All I know is, if I don't get selected, there still a chance to be a premium on Tapas, and if I had enough guts, I'd try Lezhin as well (even though the chances are pretty much smaller and I'd have to make a new webtoon oml)
And I think I learned a lot from this contest, I'm comparing my drawings with the ones I drew last year, and I can see a big improvement 
Dudes, don't get discouraged.
Take it from someone who's had their comic promoted by Webtoons five times, it's a double-edged sword. Yes, you get a huge increase in views while the promotion is up, but the minute it comes down it stops like a tap being turned off. You'll also likely get a huge increase in subs, but it's been my experience that the bulk of those subs won't convert into regular readers and won't increase the number of likes or comments.
And that's how it can hurt you, because Webtoon's popularity ranking works on an algorithm, and if if sees you've got a whole bunch of views and subs with a relatively modest amount of reader interaction, your ranking is going to be punished, and your series buried behind brand new webtoons with comparatively much lower sub and view counts.
What I'm trying to say is being promoted is not the be all and end all of reader engagement.
Yes, some comics are being promoted while most are not, and some people are coming into the competition with already large and loyal audiences, but do we have a reason to believe that Webtoons will score the audience engagement element of the score on raw numbers alone? Aren't they just as likely to look at the views and subscriber counts in context? And to measure the number of likes and comments against those numbers? I think so. At least, I hope so.
Hi! Im new here i just want to know is there anything like downvote because it's weird i've just published my webtoon and somehow everytime it got upvoted there'll be massive downvote so the rating fall really fast. and i just want to publish and gain audience not even thinking of winning the contest. man, this hurts a lot.
Purely anecdotal, but it looks to me like they sorted their down voting problems sometime during late 2016 to early 2017. Very few who started a comic before then has a score over 9, whereas few who started afterwards have one under 9.
You do need to get a bit of an audience though for the score to be a true reflection of audience reception. If you've only got a handful of subs and someone comes along and down votes you, that can still knock your score way down.
Also, even when you do get a good score and then someone knocks it down by just a tiny amount, it still hurts. I don't think that ever stops. You've just gotta believe in your work and press on I'm afraid.
Thanks for replying! I just feel a bit down since i thought rating is an indication for clueless readers(beside thumbnails etc) to decide whether they want to check webtoon, atleast for me though. and it's weird because i think it's only my entry atm that gets downvoted, i saw entries of the same genre uploaded at the same time still have that fresh 10 rating. well, maybe just my luck.
I made a forum account just to respond to this because I have the similar experience...mine got downvoted down to something like 6-7+ on the very same day I uploaded my comic and it's been trying to get out of that ever since. I looked around and most of the people who uploaded around the same time didn't get downvoted as much and still manage to retain their 8s and 9s so it feels a bit disheartening haha.
Can I share my ignorance for a moment. I had no idea what up voting or down voting was.
So I went to my webtoon account and low and behold I can rate (did not know that) because I go there to read and like and leave.
So I left a 10 to every comic I subscribe to. They deserve a great score for all their hard work.
Omg I recognize your avatar cz i read your webtoon like, yesterday? And yes yours deserve much better treatment. IKR? why only yours, mine, and select few who got downvoted into oblivion. mine just barely touch 6 and i hurriedly use my alternate google account to make it 7 again. I rechecked other entries of the same genre uploaded around the same time, they are still at 10. What is wrong with mine haha it really is disheartening.
Don't take the rating at heart. It doesn't actually mean anything. I even emailed webtoon about it for the contest and they don't check the rating AT ALL. Other people have 8-9 thanks to an already existent fanbase to create a wall against those 1/10 haters. To be honest, as contestant to contestant, I spotted your webtoon the day you posted and my first reaction was: This one is dangerous. It's actually good. SO DON'T GET DISCOURAGED BY THE RATING!
I subbed to yours a few days ago because I looked at it and went, "This will make it to the featured section for sure!" Your art is amazing and certainly has inspired me to keep at it! Don't be discourage by the ratings. It's a fluid thing but then it ends up stabilizing. You're work is amazing!
Your art is PERFECT for webtoons, well above the quality necessary to get featured. Really nice work. I'm 100% sure you'll end up in the high 9s by the time you upload a few more episodes. But like someone already mentioned, the rating isn't used for anything. I highly doubt it even factors in to the popularity ranking algorithm.
The only thing I can see that could possibly have caused people to downvote your webtoon is the size of the font. It's not that small for me, but I do know that the audience can be quite particular with that sort of thing.
Considering audience engagement, people shouldn't get too stuck on the actual numbers. The 40% most likely aren't to be valued at exactly 40%, because you can't properly scale such diverse values and compare them to each other to get hard numbers. It basically just means it gets taken into account, but the judges decision has more weight to it. Popularity will help with a decision, but it won't be the mayor factor.
It's like owning 51% of a company. Everyone else can give their opinion, but in the end, the big fish got the last word. They mention a high number for audience engagement to make clear they understand that you have to listen to the audience to some degree. It's basic logic in entertainment that you need to cater to the audience, not the other way around.
We don't know their pointing system. Nobody said you will get points in popularity to get added to the points you get from the judges to do some simple math. It's highly unlikely to work this way.
This is a beautiful and inspiring mindset. I wish way more people would share it instead of getting discouraged. Of course, winning would be nice and numbers can be harsh, but we should focus on doing our best and improve instead of seeing this as a one way track.
I think, after a few episodes, it should even out! When I uploaded mine, it was like 9 something, then it dipped down to 6, then 7, now it's 7.5 lol. I only have one episode up so far so I'm hoping it'll do better.
I also think yours is more likely to do well because of the art style/genre. Don't get discouraged 
