So, this is my farewell. I stuck up for qidan originally, glad that I had an easier way to properly support translations, but even I can't support this any longer.

Some math, before I go;
In my native currency, a SS costs approx 2.5 cents.
In my personal experience, maybe I read longer written novels but an average chapter is 13 SS.
If we say that there are 10000 global premium readers, that's
2.5 x 13 x 10000 = 325000 or $3250.
That's about as much as I earn in 6 weeks, for a single chapter.
Admittedly, inflation from the ability to get it free is a thing, and although I don't know the shares there's the author, translator, editor and qidan themselves eating the pie, but that's still a bloody big pie when some translators get out 3-5 chapters a day, or more even.

Add that to upfront lies during execution, forced delays of free chapters to build up premium on release, being screwed out of bought and payed for SS with "server issues", and multiple people saying their books simply have stopped or delayed free releases altogether though the premiums have had no such issue (I'm a third party to these claims), and, well, I'm sorry but it's a no from me. There was potential here, and I personally feel greedy execution. I don't ask to read for free, but I don't expect (or can afford) to pay multi-fold WhAt I would for a physical book. Farewell, or don't - I don't care, I'm beyond disappointed.

P.S. even the recent server issues, you have to actively search for info on it. No notification or anything for the general users, oh no. This is a discourtesy to your readers, and what you should call a shameful loss of face.

P.S.S. I don't want an argument in the comments- similar experiences or thoughts are welcome, in hopes that Qidan might change some if they feel inclined, but If you don't agree, don't feel the need to turn this into a comment war

    Merciless Are you trolling here? You do know for god damn well qi won't give a fuck if readers like you leave don't you. Not like they going to cry and say don't leave we're gonna throw this paywall. Tsk kids this days they don't really feel grateful when they get something free.

        Heago hi shill.

        I never knew we dont even have the right to say fuck it and stop using a service that is not satisfying to us nowadays a.k.a make a vote through our own buying power.

        Yes, individually it's tiny but I'm sure I don't have teach a well connected shill like yourself all that jazz about how every little bit counts or whatever. I mean, stopping people from leaving by being a sanctimonious jackass seems to be your job, so I'm sure you already know the mechanics.

            I cleaned my library in Qidian. Only left 2 novels. One I'm currently paying to read and the other one is still free. My issue is with the expiring SS. Once I used the ones I paid for I may not purchase anymore and if I do, I won't read over priced novels, I will not pay more than 4 SS. Also what would happen once you finish reading/paying it, is it still gonna be available to me? Will it be taking out once is not popular anymore? I don't know if I'll continue to pay to read online because of this questions. I mean, who warranties that the sites will still be running and what's gonna happened to the novels I paid for?

            Merciless Your name suits you......!!
            And as a free reader I would say my ideal is Jack Sparrow... I follow his path, but sometimes even Jack Sparrow had to mingle with these common rich folks to make some connections.

                Goodbye and it's understandable why you leave, i've had the same thoughts for a while. QI/WW/GT is under the impression that they can get the same rate as a hard copy book that is fully translated (number of $ pr. word). Which will never work in the long run (in my eyes). As soon as the kids who use their parents credit card grows up and have to pay for themselves stops reading, the buisness/(business?) naturally stops as well. 90% of readers/gamers/movie watchers wants to support whatever they take fancy to, but it have to be affordable. 50-60$ for a few "extra" chapters is simply to much for a few minutes of entertainment

                Sigh. I know the feel when “premium” translators are not releasing chapters... Mr. CEO love me 100% currently has 135 chapters behind the SS wall 😭

                CreamPuffDelights Not defending anyone here, but just being realistic. In this day and age, for big companies like Qi and EA, voting with your feet don't matter at all. Do you see EA stopping their ridiculous microtransactions even tho so many complain about it? Nope... Why? Because as many as there are people crying about it, there are also people just buying it without making a noise, which is somehow enough for EA to earn more than the games actual price...

                Only time will tell if Qi will be successful, but since they seem to be insisting on the current model, they must at least be making some profit. Since i don't believe a company can work for a loss for a whole year. There is investment, and then there is foolishness. No company would work for a loss for such a long time...

                    N0xiety EA completely removed the micro-transactions, reworked the system to be cosmetic only, then put the system back in, and improved base progression after massive community backlash.

                    Assuming your talking about the new Starwars they made anyway.

                      N0xiety Cough.... Battlefront II fiasco.... cough....!! 3.8billion dollors loss(or 8.comething percent of share price drop)... cough.. cough....
                      That event has shaken the gaming community and even the Shadow of War is taking away microtransactions away and restructuring the loot mechanic in-game.... P.S. we also have Metal Gear Survive, and the little fucker died even though it had great reviews(no one buying it...)

                      But then there are games like the upcoming Black Ops IIII, which for some stupid reason has jumped on Battleroyal bandwagon ignoring the story mode(which will come as a DLC in the future update for sure) and also having Overwatch type gameplay in it....!! this world is stupid.....

                      But people can still change things..... and BlackOps IIII will be the new Battlefront of 2018....!!

                        Not sure why they aren't going subscription based instead of this micro transaction route. Reading a web novel is a long term thing because of staggered chapter releases. Anyone who's smart is just going to wait for the chapters to become free or just use their daily free spirit coins instead. However with a subcription model similar to how most patreon work (ie latest couple chapters locked unless you pay) you'd have way more people willing to shell out.

                          Pwentt Because thsi model nets them more short term profit. And even if Chinese novels portrayal of Chinese business men tend to be a bit exaggerated, as a Chinese, albeit one that moved to Australia when i was younger, the portrayal is not wrong at all. A lot of them don't give half a shit about long term profit, all they want is results, regardless of whether it'll screw up the market or not. Tencent especially has a terrible reputation for this, but not very well known since they suppressed a lot of the articles. You read about it in this novels, but it's really not a joke in real life.

                              CreamPuffDelights

                              Tencent cares about short term profit instead of long term profit, to become global top 10 company?

                              QI's model is based on qidian's model which is quite successful, why change something when it is already proven to work?

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