Opinions on featured content and why it bothers me

There are scientific studies about the influence of various sorts of contents on different audiences, be it about gender representation, violence, sexuality, fetishes, etc. Many of those works hold sensitive value and explain in which way certain material can be unhealthy, sometimes in connexion to parameters such as how much material is viewed by the individual or under which circumstances... Of course, it is not possible for a platform to monitor everything about user activity, but there are still ways to make the difference between material that is sensitive and possibly unhealthy, or fine and healthy.

I am personally more interested into education, both of creators and readership. If a creator doesn't care to educate themselves about the topics they write about, they are more likely to create problematic material (ie: glorification of something edgy or outright wrong like abuse).

So I very much agree with @yumehop and @BlueWindyHood . It's possible to make content that is more sensitive in its topic, and to make the read safer. It can be extensive, with actual education being provided – here we got a bit out of our way to explain what BDSM is and is not: https://tapastic.com/episode/3254172

...or it can be more sober, in the form of warnings (ie: it's ok to have fetishes that are problematic, so long as you know they are problematic and that you shouldn't attempt such things in real life). Nowadays, the difference between reality and virtuality is becoming more and more blurry, and so it does not hurt to remind readers about it.
I think it would be quite good if authors would become more systematic in their warnings, so to also raise awareness among us, because a lot of authors still don't realize that they create edgy/unhealthy content. So seeing around what is flagged as "don't do this at home, kids" could probably help them realize whether their content is safe to read without warnings or not.

This would only make this community an even better place, in which creators could also learn together.

I'm still concerned on who will make the judgement on what's healthy and what isn't, and to be frank, I'm not sure if this is a place where such a decision should be made.
Do we really want to limit creativity because people fear that they may not fit into the "healthy" category?
Are we going to have finger pointing with people accusing others of not having a "healthy" comic?
I mean, if you look hard enough you can find something unhealthy with even the blandest, safest comic.

What I do believe though, is that clearly defined and reasonable limits should be imposed with guidelines on what's expected.
If the the guidelines are clearly defined, there would be less chances of witch hunts taking place and both authors and readers will know where they stand.

I don't think that's what @noxfox meant. I think he means that it's okay to have comics with 'unhealthy' things or an 'unhealthy' comic so long as people know the difference between what is right and wrong and good and bad for themselves. We want a safe environment, of course, we want racy, exciting, and contraversial comics too, but we would like to be civil and point out where things are not as they seem to keep in the better opinion of the reader(s). For example, and this is a very loose and crude example, a character gets completely wasted, but then creates a masterpiece painting. It would be worthwhile to say "Hey, don't get wasted as much as this character did just to create a painting. You can make art without getting drunk which can be bad for your health"
Or something like that. I'm sure everyone knows that drinking in excess is bad for you, and that's because of people's education and ability to see drunks quite often in society. Pregnant teens and giving birth... Not so much

I feel like the original problem is getting a little fuzzy-- which is that an uncomfortable/offensive comic was picked to show up in everyone's inboxes when it should've been something suited to a wider audience. The idea of policing comics for their depiction (or lack thereof) of "healthy" ideas is a little creepy and too open to personal interpretation. Especially when we have such an international community, people are coming to this site with a wide variety of ideas on what is or is not healthy.

Don't get me wrong, I think the comic handles the subject matter very poorly. Having seen how unwanted teenage pregnancy and parenthood impacts a family and the teen, it's not something I would consider joking material-- unless the joke was on people's misconceptions of how teens are affected by the issue. But this comic seems to be using the teens themselves as joke fodder. I'm a little sad that the staff response is "We get it, teen pregnancy is a bad topic"-- it's more that the way the topic was handled was poor, not the topic itself.

But the idea of needing to ensure our comics represent wholesome ideas and disclaimers for younger audiences is a little overkill. I don't want to have to write out a disclaimer of "SMOKING KILLS DON'T DO IT" every time I draw my character lighting a cigarette.

Maybe what would be better is an age-rating system, where we can specify the intended reading age for our comics. My comic isn't intended for young teens, so being able to let people know it's better suited for young adults might make it safer for the impressionable youth : p And if those teens wanted to read it, they'd have fair warning.

As it's been mentioned, if you dug around you could find a LOT of comics here that may handle sensitive subjects poorly. The difference being that these comics usually aren't showing up in our inboxes. I think it would be in Tapastic's best interest to screen their content before blasting it out to everyone.

In the slightly adjusted words of the late, great Christopher Hitchen:

Who is going to decide? To whom do you reward the right to decide which comic is harmful? Or who is the harmful creator? Or to determine in advance what are the harmful consequences going to be that we know enough about in advance to prevent? To whom would you give this job? To whom are you going to award the task of being the censor?

To whom would you delegate the task of deciding for you what you should be able to see and read? To whom you would give the job of relieving you of the responsibility of hearing what you not want to hear? Do you know anyone? Hands up, do you know anyone to whom you'd give this job? Does anyone have a nominee?

Every time you violate or propose to violate someone else's free expression, you, in potentia, are making a rod for your own back.

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.

@michaelson I know you used to do it, you used to spend a lot of time and energy reading comics. Sure, now there are more than one can follow, but if you can't do your job alone, maybe it's time to hire assistants. I honestly think it's not fair to let the community do your job in your stead while we're not even being paid for it. That's a bit too convenient...

I agree with the entirety of @Roxanneh's post, and especially this part. As well as what @CyndiFoster and @Kaykedrawsthings said. I have a hard time keeping mad at people because I'm just always hoping for the best and wanting to be constructive, but I don't feel like Tapas/tic is being constructive as of late. I very honestly want to kick the whole staff in the butt – in a friendly, constructive way. What's going on? What the hell are you doing? Why do you do what you do? Why exactly can't you give more details? Are there so many enemies waiting an opportunity to steal your ideas, your technology, etc? I honestly have a hard time believing so.

Do you know about Discord App? When I see how those folks work, I can't help but think "they're doing it right." They rely on community suggestions, they work on features that are being asked for (and give more while they're at it), polish the bugs out, smooth the corners out – they go as far as to give consideration to people whining about small details, because that's how much they care. I'm actually hyped about their updates.

What makes me sad is that Tapastic used to have this cool feeling of "staff listens, staff cares," and now it feels like you only care in your words, not so much in your acts. I'm worried about each and every update, for due reasons. It gets worse and worse, you don't do what you say you will (how many times did you say you'd make it possible to unsubscribe from comment thread notifications and never did it?? how hard can this be to do???) If you're not going to do what you promise, don't promise it. Be honest, be frank, say "we can't," "we don't care," "we have no time for this," but don't take us for fools. You're just breaking the trust.
Tapas and Tapastic are so different it doesn't even make sense to keep them connected. I'd rather those two split completely, while just advertising for each other in some "we also do this btw" service promotion.

I'm probably a naive idiot for having thought "I'll publish my series on Tapastic only, it's so great here, I can root for them." But I guess I'm done feeling betrayed, and will soon start posting on LINE. If it works well there and if Tapastic doesn't get better for creators in ways we ask for I guess I might end up doing the complete switch.

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.