Serious talk: the forum needs improvements

[Tubacabra]

@stiatent They do have an option to select the genres that interest you, but I have never once seen them actually use my selections.

Just tried it again: Apparently the favorite genres option is just another way to search. They should absolutely apply those filters to their homepage. Maybe then I won't get spammed with things I have never once expressed interest in.

Read From a Ruined World | Tapas Web Community

Don't forget to like and subscribe. (This is me being part of the problem and not the solution).

[Gdhgj]

@Tubacabra Everyone here is having an honest conversation about things that can be improved, as well as fellow creators' concerns about the Forum and Tapas. And you're here dropping your link and tagging people to subscribe to your story, which is out of place in this thread since it is not a promotion. Please learn how to read the atmosphere and respect your fellow Tapas creators. This will not take you anywhere; you will just be looked at as a sore thump.

[MelancholicOtaku]

I’m trying to find that balance between promoting my novel but not spamming my novel in every promotional thread that I see.
Sub 4 sub seems like the easy choice but I want something better.

[Tubacabra]

@itsforevermonday Believe me, I have plenty of experience being looked at as a "sore thump". That was basically my social position in highschool. Thanks for bringing back some bad memories!

As for the "disrespect" that I'm showing to my fellow creators, it was purely meant to be a joke. I apologize if I offended you, but I also don't see anything wrong with me including a link to my story as a footnote. I never told the link to be that big...

[vfaqvrf]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[Vayvaction]

staff pick is most of the time the same popular series

[ThunderChicken]

Staff pick is almost identical every week. Rarely, a new one will show up.

[BellaTheCow]

Nevertheless, I thank you for your input, I need as much info as I can get. @NickRowler and @abigaillmartin

Wishing everyone here the best of luck! ️

[joannekwan]

I understand that. Thus I was surprised when a smaller novel showed up
So some evidence they are looking, even as mentioned before it's a herculean task to sift through all of the series on the site with new ones going up every day.

[MelancholicOtaku]

Maybe smaller and unknown authors will be featured more. I’ve seen some amazing works in this community.

[stiatent]

@Tubacabra oh didn't know that, yea sucks if they don't stick with our selections, hopefully they update it.
The Tapas admins have always been friendly and helpful whenever I reached out on helpdesk, hope they stumble here and become inspired by everyone's suggestions
Yhep those filters should definitely apply to homepage too, like YouTube. It's what makes YouTube addictive for most bec the suggestions feed you similar topics, songs and movies. A higher chance for Tapas to keep others outside the Romance fanbase glued to their website and not feel overwhelmed by the default Romance catalogue.

[incoMan]

putting the premium comic alert with the messages was the worst thing they ever did, I even emailed them about it

[Leyelle]

i mean, only promoting the premium ones makes sense from a business stand pont, so i get that

[Vayvaction]

It just the fact it basically the same one

[aquashark]

I don't think there are many readers at all anymore i see like one or two accounts that are dedicated to reading but everyone else is a creator. I generally think the forums themselves need to be advertised more on the tapas apps and webpage. You can find it if you press more but there's not anything in place to actually encourage readers to find new stories on it.

I think the main problem though is that forums are going out of style completely. As much as I don't want to admit it as a person that stays clear from most forms of social media but outlets like tik tok, twitter, Instagram and even reddit have grow vastly more popular than forums like this. Because of this its more beneficial to promote on those platforms but some people don't like to go near them or don't have to time to make the promotional material that some of these platforms need.

[king-goldfish]

There's an interesting discussion going on right now on similar topics on the Tapas Discord, in the #general channel. Discussion starts yesterday afternoon and goes through this morning.

I thought this was really interesting because it has some insights from long-time creators who used to be contracted with Tapas about how the site has been failing its community creators over the past few years and why. And probably I am just slow on the uptake, but I learned a lot about how Tapas is actually run from this discussion.

[BellaTheCow]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[BellaTheCow]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[Selfmaiden]

I am aware that most people here are creators, but I am not sure if "The problem" actually is a problem.

I am pretty much of an extrovert-artist and I like to talk to other people about my art. Soooo... I used to get into contact to other artists on Deviantart the same way as I did here. Forums on Deviantart basically work the same way and I went there to promote my stuff, get to know a bubble of really nice other artists and talk to them, to have company on my way. - Do I expect to find COSTUMERS here? No way! But I did actually find artist whos writing style matches mine and with whom I can totally develop alongside.

Some day I will have a healthy bubble of supporters (whom I support aswell), so I do not get bored and frustrated posting into an empty void and then I will maybe not be seen in the forums as much to be completely honest, but I do not think this is a problem. This is just what I am using the forums for.

Especially because as far as I see it there are special places here to post and share your stories and others that are just for talking about other stuff. So it's not necessarily the way that "spamming own stuff" must disturb the others.

[caffeinatsun]

As a kind of miscellaneous aside for posters here who are frustrated by the community feature (or lack thereof) diversity—I just found a section in the Tapas Discord where they ask for submission for community pieces to feature in events. I think it’s titled #readingchallengesubmissions or something to that effect, but might be a good thing to keep tabs on for creators who are looking for that. Not a forum improvement suggestion, just something I wish I’d known existed before yesterday. But alas, twas not meant to be.