If the requests all come from different people, I don't think it's worth bothering yourself about. Imagine if you just asked someone once to read your comic and they responded with 'No, and I think it's rude of you to even ask'. Feels like a bit of an overreaction...just ignoring them should be fine.
But if any of these people are repeat offenders, I say you're definitely within your rights to tell them off. Clearly, they need to hear you say 'no' if they don't get it yet.
I don't really respond... more than offended I feel saddened... like "I barely get any views in my comic and you want me to sub you out of the blue, and that apart from the fact that ive never seen you before?" Ouch, that stings
I have, I guess, specific traumas about feeling used by others and so this sort of requests out of the blue kind of strike a chord... painfully XD More than anything it's just depressing for me. I barely get messages or interactions and when I do it's mostly people begging for follows and such when they don't even follow me in the first place. Really puts a damper on my self perception and drives my motivation to zero, because it makes me feel like people don't care about my work.
This is just my personal experience, but there are probably others who feel like me...
I have always and will continue to ignore them. If they come back and ask why I haven't responded, then I would politely tell them why it's not the best idea.
While don’t really mind reviewing a story and they review mine, I just don’t got the time for it right now. So I turn those down politely. As for sub4sub I ignore or explain shortly it’s not how I wish to gain my numbers.
Simple, tell them you don't like subs with strings attached/conditions because it's not genuine interest. I'd be fine with people asking to look/review their comic if I at least knew them for a bit. There has to be some kind of relation prior so it doesn't feel out of the blue.
I just sub comics if I like it whether they sub back or not. And I'll unsub if I'm not interested anymore, they can do the same so it doesn't bother me. It's how the world works. But the more I know them the more likely I am to stay subbed... and that's also normal.
This has only happened to me once, the first day I ever uploaded to Tapas and I'm 99% positive I blocked that person cuz like they didn't even read my comic--they're just spamming my DM's.
Like there's a time and place for promotion, and it's in promotional forums--it's not my inbox or my wall.
As for reviews, I never really expect a review back, nor do I...really want one usually, so it's never bothered me. I typically do reviews when I'm bored before going to bed anyway, so I don't care. I have time.
I stumbled across Tapas exactly a month ago, liked the website and signed up. Started a couple of Novel series and within a day, I got about a dozen sub-for-sub messages. It seemed to me that was the way to go here and I adopted the practice.
Yes, I think it’s a good way to network on this popular website. I’d say, if you don’t like it, ignoring is the best way to deal with it; after all it’s just a squiggle on a wall that can be deleted.
And I sent you a Sub-for-Sub request yesterday, I think. 
There's a difference between gaining subs vs gaining readers which I think the latter is much more important. I rather have 10 subs who are invested/interested in my series than 1k ghost subs from subbing to stories I'm never going to read myself. If I were to go and private message people to checkout my story, I would've taken the liberty to check their work first and see if it has any relation to what I make before recommending it to them. Even then I wouldn't ask for a sub for sub. It would be an invitation.
Like if you have a story you'd think I'd like, by all means tell me about it. But the point is there needs to be reason like them seeing my work first and the similarities it may have with theirs.
All in all, it's pretty easy to spot an sub for sub account. You can tell their motive is just to gain numbers, not be invested in your story.
You and several others. 
But if they aren't asking for recommendations? Seems invasive to me, sending PMs is almost like telemarketers calling me. Seems against standard online etiquette if that sort of thing exists. Just because you get lots of spam doesn't mean you should send lots of spam.
Now if someone sent me a message like this:
"Hey I saw you on the forums. I really like your art and your story, can you help me out with my comic by taking a look?"
I would feel far less irritated. It would at least earn you a click. Maybe even gain you a follower and some comments. I swear I'm a pretty nice person! I'd seriously help anyone and those who know me on the forums know that to be true. I put up a "No soliciting" notice on my dashboard. We will see how it goes. Hope it doesn't scare off those "Thanks for subbing" posts, I actually like those. 
I would advise against it. Most people who do this only want their numbers to rise, and that's not real networking. Meaningful networking comes from talking shop, exchanging recs, having genuine conversations.
And if you eventually want to grow with 100s, 1000s, 10000+s of subscribers? You're not gonna get that far with sub4sub. I'm pretty sure sub4sub has a ceiling that is both hard and low.
