Staff pick genre bias

[godotdrawing]

I thought it was a pride month kinda thing. As for the general romance stuff, BL/GL included, I figure it's sweet and probably it's really the most popular content... generally.

[Ranty-cat]

Tbh I have been seeing romance and BL genre being in Staff pick a lot from the very beginning....

Other than that, I agree. It’s a popular genre. Still, this is more reason other genres should get more spotlights, imo.

[darthmongoose]

It might be worth factoring in the numbers of each genre on the site. I'd generally expect the genre of staff picks to be roughly proportional to the number of comics in each given genre, so if there aren't many mystery picks, I wouldn't be surprised because there aren't all that many mystery comics, so there are overall fewer polished ones that meet Tapas' requirements or standards for a feature.

It's also worth considering the popularity of genres on the site, and whether Tapas is trying to give the existing audience what they want and get more readers of similar works by prioritising works similar to the ones already being read, or whether they want to try to shift the audience in some way by featuring other genres to attract new readers. There's certainly been discussion lately among a lot of people I chat to about the very strong push of heterosexual Romance titles, especially in premium, despite the most popular genre on the site being BL, and whether that's Tapas deliberately trying to make the front page "less gay", or whether it's simply a consequence of Kakao's mandate to localise, publish and promote their library of works in North America as part of the partnership deal, and it just happens that much of their library is straight Romance. It's hard to say for certain. I don't know what goes on inside Tapas.

[godotdrawing]

Yeah, where all my scifi at maaaan?

[starless]

But in mobile, Comicsfeed is 90% BL (not even that many GL). I don't know how Comicsfeed is selected.

Still, in either way it seems Tapas favors certain genres for sure.

[Darth_Biomech]

They will promote stuff that brings them money, an it seems that at least they believe that their audience is only interested in romances and BL. And apparently it's working since they do get profit. This is the harsh reality of running a business, unfortunately, I wouldn't expect anything to change unless the site's auditory (and it's tastes) change. Meanwhile here's another 100 suggestions about desperate love between a simple girl and a noble.

[darthmongoose]

But in mobile, Comicsfeed is 90% BL (not even that many GL). I don't know how Comicsfeed is selected.

Making a guess from the fact that the "feed" says it's "trending comics", perhaps it's BL dominated because it's picked by an algorithm, not a person, so since BL is the most popular genre on the site, if you just picked titles based on engagement algorithmically, perhaps you would actually expect to see mostly BL?
The other possibility is that unlike Staff Picks, which based on observation seem to have some kind of guideline or rule where a specific portion have to be premium titles, and to showcase different genres, that the feed is picked by staff members with less oversight and rules and those staff members happen to be BL fans?

[Ranty-cat]

I understand all your points.
One thing to point out to argument about business promotion and genre popularity, I don't know, but webtoon has better business and their front page is not bl or romance dominated. I think the front page of webtoon provides equal spotlight to all.

[starless]

The series appeared in Comicsfeed are very repetitive too so it's even more confusing to guess. I see the same BL work over and over. Maybe you're right. Some staff members who don't have to promote premiums really love their work or their series must be super popular in terms of algorithm.

[GloamingCat]

I'm 90% sure the comics feed is algorithm based, so it's expected to have lots of BL and the same already-popular titles because that's what the readers read. There are a few titles that are hand-picked though, but these ones are marked with a yellow "staff pick" tag at the bottom, and they aren't always BL.

[franzvanderlinde]

The Popular feed is algo-based, the home page is mostly staff picked if I get this right. You can noticed that these dominating genres also have heavily advertised titles (sometimes even in Twitter or other media) with higher quality marketing material, so it is really a biz move. All of this is fine since Tapas aims for a niche, what I just wonder is if there are other platforms more suited for other genres/focuses.

[Ranty-cat]

Even from this survey, BL or Romance doesn’t seem to be nowhere near the top popularity. https://forums.tapas.io/t/favorite-genres/60351

BL has only 8% wherein Fantasy and sci-fi has more. Fantasy has 37!

wonder how this algorithm functions. Must have its own mind and preferences similar to humans.

