I like Webnovel

It is very sad, but your definition of value is very wrong.
Please don't pretend that you give a crap about an industry.
You obviously do not. You also do not care about costs, that is why you mention free every single post.
You also do not understand the publishing industry at all. If those $25 subscriptions were so good for the industry, you wont have accomplished comic artists going on indiegogo and kickstarter to make a living.
You show via every single post how ignorant you are of the publishing industry and business as a whole.
You claim that it is because of predatory/bad practices, sorry to break it to you but if you were really worth what you are saying
You won't patronize 99.9% of companies since most companies have killed people even if its indirectly.
If I was looking for morality, I would go to a priest, doctor or lawyer since they have oaths.
I take an evil company like Qidian that supports the industry over a moral company that will be bankrupted in 6 months
Over and out.

Sources: https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826153393

 

Most people in this thread have been giving nothing but their own contradictory interpretations on this new so-called-privelaged-system,only a few have given their well reasoned thoughts and opinions—some even backed by facts.

Medicines are chemicals or compounds used to cure, halt, or prevent disease; ease symptoms; or help in the diagnosis of illnesses. Advances in medicines have enabled doctors to cure many diseases and save lives.Medicine's goal is to cure the sick. Curing the sick is the core medical competence, whose exercise is medicine's core business.

And that is something books,no—novels to be precise,really can't match up to.Two things that shouldn't even be mentioned within the same breath.

A lack of business...ethics perhaps?Now that's one thing Qidian majors in no doubt!

 

To quote the Woz in 'Jobs', "It's not binary. You can be decent and talented at the same time." Although in this case, 'talented' should be replaced by 'profitable'. Something Wuji never will quite get (or selectively chooses not to), because he desperately wishes he was QI or did what QI did, hehe.

 

It was a fun argument, but I've said most of what I wanted to say without expanding and ranting on more. I'll put my last rant in a spoiler but probably won't reply to it unless there is anything else that needs to be discussed. Suffice it to say, tldr;; subscriptions in comics work, artists go on crowdfunding to fund projects rejected by publishers. I'm not an economic expert, but there are literally examples to compare to (crunchyroll in anime). Some good companies have evil people in it, and that's ok. Qidian is an evil company with some good people in it, that's not ok. The reason it's not ok is because it is pushing out a portion of the community, and killing novels that are not as profitable as others. Comic book writers can crowdfund less popular series they want to make, but anything that dies at Qidian's hand can't be picked up by other translators. Lastly, and most importantly: even if Qidian went bankrupt, the webnovel community would still be around, so don't try and trick others into thinking that Qidian IS the industry.

Spoiler: The rant

Bankrupt like the youtube channels that still exist today. Bankrupt like webcomic arists that have supported themselves for years without paywalls. Bankrupt like comic books that you use as an example, but suddenly it is not a good example because they have a subscription model (and yes accomplished comic artists go on indiegogo and kickstarter, but it isn't because the subscription model doesn't work, it's because the comic companies won't pick up their new work. If they want to make an original hero and it doesn't make the cut then they must find other ways to get funding. It's like how indie game developers look for kickstarter for funding instead of publishers, it's because they didn't make the cut). You act like you know a lot about the publishing industry but never give any information on it aside from condescendingly say people don't know about economics or the publishing industry. Yet at the same time you deny and reject very real business models that have existed for several years now, saying they're not equivalent or not sustainable in one way or another. Instead, you support Qidian which uses a ridiculous price gouging business model that not even their Chinese counterparts use, and you praise it as supporting the industry.

The anime industry and by extension manga industry very closely resembles the webnovel industry especially when you look at it from a historical aspect. It started out as a grass-root fan-based (I won't use the word free because it triggers you) translation that people shared with each other for years. It had thriving and booming community that became so big that anime culture began to pour into the west. There were anime clubs and naruto weabs long before Crunchyroll came along, but when Crunchyroll appeared they came in and disrupted the community. They sent out DMCA take downs, hired the internet water armies to support their cause, and introduced a subscription based service for their licensed anime. It's been years now, Crunchyroll is still around and has been growing. But for some reason you reject this business model and support Qidian's? You reject an existing business model that has been proven, shares very many similarities to the webnovel industry, and is successful, for Qidian's current one. You are right, I am no an economic expert, but even the layman can distinguish between a sustainable practice, and a price-gouging one.

I won't support Qidian because their greedy tactics are blatant and obvious. I don't mind support many other companies because most often than not, any so called "killed people" is indirect, or is at least due to individuals within a company and is not the company's own policy and method to make money. I don't support games that heavily depend on loot boxes and unfair micro-transaction perks that support a pay2win type of game. Instead, I support games that focus on gameplay, where microtransactions do no provide pay2win perks, and yes I do buy their cosmetic microtransactions to show my support. I don't like pre-orders for games because there are many issues with it (i.e. bait and switch) but I'll still pre-order games from companies that I love and support. I used to pirate games (can't be bothered to do so anymore) but I've also bought the games I pirated afterwards if I enjoyed it. I've bought 2 copies of FF7 (ps1 and PC), 4+ copies of ff8 (ps1 but lost some cds, ps3 and pc), and two copies of ff10 (ps2 and the HD re-release). I've even bought 2 copies of ff13-3 lightning returns (don't judge, ps3 and pc). I've bought games for systems I don't even own (but can borrow) because in my view these games are worth supporting.

As for whether a company is evil or not, a good company may have some evil people in it, but I'll still support the company. But Qidian is an evil company that has some good people in it. The difference is their founding policy and method of business is to strong-arm any competition out with DMCA, gain a monopoly of the industry, and then price gouge to make a huge profit. I won't drink that poison to quench my thirst. You act like the fall of Qidian would destroy the webnovel community, but guess what - we were here before Qidian became international, and we'll still be here even if they go bankrupt. Going back to that cancer drug example I gave before, your argument supporting the corrupt pharmaceutical company would be "well if we get rid of our orphan-status cancer drug, people with the disease will die". NO. There was a pre-existing system in place before, they just came in to monopolize and monetize it. That doesn't mean they become the sole pillar of support and lifeline of the industry. The death of Qidian doesn't mean the webnovel community will collapse, it just means translators can keep doing their thing and finding their own ways to monetize and support their work.

 

Hahhaa I meant to say lack of business sense but I don't disagree but it comes with the territory.
Large corporations are cruel. It is essentially a requirement to succeed for the most part.
I guess some people still underestimate the size of Qidian and that they are essentially Tencent novel division.

 

Do you know God Grid?