What Makes You Subscribe and Unsubscribe?

[fanyart]

I subscribe when something catches my eye - not really a neat art, just something unique. Also, if it has a good idea. I also prefer not-yet-so-popular comics as it helps them reach higher.

I DON'T unsubscribe. Because it's a way to show support to the artist, appreciation of their effort, no matter how skilled or time-invested (how often they update, as they have a reason for that) are into the comic.
I have to admit that I might unsubscribe if the author just spams unrelated stuff or expresses some bad behavior towards others, as you have written. But I have never met anyone like that so far.

As for being subscribed to too many comics (I haven't subscribed to many comics myself yet and am looking forward to summer to have more time to explore the website), I think it's a bit... silly (no offense) to do some "cleaning" of your reading list. I mean, you have every right to do what you want, it's your reading list, but I would be afraid that the simple decision to do some cleaning might hurt someone who values every subscriber.

Rather than spring cleaning, it would be nice to be able to organize the reading list into folders, what do you think?
...I think I'm gonna ask about it in the uservoice.

[getsuart]

I subscribe because I find the story and the designs interesting. I don't have a prefered style. It just needs to me something that I find nice. I think that most of the comics I subscribed to involve either magic, or cute animals. I'm not really into romance or gore.
Also, I have a preference of reading all the pages that are out at first, then decide if I subscribe or not (it takes about 2 seconds).

I didn't unsubscribed to any comics I think. But I msut say that I lost some interest in some comics (a few, only two on my whole reading list). But no unsubscribe yet : I leave to those comics a chance to surprise me again : )

[rosette]

so far. I I subscribe those comics or manga catches my attention. well I'm sure when i subscribe 1 story i wont unsubscribe it anymore. bcoz in the 1st place why should i unsubscribe it if it didnt catch my attention?

[ArtistHan]

Totally agree with the character development and updates vs new pages!

[Menbung]

I susbscribe to peeps that genuinely support me, they feel interest in my stuff and are always there to give me encouragement, I just need to support them back with the same intensity =] . Other factor is when I see something that moves me (generally it has to do with art).

I don't unsubscribe why?: coz I've been through that, watching your numbers go down instead of going up it's not something nice, it doesn't feel right. That's why I only subscribe when I read the story and find it to my liking, and I encourage peeps to do the same, please don't subscribe to a comic without givin' it a try first, there are a ton of peeps that only add comics coz they look cool... Oh wow cool cover I'll susbcribe and read it later, only that when that person reads it later he/she finds that he/she doesn't like the comic...

W-where's Goku doing a kame hame ha ???.... unsub
Oh god, this has guts and blood, too much for me... unsub
nudity???????... unsub
no BL?????????... unsub

I like Puella Magi Madoka, my comic and a lot of others out there use the Madoka technique, may appear cute on the outside but the inside is.... so please read the comic first before subscribing =P

Hmm I have to say this, I don't really like the notify subscribers option when is used to spam, I wish you could turn them off? I don't unsub as I said, but the spamming tests my patience =S

[A_L_777]

I sub to things I generally like and enjoy reading. Unfortunately, I have little time to relax and read anything so thats why my sub list is small.
I don't sub to creators because I feel they need more subs or something. THat's not what is important. Well, it is in a way but it's not what should drive you to create. What is important is doing what you love regardless of who is or isn't reading.

I don't unsub at all. Unless the creator personally attacks me I don't unsub. I also think that unsubscribing just cuz the creator doesn't update as fast as you want is kinda lame. Everybody life is different and doesn't have all the free time in the world to do what they love. For some its a hobby, others it's a passion and for some it's trying to start a new career. But I always give the creator the benefit of the doubt because I know how hard it is to do everything by yourself.

[teddy]

I subscribe to anything that looks appealing and has a good story. Since I enjoy listening to people's real-life experiences, I'm more likely to subscribe to a slice-of-life / autobiography comic more than a fictional comic. I still do subscribe to fictional comics if they have an interesting story.

I rarely unsubscribe because I always pity the creator when I unsubscribe. The only time I would unsubscribe is when the comic just doesn't interest me anymore. Hasn't happened yet, but I find comics similar to YouTube videos when it comes to subscribing and unsubscribing (other than the fact that they both involve subscriptions). There are times when you find a comic and you really enjoy it. But as years pass, your interests and tastes may change, and the comics you found entertaining four years ago may not be entertaining to you now.

[Doubtcent]

There are a lot of things that gets me to subscribe; cleverness, good art, interesting story, funny or dark humor, characters, etc.

There really isn't much that can get me to unsubscribe, but the biggest one is the lack of updates for no apparent reason (I'm looking at you Fisheye Plaecebo!). I understand if the creator is busy or something and just can't get to it, but please inform your subscribers that updates will be infrequent or that there would be a hiatus, or else I'll be feeling like the series is kaput or just taking up precious space on my reading list. Even just an announcement of "indefinite hiatus" is better than just disappearing off the face of the earth.

Similarly, I dislike if a comic literally just up and leaves. Some series like Awaken, Berds and Nerds, and Heroic Villain were once a thing on Tapastic, going places, but for some reason they decide to leave. Some series might have legit reasons behind them for doing so, but I feel that if you have followers on a certain medium, don't be disloyal to them by leaving them behind to other places.

