#this is so fucking predatory

[genericpuff]

Webtoon Canvas is pay-to-win now, I guess.

DISCLAIMER: All of the series I show here is for the sake of comparing statistics and criticizing Webtoons' Super Likes system. I have nothing personal against these series or their creators and I do not want anyone to get the impression that I am encouraging any sort of action against these creators. The following rant is merely my own observations and opinions concerning Webtoons itself as a platform.

I found out today that Webtoon has implemented a Super Likes ranking board.

This does exactly what it sounds like - it ranks Canvas series based on how many Super Likes they have. Whether or not this ranking board is on a weekly rotation (like the Originals rankings) or just overall, I don't know, but something immediately felt off with this system and it took very little time at all to realize what was really going on here.

When you actually click on the series listed here, it'll tell you how many Super Likes they've accrued overall. The first thing that made me raise an eyebrow was the fact that the Super Likes listed in the ranking boards isn't the same as what's listed in the comics' landing pages, but I chalked that up to a simple delay on WT's end as I can assume the ranking board doesn't refresh at pace with whatever Super Likes are coming in.

But the real red flag was this:

Limitless : Untold is a series with 1,657 followers and seems to get an average of 35-45 likes per episode.

But it somehow has 1,715 Super Likes?

Anyone who's run a Patreon, Ko-Fi, Ad Revenue, or any other sort of revenue-based system with their content will probably realize how that doesn't add up. The reality is that regardless of how many readers / followers you have, only a small fraction of them will actually spend money on your work or to support you. Not every person reading an Originals series is FastPassing. Not every person reading a webcomic is supporting the creator on Patreon. This ratio is even apparent outside of income-based statistics - for example, not every person who follows will read new updates each week and hit the like button (which is why you can have a comic with 1700 followers that only gets a few hundred views and a handful of likes per update). This ratio can be influenced by all sorts of different things, but one thing that doesn't typically happen is for the ratio to flip itself in this fashion.

To put it bluntly: how can a comic with a high of 45 likes in the past 3 months possibly accrue 1,715 Super Likes since it was launched just last week? You've probably already come to the conclusion on your own, but for those who haven't: there's very strong evidence to suggest that creators are buying their own Super Likes to get on this ranking board.

That's assuming the worst of this, though - after all, maybe some of these creators just have super supportive friends who are tossing them a ton of Super Likes? It costs $1 for 5 of them, in this example the amount of Super Likes comes out to approximately $343 (assuming my math is right lmao) which isn't massive amounts of money but it's, again, still really impressive for a comic with only 40 likes on average.

Bu Limitless : Untold isn't the only one in the rankings board that's like this. In fact, the top three spots are occupied by webtoons with the same tilted ratio.

But then, suddenly, after those top three positions, the following webtoons Super Likes totals that make a LOT more sense and reflect the usual ratio more accurately:

The Little Trashmaid, one of the most popular Canvas webtoons of all time and the first one to hit the 1 million subscriber mark in the Canvas section has only accrued 355 Super Likes so far... and you seriously want me to believe a comic like Limitless : Untold with only 0.08% of its readership is somehow genuinely earning five times the amount of Super Likes?

I want to make it clear yet again that I have nothing against the series that have managed to break the system in their own favor. None of this is meant to "slam" them or judge their work or anything of the sort, I'm simply comparing the numbers here and coming to a very reasonable conclusion as someone who's well aware of how ratios like this tend to work in webcomics and content creation. It's just not feasible for the top three comics in the Super Likes ranking boards to organically earn that many Super Likes relative to the sizes of their audiences, especially when compared to the bigger comics that are only pulling in a fraction of that amount. The ratios of Super Likes : actual likes for those bigger comics actually looks reasonable and expected, the ratios for the smaller comics that are sitting at the top are not.

If anything, Webtoons has created a broken system and these creators are simply using that system to their advantage. And I'm not necessarily going to fault them for that because I can get wanting to do whatever it takes to get eyes on your work.