[darthmongoose]

Even from this survey, BL or Romance doesn’t seem to be nowhere near the top popularity. https://forums.tapas.io/t/favorite-genres/60351

The people on the forums are pretty much all creators. If you asked a bunch of film makers their favourite movie, almost none of them would say "Transformers", but clearly audiences love those movies because they're some of the most popular ever made.
What creators like and what the wider audience likes aren't the same thing, and creators only make up approximately 3% of the total Tapas userbase.

[Ranty-cat]

That’s true. Businessmen selling their contents to other businessmen is not a good strategy. That's why I find the promotional section so ironic.

[Kaydreamer]

This is a common critique of both Tapas and WEBTOON, but while WEBTOON have been getting a little more balanced, Tapas seems to be going in the opposite direction, with romance being pushed heavily. I think it's more profitable in the short term, though I'm concerned about the long-term ramifications of it. Creators working in 'smaller' genres, such as myself with sci-fi, tend to lean into WEBTOON as our 'main' platform because (at least in my experience) we feel less neglected there.

If this trend continues, I worry for Tapas. Long-term, I think WEBTOON are aiming to acquire a diverse library of quality titles in a range of genres appealing to a broad audience. They have their eyes on the long goal, and are fine with promoting less 'profitable' genres more equally in pursuit of that goal. Tapas, with its focus on romance and slice-of-life, will likely find itself appealing to a far narrower audience.

EDIT
I know it probably seems like I have it out for Tapas, because I critique it often, but I have a huge fondness for this platform. Tapas was my platform of choice as a reader, way before I started my own comic. It has way more tools for creators, especially where audience interaction is concerned. And it has an amazing community. So it breaks my heart to be making these predictions, but I also feel like the only way to stop them from coming true is to point them out.

[Ranty-cat]

Exactly. I couldn’t agree more. That’s also my point..

[VibrantFox]

a lot of folks who've been on the site forever all already aware of issues in balancing the promoted content on tapas most of it tho does seem to be algorithm based while staff picks specifically fall under the metrics/guidelines mentioned in this thread

Hi All! At Tapas, we’re always looking for the best ways to feature as many creators as possible! With a seemingly endless number of comics and novels consistently updated on our platform, we needed a way to share series that are hidden gems within our community, for both established and new creators. With this in mind, the Staff Picks section was born! Numerous creators have had their work featured and have gained exposure for their comics or novels. But how is the selection process actual…

admissibility there does feel like there's a bit of bias or at the least a fault of constantly falling to the same genres, creators and so on, which isn't to say that any of these folks don't deserve the spotlight they're working hard on their series just as much as anyone else but these promos fail to show a more accurate picture of what's on the site as a whole which not only leads to creators suffering but the platform as a whole. like anyone whose done a ton of browsing and digging beyond the front page and tapss' own features you'll see there's tons of varying and unique comics and novels on the platform but unless there's folks who're able to take the time to look for these or give suggestions it becomes much harder diversify these main promo spots.

one suggestion i remember being brought up tho i've no clue what it's longevity was was to have community members offer suggestions (those community picks i think they were?) but idk it's a very weird and old and persistent problem on the site that will have consequences one way or another

[Ranty-cat]

That’s truly unfortunate. Only thing that Tapas provides me which makes me return to it, is the novel publishing feature which Webtoon lacks. The day webtoon gives the platform to post novels, I'll delete Tapas.

[mlocik97]

I totally agree,... it's why I prefer Webtoon more... not that Tapas is bad, it's just focused on the different things. Thriller, SciFi, Horrors are totally out of scope here... Fantasy and Action is ok on Tapas, but still it's not like on Webtoon... 80% of Tapas content is BL

[domisotto]

What @darthmongoose said, plus, ahem, forums usually draw less popular creators, because most of the popular ones don't really need forums. They get all the comments and interactions they need from their works' engagement.