Opinions on featured content and why it bothers me

GoldenPlume · Jul '16

First off we'll begin by saying this is a difficult post to make but we feel it needs to be said for both personal reasons and for the overall health of Tapastic.

Context is always important to help explain the situation. Before we get into things, here is our understanding of the situation around "Learning Curves".

Tapastic is getting into the publishing business on a limited scale. They are taking on certain projects and backing them financially. The first project they backed was "Fashion Star". That's the only confirmed project we know Tapastic has money invested into. But given the cover art style, it's fairly clear that Tapastic has money into "Learning Curves" and "Spin" as well. If anyone listens to "What's On Tap" you can tell that Tapastic likely has a financial hand in "Learning Curves" because they spent so much time talking about it during one of their episodes. Recently most of the "What's on Tap" shows have focused on promoting just a few select projects in order to help increase interest/sales rather than covering a lot of topics/comics/stories. There's nothing wrong with this but other than the feature with "Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo" team, Tapastic seems to focus on things they have a direct financial benefit from.

Because of this invesment, this is why you see certain things constantly promoted like "Learning Curves", whether or not the project is actually popular with readers or not. Tapastic has a huge number of readers and is trying to capitalize on that, because at the end of the day they are a business. We don't know what the scale of Tapastic's financial involvement is, but the company is trying to branch out beyond revenue through ad and key sales alone. Since there is only so much start up money, Tapastic has to find other ways to make ends meet, such as the Tapas and Bambette shirts. We certainly want them to be successful at all these different branches. Otherwise we could go the way of Inkblazers and shut down.

That said, we aren't sure why Tapastic picked "Learning Curves" as a project to put money into. The concept seems like a bad idea to begin with. From "What's On Tap," it's supposed to be a humorous take on teen pregnancy, its supposed to "start the conversation about biases against pregnant teens" but it just comes off in bad taste to us. On the cover alone, what's that giant pink thing supposed to be anyhow? . . . On second thought, maybe we don't really want to know.

No one here at Golden Plume has any interest in "Learning Curves" because it makes us very uncomfortable.

Which is why this thread started in the first place. Some of us are uncomfortable with certain content. There's a lot of NSFW content on Tapastic, but for the most part, not much is said because it doesn't get the spotlight like what "Learning Curves" has received. And "Learning Curves" is only receiving that much attention because Tapastic likely has money tied up in it. If it was a creator only project it probably would not get any attention at all. NSFW content has a right to be made because people have a right to draw what they want and free speech. But should Tapastic really be getting financially involved with questionable material?

Maybe the reason for Tapastic getting into "adult content" is because adults are more willing/able to buy keys on Tapastic than teenagers. But as others above have pointed out, they are adults and not interested. Maybe Tapastic wants to get into "controversial content" because its buzzy and generates sales like "50 Shades"? No idea, but "Learning Curves" just seems like a bad choice for a new publisher to pick up.

At the end of the day with Tapastic becoming a publisher backing projects, it is going to make some questionable choices. It's part of the learning curve of the business. Hopefully they will stop pushing "Learning Curves" but they probably won't until they recover their investment which means it will continue to get the spotlight until it eventually breaks even and then fades away. Unfortunately the content that Tapastic chooses to promote does reflect upon Tapastic, as both a company and us as creators, which means all of us may lose some potential new readers or current readers because of it.

joannekwan · Jul '16

To me, it just seems like a comic version of Teen Mom, a guilty pleasure sort of thing where people look at it and gawk going "omg, these people are ridiculous. My life is way better than that at least". It also brings to mind a news story of an American high school some years back where a bunch of girls were purposefully getting pregnant as sort of a social status in that school community. Ugh, I can't find an article about it now but I do remember hearing about it.

This discussion could also extend to the novels on the app as I recall there were some really trashy ones. Subsequently, I heard Tapas was partnering with some publisher for these prose works so it's questionable how much say Tap has in the literary content they have.

J.Z.Castillo · Jul '16

Now I'm just sitting here analyzing this trainwreck. Why is she carrying a huge pink cross that is oddly phallic? Why does she have an extra smaller cross if she already has a huge pink penis cross? Why does she look so... evil? Why is her name Virginia when she clearly is not a virginial human? (it would be funny if her zodiac sign was also Virgo). Is she supposed to be an adaptation of the Virgin Mary? (I hope not). Man, idk, Tapastic really dropped the ball on this one hahaha

theawkwarddreamer · Jul '16

Apparently at least one novel got its start on Wattpad, so I have no idea where they're getting the novels. They might want to get a stricter quality control team there, though. Some of the stuff I see in the snack has grammar mistakes that any self-respecting editor would've fixed, and I thought these were going to be traditionally published quality works.

indagold · Jul '16

Maybe it's in the same vein of exploitation films. Maybe you don't need to question it when it itself is an enigma.

quakeulf · Jul '16

I support you 100%.

