Whats the fastest way to lose subscribers?

[avalonmao]

I unsubscribe super fast when there's racist shit in the comic and random suicides without any warning. Like at least put a mature content on there. I come to tapastic to relax not to see swastikas. I CAN'T!!

[quakeulf]

Pull a bait-and-switch.

[carloswebcomic]

Throw a tantrum over low Patreon support.

[UzukiCheverie]

Pull a bait-and-switch.

I think you can pull off a proper bait and switch so long as it works for the plot of the story. Mind elaborating on this one a bit more lol?

[mappypaint]

Notify subscribers about 5 times a day with stuff that has nothing to do with your webcomic. Although some subscribers will love you treating your wall like twitter, i'm sure a number of other subs will hate it and unsubscribe from your comic.

[joannekwan]

Yesss, lately one of the creators I'm subbed to has been doing like a notification a day and their comic hasn't updated in like 3+ months. I'm still subbed because the comic barely got started and I want to give it a chance so I ignore the notifications I get from their wall. > >

[zelkats]

.... Ending a series with a tragic ending, apparently. Happened to me recently, lol.

[69Michi]

.... Ending a series with a tragic ending, apparently. Happened to me recently, lol.

And this is why I read spoiler despite it might ruin the fun for me. I can't handle tragic/bad end. If I know it's a bad ending, even if a million people tell me how good a series is, I'm not giving it a try, never. My heart is fragile and I would love to keep it in 1 piece thank you very much I'm not a masochist T_T

[carloswebcomic]

I call it the Mass Effect syndrome. You can have a brilliant series and it all gets ruined by a shitty ending, specially when you're invested in the characters.

[zelkats]

I wouldn't consider all tragic endings to brilliant stories shitty, and I wouldn't use Mass Effect as a top example, lol (I'm not defending the way I ended my comic. I'm not that proud of the entire comic either LOL). I just happen to be one of the few people who can appreciate tragedies and think it's necessary in some fiction. Others probably can't take it and would understandably unsubscribe.

And I also suspect that people do unsubscribe when a series finishes because there's no point in following it anymore.

[carloswebcomic]

I'm not saying that tragic endings are not a valid thing artistically, but I guess the problem comes when readers have had enough tragedy in their lives, they don't want to see it in the place they go to escape from reality as well.
Horses for courses I guess.

[keii4ii]

Or sometimes, people appreciate tragedy precisely because they can relate to it. Different strokes for different folks, definitely.

@zelkats I think either the aversion to tragedy is a Western thing, or Korea specifically has a thing for tragedies. Where I come from, people LOOOOOOOOOOOVE tragedies.

[zelkats]

Hmm, I haven't thought of it that way to be honest. As a creator, I selfishly want my stories to make readers feel strong emotions, be it positive or negative, so that I know whether or not I'm writing decent stories. But I never considered that it would effect some people negatively to the point of them wanting to block said fictional tragedy out. I feel a little guilty now lol.

Of course that won't stop me from writing the stories the way I want. But this gives me a better understanding when people go "OMFG HOW COULD YOU" and rage quit.

And now I'm reminded of the other topic about comics taking a darker turn and possible reactions from readers. Time to visit that, lol.

[69Michi]

people LOOOOOOOOOOOVE tragedies.

Isn't it because it put you on a roller-coaster of feel? In the RP World, people also LOVE tragedy and angsty material, LIKE THEY LOVE IT, A LOT. Also I'm sorta guilty because sometimes I like reading sad/angst thing to cry myself to sleep. (Those story still have a good ending though)

[carloswebcomic]

Korea specifically has a thing for tragedies

Yes, I've watched enough Korean movies to know that this is true...
A bit like the French, amazingly good movies but they seem to go out of their way to give it a tragic ending.

Or sometimes, people appreciate tragedy precisely because they can relate to it.

I'm not so sure about that. I can tell you with 100% certainty that I don't feel at all compelled to relive some events in my life.
But then again, maybe some people feel different.
Some people enjoy feeling strong emotions regardless whether they are positive or negative.

[zelkats]

I think it's safe to say that some of us are masochists in that sense LOL. A friend and I did it to ourselves once when we were RP-ing. We knew it was coming, but when we wrote off a character we grew attached to, we bawled our eyes out and we were depressed for a couple of weeks lol.

[69Michi]

OMG I used to RP a.lot.of.angsts with my RP partner it was ridiculous. We were on an angst deprived urge or something because literally we RP angst day and night LMFAO But writing off a character though ;; __ ;; I can never do such thing ndjkawd I'm too attached to the characters you can put them through hell and back but once u kill them off it's like a part of me die with them I will never recover weehhh

[zelkats]

(I know I'm going off topic but I gotta reply lol)

Omg, I understand what you mean. All the angst we can shamelessly create without having a third party to judge us LOL. It's something you can't exactly do when you're writing professionally or for a wide audience, so it's a pretty damn good release, methinks. Plus we get to experiment more.

About writing off characters, it did traumatise me once, lol. When my RP partner and I were discussing plot for our next story, she would go, "Omg, he should die at the end." And I go, "No way bruh, I got a job interview in a couple of weeks. I gotta be emotionally stable LOL."

[KSlinger]

I guess I'm one of the few who don't see slow or irregular updates as a problem. I'm more likely to unsub if:

-the creator is a tool
-the creator works passive-aggressive notes into the bottom of pages
-the creator complains about feedback in the description (usually not negative feedback, rather interpretations of their story that they don't agree with).
-the plot loses focus
-art quality takes a dive

[Zanreo]

For me:
- Plot starts going in a direction I don't like and stays there. Especially a gag comic turning into something more based around a plot
- The creator turns out to be a total douche or otherwise terrible person to the point where I can't just "separate the art from the creator" anymore
- I just lose interest for whatever reason, it happens

I've also heard of people unsubbing comics if they haven't updated in months, going through their sub list and removing old ones to clean up... but I don't tend to do this. Even if the comic seems abandoned, I might still like to go back and read the stuff some time later? And if it DOES update again later, that's just a pleasant surprise! But in general the comic or creator would have to do something that would actively make me want to unsub right away.