What will make you unsubscribe from a story?

A story I'd unsub from is one whose plot has very little interaction with its character's espoused morals. If a creator is trying to make a point about reality, then I want to see that point be substantiated via the plot demonstrating a compatible scenario that could actually happen. But for the most part, if something catches my interest at the start - it tends to keep my interest. I think that's because I'm mostly interested in philosophic or quirky content, and normally creators who start off strong in this way just tend to keep it going; it'd be jarring to introduce interesting morals or concepts only to later nip it all in the bud.

Not that I unsub often, but I've wondered if it's a bad idea to give polite, constructive feedback to someone through PMs before I consider unsubbing. I know some people are more or less accepting of critique than others, or there's the concern I might say something that - through the middle man of text conversation - gets misinterpreted and actually causes the creator stress.

I kinda want people to give me feedback too, personally, because I know the flaws of a creator can quietly slip on by unaddressed. When I see people come and go from my story, I have to assume it's for one reason or another, but it irks me to think it's something outside of catering to someone's nitpicky preferences that I might be able to improve/work on.

I won't lie that it's difficult to get me to subscribe to something in the first place because I'm overly/unnecessarily picky. The main things that turn me off are the following:

1. Formulaic and Predictable
   Stories that follow some formula, whether it's in an argument, a fight scene, or an overall arc, tend to be predictable and become boring very fast. Formulas exist for a reason but with a lack of variety, it's not worth reading until the end at all for me. Especially if they are long series'. There are some that still follow some format but manage to keep it exciting.
   I don't mean to say it shouldn't follow a format. But it shouldn't be something in which I can predict everything that's gonna happen accurately. Surprise keeps it interesting.

2. Edgy
   Not just "edgy" but edgy for no purpose. Lot of serialised and online comics (and tv shows, and movies, etc) have been doing this lately and it pisses me off more than anything else. Actually, why isn't this number 1? Killing all the main characters to force sadness, unnecessary gore, overly violent scenes and so on. A story can have gore, sexual, overly brutal scenes in them sure, but it should be within reason. I dunno how to explain, some stories can be edgy reasonably because they're meant to be (Kichikujima) and some are doing it just to mask their shitty writing and lack of narrative (Fire Punch).
   Sorry, this is my rant topic. TLDR, don't overdo it with gore and rape and violence just cuz you wanna seem cool or "out there." Keep it within the realm of your story.

3. Bad storytelling
   Bad is a subjective word I know but really any comic that doesn't seem to grasp how to write a story from start to end, is very difficult to read. This is usually people who are inexperienced and just imaginative. Or it's someone who thinks they can be different/edgy.
   My first ever comic had very poor, ad hoc writing that stuck to common themes for its genre. Just comes out of lack of experience but it's not something I'm willing to pick up.

4. No real purpose / Endlessness
   If there's a comic that's attractive in art, cool characters but has no end to the story or no real end goal, I can't bring myself to continue reading it. It may be why I don't have many Slice of Life stories under me because they get boring fast;. Not a bash on Slice of Life though because there's plenty good ones out there. This is more of a bash on action stories that only end when their contracts end.

5. Too Woke
   This could be controversial but I don't like stories that force in progressive ideals just to appeal to its base. By progressive ideas, I mean gender fluid or LGBT+ characters, disabled characters, discussing gender or womens rights, or political or racial topics for no reason other than to feel good. I love having these in stories but they should be there with purpose, not just cuz. It's the same as the edgy thing really, adding in this shit for no reason turns me away.
   Stories that bring them up well are Duranki and Vinland Saga off the top of my head (I'm sure there's more)

Now I also want to add things that shouldn't be reasons to unsubscribe from a story but can be harder to pull off well:

1. Bad art
   "Bad art" should not be a reason to refuse to read a comic. I personally, can be fussy about bad or inexperienced art in a comic but if the story is good or meaningful, you shouldn't turn away from it just because you don't like how it is drawn. One Punch Man is poorly drawn (by ONE) but is one of the best webcomics I've ever read

2. Originality
   Saying you won't read something because it isn't original is just stupid. It's hard to make something "original." And some would argue there's no such thing. It's okay to make a story about coming of age or some stupid hero who wants to become the best ever; it's just harder to pull it off when we've all seen it before. That doesn't mean you shouldn't. And certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. You might as well not read anything at all.

3. Edginess
   I'm adding edgelord material to here as well because all though it pisses me off a lot, that doesn't mean you can't have over the top content. Being over the top is hard to pull off in the 21st century. That's why there's so many bad things out there, but it CAN be done. I always give it a chance because a good one really pulls me in.
   An example of something over the top that pulls it off is Kichikujima. It's horror-themed so it's more able to pull off being edgy (though it's approaching the threshold lul).

