sorry to say but over half the books here does not matter if finished or not i can understand the need to have money to support the site but this site has taken greed to an entirely new level, locking chapters and FORCING one to pay to read is wrong. if one enjoys a novel they will donate as appreciation to it and the site. i have written four books one is issekai, two are dungeon, and last one is scifi. i have not published them as of yet nor released them any where i was considering to do it here, and although i could probably make decent money from it i say NO NEVER WILL I, not here. i realize a lot of people will say that one person not using this site to read is no big deal, it may be true but voicing my opinion may help others to not give to greedy places such as this and use a real and free site. i have donated hundreds to a different site where novels are free but i have never nor will ever give money to those that force payment for something that should be free and enjoyable, and no obligation to pay.
webnovels is crap
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arcadian_mystic Ok, so the books locked by Webnovel are either translations from the Chinese original into English. For those books, Webnovel either bought a license, either has a license as per the contracts signed by the authors with Webnovel's mother company Qidian. Those novels are translated by professional translators, who are paid themselves, the authors of those novels receive proceeds from them (or at least, should). All of that costs money. In the same way that you have to pay to read "Harry Potter" legally, you have to pay to read these translations.
As for Webnovel originals, if they are locked, it is because the writers signed contracts with Webnovel that permit for them to receive proceeds from their writing. You are paying the authors in that case, with Webnovel taken a percentage for hosting the novel on its website (how big that percentage is is none of my business - the authors and Webnovel are the actors in that field). So accusing Webnovel for letting authors lock their novels is ludicrous. Accuse the authors.
Of course, when you accuse the authors for not writing for free (many of us do, by the way - in fact, most of us do), you accuse the author for wanting to eat, pay his rent and bills. Writing takes time. It isn't like pooping (in fact, constipated people would tell you that pooping takes up a lot of effort and a big chunk of their time, decreasing their productivity all in all, but that is not the point).
Dostoevsky wrote for money. The man had to eat.
Kafka wrote for money. The man had to eat.
So did Balzac. And Zola. And these are great names of classical literature who wrote books that were actually worthwhile and had a message unlike our CEO romances and half-as*ed cultivation novels (no offense intended to any of us, but let us admit it - our books are not going to change the world anytime soon; they are a great, fun read however)
J.K. Rowling also wrote for money. And I bet the readers who payed 40$ for her hardcover books never even complained about that or thought about how "Harry Potter" should be a free read. Or "Fifty Shades of Grey". Or "Twilight".
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Another thing is that when they are complaining about paying for chapters, they never actually paying attention to free books, they only care to read those famous books that is definitely not free and need to pay for chapters. Ironic.
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arcadian_mystic but i have never nor will ever give money to those that force payment for something that should be free and enjoyable, and no obligation to pay.
Something that should be free and enjoyable.
Should.
Who are we to decide that they should be free?
I think it's for the respective writer to decide if he/she wants to keep it for free or not. It's the one's choice who has put his/her efforts in writing that book.
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Nobody is actually FORCING anyone to read. It's not like they have your bank details or they are putting a gun over your head. 
I am not being sarcastic at all. Just saying it's impossible for them to force anyone. If you don't want to pay, don't pay. 
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arcadian_mystic FORCING one to pay to read is wrong. if one enjoys a novel they will donate as appreciation to it
...have you never visited a bookstore or bought an eBook from Amazon (Kindle) or Black Library before?
arcadian_mystic voicing my opinion may help others to not give to greedy places
Are Scholastic, Bloomsbury and Random House, etc. or Bookdepository, Abebooks, Amazon, etc. "greedy"? How about Kinokuniya and Barnes & Nobles?
arcadian_mystic this site has taken greed to an entirely new level,
No, it did not.
arcadian_mystic locking chapters and FORCING one to pay to read is wrong.
And who decides that? All form of writing that you could do BEFORE translations became a thing were paid. Even if you went to the library, you were paying for the privilege of using those books with either your taxes or your membership. The only reason why people have the galls to claim that online novels should be free and donation financed, is because for a long time (just like subbed animes) no one could be bothered to control this grey area. That's what made you used to the fact that it was all free, but that doesn't mean it was legal and allowed in the first place.
arcadian_mystic FORCING one to pay to read is wrong
Any form of entertainment HAS TO be paid for. Either with real money taken from hand to hand (like in circus, theatre or even swimming pool), by a membership (gym, some cinemas, television) or in form of taxes (said libraries, parks). Like stated above, reading is yet another form of entertainment that someone had to put his efforts to make available for people like you, meaning - they need to make money out of it.
