I was talking more specifically romance that specializes in the BL category. I'm well aware that romance isn't going anywhere, but the specializations that it has on Tapas' front page is pretty dominating.
[quote="KRWilliams, post:27, topic:41035"]
Also... I'm in-house... I wasn't big anywhere until I won Writer's Camp... Most of the Premium people I know in the novels section as well are homegrown talent.
[/quote]
Okay, but that's not the group I'm referring to. Yes, there are Premium creators who are in-house (especially when it comes to the Novel section), but there are still a lot of Premium creators who were headhunted and brought in solely for $$$. Which is fine, that's the business model, but it's no wonder that there's a blurry line dividing the community from the staff running the site - because they're currently catering to one singular demographic that only makes up a small portion of the community who have been here for a long time already with or without a contract.
[quote="KRWilliams, post:33, topic:41035"]
I think what would help niche genres flourish on Tapas is a better search system, so that readers can find comics they want more easily.
[/quote]
To add onto this thought, it's only just dawned me on me in the last few days that there's no front page fresh section for novels. I understand that Tapas is a webcomic website first and foremost so it would make sense that the Fresh section prioritizes comics, but there isn't even a tab under that Fresh section that can redirect to Novels. You have to go to the "See All Novels" tab (either under popular or trending or wherever you find it) and THEN click Fresh.
Again, they're a webcomic website first and foremost. But why even offer novels as an option to the general masses if it's obviously only going to be meant for those contracted Premium writers? (again, a lot of whom are outsourced and brought TO the site rather than raised on it). I mean, it's clear the novel tools were offered to the general public simply because they wanted to start offering novel works to get a leg up on other platforms (Hiveworks and LINE); when the novelization tools first came out, it was only for Premium creators.
idk I'm tired, it's been a long day and I realize I'm coming across as very snippy/entitled/etc. but like, i been tiiired of tapas for a while now lmao but the website's structure is worth not having to try and run my own website, I've tried that before on several occasions and I'm just not down for it anymore lol
[quote="KRWilliams, post:33, topic:41035"]
I think what would help niche genres flourish on Tapas is a better search system, so that readers can find
[/quote]
Agreed. A proper running search engine should not be such a hard thing to get in this decade. The worst part is is that with websites like this that archive a LOT of URL's and tags and data, the longer you go without making a proper search engine, the more complicated it's gonna get. Reddit has the same issue; their users have been demanding a better search engine for years but the staff keeps putting it off because they know how daunting of a task it is at this point.
And yet the knockoff app that I use for mobile Reddit seems to do it just fine (not without its issues, mind you, but better than reddit's own search engine).
[quote="skicoak, post:34, topic:41035"]
The most bottom feeder porn sites and fishing supply companies have better search engines/features.
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/rodcast.html
[/quote]
listen here bub, i need you to know how big a risk it was to click on that URL right after you had "bottom feeder porn sites" and "fishing supply companies" in the same sentence, jfc