POST MUST BE AT LEAST 20 CHARACTERS.

michaelson · Jul '16

Hello,

I'll be addressing as many questions, comments and concerns as I can. For those of you more comfortable with talking about this issue privately, you can always reach me at michaelson@tapasmedia.co

First and foremost, we appreciate all the feedback - we as an editorial team can only grow and improve with feedback both good and bad. We take all of these discussions to heart and hope to be as accommodating as possible. That being said, we are not always able to accommodate everyone as our Daily Snack is currently not able to tailor itself to each person's preferences though we do hope to gravitate towards that in the future.

The biggest impact you can have in determining what does and does not get featured is by interacting with the comics and/or books that you'd like to see be featured. Whether it's commenting, subscribing, liking or sharing, each interaction boosts a series' chances of being eligible for a feature.

Of course, every reader has the same power so not everything you read and engage with will get featured - but I firmly believe in the democratization of stories and featuring.

In the Daily Snack for 07-09-16

This is unfortunately outside of our control.

We have done a full audit of our series with Google + Apple and came to an agreement on the 17+ rating for the app. This does mean that there are comics and books that will be featured that are intended for that audience, however, it's not part of the editorial team's agenda to push those kinds of comics. The age rating just opens us up to that option.

I can't really answer this question - but it wasn't exactly to expand the demo.

We try. And honestly, I'll make mistakes.

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the series and wish I could feature it. I respect the creator a lot and have featured their work in the past (god, I hope we're talking about the same person).

A lot of it came down to the amount of nudity in the series along with the theme of BDSM, I've honestly never featured BDSM before so I had some reservation due to that.

We work with publishers and independent creators.

Aspie_Gamer · Jul '16

Y'know...I may as well confess and everybody here please don't hate me for this. The other day while trolling around on the app, I was dead serious about spending some free keys/tapas coins on Learning Curves just so I could say I did because as eye rollingly stupid as the premise sounded, I thought "Hey maybe its a so bad its good webcomic like The Ebola Files"

After reading this thread however and with how uncomfortable every one here is by LC glorifying teen pregnancy in a fetish sort of way, I'm now too grossed out to even think about the comic. Also, to the Tapastic Staff, WHY!?. You are much better than this! I speak for everyone when I say we don't want Tapastic to become the horrifying section of DeviantArt.

BlueWindyHood · Jul '16

Thank you for taking the time to address our concerns, Michael.

I'm curioua, "It wasn't exactly to expand the demo", by that do you mean that that wasn't the goal, or that it wasn't entirely the goal?

Also if I might get clarification on the matter of keys and unlockable content? Does Tapastic benefit financially from lockable content? If so, is it wise to allow that sort of content matter, and the fact that there was some underage sexual content depicted?

carloswebcomic · Jul '16

Nice little public lynching you all got here.
So has anyone here read it before jumping on their sanctimonious soapboxes?

How about doing what normal humans do when they don't like something that doesn't directly affect them?
Ignore it.

noxfox · Jul '16

I believe there is such a thing as being responsible. When you created the App, it was pg13 at first, which means that probably a lot of kids had it –and I know some who did. Unsurprisingly, even after the App was raised 17+, those same kids still have the App. So I wonder if you saw a big drop in your numbers of App users, because if that's not the case, it would be quite safe to assume you still have a lot of underage users. And even then.
It is part of the teen's nature to seek for content that is not suitable for them, it's how we try to evolve into full-fledged human beings, rebelling against authority and rules to affirm ourselves. We all know very well that 12 year-old kids are shameless about playing 18+ games, and that parents are often not so good at controlling what their kids do with their phones, because the kids know how to use those better. We also know that a lot of kids read comics and will absolutely lie about their age if that's all it takes to access more of them.

In this context, I think that's where responsibility comes in. You can say "that's out of our control, let's not do anything about it," or you can say "we still have control in what we show and how we show it, and we'll do what it takes to be responsible of all of our audience because those kids could be ours."

(I quite believe that Beebutts is referring to Consuming Darkness)
Following up with what I said before, I am absolutely puzzled that you would be ok to feature Learning Curves despite the depiction of minors (by US standards) having sex, bearing sexualized religious symbols, etc ...while non-sexual nudity of an adult character is problematic (just so you know, there is no nudity whatsoever in the 10p of introduction episode, and overall only 2 pages out of 22 feature a penis, a bum, and boy nips, all of which are clearly warned of).

I'm not trying to pressure you here, I just don't get the reasoning behind this anymore. Especially considering that Singmire Haze has been featured before despite bearing a lot more non-sexual nudity, mostly of a character who looks like a child.
I fail to see the logic.

The thing is, it directly affects us all. Some of us are directly impacted when the topic of teen preg shows up, no matter it's because we've been there, know someone who's been there, or fear it could happen to us or someone we know. All of us are impacted when such a story can influence kids, who are the future of society, and may end up thinking that getting pregnant at 15-16 is a good way to be popular, or an ok thing, and who cares about the babies even?

Apparently, the story was supposed to be satirical, but after viewing screenshots, it appears to me that it's not funny and very much fails to be satirical. It's confusing, unclear, and quite disquieting.
It's possible to say "it's supposed to be satirical so you have to view it this way," but that's ostrich policy. We're not supposed to read a manual to understand a story. It doesn't matter what the intentions are, it's the result that matters, and if it's not what was expected, it's better to admit it, dump it, learn and go on. Hopefully the authors will do better next time.