TLDR, it's a matter of preference. I don't like forced content to get views, repetitive and predictable content, and content that lacks narrative.
Looking at some other people's responses, it's nice to see some other people feel the same way

I have to add that someone who is shitty to their readers is a turn off as well, naturally. I was more focused on the story itself.

• If I keep forgetting what was happening from update to update. This doesn't mean the story was bad, just sometimes I find myself with a comic that WOULD BE interesting, but for some reason or other I can't remember what happened previously so for every update I'm forced to reread a bunch... It just becomes too much of a chore.
• The story no longer interests me. Yanno, it happens. whether it's because my interests change or the creator takes the story in a direction I don't care for. Sometimes a story simply isn't for you anymore, and that's fine.
• This has never happened, but I can see myself doing it. As people have mentioned, if a creator keeps complaining about lack of subs/not being popular enough, I might unsubscribe just because I don't have the mental energy to keep that negativity around lol

Your first point is something lotta people experience I bet. I experience that a lot and I usually take it as a sign that I'm not that into the story. If I don't care for the characters enough to know their names or tell them apart, I must not care much for them.

Granted, if you walk away from a story for several weeks or longer, you're probably gonna forget who they are.

After reading all these...surprised I still have any subs left.

edit : lol, 2 people unsubbed after I posted this.

I think a case like that is different to a case where you're actively following (and potentially actively still supporting just by reading/subscribing) to an creator. I've mentioned on author vs art threads before, there's a difference between someone like Lovecraft who won't be getting anything from us buying/reading his books now (because what's he gonna do with the money or fame?) and someone who's still actively creating. Especially if the story is on going rather than complete. Using your example, if that was an ongoing webcomic and the creator was arrested for having child pornography, I'd imagine most people would stop supporting them and I definitely wouldn't want to be giving them ad revenue or potentially more by adding to their popularity. And as was mentioned in the JK Rowling thread, the only power we really have as consumers is to not giving creators any money if we don't agree with their views. If an author is say, racist which isn't a really crime but is shitty, the only impact I can ever hope to truly have is to stop giving them my support and stop giving money to a racist.

For me, it's if I either lose interest in the story or have trouble catching up.

Typically when the story "drags on".

The plot isn't moving with the same excitement that it started out with, or the hero's goal is no longer tangible.

I'll use Skip Beat7 as an example:

The story started with the hero wanting to get into show biz with the goal of overtaking her ex in popularity. The goal is already intangible as the reader will never really know when or how that may be achieved, however the author has a strong start by telling the reader the goals the hero must achieve first.

1. Getting into an agency
2. Getting a role in literally any production
3. Getting a lead role in a drama

And here is where it fell to pieces. Our hero nabs a leading role faster than her character development was finished. Now what? All there is to do is to keep taking acting jobs until the ellusive "goal" is achieved. Somewhere along the way, being popular stopped being her goal, and all the focus just went to her character development. She's not working towards anything, just working while growing as a person along the way.

The moment she stopped caring about being #1 should have been when the series ended. But the author kept dragging it on because they didn't properly plan the pacing of the story before starting. It's been running for almost 20 years and the main love interest confessed his feelings THIS YEAR. WHEN IS THIS SERIES GOING TO END?!

Y'all... Have a plan before starting your comic or novel. The successful long running series don't have a problem with dragging because the authors wrote concrete goals for every step of the way.

Intangible goals = bored readers.

I actually LOVE skip beat exactly because of why you apparently dislike it lol. I love that her character development allowed her to see how unhealthy it was to base her entire life around one guy, whether it was following him out of their small town or chasing fame in terms of revenge on him. Every couple of months I go and catch up on what's happened then let it rest for a bit. It's a great slow burn romance and there's nothing I love more than a looooooooong slow burn ️

It was just refreshing to see her evaluate her goals and what she actually wanted in life and then change her thought process to make it happen. Now she's trying to be the best because she wants to be the best, not because she wants to rub it in her ex-boyfriends face.

I have an unhealthy love-hate relationship with Skip Beat haha

Been following it on-off since middle school, only checking in because my inner 12 year old needs closure

If I started reading it today, though, it would get dropped so fast.

Hmm... Not much will make me unsubscribe. If the artist/author suddenly started being a jerk or putting in questionable/illegal material - then yes, I'd be left with a sour taste and unsubscribe. The only time I've ever unsubbed in reality so far was when I cleaned my library out a few months ago. When I originally joined Tapas I subbed to like... 1K stories and realized I could never read them all lol! And that's not fair to the creators. (A lot of the stories were dead or completed anyways.) So now I have around 170-ish and have read through a good part of most of them. (I have a lot of free time right now due to the pandemic.)

Well I usually subscribe to stories because I like them and I plan to read more. I guess I'd only unsub if I didn't feel interested in the direction the story decided to go in or it made an extremely poor writing decision that makes me hate it. That almost never happens tho, if I like the way a story starts I usually continue to like it in spite of what stuff happens later on

Yeah I think you can, wether you wanna do that is up to you of course