling very sorry that @michaelson has to grind through these comments because that is his job. The team needs to be at peace with the fact that you really can't satisfy everyone's needs--not when things have gotten THIS complicated. It's like you're patching up one hole after another with new features or categories and it is never-ending. This is very painful to watch given that the collective rage has finally gotten public here on the main forums.

Tapastic and Tapas models are so different, one needs to ask why make things even more strenuous for such a small team? It may be at its point of no return with all the business partners involved, but please simplify everything down. Yes, it's a learning experience for everyone, but I'm sure you guys have a hunch of the obvious things that bother you, too.

Having sat at a Tapastic table at SacAnime Gives Back we can tell you, there are young readers. AND MOMS. They walked up to the table and asked if the site was kid friendly.

We said yes.

Some 10-year-olds (guessing) came up and asked if there was "any comics about fairies".

We said yes.

This all however was before Leaning Curves.

Now we have to ask ourselves . . . since moms are giving their kids approval to download Tapas back in May . . . and then this happens in July via a snack . . . what are parents to think? Consider it another way. How many here would want their child to get another Learning Curves or a Fifty Shades in their snack? (This is not an attack. Just a diffrent way of looking at things.)

What has happened with Learning Curves, and what is currently happening, namely this thread, is likely to happen again. As long as Tapastic remains open to all stories of all kinds and does not make any changes to things as they currently are or their screening process, then another uncomfortable situation is going to slip through.

There has to be a better way. Can there be a Tapas Jr. app?

Also, we have to ask ourselves, what kind of demographic are we really going for? Because is it really possible that Oops Comic and Learning Curves can coexist on the same homepage of the same mobile app as it is currently coded?

Something has to change. Tapas can publish whatever they choose to. Creators can continue to create what they wish to. The issue for everyone is if Tapas is going to continue seek out, contract with, and promote a Fifty Shades of Learning Curves genre on a consistant manner. If so, that is their choice, but then they should tell everyone "here are our plans" so we, as creators, can make a fully informed decision. Because what Tapas/tic chooses to promote ends up reflecting on everyone. What about heavy violence? Massive swearing? BDSM? Is there a line? Where is the line? Because some creators of these series want to be promoted and ask to be. The MPAA has a rating system. Should we? Should Tapas draw the line at PG-13 at what it actively promotes? Or since its a 17+ app, should Tapas as an R rated movie promote R rated stuff?

These are serious questions and serious thought should be put into it. Some of us creators are putting 1000s of hours and $10,000s of dollars into building up our intellectual properties. Some of us choose to publish exclusively to Tapastic in good faith. When stories of questionable polish and questionable material are published and promoted, some of us question the decision process. Do we want Tapas/tic to gain the unfavorable reputation of publishing and promoting anything? If so, then it becomes just another vanity e-book dumper. Or do we want Tapastic to reject for the sake of quality (e.g. your keys are worth the money you paid)? Publishers reject a lot of stuff. Tapastic should be willing to do the same in order to create a culture of excellence, at least with the stuff they have their brand on.

If Tapas/tic is "Staff Picking", "Bannering", "Snacking", or "Spotlighting", those works need to be held to a higher standard. And then let us creators know what that standard is. Everyone will be more happy if they know where the line is not to mention where this ship is sailing.

I don't think that should ever be publicized, at least not in full. You can't expect total transparency... that's just not how businesses run.

That said, if you want to continue the transparency discussion, it might be better to do so in a different thread? This thread isn't about features; it's about content appropriateness with regards to the topic of teenage pregnancy and possible sexualizing of underaged characters.

Ah yes, of course I don't expect total transparency, but something that would at least give us clearer expectations about what is or is not going to happen (preferably no "maybe", "someday", "in an unforeseeable future" and such vague terms).

But more back to topic, I finally found LINE's guidelines about what content is deemed inappropriate, and while I had to send a mail to get more detailed about how strict are the rules when it comes to certain points, I found them to be very interesting and positively engaged: http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/operationalPolicies2

Excerpt:

Contents which violate public order and social ethics mean the contents that
ㆍ Glorify or encourage suicide; describe methods of committing suicide or encourage mass suicide;
ㆍ Glorify, encourage or promote crimes;
ㆍ Discriminate or criticize a certain social class or religion;
ㆍ Glorify or encourage racism;
ㆍ Solicit, encourage, or promote murder;
ㆍ Include execution scenes or corpses, causing a strong aversion;
ㆍ Glorify, encourage or promote violent acts against women and children
ㆍ Promote a superstitious or unscientific lifestyle; or
ㆍ Glorify, encourage, suggest or promote terrorism.

Some points might be a bit unclear, but overall they do put some standards.

From what I understand, Line's moderation system relies on their readers reporting rule breaking content - but this is probably something you're better off taking up with them.

It's getting a bit off topic...