I think the point is stop critizing for the sake of it. I absolutely agree with the fact that opinions matter and should always be taken into account even when they are negative, the point is in this specific case opinions literally don't matter. This is not an official website, you are not giving money to anyone and, most importantly, no one that is in any way, shape or form involved in the creation of the work has access to the opinions expressed on this site. Which means that the problem is not the negative opinion per se, it's the atrocious amount of it.Ex. A regular user maybe wants to comment or read a comment on the plot or romance but those comments are drowned by the tsunami of complaints, which would be fine on the official site since people are paying for a "service" and that "service" is gradually deteriorating. Here specifically it doesn't make any sense complaining since it literally doesn't have any consequence. Your point on the possibility of critizing free-materials is perfectly fine in places like social media platforms, you are correctly entitled to criticize since the author is the one posting and receving feedback.
As I said before, doing it here it's literally like screaming to a wall to turn into water. In the end the wall will still be made of bricks, but you may find your neighbors annoyed by all the pointless screaming.
This is exactly how I feel about every complaint about the art style I see. Like it’s not hard to imagine a newcomer looking through the comments to gauge what the story is about, and possibly lose interest because instead of seeing discussion about the plot, people are typing think pieces on the characters appearances and art style. It’s just chasing away possible new readers from the actual gem that is the writing and story
The people going, “Why are you complaining about the art when you’re reading it for free?”—bro, shut the fuck up. Nobody said the art style changing was the problem. We’re talking about the characterization and whitewashing.
I’m an artist too. Obviously styles can evolve, but keeping a character’s basic skin tone consistent isn’t some impossible task. Taeoh was noticeably darker before and is now much paler, while Jaeseok is still dark-skinned. That’s a valid thing to point out.
And “it’s free, so you can’t criticize it” is fucking stupid. You can appreciate someone’s work and still criticize noticeable changes. Stop twisting “the characters are being whitewashed” into “OMG THE ART STYLE CHANGED ” just so you can act morally superior.