That has happened to me, too. It's very frustrating not having closure as to why the artist suddenly closed their account and deleted all the content within it. However, I combat this by doing what you do: archiving copies of all the content before it's too late. So, you're not the only one who gets anxious from that.

hugs

Yup had this happen a fair few times, I keep all my faves safely downloaded automatically and easy to browse, plus all my watch feed that I still need to sift through. scary how much good stuff gets deleted, but it's an unfortunate truth.

It remembers me episodes from my deep childhood, when i was playing in a sandbox. I was kind of creative kid and always made whole cities made of bigger and smaller castles, houses, fences etc. But every next day i returned here to play i only found ruins and devastation. All my hard work was erased again and again. It was kind of traumatic experience for me. (there's a continue, but this is another story for another day)
I believe that you see your message histories and such as a part of your relations with persons, and wiping galeries and deleting messages is just like deleting part of themselves for you. They literally vanish, leaving nothing but memory. Maybe this is a problem, but at the same time it is a solution. If you mutually remember each other, if you are still friends- no matter what was deleted, for you two- nothing really changed. And if they delete YOU from their lives with just messages, it's sad to admit but you weren't close enough. Maybe seeing some of them in real life may help a bit, having additional contacts with them, or even talk with them about keeping something for you in reserve before any deletion occurs...
Sometimes i feel myself as bad when my friends changes drastically and too quickly. "They just decide to become new them", but i befriednde OLD them, and not sure if new will suits me same way.

As for random artists deleting their art, even if i like it- well, it's saddens me of course but at some point i got less sensitive to this. Sea is full of fish...

been better about deletin for a few years now, though dunno why some return without porting over their favorites

I'm glad I somehow avoided wiping my FA and the rest too, all thanks to people coming back regularly so I feel someone cares I guess, makes it worth it to stay around
It's self destructive feelings, paranoia, anxiety, shame that drive such desires to disappear, sometimes it's probably fear because of judgment someone is receiving, being found out, harrassed, doxxed etc. Which is understandable to me, because you know people will consider you the most abhorrent ever if they know you have kinks or like weird stuff. And if you got anxiety disorders it can feel so extreme you'd rather disappear.

I always urge everyone to archive everything they love because you don't know the day or the hour, I got a separate drive just to have archival space! I'm not sure if I can relate completely to the anxiety you experience but maybe I just haven't met people like that yet, that would actually make me anxious because of how unstable they are. Wait actually there may be one, wasn't about deleting just enforcing spoilers on everything but the most vanilla art ever which leads to feelings of dissonance in me (They actually love various kinks and "eww 🤢🤢 feral " but can't even be open with it in their space? It felt so stupid and unexplainable to me I couldn't stay around. Don't hate em or hold any grudge I just don't fit there, ok time to cut rambling.

By the way, If something is gone from my posts for whatever reason you can ask about it, there's a good chance I have it to share. Hope I'm not a source of anxiety for peopl..

I'm sorry I was one of those people, I deleted my main account because of stalking. I had almost all my art from when I was 14 and onward on my Facebook minus the NSFW and plan on making a page on my art website with all the art I have online between then and now so it can all be located minus again the NSFW. I've really wanted to change my name on this account but I realize jumping around doesn't really give any kind of foundation. I've been to a lot of therapy and I really am trying to have more meaningful connections with people now despite having a busy life. I have multiple accounts on here but I plan on having this one long term, it would be a perk if I could rename myself on here though.

I plan on later on deleting things like deviantart in an attempt to get away from AI, which is the same reason I'm mostly leaving Facebook and Instagram :(


I'm sorry if I've caused you any anxiety, however, I can promise at this point this account is staying.

Always archive! People suck and they will always delete their shit. Hell, I even have your gallery achived :p They lied to us, not everything is permanent on the internet!

Everything I have to say is speculation based on my own experiences and talk with friends.

People have a huge variety of reasons for deleting their galleries and I don't think people are oblivious to the amount of care and soul they may have put into creating their artwork. It IS very sad when people delete their galleries but the vast amount of people probably don't do it on a whim. (for me my brain literally broke and its taken me 2 years of help to mostly get back on track).

I think there's a lot of people becoming more and more uneasy about the incoming administration and state of the USA and do not wish to become a target. Coupled with the amount of strife going on in the world people just aren't feeling right. It has crossed my mind that I paint even myself as a target but I think I'm more frustrated so I'll exist despite the increasing hate.

It would be super nice if there was just a way to temporarily disable your artwork so you don't have to go through the extreme of deleting things. It just sucks because maybe your mind will change later but sometimes you are literally incapable of extrapolating how you may feel in the future.

I saw a comment here saying "people suck and will always delete their shit" and that is so fucking misguided and small minded; its upsetting to read that. People need encouragement, not blame or labels. Maybe if we all just got a little more love we would feel just a little better in a world of adversity. I owe it partially to friends Like ReikaBird and MagpiArts who helped encourage me even during the worst of times; who knew and accepted me. Even you who I know cared about and enjoyed my art.