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Come Join Me On Weasyl! - Here's How To Migrate Easily
12 years ago
Hello everyone!
Good to see you again after the week plus of downtime. And yes, FA does seem to be a bit faster now!
That said, I decided to go ahead and create a Weasyl account in FA's absence...and my goodness I've been extremely impressed with it so far. Let me tell you what I love about Weasyl:
-Fast. Site is very fast, less bugs, and more intuitive.
-Folders. No more need to create separate accounts for separate characters, fursuiting, etc...Weasyl has a Folders feature similar to DeviantArt, and displays those folders right on your main profile page.
Here's how to create a folder: After setting up your account, simply go to "Settings", and then click on "Submission Folders". To create a parent folder, simply type a title into into the "Folder Title" box, and then click "Create Folder". To create sub-folders, now use the drop-down box titled "Parent Folder" and select the parent you just created. Now type a new title into the "Folder Title" box, and "Create Folder". Now you've created a parent and a child folder! You can also create children of child folders!
-Upload Multimedia and Youtube videos!! - Ever done any kind of work with music, videos, or have some videos on sites like Youtube and Vimeo that you'd like to share with your furry friends? You can upload and embed all of that work on Weasyl, which means your Youtube channel can now be featured on your art gallery? How COOL is that? And for the musicians among us, upload your music files like you would on FA!
-Friends! Weasyl features a really cool "Add Friend" feature, which like Facebook, allows you to manage WHO can see certain things you might not want the general public to see, or read, on your gallery or in your Journals! By having the ability to add friends and make friends, the user gets the added extra layer of privacy that they wouldn't otherwise have on FA, where everything is essentially public!
-Characters - You can create BIO PAGES for your characters so that anyone and everyone can easily find art and references related to your character creations!
-Less Artifacting - PNG uploads do not suffer from the horrible compression that FA imposes on uploads here.
-Familiarity with FA - There are many Weasyl features that take their cues from what we are already used to on FA. Editing your profile presents you with a page very similar to FA's profile editing page. Adding tags also works similarly to FA, and much of the formatting we're used to also shares commonality with this site. This makes the transition much easier. Weasyl also features filters just like FA, which you can tweak here: http://www.weasyl.com/control/editpreferences
-Custom Thumbnails - While FA has the ability to upload a custom thumbnail, Weasyl allows you to do both...either upload your own or, drag and crop a thumbnail right from the image itself...giving you more flexibility in how your image appears on the main page and in your gallery.
-Banner Images - Want to make your profile look even cooler? Create a custom banner for it! This neat feature helps you display a bit more of your art and creativity right on your profile page. :)
-Growing - Weasyl is growing exponentially. In the time that FA was down, over 12,000 people migrated to the site, per day, and that number is climbing. I have also received more hits on my gallery over there than I did on my other backup account on SoFurry. This makes Weasyl the clear alternative to FA and DeviantArt.
Finally, and most importantly:
-The leadership:
Weasyl features several checks and balances to prevent moderator abuse. No more "if you don't like it then leave" attitudes from the leadership. Got a problem with a feature on the site? Talk to a Weasyl developer and it might be fixed within 5 minutes. Got a feature request? Send a quick Tweet over to WeasylDev and they will respond within minutes, often adding the feature right then and there. The site is still technically in Beta and those who run the site and write its code are eager to make the site as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. Never have I seen an art site run with such a user focus. I am thoroughly and completely impressed with the leadership of Weasyl!
To talk to a Weasyl developer and receive a response quickly, simply go here: http://twitter.com/WeasylDev
Also, when Weasyl has to take the site down for maintenance, they do it in the middle of the night, and so far, seem to have their act together in getting most things taken care of in a timely fashion. No 9-day outages for this site! :D
In fact, the only controversial thing I've encountered is that Weasyl "encourages" people to add art that was not drawn by them, but rather drawn for them, into things called "Collections". This prevents duplicate uploads. Many people don't like the idea of not being able to upload art that was created for them...but...what most people realize, is that you are not required to use the Collections feature. It is only a suggestion, and users are welcome to upload gift art, commissions, and other art that was drawn for them, into their gallery, provided the original artist is okay with that. That's the same as here at FA!
But....I don't want to move...all of my watchers and friends are on FA, and I don't want to upload to a dead website
Well, good news! There's a handy little tool right here to help you find your existing watchers and people you watch who might be on Weasyl!
http://projects.weasyl.com/soft/
Simply input your username from FA and Weasyl, then copy your whole list of watchers into the box. Then watch Weasyl do the work for you as it attempts to locate your friends on Weasyl!
Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, we are in the midst of a mass-migration to Weasyl, so if your friends aren't on there yet...invite them! As the site grows you won't have to worry about things being "quiet."
Okay, okay...but I have a HUGE gallery and I just don't feel like re-posting everything, it would take days! And even if I did, I don't really want to have to take care of TWO art galleries at once!
