Under what conditions would you accept a UNPAID collaboration?

For me, probably under no conditions. Like, I'd respect the advertisement more if it were well-worded, respectful, by someone I trust in the community, for the same reasons you stated. But I am a hobbyist creator who uses art as both a self-care/free time kind of thing, and also for "gig work" when I need to pick up extra money on the side. Obviously I don't want to use my limited hobby time doing projects for other people, and I dont want to use my gig time doing, well, unpaid work.

This may be an unpopular opinion, so please don't take it personally if you have asked for unpaid collabs in the past. Every situation is different and I'm not targeting any specific group of people. But sometimes I have seen threads that are less of the typical "i really want this project to come to life but I dont have skills for this particular part of the project" and more the atypical but EXTREMELY annoying "I want to have a successful project but dont want to put actual effort into pursuing such a thing."

Really, when it comes down to it, you need at least one of the two: money and/or time. For me and my hobby project, I'm okay with dedicating the time and effort, even if it has to go so slowly because of more pressing commitments like my day job. But comics/novels don't just emerge fully formed from nowhere, and if you want to collaborate on a long term project then your team members should be paid what they're worth.

As someone who has definitely flirted with the idea of being the artist half of a comic duo (but never found anyone I was even kinda interested in working with to date), these are the sorts of things I look for and never find in those threads:

• Project length. I swear like 99% of those threads just wanna go pedal to the metal right away and commit to a huge project immediately. That's never ever going to sound like an appealing prospect to me even if the story idea sounds cool lol. For a first time partnership I would want something that could be comfortably completed in a few months maybe, and even after that I don't really want to commit to many many year projects in general- even for my own stuff xD I'm currently writing a long-form series and planning to try and edit it down to be finish-able in like... 2-3 years MAX maybe? And with a few early stopping points built in as well.

• Pitch presentation. Another super unappealing thing for me in a lot of these threads is just how the idea/pitch is presented. A lot of would-be collaborators either need some practice or help learning how to pitch things effectively imo. Some don't even include a blurb about what the story is about and request you contact them privately, some give a blurb that is either too vague or generic to sound appealing, any that don't talk about project length in general terms up front are sketchy (especially since often when asked they're like "oh it's like 500 chapters :D"), and this is a personal quirk but I also don't wanna be linked to a really long google doc with a draft either tbh. I want a strong enough project synopsis to pique my interest and then maybe I'll look at more. But yeah like if I'm genuinely impressed by the idea and think it would be fun to work on then that's a big first step.

• Friend or at the very least someone I recognize lol. The better I know the person the more I'd be willing to compromise on and be interested in working with them. For example a while back I did post on a thread looking for an artist cuz it was someone from the community I recognized. We hadn't actually ever talked I believe but I knew their name and avatar from multiple discussions. It didn't lead to anything but that's the basic idea. I've also had a few irl friends loosely talk about maybe working together on a short project and I'm like "heck yeah, draft something up and we'll take a look at it :D" which... again none of them followed through, but the idea is nice~

1-Do i know/trust the people?, if not, then i ride the nope train.

2-It is entertaining?, if not, then i ride the nope train.

3-A charity from an organization i trust?, if not, then, nope train.

4-Do i have enough time to embark in this?....if not......nope train

Nothing. I can't subsist off good will alone.

In a more detailed answer: I'll work for no pay if the project honestly sounds amazingly interesting and like something I'd be involved in as a hobby. But if it's something that is even remotely like work, then I'm out. Anything with tight deadlines, turn arounds etc. then I'm gone.

Like someone mentioned above probably only if it's a zine I'm interested in or some kind of community collab (like ya'll did for christmas) but other than that the chances of selling me on an unpaid collab, especially when I've got projects of my own I'm looking to pursue, are slim to none.

I might be swayed into something very short like a couple pages but it'd have to hit some of the same points @Rhonder brought up, like pitch presentation, familiar faces, and for me personally shared workload. For a straight up unpaid collab I think the only way a person can make it at least a little worth it is some kind of exchange of services otherwise it's kinda....eh.

If I’m bored. I wouldn’t do a full blown comic or novel but I would happily do art for a novel, a cover, and thumbnail.

1) I have time. Which is rare.
2) I know the person, and they are trustworthy and honest. That's more important than their style or prefered story genre.
3) Both the person and I are aware and fine with the fact the deadline may be changed, but both honestly try to avoid multiple delays.
4) The project is at least somewhat off the beaten track.
5) IP concerns and potential future uses are discussed beforehand.
6) Project is short or in small modules somewhat independent.

• They must be a boyfriend free woman
• Must come over to my house to take care of me and my mom
• Must be a Sonic fan, and a real sonic fan should hate the tacky coloring choices on the Boom remake, so gross
• I must be allowed to take any of the persons characters and put it into my own work with no credit to them what so ever
• Bonus points if you're a CPU

The likelyhood of me jumping onto a thread for unpaid collaboration in this forum is... EXTREMELY low, lol. Even if I'm starting to get to know some of you guys (which is great! Yall are cool peeps) I dunno if I'd be willing to start anything with a stranger or near-stranger without feeling secure in that the project would definitely pay off in some way..
That said, I guess I am doing free work, just in circles of very close frends and on stuff that I'm excited about! I'm in a fanzine, as has been mentioned above, and me and a couple of friends from uni are playing around with a game project idea. So those kind of things are the execption

Something small, I have the time, and it's someone who respects the problem with it being unpaid. Which, usually, means it's a charity zine or someone who really wants to support someone else and pays in other ways, or a friend.

1) If it sounds fun (if I'm not getting money, I'd better at least have some fun)
2) If the collaborator(s) has a talent that I otherwise would never have access to (like GAME DEVELOPMENT)
3) If it'll be a chill, casual experience (I'm okay with having deadlines, but not with chasing them every week)
4) If it's a short term project (that's always nice)

...That's pretty much it. ^^; I'm a relatively easy sell for this kind of thing; the biggest issue is that most unpaid collabs I see don't sound like fun to me.

If it's a charity I really believe in, otherwise if there's someone I admire that I want to do fanart for--I'll just do fanart.

...like to be honest I'm over 30 so I feel like if you can't pay for your collab, you might be so young that it'll be stranger-danger for me to work with you. Older people have expendable cash (usaully. Like right now it's Covid, but in a normal world, people will pay for services)

I'm an artist so what I'm lack off is writing skill. So when I see a "writer looking for artist" thread, I would like to see their their previous/example works. And if they already have a story for the collaboration, beside the summary and genre, I would like to see the ready-to-go script of one or two first episodes. It it's click with my liking, I'll send them my art example, what I good/not good at and what I can't draw as well.
I will skip the I have this idea or dm for more detail threads.

I've made a couple of free art like covers and character design to practice something out of my comfort zone in order ro upgrade my skills. By that I mean drawing something which isn't auto approved by me by default because it's just my art but something that another person would like and accept beecause they like it, not because they paid for it. My art isn't great that's why i do it fo free and I also don't like when ppl charge 20$ for a picture worth to be hanging on their fridge exclusively.

I probably wouldn't accept an unpaid collaboration here on Tapas because a reader probably wouldn't care who drew the pictures if it's not mindblowing. Other platforms, such as Youtube and Instagram (I don't have an Instagram though), I would if they have a large audience, and if I feel like I can help them. I wouldn't collaborate with a stranger on the internet, but if I'm real friends with them in real life I'll collaborate for free.

I will only do it if we've been friends in real life for a long time and some of the characters have to be mine. My friend and I actually do have a collab series of our own.