I personally love the use of the word "webtoon" to refer to korean webcomics known for long strip format, but this kind of perspective is also refreshing. Yes, Korean webcomics should just be treated like webcomics, especially since that is what they are, especially now translated into English! I think the fact that they are from Korean origins shouldn't distract from the fact that a webtoon is an entertainment piece, a comic, and product of the digital age.
This word-use controversy between webcomic and webtoon lies similar to how people treat the word "manga," it originating from Japan and "manga" the word very much tied to the fact that it is Japanese. However, it's so much so in that case that (and this is unlike webcomic to webtoon) you might find people uncomfortable with calling manga "comics" because these people have been using it so often to describe this type of comic they've ever enjoyed in their recent young lives that they perceive the two as mutually exclusive, perhaps they want to think them mutually exclusive to symbolically reject what society shoves down their throats, this other type of that medium they clearly find no interest in, what we call, the dreaded, "mainstream". The concept of mainstream causes confusion this way because it hides true diversity, and it only makes clearer why advocating comics as a medium of infinite possibilities is so important, and respecting and distinguishing between the different kinds especially essential to a platform that hosts webcomics, no matter how niched the content of the platform is meant to be.
Comics is a word of our language and should be used as such, as the base for adding on specifics, not something that describes one type from the get go! Like manga, webtoon is a word that generally means comic but in this other language, Korean. However it is in the nature of words to be molded/defined by the context the language brings, so since language is different, Korean different from English, "webtoons" will mean absolutely different when used in English than what is does in Korean. What it mean in English, I think, is "a webcomic from Korea." Not "webcomic" alone, and maybe not even "a comic of scrolling format" alone. "Webtoons" and "webcomics" are not interchangeable just because we want webtoons to be dubbed "the next mainstream webcomic of America" as much as we'd like it to be, or just because it means webcomic but in Korean. I think webtoons should describe a specific type of webcomic, and the practice of equating the mainstream type of the medium to the word for the medium itself should be unlearned with strong reminders that mediums, like comics, channel infinite possibilities by definition.
That said, and sorry for the tangent, I love that Tapastic hosts a plethora of different kinds of webcomics, but I also think since Tapastic is formatted to gear toward long strip scrolling webcomics, it looks unfocused and messy because it allows so much other formats without proper filters or categorizing. Not that I have anything against Marvel, but those in that format is not done justice by the very structure of the iPhone app. I'd rather have an option to separate the types of comics that look like a page out of Marvel from the long scrolling webtoon ones from the single paged comic oneshots, if anything when browsing through a website or mobile app designed for page scrolling.
But back on topic, unlike manga, webtoon as a word has the advantage of being derived from the English language while being invented/localized in Korean. Now when "webtoon" is localized back within English, the context of its Korean origins is not as visible as the word "manga" is to its Japanese origin.
This has its advantages but also disadvantages. The word webtoon having been derived from English syllables falsely advertises it inherently as a product of an English-writing creator for an audience of that language, when in fact it is a translated piece originally by a Korean-writing creator for an audience that reads Korean. I also don't think webtoon should be confused with describing the long strip scrolling format, which I've heard people call simply "the Korean format". Webtoons describe webcomics from Korea, possibly translated, and the confusion of that is interesting. Comics by nature are not universal in their nuances of literary humor and visual symbolism, and it's interesting to think about how this disparity can be helped during the translation process. Changing currency values, metric systems, even place-names are always things to consider now when translating/localizing a work of literature, because while amateurs want to be as pure in their translations as possible, the majority might not have previous lives in Korea to relate much to the won for example, and the story would have better focus and shine if for example how LINE did with Annarasumanera converted the image of a won bill to an American dollar bill because it's metaphor as "money" was more important to preserve than nationality. It all depends per webtoon so that was just an example.
My point is, this non-Korean sounding Korean-invented word technically describes a type of webcomic that has been translated from Korean, but along with its distinctive Korean format, with it spelling better integration for Korean creators among the English-written webcomic scene, the thing truly crossing universally here is the format. The webtoon titles and the stories are certainly entering our culture in their own right (ie. I've seen people geeking out about Noblesse or Cheese in the Trap), but I think the format is really where the party's at
So what I'm saying is, people have started using the Korean format for making webcomics, like Yuumei in fisheye placebo, and I think these comics should at least get their own category and distinguish themselves from those in other formats on Tapastic, is what I think.
Aaand that ends my tangent sorry for the long post, and the possibly unprocessed BBCode! Writing this on mobile where it eventually became too lagging, resorted to copy and pasting.
tl;dr
@minhokimme I got into webtoons from webtoon live, thanks to @dsaerg and maxcmoi! Specifically, Cheese in the Trap... trapped me real good and I fell in love with the Korean format and can't wait to see what new creativity it can foster here!
EDIT: whoa the codes work! This is really a good forum