What is your opinion of comics without a schedule?

[Chocolate]

Like the updates are sporadic and the artist is pretty much inactive?

[BoomerZ]

Sporadic is not bad if you have a release date that is set but not regular. As long as your audience knows when it's coming out, they have something to look forward to. Keeping them in the dark will just piss them off and they will leave. Inactive artist are just that inactive. Why waste your time following them.

[NickRowler]

How sporadic?

Is this a project you really care about?
Would adding more really help it?
Is there a demand from readers?

[VibrantFox]

since most webcomics are posted for free with little or no financial compensation im never gonna complain about sporadic updates especially if they're communicating here n there about progress or whatever else

even in instances of high reader or viewer demand i still prefer to be patient about updates than pushing for faster or more frequent especially if it means risking quality of the work or just overwhelming the creator themselves (the situation with clown and the welcome home project is a good example imo especially with all is involved beyond just artwork)

in a contract/paid work agreement obviously there will be more expectation about scheduling since its a work agreement that likely has specific standards and stipulations but in any other case its just not the kind of thing i think ought to be rushed

[Nugtown]

Bad. In fact, that's kind of the reason I barely touch webcomics. I'm aware it's pretty normal for webcomics to not be able to remain consistant and that's just the name of the game, but I think not only I but other people need some expectation to keep our attention... actually, I think other people even moreso than me.

It's one thing to be publishing a free webcomic on your own terms. But many more people decieve themselves in not just wanting more people reading and enjoying their work, and you'll see every so often, authors become quite bitter when they expect those things to come with no work at all.

[MarcelotheProducer]

For me personally as a reader, I don't mind at all if comics have sporadic updates. People have lives and I understand that they can't always get around to creating. That or, I understand sometimes ideas don't come until certain moments. I'd rather have a story that was made for the sake of creativity than a deadline. Even if the artist is inactive on social media or they're not trying to be a presence, I don't care. For me all I look for is a story that was made with passion and heart; everything else doesn't matter.

With that being said as a creator, I think it's important to try to adhere to a schedule, especially if you want to make it a career, if you expect to gain a following, and if you expect the story to get done. Realistically, if you want to make creating a source of money or your job, it has to be treated like a job in some way. You have to be willing to push yourself and to be passionate enough to get the story out there. It's all about balancing your life with how fast you can create. Even if a story has a schedule of posting once a year, that's better than having no schedule.

Overall I'd say, I have a schedule, and it's nice when a comic I like uploads on one, but I wouldn't expect anyone to sacrifice creativity for that schedule.

[Katzalcoatl]

First impression is bad. Since many artists who tend to do that end up leaving the project. I don't really mind having no schedule per se. But I had many experiences where the artist goes MIA thus why I avoid said comics.

Having said that, I usually just look at uploads to make sure they are somewhat consistent even if they have no schedule.

I honestly just hope the artist posts often enough so I don't forget the story. And I make sure to see if they didn't have any 1 year MIA situations that really kills the story.

[ThunderChicken]

I don’t mind sporadic, especially if I know it’s sporadic going in. What I don’t like is unannounced hiatuses. It really doesn’t take that much effort to make a quick post saying “Hey all, taking a break”. Even more unforgivable is the unannounced dropping of a comic or novel entirely. I get it: shit happens. Sometimes stories are dropped for very good reasons. Sometimes they’re simply dropped because the author simply isn’t “feeling it”. If a story must be dropped, you owe it to your fans to at least tell them that you’re dropping it. If you actually care about your fans (or your own characters) you’ll actually post a quick plot outline of what was going to happen so they at least have closure. I’ve read hundreds of stories on Tapas and so far have come across exactly one writer who actually did that: They had to drop the story for personal reasons, so they wrote out an explanation of what would have happened had the story continued. I’d have felt cheated if I’d have read 175 episodes only to be left hanging. This is why I have learned to check the last episode first, to see how recent it was and I will quickly scan it to see if it reads like a planned ending. If it was more than a few months ago I don’t bother with the story. Obviously this does not apply to completed works. If the most recent episode was “the end” I will definitely check it out, but if it leaves off in the middle of the plot I’m outties.

[TheLemmaLlama]

GAHAHAHAHA bold of you to assume I don't have one of those myself >: D

Honestly, I treat them like most other webcomics; let them sit in my sub list until they accumulate enough updates for me to binge If the last date was >2 years ago, I'll probably assume it's abandoned and be less likely to read it, but beyond that sporadicness doesn't really make a difference to me

Though I'm well aware though that you can't have your cake and eat it too; I do sort of agree that being sporadic is bad form if you're expecting people to support you and trust you to commit to the story without ditching it and leaving them hanging. This is why I (1) try to hold off on self-promotion until I've finished the first arc and (2) made my comic public domain so people can trust that even if I do abandon it, it doesn't mean the story is doomed to remain unfinished because I'm the only one allowed to finish it but I won't