We were nothing but training wheels

[mariusthered]

After five years here at Tapas I am saddened to say this is the last post i make in this forum. This not a huge attention grabbing drama post, what would be the point now my mind is made up and I begun moving my comic to another site.
Although i do have a few choice words to say, more to make free comic makers like me think about things than to try to appeal to the deaf ears of the big wigs who have betrayed us.

First of all I want to thank the people who have given me lots of fun and support down the last five years here on this forum, it saddens me to do this but I have just had enough.
I would also like to thank @ratique for her hard work and dedication to this forum and those of us who use it.

---

This has been coming for a long time, and i was trying to think of a compassion to the situation, the best I can come up with is training wheels. And back when this site was young and called Taptasic we free comics were indeed the training wheels, and being here was lots of fun and we were welcomed by all.
But then the huge amount of web traffic from our free comics made you grow, got you deals and recantation and you became Tapas. The training wheels were not wanted anymore, but what to do with us? you could not segregate us in a free section, we would not have had that (and why risk drawing attention away from paid comics!) then all the glitter came with novels and writers were the big new thing. the training wheels have been cast aside and forgotten

I stuck by and stayed last time this site went up in arms and some of the really big names and very talented people walked, and I'm sorry I did.
You really should consider what this site has become when they don't even give people a choice and now the whole site is bland and lifeless. nothing but a cheep copy of the rival company and set up for mobiles.

I have already taken down two of my comics and only leave the last one for my readers to know my actions, but i do so with a very heavy heart.

All my old friends and you free webcomic creators, I wish you well.

regards
Marius.

[silverraven0]

That’s disheartening. I do wish you’ll come to the forum time to time though, but if not I hope you’ll do well on the other site.

[draweththeraven]

good luck on the other site! i've started putting my comic up on additional platforms and might never premiere my other ideas on Tapas... i saw the transformation slowly happen since i began on here a couple of years ago but it took reading this to make it set in that this platform really isn't made for free creators. it's just not accessible or unique anymore. thanks a lot for helping me reconsider launching my other stories here!

[DualDragons]

Sad to see you go man, i haven't known you for too long but i do have some fond memories from the roleplaying thread.
I wish you good luck though!

[PapaDom]

I shed a tear after reading this.
Good luck on your journey, lone wolf.

[LostSpirit]

I don't know you. Not one bit. But this broke my heart to read.

[mariusthered]

smile , i still have people who love me and working limbs!

[rajillustration]

Aw, Marius, I wish you luck. Yeah I don't even blame you and I feel your sentiments as well and I haven't even been here that long. After seeing how badly my page format comic looks on this site, (and how annoying it is to read page format right now) it feels like I did it a disservice to post it here, and I have serious doubts they'll change it back in any major way. I'd be tempted to just pull it if it weren't so many damn pages.

But, you gotta go where your heart takes you, youknow? Perhaps we'll all meet again somewhere else? Somewhere where we all feel more wanted and more included?

[UzukiCheverie]

we're like mortal enemies but I can assure you my heart is breaking </3

IDK how much time I'll be spending on here in the future. I know many of my fellow comic creators and artists have already left even prior to this mess (@AnnaLandin if you're ever reading this i miss u and I hope you're doing well ;^; <3 ). It's obviously just a cycle that will continue to repeat itself so long as Tapas fails to recognize what got them to this point - the community and the passion they had for this place.

But yknow how the saying goes - when you're wearing rose colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags ¯\(ツ)/¯

On another note, I'm looking into making some collaborative doc of outward links to people's comics. I know the Unofficial Tapas Search has made its return so I'd urge any and all of you to use it: http://www.tapasfans.com/ But that search engine is exclusive to Tapas and what I'm looking to make would be a hotspot for comic creators on any platform. Even if it ends up just being a master Google Doc, idk. It would def allow for more unique customization and inclusion beyond Tapas. So if that's something you @mariusthered or anyone else here would be interested in using, hit me up.

[DiegoPalacios]

I think Tapas will listen to sugestions, they had already done that in the past, so if i were you i would wait to see how the Tapas staff manages this situation. Also, you don`t lose anything posting in more than one site (unless you have a good exclusive deal).

Anyway, if you are really sure about leaving i wish you the best and hope you find a cool site for you.

[ISNEKO]

Good luck out there.

[mariusthered]

Thanks for all the kinds words and support, I'm sorry I made some of you feel sad about this but I feel leaving is the only power we have from these corporation vampires, we can complain and suggest things all we want but if there is no profit in it they wont do bugger all, the only way they will listen is when their rating drop and by that time it will be too late. My comics might not be popular but i'm not sticking around until they decide having free comics on here is not longer profitable, nor will i be hanging around the forum like some creepy uncle that won't leave the party, if I'm not posting comics here it would be wrong to stay. I have posted my last three comics and will hang around for another week to see any reply's but that it.

good luck peeps and Blunderfans!

[carloswebcomic]

Thanks for all the kinds words and support, I'm sorry I made some of you feel sad about this but I feel leaving is the only power we have from these corporation vampires, we can complain and suggest things all we want but if there is no profit in it they wont do bugger all, the only way they will listen is when their rating drop and by that time it will be too late.

Yep. This. This a lot.

[Random_Guy]

Well sh*t. This always seems to happen when I join a new place.
The website shuts down, or gets a huge overhaul and loses creators. I feel like Absol, a harbinger of disaster.

[draweththeraven]

you're doing the right thing, dude, for both yourself and the webcomic community as whole. i kind of can't leave as a super small creator who needs to retain the followers they have, but i'm certainly not starting any new work here (i feel like i'm repeating myself, sorry!). good luck out there!