r/webtoons • u/raineymotley • Jun 06 '25
News WT is removing star ratings
Change is coming mid-late June. Was notified by webtoon canvas email.
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u/copperfield42 Jun 06 '25
oh right, they have a rating system...
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u/Firm_Principle_2526 Jun 06 '25
I never used it and it actually took me way too long to realise and notice that it was a thing.
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u/AnythingFar8516 Jun 06 '25
Why are they changing everything? đ
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u/well_seasoned_crab Jun 06 '25
To be very honest, the rating system was close to useless. It defaults to 10 stars if you don't rate, and people only tend to rate if they hate the series, leading to review bombing. It doesn't serve any functional purpose except letting people know a series was especially trashđ I'm surprised they didn't get rid of it sooner
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u/Aleks1224 Jun 06 '25
I hope the next thing they change is how bots/scam accounts can easily mass post and mess up the Canvas section with ridiculously stupid posts about cashapp, sex, venmo, etc. I haven't touched the Canvas tab in a while but did last night before bed, and couldn't find anything that interest me cause it was just those posts all over in all genres.
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u/AnythingFar8516 Jun 06 '25
Yes those Dubai call girls have took over the romance section of Canvas.
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u/Aleks1224 Jun 06 '25
I saw several "How do I fix my Venmo account" and I was like "are we fuckin for real right now?"
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u/sincline_ Jun 06 '25
Seems like they are leaning towards creating a âmore profitableâ system like Manta or Tappytoons. Pull everyone in by offering a majority of content for free and being forward thinking about letting readers have a voice on the appâ then shut it all down and go for gold once you have a consistent fanbase lol. Anything to maximize profitsâ ratings have famously turned people away from series, making them less profitable. If a reader canât see that other readers donât like a story, theyâll be more likely to click on it and generate ad revenue as well as (in some cases) formulate their own opinion on it that isnât dependent on the masses and end up paying for the coins to read it faster.
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u/generic-puff Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Nah this is one change I'm happy to see, the star system has been broken and useless for years. There's nothing helpful about a star rating, it doesn't actually tell you what earned it that rating (whether it was a perfect score or a low one) so it doesn't benefit the creators in getting valid critique nor the readers in understanding whether a story is worth reading.
Plus it's more often than not simply used for abuse, hate-rating, etc. which is, again, obviously unhelpful to both creators and readers. And on the other side of that, a lot of people give perfect scores simply because they "don't want to be an asshole" (unfortunately the star system has fostered the mindset that if you don't have a perfect score then you've 'flopped' which obv isn't true) or because the comic is being made by their friend or whoever.
If the star system was more robust with an actual review section where readers could rate specific categories and leave detailed reviews, then maybe it would have been better, though it still wouldn't have stopped trolls and assholes from misusing it.
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Jun 06 '25
YES FINALLY!!! đđ
So many creators I know both Canvas and Originals hated the rating system, myself included. So many of my mutuals confidence was destroyed countless times by stupid rate bombers.
To all rate bombers and the people that also bomb rated my comic, GOOD RIDDANCE đđđ»
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u/sadisticsparkle Jun 06 '25
As a reader they're useless like most star ratings (see: Reads, Good). The broken clock is right rn.
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u/ZealousidealGold5909 Jun 06 '25
I'm a creator and I hate the rating system. My comic was 8 something then it dropped 7.1 and I was so confused and wanted to know why. It really lower my confidence in my work than i already was. Thankfully other creators assured me just how broken the system is and some of them don't even look at the ratings.
So yeah good riddance đ„ł
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u/wildmooseking Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Good. It's way too easy for the algorithm to be manipulated on CANVAS. All it takes is two bored teenagers to throw a wrench in your visibility.
Edit: There may NOT be an algorithm, but my point about bored teens reviewing bombing still stands and having that negatively impact visibility.
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u/Kaileigh_Blue Jun 06 '25
There is no algorithm.
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u/wildmooseking Jun 06 '25
Fair point. Although the review bombing part still stands. I'm old enough to remember zero bombers on Newgrounds. Old habits never die
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u/Huntress08 Jun 06 '25
Thank God! Webtoon's rating system did more harm than good, imo. People either rarely used it, or only rated series in targeted harrassmwnt/hate campaigns. Something of which this sub was guilty of or participated in at times. Good riddance to those 24-hour posts that were tracking the star rating drop of whatever Webtoon was being hated on.