Finally, I really dislike a consistent lack of decent updates even though the creator has a buffer. Some series where I really like the art, Death Sin and Acolyte Hunters, are terribly slow in their pacing of story or the story isn't going anywhere. For Death Sin I liked the story at first, but now it's been giving me some very confusing updates, each being one page at a time and really nothing has been going on. Same with Acolyte Hunters. It's been twenty or so pages in but has still yet to do something interesting with the story. They're both in filler mode, building up tension for the conflict, however that's all its been. I can only wait for conflict or decent story telling for so long.

[vsock]

Does it feel original? Cute? Funny?
Meet those 3 criteria and I'll gladly press the sub button. It sounds simple enough but I'm fairly picky on the "originality" bit. (Extra brownie points if your comic shows effort in the art, but that's only for comics with a story)

[allenthomas]

The irony in this post is that I just got my first person to unsubscribe my comic yesterday. Not that it beats me up to much but I would just love to know why. I don't like unsubscribing to someone unless there being an a**hole or something unrelated to their comic. If I subscribed, I'm going to stick with you for the most part even if my interest wains. It just sucks to see your numbers go down and not be able to know why its happening.

[SuperRazz]

I've talked to a few creators and readers about this and I've realized a common behavior. Readers often see subscribing as a way of "bookmarking" a comic for future reading after they've just skimmed it. Then if they do read it later, they find out that it's not really their taste and unsubscribe to it. It's not a comic's fault sometimes.

I subscribe if I think it's unique, has a distinct art style, and well written characters.
I unsubscribe if the creator begins to "spam" every update. I can excuse not having any updates because I understand he/she might have been too busy to create but spamming is a deal breaker. A comic is supposed to update a "comic", not a sketch or something else other than a comic. There's the profile wall for that. A few comics did this when tapastic did the 30 give away event, I just had to unsub

[Iron]

Almost anything can make me subscribe, it just has to strike me in some way xD

Readers often see subscribing as a way of "bookmarking" a comic for future reading after they've just skimmed it.

Yeah, I totally do the bookmarking thing. But then again I can't get myself to unsubscribe even if the comic is not what I expected it to be, because I want to support the artists (their comics did grab my attention after all).

Sometimes I unsubscribe by accident though ._. (when I'm using my phone...)

[SuperRazz]

I don't unsub too if that's the reason. I'd just stop reading. But if you think about it, it's not support if it's just in your reading list taking up space. It's not helping the artist in anyway. at least that's what I think.

[Iron]

I don't know how tapastic algorythms work, so I'm not sure if being an inactive subscriber has something to do with the comic appearing on the frontpage...
But I have my reading list open to public so anyone who visits my profile page can see them and thus those comics can get more attention ^^
(at least I do check reading lists of the people I follow and my subscribers)

[SuperRazz]

that makes sense. that could help, especially if the comic is a bit obscure

[sundanceann]

I treat subscribing as kind of a bookmark, so occasionally when I'm browsing late at night and say "hey, this looks cool, but I won't remember in the morning" I subscribe and I read it when I get the chance. Sometimes I've unsubscribed because it wasn't what I thought it was. Not necessarily bad, but just not my tastes.

[bmacbride]

But if you think about it, it's not support if it's just in your reading list taking up space. It's not helping the artist in anyway.

I agree. While I do enjoy seeing the subscriber count go up, I also have to keep in mind that 500 subscribers is not the same thing as 500 readers. If you're not a reader, just keeping a comic sitting in your subscription list with no plans to continue reading or revisiting it isn't doing you or the creator any good. I don't get upset or anything when I get unsubs. I unsub, too.

[eagle1]

Um...Yeah...I will occasionally subscribe to a comic on a hosting site, but that's only if I can't get the comic on Comic Rocket. That's where I do most of my comic reading, as I like the convenience.

I'm not tied up over my subscriber numbers. I pay more attention to the hits, and I wish that Tapastic broke that into page views and uniques the way other sites do, as it makes it hard to see how many PEOPLE actually read through the comic.

The other thing I pay attention to is comments, and since that's important to me, I will leave them on other comics.

But if I am no longer interested in a comic, it's coming off my list. I was about to suggest a feedback form that automatically pops up when you unsub, but I realised that even if such a thing existed, I wouldn't use it. I am a blunt person, but I am not about to tell someone what I really think of their webcomic unless they ask me, and are prepared for the unvarnished truth. So a feedback form wouldn't do any good for me.

Eagle
(What I want to read is something that impresses me with the story)

[ahnies]

I subscribe to comics that I find funny, and something that's easy to read nothing too wordy.I have a habit of skimming through large body of text.. so yeah too wordy comics put me off.

The 2nd factor is the art style, is it something appealing to me? Something about it makes itself stand out from the rest. I've gone to cons dragged through Artist Alley because my boyfriend loves to look at their art, most of the time to me the fan art, and art style all looks the same to me.

Lastly, comics I'm familiar with like CUEK and People of Scandinavia gets auto sub because I've read their comics on their site. Since they offer their comics on Tapastic its a huge plus for me I can read their comics in one place on my phone.

I unsubscribe if I feel there's too long of a lul between updates. It kind of falls off my radar if there hasn't been an update in 3 weeks- 1 month. I understand artists have their lives and this isn't something they do for a living, but as the list of comics grows in my sub it's going to eventually gets axed off my list.

I'm still very new to tapastic so I'm still exploring what it has to offer, so I guess my answer is going to eventually change.

[keac]

I subscribe if I see their characters attractive, the comic is funny, or the story of their comic is interesting. I (will) unsubscribe if I read all of their comic episodes and the comic is marked "complete" . Period.