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Pros and Cons of various "Adult" websites I've used.
12 years ago
Okidokie.... so I've been posting my art on various websites lately, and here is what I think of each site...
FurAffinity
Pros:
- Very active, enthusiastic fanbase.
- Higher Artist-to-fan ratio.
- Friendly, intimate atmosphere. People are not afraid of their emotions here.
- Gallery and journal system is very easy to navigate.
- It is very easy for fans to become good friends.
- Tightly knit community often feels more like a neighborhood than a collection of online users.
Cons:
- Drama... Drama everywhere
- Frequent server issues
- Virtually no quality standards for submissions, quickly leading to server overload
- Elitist, clique-like attitude among certain groups of artists.
- No filter system.
- Only a small amount of your page shouts can be seen, and you cannot see the previous ones without deleting all the recent ones.
- Staff is shorthanded and overworked, can sometimes show favoritism.
- Site updates and features frequently promised, never delivered.
Hentai Foundry
Pros:
- Significantly larger fanbase to entertain
- Fairly reasonable submission quality standards
- Effective tagging system
- Very effective filter system
- With human characters, things can feel much more realistic and believable, and as such, very appealing.
Cons:
- With human characters, certain things can feel much TOO realistic and believable, and as such, very very creepy.
- Atmosphere is considerably less social, fans more distant and impersonal.
- Poor art quality is much more noticable on human characters, so there will appear to be less "premium" quality art.
- All submissions take at least a day to be approved by the staff, and rejection is possible.
- Character designs can look very similar to each other, especially if artists can only draw one face.
- Website logs you out after like, 5 minutes of inactivity. Constantly have to relog.
Tumblr
Pros:
- Interface feels very casual and pleasant.
- Submitting files and posts is incredibly easy.
- So many cool GIFs.
- Your page comes pre-built, and can be modified.
- Fanbase and posts spread in a viral fashion.
- Option for fan mail, and easy public answering, if desired.
Cons:
- No tag filter system. Some people don't even use tags.
- Can be very difficult to gain new followers at the start, especially if you aren't very popular to begin with.
- Memes tend to flood your inbox... repeatedly if more than one +friend reblogs it.
- Very awkward and cumbersome "reblog comment" system. You can't tell who's responding to who.
- ALL PONIES, ALL THE TIME!!!
Weasyl:
Pros:
- There is much more focus on artistic growth than FurAffinity. Submissions can be marked for critique.
- Gallery subsections allow you to separate certain types of art.
- Very appealing website layout.
- There are actual groups, allowing for people to share common interests, without having to rely on a single person for all updates.
- Character Tab - Character reference tabs allow for very easy access to ref sheets for commissions.
Cons:
- Weasyl still lives in the very wide shadow of FA. Very few people use it as their main site.
- Tagging system does not allow for humorous things.
Lush Artists
Pros:
- Anybody can comment, but all new artists must submit portfolios before having their accounts approved. Standards are reasonable.
- Gallery system is easy to navigate.
- Pleasant visuals and color scheme.
- Seems like a generally tasteful place to visit.
- New art is featured prominently on the front page, encouraging people to watch you.
Cons:
- Clumsy, unwieldy profile system.
- NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT THIS WEBSITE. You're not likely to gain many new followers.
FurAffinity
Pros:
- Very active, enthusiastic fanbase.
- Higher Artist-to-fan ratio.
- Friendly, intimate atmosphere. People are not afraid of their emotions here.
- Gallery and journal system is very easy to navigate.
- It is very easy for fans to become good friends.
- Tightly knit community often feels more like a neighborhood than a collection of online users.
Cons:
- Drama... Drama everywhere
- Frequent server issues
- Virtually no quality standards for submissions, quickly leading to server overload
- Elitist, clique-like attitude among certain groups of artists.
- No filter system.
- Only a small amount of your page shouts can be seen, and you cannot see the previous ones without deleting all the recent ones.
- Staff is shorthanded and overworked, can sometimes show favoritism.
- Site updates and features frequently promised, never delivered.