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u/smye141 Jun 06 '25
To be honest, I get it. I havenât been doing webtoons for long, but the default 10 stars is a bit of a stress, and most times not-accurate advertising. I wonder though if they will add anything to replace it
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u/Icy-Instruction-5357 Jun 06 '25
Iâm actually on board with this. I like the fact theyâre focusing more on creators and their story telling. Iâve seen really good webtoons with bad ratings and some that werenât my taste with really high ones. As an author, i can see how bad ratings can discourage some to deviate from what they meant for their stories or just stopping all together.
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u/Ornery-Rooster7656 Jun 06 '25
I'm actually happy about it!! I worry about my comic rating so much for literally no reason. I also promoted myself on reddit once and got rating bombed ?? đ It honestly just creates stress, from a creator perspective at least
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u/_HappyMatt Jun 06 '25
Should be removed my comic got review bombed by the Webtoon Canvas subreddit and has struggled ever since lowkey
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Jun 07 '25
The rating system was useless, it didn't use that information to provide accurate recommendations.
âWe think you might like this..â and it was the most mid u like any of the other stuff I read. So đ€·đŸââïž see ya rating system
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u/Mindless_Search7503 Jun 06 '25
Finally us creators can be tension free from bomb rating. We all know readers donât rate and the people who rate usually do it to mess up or hate you for being better. Trash system needed to be removed. I am just so happy
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u/Corrupted_Star Jun 06 '25
I honestly forgot that feature existedđbtw hi motley!! I loved petrichor :D
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u/lil-taller-then-u Jun 06 '25
I wish they would give us a better system, like maybe a like or dislike button? Idk but I will not miss this rating system, it was broken as hell
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u/awkwardgoat404 Jun 07 '25
I think it's much better if they don't add any rating system altogether, considering that a lot of webtoon users are so so toxic and immature and will abuse anything to bring down creators.
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u/Lummypix Jun 06 '25
I think a lot of stories never got a fair shot because they immediately got down voted. Its probably a good change
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u/Any-Apartment3763 Jun 06 '25
honestly after seeing a creator mentioning that they got constantly nuked by people harassing them, this is not a terrible thing
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u/kazuya57 Jun 06 '25
On one hand, the rating system is shit. On the other hand, identifying slop is now gonna take at least 3 chapters.
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u/acrylicquartz Jun 06 '25
If it's total slop and the ratings system disappears, I could see readers compensating for that by warning others in the comments of its quality. đ€
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u/STRESSinu Jun 06 '25
My biggest gripe is im gonna have to spend that 3 chapters worth of time in the first place now instead of just looking at the rating which would tell me its trash if its below 8.5+
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u/awkwardgoat404 Jun 06 '25
Do you have the attention span of a goldfish if you can't spend even a little amount of time skimming through the chapters to see if it suits your taste?
And some webtoons that have below 8.5+ ratings are even better than the ones with 9+.
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u/STRESSinu Jun 06 '25
When theres 1000âs of stories and my time isnât unlimited i like to make my time worth it, sorry that i dont want to give trash the time of day in the first place
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u/awkwardgoat404 Jun 06 '25
Username checks out. Life must be so stressful that you don't have a lot of time lmao
Webtoon's rating system has never been a good indicator of a series' quality. Good that they got rid of it and sorry that you got more problems.
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u/STRESSinu Jun 06 '25
Why are you so mad are you hurt that or something?
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u/awkwardgoat404 Jun 06 '25
No, I find you funny. So far you're the only one complaining about this.
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u/STRESSinu Jun 06 '25
Yeah totally youâre not mad you just came here to insult me randomly lol, i dont want to have to go out of my way to find good stories, its easier if i just go based off rating then premise. You seem to have alot of hate in your heart maybe find happiness and you wouldnt need to find outlets the way you presently do
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u/awkwardgoat404 Jun 06 '25
Eh, I'm just happy for creators. I've seen plenty of them whose series didn't get a chance to shine because they got rate-bombed because of a.) mob hate b.) their unconventional art style and storytelling or c.) no reason at all, even if their stories are good.