But it does raise the question of what kind of system Webtoons has cultivated here - a system where creators are resorting to Super Liking their own episodes to bump themselves up in the leaderboards.

And before anyone asks me how I can be so sure that these creators are Super Liking their own works - I literally opted into the Super Likes system myself and proceeded to Super Like one of my own episodes.

(this is like the one helpful thing with my work still being on WT even though I'm not updating there anymore, it lets me test shit like this LOL)

So yes, this is a thing that creators can do and it would certainly explain the massive discrepancy in the ratio of Super Likes : regular likes for these smaller series.

This is literally pay-to-win. And who do we have to blame for this? Webtoons, full stop. Not only for implementing a ranking board for an optional monetization service while still allowing creators to use that monetization system to support themselves as a way to climb up that ranking board, but for creating this gross psychological dependency on the platform as the "only way" to build an audience, to the point that people are now paying Webtoons out of their own pocket just to have their thumbnail visible in a ranking board and maybe get some extra views (and 49% of their money back if they hit that $100 threshold). And on top of all that, further putting on the pressure of competition and 'exclusivity' among many budding creators who are doing what they do for free and for fun. Why are creators now being forced to compete in a metric that's solely determined by how much expendable income their own audience has?

Sure, at least this means creators can get themselves into a ranking board by their own power unlike the other categories that are hand-picked by Webtoons and / or determined by daily stats, but at what cost? The literal financial hit of paying for advertising with extra steps, and the ethical dilemma of essentially paying for potential views with microtransactions. This is no better than paying bots on Instagram to follow your profile and inflate your worth to those who aren't following you. None of it is real, it will not legitimize your work to throw money at Webtoons just to have your thumbnail visible in a ranking board. These are microtransactions meant to benefit Webtoons, not you, the creator.

[otogariado]

also "pays UP to". you can get paid even less.

Wow that was FAST. Check out this YouTube ad I just got trying to hire scabs immediately.

The fact that they're advertising it as hourly pay is so telling that they're hoping to just hire random people off the street. They're trying to prey on desperate actors who don't know that $180/hr for a fucking GODZILLA movie is the hugest rip off anyone could possibly pull. No rights, royalties or residuals but hey at least you'll get paid fucking nothing!

[deimosatellite]

like idk it just seems actually nefarious to take one of the very few widely known instances of queerness in older history being a symbol to show queer people that we've always existed and aren't alone for CENTURIES and taking away the queerness from it. like. i know some people say that ''the queerness isnt important in the book" which i mean in my opinion i could go off for 10k words in an essay as to how basil's love for dorian is integral to the story BUT EVEN APART from that its really just. having a real explicitly queer character in such an old and widely regarded classic novel is HUGE for queer history and this is just. literally like. its 2024. why are you doing queer erasure to DORIAN GRAY

[shannonsketches]

I saw someone on reddit a while back say that Toriyama wasn't a very good storyteller because he's more interested in jokes and I haven't stopped thinking about it.

I can't imagine people who think like that practice critical analysis or creative endeavors, least of all creating comics, and I'm going to explain what I mean using one of my favorite panels from the manga:

Toriyama introduces two new villains who were only mentioned off-screen as being much stronger than Raditz. This one panel both introduces these characters and tells you right away:

The smaller of the two is the superior, based on his attire, the fact that he's in the foreground, and he's the one eating

The superior is callous, both because of his dialogue and the fact that he is the only one eating, despite his meal being larger than he is

The superior is monstrous based on what he is eating (my favorite set of details) -- at first glance some kind of insectoid creature, but upon closer inspection:

This is an intelligent, technologically advanced life-form that used both a gun and a ship

2. Neither Saiyan is damaged, telling us even advanced alien weaponry does not harm a Saiyan (but Vegeta's armor is scuffed while Nappa's isn't, implying there was a physical if not futile attempt to stop him)

3. The arm is still bleeding, implying this kill is relatively fresh

4. The gun is next to the body, implying that Vegeta sat down on this person and starting eating them right where they died

5. There is a second body in the background that is significantly smaller despite being very nearby, which may imply that Vegeta is eating the adult but did not spare the child -- and if you're really into parallels,

6. There is smoke in the background, Nappa is sitting on inorganic architecture, and the ship is on it's side, making the sixth most brutal detail that these two beings were fleeing from the saiyan attack on some kind of community, and not only did Vegeta not allow them to escape, he also punished them for trying to by EATING the one in charge.

