Hello @michaelson! First off, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to you and the dev team for working so hard on listening to the users and constantly trying to improve Tapas! I know ever since the update it's been almost nonstop work to fix bugs and try to address outstanding issues. I have always believed in Tapas and I know that, given time and patience, the site constantly improves for the better. Some things take more time than others. I believe in your vision!
But I have to say, we are really missing the Popular section on the front page, which was based on user likes, comments, and interactions. Also it refreshed every 24 hours, so that other series had a chance to shine. I liked that if I clicked on it, it expanded, so I could scroll through pages of Popular series and see what people were reading. Not only did it bring us new subscribers, I myself found new comics and novels to read this way!
Now that it is gone, I have to say Trending is simply not the same
I know I don't quite understand the algorithm of Trending, but it doesn't seem to reflect series that are actually trending. Some of the series are stuck there for a long time, even if it's been a while since the creator last updated. Some of them seem to be based on cumulative likes, which means longer series have a much greater advantage from the start compared to other works. In addition to that, as a reader, only a few series are displayed. If none of them are to my tastes, I can't expand the list to show more works.
From the creator side of things, ever since the update, I've seen the views, likes, and sub count growth on our series drop drastically, even though we have a not-insignificant follower count. Our regular fans continue to comment and interact, so it isn't a lack of viewer interaction. This leads me to believe perhaps it is a matter of discoverability. Making the front page has always given us a jump in new subscribers, or reminded our current subscribers that we had updated. It gave us motivation to perform well! It was always a point of pride, not only for us, but also our fellow creator friends, to make the front page based on viewer interaction.
I know we are not the only high volume Premium creator whose series performance has been affected. Which is unfortunate, since you know many Premium creators do rely on the income from their unlocks. Also, if this is our experience, I can only imagine how difficult it is for creators who are trying to build their audiences.
There was a lot of careful thought and decision-making behind the new design, so I'll try to offer some possible suggestions for change. Perhaps Trending could have a 24 hr time limit, such as Popular did, to cycle out the series? Maybe it could be based more on the old Popular algorithm, to take into account likes, comments, and interaction, so that it would actually reflect what was trending on the site. It might also be more fair to be able to expand the list, so readers had the option to see more than just a handful of series that people were interested in!
I do want to reiterate that we love working with Tapas and the whole team has always been so dedicated in serving its userbase. The work you have done in listening to feedback and fielding user questions does not go unnoticed! I hope that you can take this suggestion into consideration and we will see some changes soon!
Thank you so much!