Again, Weasyl has developed a fantastic tool for you to use in which you can not only manage both galleries with ease, but also post your existing FA (and DeviantArt) uploads to Weasyl without ever having to re-upload a single file!
Check out Waxpost, an extention for Google Chrome, at this link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/.....l=en&gl=US
This FREE addon for Chrome works as follows:
When you open up an image in your FA or DA gallery, a little icon with the Weasyl logo appears in the upper right corner of your browser, right next to your Chrome Bookmark "star". Click that little icon, and immediately your image is uploaded to Weasyl as a new tab opens. In the new tab, all information including your image description, tags, and even the title of the artwork are automatically filled in, based on what was on your FA or DA image! No re-typing of tags titles or descriptions!
You can then select a folder on your Weasyl gallery to upload the artwork to, then select a custom thumnail, and voila...your art is copied to Weasyl with no headache and no fuss involved. The site uploads directly from your FA or DA image, you never have to find the original image on your hard drive. :)
In this way, you can continue to upload to FA, and then simply transfer the upload to Weasyl. Manage two galleries in barely more time than it takes to manage the one, and still snag all of your followers who may have migrated to Weasyl themselves! It's win-win for everyone. :D
There are other Weasyl projects available, as developers of the site create and share tools to make it easier for all of us to use the site. Those tools can be found here: http://projects.weasyl.com/
Wait...do you work for Weasyl or something? Why do you care?
Nope, I don't work for Weasyl. But I have listened to lots of my friends in the FA community wish for better leadership, a more reliable site, a cleaner interface, and the ability to make suggestions and actually see them implemented. Weasyl fits that bill, and so now I'm spreading the word. If you haven't noticed from my past activities, I tend to be something of an organizer in our community, running groups and spreading news, and this is my attempt to spread awareness of what is shaping up to be the clear alternative to FA!
I hope you'll give it a try, and if you do, please feel free to let me know you signed up so that I can follow and friend you there! My Weasyl profile can now be found in my profile information above, as well as here:
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/thatbluefox
Happy uploading!
Good to see you again after the week plus of downtime. And yes, FA does seem to be a bit faster now!
That said, I decided to go ahead and create a Weasyl account in FA's absence...and my goodness I've been extremely impressed with it so far. Let me tell you what I love about Weasyl:
-Fast. Site is very fast, less bugs, and more intuitive.
-Folders. No more need to create separate accounts for separate characters, fursuiting, etc...Weasyl has a Folders feature similar to DeviantArt, and displays those folders right on your main profile page.
Here's how to create a folder: After setting up your account, simply go to "Settings", and then click on "Submission Folders". To create a parent folder, simply type a title into into the "Folder Title" box, and then click "Create Folder". To create sub-folders, now use the drop-down box titled "Parent Folder" and select the parent you just created. Now type a new title into the "Folder Title" box, and "Create Folder". Now you've created a parent and a child folder! You can also create children of child folders!
-Upload Multimedia and Youtube videos!! - Ever done any kind of work with music, videos, or have some videos on sites like Youtube and Vimeo that you'd like to share with your furry friends? You can upload and embed all of that work on Weasyl, which means your Youtube channel can now be featured on your art gallery? How COOL is that? And for the musicians among us, upload your music files like you would on FA!
-Friends! Weasyl features a really cool "Add Friend" feature, which like Facebook, allows you to manage WHO can see certain things you might not want the general public to see, or read, on your gallery or in your Journals! By having the ability to add friends and make friends, the user gets the added extra layer of privacy that they wouldn't otherwise have on FA, where everything is essentially public!
-Characters - You can create BIO PAGES for your characters so that anyone and everyone can easily find art and references related to your character creations!
-Less Artifacting - PNG uploads do not suffer from the horrible compression that FA imposes on uploads here.
-Familiarity with FA - There are many Weasyl features that take their cues from what we are already used to on FA. Editing your profile presents you with a page very similar to FA's profile editing page. Adding tags also works similarly to FA, and much of the formatting we're used to also shares commonality with this site. This makes the transition much easier. Weasyl also features filters just like FA, which you can tweak here: http://www.weasyl.com/control/editpreferences
-Custom Thumbnails - While FA has the ability to upload a custom thumbnail, Weasyl allows you to do both...either upload your own or, drag and crop a thumbnail right from the image itself...giving you more flexibility in how your image appears on the main page and in your gallery.
-Banner Images - Want to make your profile look even cooler? Create a custom banner for it! This neat feature helps you display a bit more of your art and creativity right on your profile page. :)
-Growing - Weasyl is growing exponentially. In the time that FA was down, over 12,000 people migrated to the site, per day, and that number is climbing. I have also received more hits on my gallery over there than I did on my other backup account on SoFurry. This makes Weasyl the clear alternative to FA and DeviantArt.