Like what do you mean Toriyama isn't a good storyteller. This is a Debut Panel. He tells you how scary this new villain is without having to say anything at all.

[takiki16]

Vane is trying to subvert Billy in the cabin of the warship in Charlestown, and the fucker keeps rolling to seduce but what he doesn’t know is that even nat 20 masc seduction long hair and oiled chest and forearms are USELESS against an exasperated ace labor organizer.

[almondy-milk]

a day in the life, more like a gay in the life

[reginamillls]

I think the deleted scene is simply showing you how much Buck is cared for by the people he chose to be in his life, and from someone who craved that care and attention for so long I just think that's neat that Buck has so many people now that do, and idk I'm just happy for him

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

“dream contacted me saying he didn’t want it framed into him being like a predator” yeah he’s just willing to let people POST PORN IN FRONT OF MINORS MULTIPLE TIMES.

[redrobin-detective]

This is an announcement and a promise: if you are a bad nurse, I am coming for you. If you are rude and judgemental to patients, deny them basic human decency you will face my wrath. If you take shit care of them, think you know better than not only the patients and your coworkers but the whole medical team then you cannot hide from me. I will find you and I will go toe to toe with you bc even the worst human alive deserves care and respect and I will beat that lesson into you and maybe make you grow a heart.

[horangslay]

are you guys fucking for real? are you SERIOUS?

antis have bullied Seunghan in quitting literally 2 days after they announced he would be returning...& FOR WHAT??? WHAT DO THEY GAIN BY BEING EVIL TO A 20 YEAR OLD??? the only crime he's committed is being a living breathing person who has a life outside of his JOB.

I'm actually SO PISSED off.

as a pre debut briize, for these 10 months I have found it difficult to support riize, because in my heart I couldn't stop thinking about that poor kid who was suffering for no reason. I told myself to support the other members, that if Seunghan wasn't immediately kicked out he would return. I thought about how much happier riize & briize would be once we were all reunited. I was so hopeful seeing the outpouring of love & support for him throughout social media. I was SO HAPPY when Seunghan announced his return in November.

riize is 7.

riize was always meant to BE 7.

anyone who is ot6, anyone who participated in the hate, anyone who wasn't ecstatic when Seunghan's return was announced: YOU ARE NOT A BRIIZE & pls block me 🙏

[milk-ducts]

you can see the sniper i have trained on immortal in the background .

[medusamagic]

I need people to recognize that saying "I'd fuck/get fucked by a trans woman" is a stance that quite a few far-right folks have. You're not special for saying the quiet part loud. If you want me to believe that you actually care about trans women, say something when we try to call attention to issues that affect us.

[excelsior9173]

rca is back on their copyright striking fanart bullshit again…

basically straight up said no one can draw the runes or vessel??? absolutely fucked

sorry fuckers, i’m putting those runes all over my body in tats and you can’t stop me

[nervoustragedyluminary]

"no don't transition! please stay a dysphoric teenage 'girl' forever that's when you're most attractive to me! " 🤢 like SOMEONE is acting predatory here and it's not trans people 🤦

[zaddyazula]

obviously i love strangelove’s character but she wasn’t written well… as a woman or as a lesbian…

[miiiwu]

can we not do fucking tme vs tma discourse about trumps ‘protecting women from gender ideology thing’ holy shit. shut the fuck up and go outside.