Request that Removals be...removed

I’m loving the new additions but would like to request that comics not be removed from the service.

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@moshedanger.43020, we completely understand your request. We’d love to be able to offer everything ever, but at this time we do only offer a limited library of 5,000 titles. We get a lot of requests for different kinds of comics, and simply can’t represent everyone’s tastes within that library size. At some point we will want to work to satisfy a variety of demands, and may have to rotate some content out. But we will keep pushing to increase library size and get more content on the service for you!

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@Applejack

So what I’m hearing is that the weekly additions are going to stop sometime in the next few weeks once the 5,000 issue cap is reached (given everything that has been added since January we have to be really close to that number now).

Personally I think it would make for a better and more dynamic experience if you balanced regular additions with regular subtractions. Pull a few things every month to make room for more (especially with most golden and silver age books that aren’t key issues and don’t need to be read in a particular order to make sense).

@TheDemonEtrigan, exactly :slight_smile: I believe we’ll be reaching our full library of 5,000 comics late March/early April.

I think, given the library limitation, the powers that be here at DC Universe agree with you. Once we reach our maximum capacity I would imagine that’s the cadence we’ll fall into; subtractions in step with additions. I don’t have verification on that but from what I’ve gleaned, that sounds like the most logical way to proceed.

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Only 5,000 comics? Gawd, what a ripoff!

Yes, I’m kidding :slight_smile:

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@Applejack I know the plans probably aren’t that formulated and I am sure this has been requested, but if you are going to be removing content, it would be nice to know from the moment it arrives, like with an expiration date. We have all these delicious comics in our DC fridge, I just keep jumping from one to the other like I’m at a Vegas buffet. But if I had a clearer picture of priority, it might help organize my consumption, so that I don’t have to throw out that prime rib just because it went bad. But maybe that’s the plan?! You know I want prime rib. So I just got to go to the store and buy it?! (this is a metaphor for visiting your local comic shop or Comixology and purchasing the comics) :heart:

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@Applejack oh, and it’d be cool if we could put our tasty selections in a smart fridge, like those fancy lists, but then sort the list by order of service expiration.

@bneyed, as you suspected, we actually don’t have those dates when we put them on the service, titles removed will be selected based on popularity. (Or, lack thereof.)

(desperately tries to adapt response into that perfect analogy)

(fails)

What I can say at this time is that the spirit of your struggle is understood and being addressed internally. As per usual, the slowdowns are legalistic, bureaucratic, and technological, but we (from mods to suits) have the same concerns and experience and are tinkering to address them. <3

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@Applejack Thanks for the insight. And you are being generous calling that analogy perfect. It was middling at best.

I sure could go for a prime rib right now. hears a barker saying “Prime rib, prime rib! Get your prime rib right here!” 'Scuse please =)

I think the best way to deal with the expiration question is twofold:

  1. Commit to not removing anything less than a month (ideally) or two weeks (minimimum) after the decision is made to remove it. Of course some removals would warrant more or less warning. A week would be okay if you were pulling say Hawkworld (only three issues most people can read in a single sitting) but nowhere close to sufficient for something like 52 (which ran weekly for an entire year).

  2. Within 24 to 48 hours of a removal decision being made, add a banner directly to the thumbnail of the issue(s) in question. This gives anyone who is scrolling through the issues presented a chance to know that their time is limited before they start.

It would also be nice if things were removed in whole arcs or series. The biggest issue I had with the past rotation was that older issues of NTT were being removed to add newer issues. If you weren’t current when issues were added you missed out.

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@Applejack . Thanks for the response. I do appreciate it. As a father of young children, I don’t read as much as I used to. :slight_smile:

Just got the app and disappointed to see the rotation. Will throw my 2 cents in on trying to come up with a list of what’s going and when. Will help me know where to focus my attention a bit. I been slowly trying to get back into comics, after taking a 10-15 year hiatus due to college and all. Before that I read comics religiously for 15 years and have several thousand in my collection and this app has been great for me to see what is going on in the lives of my favorite superheroes. I don’t want to miss anything

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Personally, I’m disappointed in hearing about an official 5000 comic cap. I’m guessing there are around 18-20,000 DC comics in its 80+ year history. And according to Applejack, only the most popular or most requested comics will ever be available. And even then, the vast majority of the available comics will only be available on a temporary basis.

This seems pretty sparse to me.

Please don’t flame me as a hater. I’ve been very supportive of the platform and I plan on continuing to be supportive. But honestly, I primarily subscribed for the comics.

In my personal preference, I haven’t been impressed with the last decade of comics. And I’ve already got a pretty good collection of '80’s and '90’s (did I mention, I’m a huge, supportive fan?). So, I was hoping for a while bunch of Golden and Silver Age comics which are near impossible to collect.

And frankly, I really want to see the less popular titles. These titles are hard to find; they’re even hard to learn about. In essence, these lesser known, less popular titles are DC’s true history.

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@harley I think you’ve made some excellent points here. I don’t think anyone should flame you. A lot of people like you and I subscribe primarily for the comics. This was the primary reason I signed up. It is disappointing to hear there is a cap. And I think we need to continue to reiterate are desired features and our disappointment in decisions like this. they have said they wanted to hear feedback so I think this is good feedback.

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Another thing that I think would be nice is if you incorporated user feedback beyond whatever data your algorithms provide you when deciding on what titles rotate out. Don’t hide from rotations do it as an event maybe utilizing the poll function.

You could for example set up death matches with a title that the raw usage data tells you should be removed. Lets say nobody reads Justice League Dark. Do a series of polls that pits it against other series you might want to add to gague which people would prefer:

Would you rather keep JL Dark or get All Star Western? How about JL Dark vs 40 odd issues of silver age Flash? JL Dark or the weekly Trinity series?

People could launch campaigns to save their favorites by boosting numbers making the case for why a series deserves to be read. It could also provide a pinpointed forum for people to point out errors in presentation like “I’d really love for you to keep JL Dark but you need to add the I, Vampire and Trinity War crossover issues to make it worth reading.”

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@TheDemonEtrigan I really like your idea, but I have been seeing your posts, and I can’t lie, I’m a little saddened each time that you aren’t speaking in rhyme. :wink:

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To post in verse takes much time
That I have not oft to spare
But how could I deny a rhyme
When challenged with such a dare?

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^ I love you.

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@TheDemonEtrigan you have just made my day! So wonderful! Thank you!

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