Updated Site + Terms and Services

[AffectedMind]

Maybe due to growing popularity of the app it is more visible now, but it was definitely not on the first position when I was looking for it : P

[joannekwan]

For Google searches you can put a "-" before a word, no spaces, and it'll omit any hits related to that word. So say you're looking for this site, you can type in "tapas -food" into the search bar and the site will come up as the first result.

[AffectedMind]

Didn't work for me tho

[joannekwan]

I guess what hits come up varies by region ( ་ ⍸ ་ )

[Cronaj]

Lol, I know, right? I kept getting redirected to a Spanish restaurant every time I typed in "Tapas" in the browser before the update.

[NanettesClouds]

Filter bubbles might also play a role. For me if your search "Tapas Comics" you find it in google. App store "tapas" puts it as the top result for me. It's probably just a matter of time before Google starts putting Tapas.io higher up when people search for "tapas"

[GoldenPlume]

Wells Fargo currently has a commercial on YouTube where the customer is talking about going for Tapas (tah-pah-sss). Kinda want Tapamon to jump out from his breast pocket.

[jjfresh]

.io is just a recent trendy thing. .com is no longer necessary, people can have custom domains. Did you know there is a recent one with .art?

ALSO, can someone please fix the scrolling feature. I'm reading and when I click the button, it brings me two pages up before going to next page. I think it may be because I'm scrolling and then I click the button. I don't know but either way it's really irritating.

EDIT: I take that back, navigation in general is broken. If I scroll up a little to see the top of the page, it jumps me to the previous page. It jumps around a lot in general. And then sometimes it jumps me one or two pages back. Please fix this, it's very irritating. If it's somehow just me, then wai

[jjfresh]

Really? That's probably because tapas is an Italian word for "snack" or small dish. I think it's Spanish too, but I learnt it from an Italian.

Hence why the app says "Time for your daily snack."

[hushicho]

Again, less opining on the "community guidelines". There are hardly "plenty of places" online to post more explicit works online. There are, to mind, one or two. It may seem like this is a minor quabble, but this is a major problem -- claiming this will only spread the misinformation that there are so many places online that welcome progressive platforms that accept and even embrace more explicit content than this one. Please remove the offending sentence.

[LordVincent]

One or two?? I could think of ZERO comic platforms open to publish freely on that are intended for mature content. If you know any, please do tell me.

[kabocha]

Perhaps this is on me for not noticing before, but when was the "Right of First Refusal" section added to the terms of service, and why is it there?

[PotooGryphon]

Right of First Refusal

1. If user desires to sell, license, exercise or otherwise dispose of, indirectly or directly, any rights or any interest in any content posted on the Platform (the "Offered Right"), then the user shall give written notice to Tapas Media of such desire. Commencing upon Tapas Media's receipt of such notice there shall be a 30 day period in which user will negotiate in good faith with Tapas Media for Tapas Media's acquisition of such offered rights. If by the end of 30 days no agreement has been reached or if at anytime Tapas Media declines interests in the offered rights, then the user shall be free to negotiate elsewhere with respect to such offered Right.

2. Written notifications can be sent to content@tapasmedia.co with subject 'Offered Right.'

If I'm reading it right, it sounds like it's there for more established creators that want to pitch their content to publishers in hopes of getting picked up. Like for instance a creator that started publishing for free on Tapastic and then later decided to proposition them a serious offer for them to buy rights to their content series. It sounds like just legalese for establishing that transfer of rights ownership should it come up.

I don't think this will effect most of us on the site.

[kabocha]

That's how I interpreted it as well. However, it still strikes me as concerning even if it won't affect too many folks on the site.
Hypothetically, what if someone is using Tapastic as a mirror, and then is approached by a publisher? Do they then still need to notify Tapas of the offer made by Publisher 1 and enter into negotiations?

Subsequently, how quickly would it be reasonable to expect Tapas to respond to such an inquiry? The negotiation period is 30 days, but how do we know that in the case of such an offer, Tapastic won't sit on the email and let that period play out? The only one required in this section to negotiate in good faith is the user (though I suppose it would then be assumed that Tapas would ALSO be expected to do so).

Seen folks get burned before, which is why I'm concerned. ^^; I suppose the easiest way to get out of it is to simply delete one's account on Tapastic before entering into any other agreements.

[GoldenPlume]

It's basically squatter's rights. Tapas wants first crack at anything that could potentially yield large profits.

We can partially understand where they are coming from. For example, if Tapas saw a new series pop up on their site, such as One Punch Man 2.0 and they started heavily promoting it, and it took off and became a huge hit, then yeah, Tapas should get first right of refusal, that's only fair. After all they put forth a lot of effort and resources in helping the series succeed.

However we don't agree with these rights if the creator alone does all the legwork, spent all the marketing money out of their own pocket, really built up a huge following all on their own and then Tapas rides in to reap the harvest when a third party comes around and offers some serious cash for a series.