Finally, and most importantly:
-The leadership:
Weasyl features several checks and balances to prevent moderator abuse. No more "if you don't like it then leave" attitudes from the leadership. Got a problem with a feature on the site? Talk to a Weasyl developer and it might be fixed within 5 minutes. Got a feature request? Send a quick Tweet over to WeasylDev and they will respond within minutes, often adding the feature right then and there. The site is still technically in Beta and those who run the site and write its code are eager to make the site as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. Never have I seen an art site run with such a user focus. I am thoroughly and completely impressed with the leadership of Weasyl!
To talk to a Weasyl developer and receive a response quickly, simply go here: http://twitter.com/WeasylDev
Also, when Weasyl has to take the site down for maintenance, they do it in the middle of the night, and so far, seem to have their act together in getting most things taken care of in a timely fashion. No 9-day outages for this site! :D
In fact, the only controversial thing I've encountered is that Weasyl "encourages" people to add art that was not drawn by them, but rather drawn for them, into things called "Collections". This prevents duplicate uploads. Many people don't like the idea of not being able to upload art that was created for them...but...what most people realize, is that you are not required to use the Collections feature. It is only a suggestion, and users are welcome to upload gift art, commissions, and other art that was drawn for them, into their gallery, provided the original artist is okay with that. That's the same as here at FA!
But....I don't want to move...all of my watchers and friends are on FA, and I don't want to upload to a dead website
Well, good news! There's a handy little tool right here to help you find your existing watchers and people you watch who might be on Weasyl!
http://projects.weasyl.com/soft/
Simply input your username from FA and Weasyl, then copy your whole list of watchers into the box. Then watch Weasyl do the work for you as it attempts to locate your friends on Weasyl!
Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, we are in the midst of a mass-migration to Weasyl, so if your friends aren't on there yet...invite them! As the site grows you won't have to worry about things being "quiet."
Okay, okay...but I have a HUGE gallery and I just don't feel like re-posting everything, it would take days! And even if I did, I don't really want to have to take care of TWO art galleries at once!
Again, Weasyl has developed a fantastic tool for you to use in which you can not only manage both galleries with ease, but also post your existing FA (and DeviantArt) uploads to Weasyl without ever having to re-upload a single file!
Check out Waxpost, an extention for Google Chrome, at this link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/.....l=en&gl=US
This FREE addon for Chrome works as follows:
When you open up an image in your FA or DA gallery, a little icon with the Weasyl logo appears in the upper right corner of your browser, right next to your Chrome Bookmark "star". Click that little icon, and immediately your image is uploaded to Weasyl as a new tab opens. In the new tab, all information including your image description, tags, and even the title of the artwork are automatically filled in, based on what was on your FA or DA image! No re-typing of tags titles or descriptions!
You can then select a folder on your Weasyl gallery to upload the artwork to, then select a custom thumnail, and voila...your art is copied to Weasyl with no headache and no fuss involved. The site uploads directly from your FA or DA image, you never have to find the original image on your hard drive. :)
In this way, you can continue to upload to FA, and then simply transfer the upload to Weasyl. Manage two galleries in barely more time than it takes to manage the one, and still snag all of your followers who may have migrated to Weasyl themselves! It's win-win for everyone. :D
There are other Weasyl projects available, as developers of the site create and share tools to make it easier for all of us to use the site. Those tools can be found here: http://projects.weasyl.com/
Wait...do you work for Weasyl or something? Why do you care?
Nope, I don't work for Weasyl. But I have listened to lots of my friends in the FA community wish for better leadership, a more reliable site, a cleaner interface, and the ability to make suggestions and actually see them implemented. Weasyl fits that bill, and so now I'm spreading the word. If you haven't noticed from my past activities, I tend to be something of an organizer in our community, running groups and spreading news, and this is my attempt to spread awareness of what is shaping up to be the clear alternative to FA!
I hope you'll give it a try, and if you do, please feel free to let me know you signed up so that I can follow and friend you there! My Weasyl profile can now be found in my profile information above, as well as here:
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/thatbluefox
Happy uploading!
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/jiji
Minors in Sexual Situations: Submissions and other uploaded content must not contain characters who are, or are depicted as being, under the age of eighteen engaged in sexual or sexually suggestive situations. Links directing to material of minors engaged in sexual situations are also prohibited on the site. "Depicted as being under the age of eighteen" can mean one of two things:
The character is referred to or implied as being under 18, whether in a visual or written piece, or;
The character in question has small child- or infant-like proportions.
Unacceptable nudity for the purposes of this article entails both of the following:
Genitals and/or female nipples are viewable.
Not depicted using non-detailed nudity or cartoon nudity.
Furthermore, photographs must not contain any improperly clothed minors regardless of the situation depicted.
Either way, i would still have to consider it since:
1. My art sucks
2. I just don't feel like managing another site.