What's up with the updates for Cultivation Chat Group? I see there's been no new chapters added to the listing since May. Visiting the QI website I'm seeing it's locked. Did I miss any controversy or is QI just being asses?
It went "Premium" a while ago, and Novelupdates doesn't host chapters that are paywalled. It's being updated regularly, just not for free. They also changed it so that you no longer get a slower pace of free chapters on the premium novels as was the previous setup. (So basically, yes, the latter)
Anything popular basically. The only novels that don't go premium are ones that don't have enough of a following.
it is logical, after all who would start a novel that is paywalled from the beginning? first get the readers hooked, then get their money
Somehow I feel like this premium business is like a wall, first it was a fence that anyone can cross over for free. After that it was a small rock wall, people had to watch a dancing clown or pay a toll to pass. And when the wall was 10 feet high with aluminum and steel plating they made a gate keeper with a toll where people would have to scavenge garbage dumps for currency. Is it fortunate that all their walls aren't fully complete? Who knows.
There's a pirate convention below Qidian, maybe you could find your fancy there(Assuming they haven't expired yet). Go look for it in reddit. P.S. The only thugs whose lurking underground that provide free stuff.
Not really. My favorite novel was ranked 130-140 with not even an ad and suddenly it got paywalled from chapter 100 - 560+.
I think you should definitely follow jersanxx1's suggestion. You never know what you might find if you look underground
I was completely fine with their Adwalls and felt it was well within their right to earn a little something using them moreso since there was nothing stopping you from playing 50 ads at once before sitting down to read chapters. But this complete paywall bullshit, while understandable from a very limited money driven business view seems more likely to alienate readers in the long run and put QI out of business.
Yap . I just read it this morning . Every day got 2 update chapter . Last chapter that I read using Google translate MC already a seven-pronged person and being hunted by heavenly will
You misunderstand the system. Don't you see the number of Chinese Pirate sites ? Some are so big that they even charge monthly subscription fees lol. The goal is to monetize a few rich readers or addicts. Pirate sites technically have to buy the novels from Qidian too. Monetizing 5% of their reader base is enough. Market share is more important than profits besides their main revenue is from anime adaptation and drama adaptations from what I can see. Might not be true though.
Wow, pirate sites using subscription. I also see some threads on r/manga depicting how much ad loaded kissmanga has become and that they block anyone who uses adblock.