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  • Forty Millenniums of Cultivation Updates

It's a shame but I think it's pretty much dropped. Considering 2761 of 3335 chapters were translated it does feel like a waste but that's nothing new here.

It's pretty much standard practice on Webnovel that when a novel is dropped it's as if TLs have been abducted by aliens or have disappeared like Jack Ma to give a more Chinese example. I find it incredibly frustrating that they don't have the decency to announce it and consider it disrespectful to leave the readers hanging.

That's also why I don't start any new novels on Webnovel as I don't want to invest time into story to have it arbitrarily dropped one day when to get to chapter 2700+ takes over 200 hours assuming 5min/chapter to be left on a cliffhanger...

Completely agree with everything you said.

It's a shame, because this novel is way better than the junk novels they do translate. I've also never understood why fmoc is as unpopular as it is, considering it's on the level of novels like cultivation chat group or lord of mysteries.

Actually from what I can gather even junk novels will start to get culled. Currently their entire business model is based on getting people off translated novels and onto original stories from authors they poach off Wattpad as it's cheaper for them as they can skip translation costs and licencing costs from the original novel.

Just to give an example when I tried to look up look up power rankings to compare translated and original novels. I then noticed I couldn't many translated novels. I then noticed a filter and it was only selecting original novels (instead of all) despite the fact that I have never read an original novel on Webnovel. It may not seem a big deal but it means that all new readers are being diverted to original novels and thus translations end up not gaining new readers so total readerbase can only go down and then they cull it cause it's not profitable enough.

I can also confirm Forty Millenniums of Cultivation is a great novel and would definitely recommend it to anyone if it was being actively translated.

    Totally agree with above commenters. Come on Webnovel tell us why you have dropped this novel. How can you accomplish a loyal following if you behave this way.
    If you say that, "from now on only by buying privilege chapters can readers continue", I can accept that explanation. This website exists to make money after all.

    AnnoyingADs

    I've been noticing the same thing, but hadn't given it any thought. I think what you said is indeed what's happening.

    I don't really read many original novels here, because there are other great sites out there like royalroad. To be honest I actually don't even read that many original novels, since I mainly like the xianxia and wuxia genre and for the fantasy genre I might as well buy an actual book.

    If you guys want to satisfy your fmoc urge, you should give the three-body series from liu cixin a try. It's where fmoc gets a few ideas from, like the dark forest theory. I personally thought it sucked, but it has great reviews, so I might be an outlier hehe.

      7 days later

      Keeping this recent.
      Ok I got a reply from user "WorldTeacher". S/he said support staff says it has not nren dropped and we should wait for update. Clearly WorldTeacher is not a Webnovel staff.

      But why the silence from Webnovel staff themselves? What purpose does it serve to say nothing for over a month?

      Am I talking to a brick wall?

        Ekc Personally I put it down to incompetence and/or simply not caring. At the end of the day if you have novel that hasn't updated for over a month with no explanation give as to why you can expect the readers to leave in droves. It's terrible management as it doesn't manage reader's expectations and thus they'll lose interest and leave.

        I'll also note that while support staff say it's not been dropped I've actually never heard Webnovel ever say that a novel has been dropped (to Webnovel all their works are ongoing or complete). From my understanding they simply say it's stopped updating but may resume should a TL who wishes to translate it joins Webnovel. I think they do that so that if another group wants to TL it then Webnovel can go and sue them as they have the mentality that if we can't get it then no else can!

            7 days later

            Ekc Looks like there are still no new chapters. I'm actually a little surprised that webnovel staff (paid or unpaid moderators) haven't responded to this post. It was one of the things that I assumed was improving (RE: more moderators who actually responded to posts). Maybe try tagging a responsive moderator? I don't usually check the forums so not sure if there are any. Last time I was here Yuebot seemed pretty active? DaoistVoid also locked one of the threads that I got a reply to, so maybe him/her?

            But it could be what @AnnoyingADs said, in that webnovel never communicates when a novel is dropped.

                CKtalon Too many people were pirating this book, causing earnings to be too low for this book to be continued. Simple as that.

                I can definitely understand that, but it seems to be a direct consequence of WebNovel not having any reasonable way for a new reader to get caught up to read it here. No new reader is going to pay the hundreds of dollars that WebNovel charges to read the past chapters here. As the number of old readers gradually diminish (because of life changes or whatever), the number of paying readers is pretty much guaranteed to drop too low. I'm worried about the future of any long translated novel here!

                Things aren't helped by WebNovel's complete lack of transparency as to what is happening. There could very well be enough people reading it on pirate sites who are willing to pay for it if they knew it would be dropped otherwise.

                If WebNovel gave a month's warning of potential dropping of a translated work, it would allow readers (and translators) time to mount a rescue campaign for a novel. That works to WebNovel's benefit - any rescue campaign effort will give WebNovel free advertising; especially valuable if it extends beyond WebNovel's current customers.

                    CrispyCritter Well way I look at it more or less any long novel is pretty much guaranteed to be dropped by WebNovel as it will have a decreasing readerbase. Looking at numbers assuming 2700 chapters at 8 coins (it's probably higher average) comes to 21600 coins and you can get 12000 coins for 150 USD so it's probably around 300 USD for a new reader to catch up at which point they can then pay for privilege chapters.

                    Next question you get is how many paying readers with hindsight would still pay for chapters if they were aware that the novel would get dropped regardless. Even if I could read it for free I wouldn't want to spend 200+ hours reading a novel for it to randomly end on a cliffhanger. I would be surprised if more than 5% of translations actually get completed on WebNovel and as more and more get dropped that % isn't improving.

                    Next problem is the lack of communication from WebNovel that means there is a lack of trust in them. For example if you look at CKtalon's post it implies a decision was taken to drop the novel due to lack of income blamed on piracy. However from the time that decision was taken it took at least 6 weeks to even tell the readers who had asked in every place available and were left guessing on the novel's status.

                    So to sum it up, is it worthwhile for anyone to invest time and money in a novel on WebNovel when they don't have a track record of completing them and all the thanks you'll get for your support is getting ghosted by everyone in WebNovel when the novel is dropped without an announcement. Currently I find it hard to justify the time to read anything on WebNovel as all ongoing series can in theory be dropped at any moment with no prior warning while completed novels cost a fortune in coins so when looking for a new novel to read I pretty much eliminate anything by WebNovel and prefer other translation sites that actually finish what they start.

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