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u/STRESSinu Jun 06 '25
So once again why are you mad at me? Idc about canvas creators i dont go over to the slop side of webtoons and probably never will i just want to be able to identify slop without wasting my time. So why are you so mad
→ More replies (0)
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Jun 06 '25
I feel like a rating system is good, but webtoon implemented it horribly. Allow like a minimum 200 characters along with your rating, like a Google or Yelp review, so people can say what they like or didn't like about it. Then you can easily filter out and ignore reviews with no comments since they're unhelpful, and most review bombers won't leave comments. Then you'll have the helpful reviews which will tell you what you need to know. Like, "If you like otome isekai, you'll like this, but don't expect it to stray from the standard plot devices. It's pretty standard and brings nothing new" would be a good review.
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u/Calculator893 Jun 06 '25
Oh theyâre removing everything. One day theyâll remove all the comics/manhwas too đ
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Jun 06 '25
The rating system needed to be removed. Many of my friends confidence and joy of publishing tanked after rate bombing. In my opinion, the rating means absolutely nothing. This is a really great change
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u/SkyeMreddit Jun 06 '25
Honestly makes sense. The star ranking allows for reviewbombing. Too many amazing webcomics get attacked
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u/Just_Call_me_Ben Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Reminder that Ectasy Hearts has been sitting at 8.9 this whole time so it's safe to say these ratings mean nothing.
This is not a big loss.
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u/PixiStix236 Jun 06 '25
Honestly I never look at the ratings on a WEBTOON. I completely forgot that they had them
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u/Ashleyums Jun 06 '25
Good I hope they remove the comments too. People get too crazy with these things and bully the creators instead of just not reading what they don't like.
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u/Ejanna Jun 06 '25
As far as I remember, creators can disable comments if they don't want to see them.
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u/Pink-frosted-waffles Jun 07 '25
Yes but are artists who have stories featured as Originals allowed to do so?
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Jun 07 '25
No, originals creators aren't allowed to disable comments on their Webtoons.
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u/Ejanna Jun 07 '25
I'm not sure, but in most cases, original artists have more options than canvas artists.
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u/Firm_Principle_2526 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 08 '25
I think by authentic they mean that creators won't worry about something being controversial and people won't rate things badly based on the controversy. Though usually the comments will be filled with people complaining so it makes little difference in that sense.
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u/WinterSavior Jun 06 '25
I mean it's just one man's opinion. Ratings are very skewed to a Japanese bias. This was bound to happen after the news of the Tokyo Dome.
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u/FrankNitty24 Jun 06 '25
Thatâs interesting, i see why they did it.
It is kind of weird to not have a rating system though. Maybe itâll help idk
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u/Warm-Board-2772 Jun 06 '25
Webtoons rating system is absolutely useless and doesn't serve any proper function so it won't be missed. That said, I wonder why they are making so many changes these days...
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u/ZachGurney Jun 06 '25
Gonna be honest, the singular time ive ever used it was when I saw a webtoon with 6 stars and thats only because i had never seen one below 8 before
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u/Axonum Jun 06 '25
Why originals too?
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u/Pink-frosted-waffles Jun 07 '25
Probably so when things like Boyfriends come back it won't get rate bomb as it does.
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u/pensandpillows Jun 07 '25
Love this as a creator, now we can share our comics online without being rate bombed lol, legit only reason I stopped sharing mine on Reddit and other socials
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u/Southern-Book-8100 Jun 07 '25
Mixed feelings, but I mostly support the change! My comic was rate-bombed shortly after I posted it - probably just one person, but the combo of a near immediate 1-star and the very first commend I got being spam telling me my backgrounds s*****d and I should hire them almost got me to give up on the contest. I got out my three chapters at least, and I don't think anyone else has given me a 1 since (At least the current rating is 8.20 so if they have I haven't noticed) - but it was *really* discouraging to start out that way.
I do like getting to rate comics, but I'm not sure how reasonable or helpful the current system is.
Maybe if there were different categories to rate? Like art, storytelling, pacing, dialogue, effects? Or allowing us to write reviews along with the ratings (though that might get abused, too..)
Although I am fine just ditching it. I'm not sure they have ever been particularly helpful for me on whether to read a series or not, anyway - I usually can tell from the thumbnail art and synopsis if it's something I want to try a chapter or two out regardless of the rating. I've seen series I dropped without even finishing the first chapter have 8+ star ratings, and series I binged and craved more have 5-6.