Hentai Foundry
Pros:
- Significantly larger fanbase to entertain
- Fairly reasonable submission quality standards
- Effective tagging system
- Very effective filter system
- With human characters, things can feel much more realistic and believable, and as such, very appealing.
Cons:
- With human characters, certain things can feel much TOO realistic and believable, and as such, very very creepy.
- Atmosphere is considerably less social, fans more distant and impersonal.
- Poor art quality is much more noticable on human characters, so there will appear to be less "premium" quality art.
- All submissions take at least a day to be approved by the staff, and rejection is possible.
- Character designs can look very similar to each other, especially if artists can only draw one face.
- Website logs you out after like, 5 minutes of inactivity. Constantly have to relog.
Tumblr
Pros:
- Interface feels very casual and pleasant.
- Submitting files and posts is incredibly easy.
- So many cool GIFs.
- Your page comes pre-built, and can be modified.
- Fanbase and posts spread in a viral fashion.
- Option for fan mail, and easy public answering, if desired.
Cons:
- No tag filter system. Some people don't even use tags.
- Can be very difficult to gain new followers at the start, especially if you aren't very popular to begin with.
- Memes tend to flood your inbox... repeatedly if more than one +friend reblogs it.
- Very awkward and cumbersome "reblog comment" system. You can't tell who's responding to who.
- ALL PONIES, ALL THE TIME!!!
Weasyl:
Pros:
- There is much more focus on artistic growth than FurAffinity. Submissions can be marked for critique.
- Gallery subsections allow you to separate certain types of art.
- Very appealing website layout.
- There are actual groups, allowing for people to share common interests, without having to rely on a single person for all updates.
- Character Tab - Character reference tabs allow for very easy access to ref sheets for commissions.
Cons:
- Weasyl still lives in the very wide shadow of FA. Very few people use it as their main site.
- Tagging system does not allow for humorous things.
Lush Artists
Pros:
- Anybody can comment, but all new artists must submit portfolios before having their accounts approved. Standards are reasonable.
- Gallery system is easy to navigate.
- Pleasant visuals and color scheme.
- Seems like a generally tasteful place to visit.
- New art is featured prominently on the front page, encouraging people to watch you.
Cons:
- Clumsy, unwieldy profile system.
- NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT THIS WEBSITE. You're not likely to gain many new followers.
I mean the website is like what, one year old? And it's already everything FA ever wished to be.
Yet FA has such a monopoly on furry stuff that nothing else can grow, unless FA crashes hard.
Though, its the same tendency towards a monopoly that will mean that any downward momentum can quickly become terminal.
I'm thinking Myspace. Yahoo. VCL.
I didn't know of any blocking... do you know if that has something to do with their commerical relaktionships or something?
I take it that Bing is quite good form your experiance?
If FA can institute proper filter tags and folders, like many, many people have been asking for, it'd be the place to stay, since it's where the older community is.
And from my experience, drama is everywhere.
I have a filter set up on my browser that blocks all ponies on Tumblr. If that doesn't work, I can use Adblockplus to block images I find offensive (i.e. MLP porn. I don't limit it to just MLP anything tagged loli or whatever any underage content I block. I just don't like that crap.)
The Sanction board served several purposes, but primarily it stopped rumors from circulating because the cause and events were available for all to see. And it served as a guideline for the other moderators checking what constituted an infraction of the Terms of Service, and what an appropriate punishment should be for that infraction.
As far as Tumblr goes... I just can't take it seriously as an artist upload site. Everything I see posted, re-posted and re-blogged there (outside of rare original content) seems to be a circlejerk of the same memes, images, fun facts and trivia I've seen on Reddit three days prior. Not saying Reddit is any better, but I'm getting tired of the Social Media Mambo on all sites. :x
I personally enjoy my stay at Y!, Lush and FA, though I am still SO sad hA is not online anymore. That place was just perfect.
PS. Pro for Lush: I found you and your spanked Jester there >=3
FA is dilsdos, but it's better than a lot of alternatives because while getting established it shed a lot of crap.
You've pretty much nailed most of the rest of them, I must say.