Some before said that any story has its right to exist, but I believe freedom of speech comes to a limit when it's about publishing. You can write trash if you want, sure, but it should not be shared with anyone if it's going to be harmful. Freedom of speech for the sake of it is toxic when it allows for hate speech, discrimination, encouraging to unhealthy practices or views of society. So the question for Tapastic and @michaelson here is:

What society do you want? And how do you, as an online-publishing platform, contribute to building this future?

Sure, in the end, this question is an ethical one. But if we have the least hope of ever creating a better society, those are questions that need to be raised. You have the power to promote healthy romance, stories that are progressive, celebrate diversity, tolerance, fluidity of bodies and minds... You can do great things with this power.
The Next Big Thing™ might be just this.

carloswebcomic · Jul '16

Okay, but have you read the story and do you have supporting evidence that it actually glorifies teenage pregnancy?

You say you failed to see the satire. Could that be a fault in your part instead of the story?

noxfox · Jul '16

I could only see screenshots of what was accessible without paying, but I believe that should be enough to judge the story --if not, then it's the authors' fault, not mine. It's not impossible to make an introduction that reflects the story without having to be NSFW or putting a paywall straight away if that's what you want to do. And considering the number of people who also fail to see the satire, I'd rather fault the story. Of course, we may all be biased because the topic is itchy to us, but then again, that's something a good author foresees and addresses.

Besides, the media itself is very poor for what it's going for. As I said before, tapisodes are more alike to WIP, and WIPs are hard to judge. It's very difficult to get the right feeling out of a script. In this regard, again, that's something the authors should have foreseen too and taken in consideration.

Basically, there's only so much responsibility an author can reject before admitting that, maybe, they screwed up in some places.

BlueWindyHood · Jul '16

Actually, I did read it, it does effect me, and it IS a problem.

I'm a person who was traumatized by an unexpected pregnancy by way of rape by an abusive boyfriend, who then abandoned me, while living in a highly conservative, very Christian household, while still a young person. I was threatened with homelessness (specifically being sent to live with the father, who wanted nothing to do with me anymore because by then he was bored, so I would have had no home.)

What's the story about, hmm? A young woman getting pregnant and being shamed by a conservative Christian family and community, presented in such a way that its the young woman's 'fault', and angled in such a way that its 'intended to be humorous satire'. Wow. That hits home in the most uncomfortable ways, and is genuinely sickening. Guess who's spent the last couple of days swinging back and forth between panic attacks and seething rage? This guy. Its not funny. Not for me, not for the other young people who've been through it, or had friends or family go through it, or are the product of it.

On top of that "natural birth reigns supreme and popularity is measured in babyshowers" a paraphrase, but still. What the ever loving fuck. For reference, here's some screenshots I took of parts that I found particularly upsetting.

Not included: an image featuring a 16 year old engaged in a sexual act, a depiction of which is ILLEGAL in the us. The screen cap will not be posted publicly by me, but Michael has it and knows exactly the one I'm talking about I'm sure.

carloswebcomic · Jul '16

Perhaps, but unless they're a professional doing client work, an author has no obligation to work to anyone's standard other than his/her own.

carloswebcomic · Jul '16

I'm sorry that you had to go through that as I can imagine that it must have been horrendous and very difficult, but I fail to see the glorification of teen pregnancy in the story.

What I do see though is the lack of damnation and finger pointing. It seems like it delivers a story in a matter of fact way with little judgement.

Maybe it's because I don't live in the US (I assume you live there) and Christian Conservatives are not a thing here.

JessJackdaw · Jul '16

After regretfully taking a look at it, it seems it's one of Tapastic's premium comics. It's hard to judge from only two pages, and the rest require keys.

Personally, it reads like a typical fetish comic. Does it glorify teen pregnancy? Well I'll let you decide.

Every female character (four, in the first two pages) so far is pregnant. Most don't seem concerned save one that expresses her disblief that she got pregnant. Author expresses the reason why as they didn't know the difference between a "condom and a condominium" at the end of the second page. Girls live in a white conservative town with highly religious moral system. Authority figure English teacher expresses sex is like being a stick of gum, "if you get chewed too many times who's gonna want to chew you after that?"

So ahh... yap. I mean I don't want to get too far into my opinion on the matter. I'm just going to leave that there and let you guys decide for yourselves.

carloswebcomic · Jul '16

I still fail to see the glorification. What it looks like to me is the depiction of the direct result of poor sex education due to a highly conservative society that believes "what they don't know can't hurt them".
What you've quoted there sure sounds like satire to me.
Hey, I could be wrong and everyone else could be right, but that's just the way it looks to me.

BlueWindyHood · Jul '16

You might want to look at one of those screenshots again. They display it pretty well. Or maybe its that you didn't grow up with Christian Conservatives and don't have a foundation for the understanding of Christian Conservative parental guilt trips, but its there.

carloswebcomic · Jul '16

I don't live in the US, so the whole Christian conservative thing is a mystery to me. I don't get it and I don't have much interest in finding out.

Opinions on featured content and why it bothers me

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