Previously, some of the greatest books were free because people translating them knew that by pulling a great crowd to read it, some of them would donate. But they didn't have to pay royalties, hosting fees and all, so the overall cost of doing so was way lower, and they could make do with donation models.
arcadian_mystic FORCING one to pay to read is wrong.
Sorry boy, but you are not the one to decide that. People that produce the content has the sole right to decide whether their novels should be free or paid. And while I take your later claim that you written 4 novels, and honestly doubt that you could make anything if with them if you were to post them here, even when trusting you on this matter, it shows that while you are an writer, you are not an author, because you kept those novels to yourself.
It's like if I went to the school, told everyone that I graduated from the online course and if I were to teach I would be better than any teacher in said school. Guess what would happen? People would consider it as nothing but a silly joke.
The way in which you wrote this post only serves as another reason why I do not believe you could earn a dime from your writing here.
arcadian_mystic if one enjoys a novel they will donate as appreciation to it and the site.
Thats one business model that the content owners can adopt. As you are just the end-used of the content, you have no right to judge or blame.
arcadian_mystic i have written four books one is issekai, two are dungeon, and last one is scifi.
And you still don't know that "i" should be written as capital letter. Good luck trying to flaunt your fake achievments.
arcadian_mystic i have not published them as of yet nor released them any where i was considering to do it here, and although i could probably make decent money
No, you couldn't not. Thats fake pride, sorry to break it down to you. You are not special, like most of the people (including me) on this site or anywhere else. If you want your achievements to speak for you, you need to have them in the first place rather than guessing that you could get them because reasons.
arcadian_mystic i say NO NEVER WILL I, not here.
Then good luck somewhere else, mate. No one is forcing you to do anything.
arcadian_mystic i realize a lot of people will say that one person not using this site to read is no big deal,
It's not a big deal. You can read of hundreds if not thousands of other sites. But if you read ANY of the content that is posted EXCLUSIVELY on this site, ANYWHERE else, you are just a scum that supports the pirates that STEAL other's hard work, rather than supporting the authors themselves.
arcadian_mystic it may be true but voicing my opinion
Perfectly stated. Opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank God we can have others correct how big of a portion in said "opinion" is nothing but a bunch of entitlement and guessing.
arcadian_mystic help others to not give to greedy places such as this and use a real and free site.
You mean, those pirate sites that does nothing but STEAL content, and deprive the authors of their income despite how little they already earn? Well, then you are the reason why a lot of good novels here are dropping. Guess what, not everyone is willing to spend HOURS to write DAY BY DAY only for 90% of his income to end up wasted on pirate sites. You seem to forget that stories are not randomly appearing. They are written. And if you support piracy, then you are the greatest cancer of the reading community.
arcadian_mystic that should be free and enjoyable,
Once again, you are not the one to decide that.
Overall, this post screams rant, proves that user has nothing to prove his claims so he creates his achievements in his head and is also most likely an active user of pirate sites. Do anyone need anything else to see how little his words matter?
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arcadian_mystic So base on your logic getting paid for the hard work you've done is a bad thing. We should offer our services for free cause the people here who complain and diss authors are worth giving free things. Also, I don't think anyone is forcing anyone to pay for anything, or have you totally disregarded the multiple ways to read novels for free.
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You lowly, your rant of ill-educated logic isn't worth anything here.
MotivatedSloth wow sloththis is an overkill 
Feels shamed because 99.9% of her ancestry are peasants, all the way up to her closest cousins. :(
It is us lowly peasants who feed your ridiculously-too-good-looking-Korean-avatar bum!!! Respect us!!! I shall go milk my cow. And not give you any of her glorious udder juice.
I do not appreciate anybody using peasants in a mocking manner.
This...
This is what I live for!
Oh man, maybe it's just me but I feel like it's been a while since I've last seen an ignorant and arrogant user complain about something that makes sense if they just thought about it a little, only to get bashed by our ever perceptive elders!
Reading those posts was like opening a floodgate, especially @MotivatedSloth
ヾ(≧▽≦*)o
Protect the authors! Protect the original authors!
Yay!
(・∀・(・∀・(・∀・*)
Not all novels here are pay to read. There are plenty of free novels. You just have to dig somewhere deeper than a main recommended page
Actually, more than 99.99% of books here in WN are free to read. Only a small percentage of books have locked chapters, that too after enough free content equivalent to a traditionally published book.