This:
AnnoyingADs "I remember when Webnovel still went by the name Qidian International that they promised no pay walls etc. With the gradual introduction of adwalls, then premium, then privilege most goodwill was gradually eroded into nothing. I used to read a few novels that had been poached from other sites but then they more or less all got dropped and while at the time I wasn't too happy in hindsight I think it's not too bad as it's meant I can completely leave the Webnovel ecosystem without any regrets."
- I remember this too. π’
On the plus side, some other translation groups have picked up dropped stories, so I can read them on their sites. And it helped me find other, better sites; so there is a silver lining.
Dwarkin "Yeah, I remember what happened at NU forum and Reddit at that time, and CKTalon's words:
"In the event, Qidian sets up a paywall, they will be betraying me as well, and make me seem like a fool here. When that happens, I'll definitely have to apologize for me being stupid and 'signing a contract with the devil'.""
- I also remember this too. π’ No apology as far as I am aware though.
TL:DR - unkept promises and kidnapping then dropping translations that I was reading.
Authors only getting 20 to 30% of the money that people send to them also doesn't quite sound very fair, though if we are being fair (if the authors did their due diligence) they should know that before signing up.
Though on the positive side, somewhat surprised that this thread wasn't locked. Also there are actually moderators now. A year ago there were technically moderators, but it was the wild wild west and you would see people spam multiple instances of the same forum posts and advert threads.