So I've been hearing this issue of selling upvotes and if this was a twitter, I'm pretty sure it will be the latest trend lol. Everyone is basically talking about it.

Lots of thoughts being shared through blogs, discussions, chats, and even chapters in stories, and admittedly most of them were thorough blames and disappointments.

Anyway, let's undo the stitches one by one, shall we? I'll leave my thoughts about this matter at the last part of this long rant. Yes, by saying rant, I'm bothered by this issue aswell.

I'll share a small experience for a start.  I stumbled upon this particular 'featured' story while scrolling at the home page. It was an EXO fanfic, and if my memory serves me right, it's a chanbaek story even. You know me, anything baekyeol, I'll read it. But then, not attempting to underestimate the story's author or anything, the story has a wide hole, majority at its grammar, and use of punctuation marks. The thing is, I wasn't bothered by those flaws because we all grasped the fact that not everyone is English literate. I was completely innocent and new to asianfanfics that time, this experience happened last year by the way. I didn't understand the excessive credited links the story had at the foreword part, and I thought of those as some kind of sponsors. Lol silly right? Another thing I took note of was the comments below. The readers were nice, complimenting the author of ideas, congratulating for being 'featured', but of course, pointing out the grammar mistakes didn't escape from their eyes. But still, they were very generous.

Okay, from that little experience I shared, my only point was that people weren't aware of the overgrowing upvote shop conspiracies, aren't they? The author should be thankful, he/she wasn't judged on why the story was featured in the first place. The issue wasn't on fire that time and a lot of authors probably followed that example to earn a spot at the golden star. These advertisement shops were created to advertise stories, but I didn't encounter a shop actually selling subscribers and upvoters. I was thankful for that cause by then, I honestly thought I would give it a shot. But now, I'm glad I didn't. Just like every new authors out there, I was hungry for more acknowledgements. I love it when people talk to me. So, I tried writing stories and I'm enjoying it so far.

And the next thing I know, people were demanding for these upvote shops to shut down, which I fully supported on. Why? The answer is simple. It's unjust.
Buying upvotes and looking up to your story with the amount you ordered might be the worst feeling one will ever have. It . The only thing you'll feel is the satisfaction of receiving all the upvotes you bought. And again, it . Talk about hard work, where receiving achievements, like a simple hundred subscribers or commenters or upvoters, can be compared with winning a never-ending marathon. It's very very light in the feeling that you can't put that big smile out of your face and giggle stupidly by yourself. I know. I am like that.  It's like love, once you grabbed the opportunity, you can't let go and hence, as an aff writer, you want to meet the readers' expectation as a thank you for their utmost supports. Earning those makes your inspirations flowing, and eventually you get to love your story more, if not, the most. I love the feeling myself, to think that people know of your hard work.

Like everybody's pointing out, those who used this sick idea to gain fame should learn from those who actually worked hard for their story and received the underrated attentions even if the story was so beautiful. Try to imagine yourself on their stand. Yes, you have the karma points to do that, when the only thing they have are enough karma points to upvote stories. We are all writers in this cyber imaginative hellhole. We write, anticipate the responses, and learn from them. Struggles aren't ignored, but cheaters are. I'll end this part because I don't really want to blame it all on those wrong people. You know who you are. I just hope you know what you're doing.

Where is the spirit of true creativity? It's not a matter of openly boasting your story, upvotes and subscribes are not blemishes you just put on to gain interests. What matters the most is the message of the story. Being contented with what you had for this certain chapter is part of the struggle; you just have to be more imaginative for the chapters to go and think of ideas to captivate the audience. Asking for help isn't wrong too. I have met hundreds of nice people in here and they were also my inspirations for writing my stories.

Now for my case, I admit I bought upvotes too. They were from package deals these ad shops were selling wherein you'll receive two or three upvotes, five or less subscribers and then fifty wall posts. I don't have enough karma points to buy anything higher, but I'm pointing myself guilty of buying upvotes too. Even if it were just three upvotes, I know it meant a lot for some and I respect that so I'm confessing. But I'll be true to my words too. As an author, my only goal that time was to gather more readers on my story so I ordered the wall post advertisement. It's up to you to believe me.

My pure intention in this post is to actually help out those who need inspiration for their stories. I was like you people back then. I know the hardships and now that this unfair treatment is happening lately, I want to try gaining your hopes again. Do you need some comments? An upvote? Subscription? Just comment down or PM me of your story and what you would like me to do with it. Anything DARAGON or KAISOO or BAEKYEOL will automatically earn an upvote and subscription from me though because they are my favourites and it's a good thing we're in the same line of thought on it. Haha.

I hope this at least relieve me of some accusations I might receive someday. Wishing not to have one. /crosses fingers/
Thank you for your supports, my dear subscribers!(●´ω｀●)
And I hope this issue of injustice will be relieved. I really really hope so. I'm thinking of the potential stories those unfair authors shadowed on by doing those acts.
If you want to be true to your readers, then be true to yourself first. 

These are all based purely on my own opinion.