At the end of the day, the feature exists and people use it. Some people are just simply more invasive than others. I was only giving an example if I were "that person" who just pms random ppl (which I'm not) I would at least taken the steps I mentioned above and find some connection at least. Make an annoying situation less annoying. Some people actually like being reached out to, even if it's sub to sub... each to their own standards. For promoting one's series, I'd just do it where it's appropriate... and some people aren't good judges of that lol.
So yeah, maybe keep that "No soliciting" message there if you don't have much tolerance for it. Hope you find your peace from the telemarketers! You can always block them anyway.
Oh, you can't expect etiquette on the internet 
... at least I tend to assume the worse lol.
I don't think I'd have the nerve to PM someone for a sub for sub...that's what the 100 threads are for XD I post in those...but...I think it's a bit bold to send a personal message...
I guess it's not the worst offense, but...it is a little brash.
Hm...I guess if it happened to me, I'd check out the comic, and if I was interested I might sub, but if not...I'd probably say "no thanks."
Reason being, I'm pretty busy and I'm subbed to a lot of comics already...and I'm terribly behind in reading them o_O (I do try to read everything I sub to.) It's hard to keep up (and I'm slow anyway...)
I think the forum makes sub-for-sub post on people's walls irrelevant. If you wanted people to look at your comic or comics like yours it's much better and expected to post it here. The creator wall is treated as much more of a personal space, a place for updates and such, which is why people find it obnoxious when we see them there (especially when it's not private.) .
Also it's difficult to like the comic/creator of some who sub begs because there's this initial awkward feeling of that person trying to sell you something. I admit I haven't gotten them in a while. I've checked out comics from people I've seen from forum post, art trades, webcomic chats, but never from a sub-for-sub because I didn't go to them first.
I was scared off of Thank You posts because I thought they came across as spammy and people hated them. Haven't done them in a year, maybe I should make some new ones 
I'm not saying it's a good or bad practice but, in a previous discussion on the topic, it was noted that it wasn't much different from Tapas sending us dry suggestions to titles dissimilar from anything else in our libraries.
I know there's an argument that it's their platform but it's really not that unexpected that with the limited means to advertise on site, that people will imitate what Tapas does.
I would love to help but the one time someone asked me to read their novel it was a long time fan of my novels who posted on like all my novels happily. So I just read their novel. It was pretty decent. XD
I don't mind them too much if it is private message. I just ignore them.
The ones that make me very angry are the ones who ask my readers to check out their stuff in my comment section, while totally ignoring my comic. My comment section is very interactive because I put a lot of time and love into making everyone feel included and I always support back my frequent readers. Their work is important to me. It feels so lazy to want attention and support while not giving anything back to others.
At the moment I see the practice as a 'breaking into the limelight' phase. The first steps that lead to 'meaningful networking'. Waiting around hoping that readers will find what I have up in this over-saturated sea of goodies may take too long to keep me motivated.
Getting subs and likes quickly also keeps the work on the popular and trending lists. So yes, if it’s a legitimate means of marketing, I am all for it.
Cheers!
I wouldn't mind~ Well, comic industry is really hard so they need to promote their works in anyways~ if they beg sub, I need to read their comic 1st then if I like it I sub it but if I don't like it then I won't sub it~ What's the point of sub if I don't read em anyway~
I think it's a bit of gamble in some cases, cause personally that would leave a bad taste in my mouth and I'd be turned off from you as a creator / your work. I've never received one of these messages and NOT been left feeling kinda awkward and wanting to avoid the person after. So i'd see it more as burning possible bridges rather than a step in networking.
What I DO like and see as a good step towards meaningful networking:
- Engaging with other creators over forums, instagram, discord
- Participating in collabs or cross promotion due to those interactions
- Messaging or creating fanart of comics I actually enjoy. (Haven't done the second myself, but have met many other friends/creators from them doing this.)
*Edit: By messaging, I mean simply messaging them to tell them keep up the good work, tell them what you like about their work honestly. Not asking them to read or even mentioning your own comic/novel - that just makes the entire message feel disingenuous.
- Being a regular commentor. I'm not on tapas much, but on Instagram I check out followers with art as their profile, or people who comment on my stuff often. I've ended up following a few naturally cause of this.