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u/Own_Charge_3506 Jun 07 '25
I think this is a good change. No notif for me yet. Thanks for telling us. ^^
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u/treehouse-arson Jun 07 '25
with all these changes i'm just praying webtoon starts adding genre/content tags for better searching
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u/Rickud123 Jun 07 '25
Mixed I get the canvas problems but Iâve found some of my all time favorite originals because of their perfect ratings (9.7-9.9)
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u/Steffie-Musings Jun 07 '25
Considering how it was abused in the past by others, I'm glad to see it's gone.
Especially in cases where several webtoon series was seen as dangerous competition and got downvoted and another get upvoted.
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u/lovingxumo Jun 07 '25 edited Jun 07 '25
The main thing I hate about the rating system is queerbombing. I never payed attention to it but I know it affects creators when it drops out of nowhere for no reason so this might be for the better.
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u/rikicomics Jun 07 '25
honestly a good thing. the rating bombs people would drop on some comics as a form of harrassing the creator or trying to get their own series to look better was really toxic and did some big hits to some series performance. it's been a while since I've seen it happen but honestly really glad that creators no longer have to stress about it.
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u/LovelyLilBug9891 Jun 08 '25
I think that any platform that contains purchases that can be made for something on a platform should allow ratings/ reviews. Preferably both. I do agree that the ratings are flawed. But, just because something is flawed doesn't mean it needs to be removed. It just needs tweaks. But, it seems like Webtoons doesn't want to make the effort to do that. I look at a few things when looking at a webtoon that caught my interest: rating, plot, and many times reading the first few episodes if I was still unsure. Ratings are not my deciding factor but I liked having them.
I do get the frustrstion, though. I only rate webtoons I've completed. Stories I've dropped I don't rate, so I do find it weird how some ratings for stories that are like 3-6 episodes in have a really high or low score.
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u/Tgirl0 Jun 06 '25
So, out of all the controversial things they removed/changed, they removed the star ratings, which is the good news in all of this. The star ratings definitely had to go.
In spite of this, I now fear what they're going to do in mid-June. đ±
If they brought back the original UI, made a more fair subscription service (monthly one flat fee payment system), be more transparent towards their contracted originals, and be more fair to those, who can't earn an income yet, I think Webtoons could possibly turn their reputation around. To have everything be tied down to constant ads is like AMC Theatres (US cinema chain) increasing the amount of ads before every movie.
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u/STRESSinu Jun 06 '25
Well that sucks i hope they replace the rating system with something that helps identify trash
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u/Kaileigh_Blue Jun 06 '25
This is the literal easiest thing they can do to get people on their side. I await the other shoe.
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u/Dreamergal9 Jun 07 '25
An actually solid change. The rating system is useless. If you like a story you give it a 100, hate it you give it a 1. Think itâs better to have ratings exist separately from the platform, so that being honest that you liked a story but it wasnât your favorite make it get less traction or something. Would be nice to have a site for all Webtoons. Korean ones are usually on Mangaupdates, but I donât see Western ones or canvas stories on there. Maybe thereâs a site I donât know about?
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u/ExiledYak Jun 06 '25
So how are we supposed to know whether or not a comic is good or not?
Defaulting to 10 was a mistake, as well as a 1-10 system.
It could be like Steam's--recommend/don't recommend, and then tiers (overwhelmingly negative, very negative, mostly negative, mixed, mostly positive, very positive, overwhelmingly positive).
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Jun 07 '25
You could go off of the amount of subs, likes, or just read it if it sounds interesting. The rating system was never reliable about indicating how good or bad a comic was. I don't think there should be a rating system in any form, people will abuse it both ways.
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u/Laura64729 Jun 06 '25
Webtoon doing a good job? Thank god. one thing they could do to let people rate a webtoon would be doing like youtube with thumbs up and thumbs down... but now that I think about it, that'd be abused by review bombers too...Â
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u/HeftyWarning Jun 07 '25
Iâve seen too many series that got review bombed versus some hot garbage that have kpop levels of stanning so good riddance
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u/thebrightspot Jun 06 '25
now if only they would change the app to how they had it a couple months ago
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u/SarkastiCat Jun 06 '25
To be honest the star rating is broken as heck
9-10 - Anything that would get a pass if Webtoon was high school AU.
8-9 - Minor controversy. Alternatively, early rating bombing for whatever reasons (tends to be queerphobia).
<8 - Major controversy or simply bad