This person said "popular creators" for a reason: To invoke fear into Tapas staff to make them consider it for financial reasons. That's the only reason I cared to involve popularity levels. Because it's economically relevant for the site and for the post I was replying to.
TBH for me it's less about what they intended and more about what they have the capability to do now that they have switched around their ToS and retroactively applied First Right of Refusal. You're getting on people for "flipping out" but imo it's perfectly reasonable for creators to be wary? I get why overreaction annoys you but it's good to be cautious about things like this.
And why, pray thee, should we be doing that? I don't see any benefit at all for creators other than a bullying annoyance.
Also, to make sure, how does this work retroactively? Say, someone joined Tapas long ago but has since left the site but still kept their comic archives on their account and has decided to publish without even knowing about the new rules - would that affect them too, or only people who actually have used the site lately?
Like if you start posting here and then get an offer from some other place you go, "Oh hey, Tap, this place is offering me 12k a month for my work. Can you beat that?"
If they can't, they'll just let you go. Good for you, you're getting 12k a month from some other place.
If they can beat that, then WOW, really good for you!
It's just business savvy imo.
Caution is one thing, and caution requires calmness. The way people are running around like headless chickens going "I'M LEAVING!!! I'M LEAVING!!!! YOU ALL FUCKING SUCK!!!!" right now with huge wallposts claiming tapas has gone full dick mode to screw us all is plain immature and irrational.
Sit the fuck down and chill the hell out. Geez.
I haven't seen an irrational emotional mess like this since high school.
Edit: Oh who am I kidding, this is the internet and people love their drama. EVERYTHING online is the end of the universe.
I've said my piece.
I feel pretty calm. I'll just repeat:
First Right of Refusal has no place in a website's Terms of Service, full-stop.
There's really no defense for it.
Yes, we absolutely need to wait for Tapas to come out and clarify this.
However, the problem is that this is absolutely restricting our rights as creators to our own work. @AkivaMCohen, the lawyer that chimed in, theorizes that this even could apply to self-publishing our works. Tapas absolutely needs to clarify this immediately. Just because your series is big doesn't mean you should disregard the fact that this does negatively impact everyone on the site.
I publish my series on other sites so if they intended to use it in that manner I would be in trouble too.
But I am not going to worry until I see a confirmed reason to.
I'm not freaking out or leaving (yet at least. Gonna wait for tapas to give a statement) but I'm iffy about the fact that the wording is really open. I'm not savvy with legalese but it could impact also self publishing and that's what I'm honestly worried about. And the fact that First Right of Refusal is actually something that publishers PAY to have from creators, not take for free. :/
Yep exactly right. Honestly it's beneficial to creators that this is in the ToS. It's good to know that I have Tapas as a bargaining chip if another publisher offers a bid to my work. Now I have two competitors that must bid against each other and I get the highest bidder. And honestly most of us aren't even going to notice or use this. People are just spreading fear.
But I already am making money elsewhere. Why should I warn Tapastic, first? This place is not special, its business practices are awful, the forums are nearly dead, lots of functionalities are buggy, the same 4 comics are promoted over and over again, and now this? 
There is nothing business savvy in Tapastic. They're on their way to their doom.
Thanks for clarifying this @joannekwan and potoo
definitely hard for me to understand legalese. I'm still wary and I'm waiting for Tapas to come forward and clarify tho
I don't have to explain anything to you. Read what I said earlier, if you are interested in why I'm still here.
Oh gosh... This thread is a headache... Look can you guys chill a bit? Tapas is currently working on addressing this so just as @johnvincent suggested, chill and wait. I want to stop refreshing this thread for a bit and take a break from moderating.
Between this and the problem with visibility thread... The forums are more active then usual today.
I have sent michaelson a message about this notifying him of the mess and asking for a statement to calm the storm. I hate to bother him about it, but I think it's the only thing that will put breaks on this panicked development.
I'm sure nobody on Tapastic cares about the mirrors of my obscure-ass comics that I had here. There's like maybe four dozen people subscribed to them here. One of them has been on hiatus for longer than Tapastic has existed.
Nevertheless, Tapastic's retroactive grabbing of right of first refusal does not sit well with me, so I've deleted them.
I know about the internet mob mentality so I'm not freaking out or spazz-deleting my comic so quickly since Tapas has done me more good than harm and I have no plans for publishing right now, and this could be an easy fix with a more specific wording, though maannnn people are dropping out fast or are making plans to. XD
I don't know those behind Tapas so I can't say what was on their minds here, I seriously doubt their intentions with this thing were malicious, but welp, it's up to them now.