In that situation a creator could just delete their account and then proceed with negotiations. Tapas couldn't do much to enforce these rules other than subpoena the creator's email records to see when the offer was first made and take it all to court. Given the company's size, can't see them using up all of their time and resources fighting a legal battle over a webcomic, unless it becomes a multi-million dollar franchise, which seems highly unlikely.

Another potential work around is to simply submit the series as a pitch to the submisions@tapas.co address before starting to post. Most likely a creator is going to get rejected. Then later they can use that email to prove that Tapas gave up their first rights already.

[Kayke]

I got excited when I saw that added to the terms of service. Rights of First Refusal can be a good tool for artists trying to get published. I actually have two written into my contract with my current publisher.

The first one I added, saying that I get the right to decide if I want to work on another book if they decide to continue the series I'm working on before they'd be able to ask another artist/writer. The second is more like what we've got here, which is that my publisher has the right to decide if they'd like to make an offer to publish whatever book I write next.

Tapastic is doing something similar, just with a project you're already working on and posting on their site. This is cool for two reasons:
1. AUTOMATIC EYES ON YOUR WORK. If you're going to start pitching your comic to publishers, Tapastic is asking to be the first to see it and make an offer. It's not guaranteed that they'll make an offer, but at least they'll take a look which is more than some publishers might do if you're sending your comic to them unsolicited.
2. Healthy competition. If you get an offer from another publisher, you can contact Tapastic and let them know, and once again they might make an offer. If they do, this is a bargaining chip for your contract negotiation! You get to tell the interested publisher that there's another "interested party who has made an offer" and give yourself better leverage in negotiating a contract with whoever ends up offering you the best terms, Tapas or the other guy.

Chances are another publisher or host wouldn't want you to also have your comic up on Tapas for free if they're paying you for it, so if you're comic is popular on Tapas they might offer you a good deal to keep it on their site. Or they might offer you better terms when it comes to copyright or something, since they're into creator owned comics. At the very least it would give you things to consider. It's not like a little mermaid thing where you have to agree to whatever terms given to you and Tapas owns your voice now, it's just giving Tapas the chance to negotiate with you and see if you can reach an agreement that works for everyone.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the 30 days thing. If you tell your interested party that you have another party with rights of first refusal and you have to contact them (or something even vaguer, you don't HAVE to give them the full dealio) and they freak out and give you a week to make up your mind... that's probably a red flag. In editorial, there are a lot of fast and loose contracts flying around, but in publishing a contract can take a lot of time to get ironed out and professionals know that. There are plenty of predatory publishers out there so you should always take the time to really look over any contract and get a few other sets of eyes on it as well! Especially if this is a comic that you've been putting your heart into for a long time, you're going to want to think long and hard about how much it's worth to you and what things you're willing to be flexible about. I don't currently have an agent, but I was lucky enough to have a few agents offer to look over my contract for free and help me figure out things I should ask for in my terms.

[PotooGryphon]

I moved 4 posts to an existing topic, since they were less about the updated site + terms and service discussion and more discussing concerns about the direction Tapastic as a business is going: The core issue of Tapastic

[hushicho]

A bit better now; at least it says there are plenty of places to find that content online, which is technically true. It's still a little misleading, but at least it's not patently false anymore.

I will say here and now that I do not like this right of first refusal now shoehorned into the terms. I own the rights to what I post here. I have to have the right to maintain mirrors, and I am not about to be restricted in my ability to allow things like translations, crossovers, exchanges, and so forth.

If I'm doing a pitch and intend to remove my series entirely from Tapastic as a platform in order to take a profitable publishing or licensing deal after Tapas promoted my stuff to the hilt, I enrolled in their program to offer collected comics for money, and in general Tapas engaged me on a professional level...sure, they've done something to deserve the offer and have a real stake in the title. But if I choose to come to Tapas and post my work, receiving only the meager pittance that the ad revenue provides and no promotion, no sale agreements otherwise, nothing...I shouldn't have to notify them at all, about anything. We are not in an exclusive commercial relationship. The phrasing of this section of the terms is absolutely unacceptable, regardless of what people assume it means. It needs to be clearer about the terms specifically of this right.

You don't just get to assume "any rights or any interest" from people just posting a comic here, and I have no intention whatsoever of conceding them exclusively to Tapas by the sole grace of them being a comic host. That's not how this business works.

[Devika]

I can almost guarantee that by the time I have a comic up and running and far along enough to pitch to publishers, I will have completely forgotten about this first refusal clause. It's, uh, unusual to say the least. But as @Kaykedrawsthings said, it could be a good bargaining chip...

[kabocha]

Putting the Right of First Refusal aside a min here:

Why does the ToS Page keep showing near-daily updates? Right now, it's showing "1 hour ago Updated"
https://help.tapas.io/hc/en-us/articles/115005545248-Terms-of-Service

I've compared it to previous versions I've saved, as I've noticed it "update" a few times over a the past few days. There are no actual changes. I'm concerned because if it's getting flagged as updated on a daily basis at this point. How the heck are people supposed to know if this represents an actual change without tracking it each time?