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~ ~ ~ Why I don't use Weasyl
11 years ago
General
Hiiiii
(Will post another journal saying hi to all the new faces soon, I had to get this out of my system)
Where do I begin? That Weasyl doesn't have a dedicated music section? That the interface is feels bloated at times? That it's pretty much a flashy carbon copy of FA?
Naw, not going there.
Weasyl's most fatal flaw is that it displays music submissions (on user profiles) the same way it post art/story submissions.
As thumbnails. fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
What this means:
So the listener has to make a guess as to which song to press (thumbnail can't provide statistics/like/comments, unlike on Soundcloud/Youtube/Mixcloud/etc.).
This is an inconvenience. I, in praticular, don't mind that. I’m mostly alone in this opinion. Our society views inconvenience as this horrid tragedy that can nearly ruin an entire experience, God forbid. (-_-) "I HAD TO WAIT AN EXTRA FIVE MINUTES FOR MY BIG MAC???!?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT YOU PIMPLY-FACED KID?! WHERE'S THE MANAGER??"
Yes, I'm exaggerating. But this is how the world works, people. If it takes noticeably MORE effort to listen to a track than it would on SC/Youtube/Mixcloud/etc., then you're going to get way less traffic. Nobody wants to invest the effort to give your 3+ minute track a listen. For some bored person looking to be entertained, there are too many risk involved compared to the instant gratification users normally receive when browsing art submissions. The systems in place for FA and Weasyl are meant to serve visual artist . This means that the same hosting mentality is applied towards how these sites handle music submissions, which does not accommodate for music in the right ways [1]. You could even argue that the web design contributes to the furry fandom's perceived apathy towards music. [2]
QUICK ASIDE: you can gain recognition on FA/Weasyl. Plenty have done a really good job at it, I’m kinda doing it. It’s not impossible. It’s just made more difficult thanks to the website’s architecture.
But there are a few things that Weasyl could do to help EVERYONE (forget FA, I gave up on hope when they did back in 2010). Personally, I think the fixes are rather straightforward from a conceptual standpoint (programming/testing is a whole other story).
Possibilities are ENDLESS: you could divide music and art submissions into separate categories, and embed a music player on-screen so all you would have to do is click on a user page, scroll down to music subs, and press play. Or have submissions automatically play when clicking on them!
The reason I’m even tooting my horn is for this simple reason: no other platform on the net offers such seamless integration for art promotion/social networking as FA does. You have the ability to subscribe to artistic post, but you can easily send private messages an comment on Facebook-style journal post with incredible ease. The comments sections are easy to follow and use, the HTML works just find, and a lot of that toxic Web 2.0 personalized algorithm bullshit hasn't been implemented to confine your taste and new feeds into sheltered little bubbles of ignorance. [3]
I’ll be honest; I’m not a web designer. I’m just an IT man with a weird fetish that makes noises with my computer. What I think I want, and what’s possible, could easily be skewed. But on the flip side, I’d like to think that I can recognize a problem when I see it. These sites are hubs for the fandom; they give us a place to be ourselves. Thanks to design oversights, our voices as musicians are more likely to be ignored, regardless of personal subjectivity a listener might have [4].
This probably won’t change, and it’s unfortunate. Everyone would benefit from it.
Please feel free to scream and curse at me if you disagree. Sorry for typos, will update when needed.
[1] I’ll admit: FA/Weasyl do a few things INCREDIBLY RIGHT: unlimited hosting, uploading is SUPER HASSLE FREE, and the web players work about 99% of the time. And if you’re not a musician, these places are reskinned Deviant Art clones with more social networking features.
[2] I do believe that there is a general disinterest in music produced within this fandom. However, the issue in itself is very unique and complex; topic for another day.
[3] The way the web filters information that it only thinks you want to see is a serious problem, and it could have far reaching implications for the future in terms of the openness of the web, social influence, etc. Our fandom is small enough as it is; we don't more issues like this. Topic for another day
[4] One could argue that furry-made music rarely deals with furry fandom itself, which leads to a perceived disinterest from most people in the fandom. Whether or not this is true, the furry fandom is drastically different from many other fandoms for TONS and TONS of reasons, so I don’t think this factor has far-reaching consequences, if it really exist at all. Topic for another time.
Where do I begin? That Weasyl doesn't have a dedicated music section? That the interface is feels bloated at times? That it's pretty much a flashy carbon copy of FA?
Naw, not going there.
Weasyl's most fatal flaw is that it displays music submissions (on user profiles) the same way it post art/story submissions.
As thumbnails. fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
What this means:
So the listener has to make a guess as to which song to press (thumbnail can't provide statistics/like/comments, unlike on Soundcloud/Youtube/Mixcloud/etc.).
This is an inconvenience. I, in praticular, don't mind that. I’m mostly alone in this opinion. Our society views inconvenience as this horrid tragedy that can nearly ruin an entire experience, God forbid. (-_-) "I HAD TO WAIT AN EXTRA FIVE MINUTES FOR MY BIG MAC???!?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT YOU PIMPLY-FACED KID?! WHERE'S THE MANAGER??"
Yes, I'm exaggerating. But this is how the world works, people. If it takes noticeably MORE effort to listen to a track than it would on SC/Youtube/Mixcloud/etc., then you're going to get way less traffic. Nobody wants to invest the effort to give your 3+ minute track a listen. For some bored person looking to be entertained, there are too many risk involved compared to the instant gratification users normally receive when browsing art submissions. The systems in place for FA and Weasyl are meant to serve visual artist . This means that the same hosting mentality is applied towards how these sites handle music submissions, which does not accommodate for music in the right ways [1]. You could even argue that the web design contributes to the furry fandom's perceived apathy towards music. [2]
QUICK ASIDE: you can gain recognition on FA/Weasyl. Plenty have done a really good job at it, I’m kinda doing it. It’s not impossible. It’s just made more difficult thanks to the website’s architecture.
But there are a few things that Weasyl could do to help EVERYONE (forget FA, I gave up on hope when they did back in 2010). Personally, I think the fixes are rather straightforward from a conceptual standpoint (programming/testing is a whole other story).
Possibilities are ENDLESS: you could divide music and art submissions into separate categories, and embed a music player on-screen so all you would have to do is click on a user page, scroll down to music subs, and press play. Or have submissions automatically play when clicking on them!
The reason I’m even tooting my horn is for this simple reason: no other platform on the net offers such seamless integration for art promotion/social networking as FA does. You have the ability to subscribe to artistic post, but you can easily send private messages an comment on Facebook-style journal post with incredible ease. The comments sections are easy to follow and use, the HTML works just find, and a lot of that toxic Web 2.0 personalized algorithm bullshit hasn't been implemented to confine your taste and new feeds into sheltered little bubbles of ignorance. [3]
I’ll be honest; I’m not a web designer. I’m just an IT man with a weird fetish that makes noises with my computer. What I think I want, and what’s possible, could easily be skewed. But on the flip side, I’d like to think that I can recognize a problem when I see it. These sites are hubs for the fandom; they give us a place to be ourselves. Thanks to design oversights, our voices as musicians are more likely to be ignored, regardless of personal subjectivity a listener might have [4].
This probably won’t change, and it’s unfortunate. Everyone would benefit from it.
Please feel free to scream and curse at me if you disagree. Sorry for typos, will update when needed.
[1] I’ll admit: FA/Weasyl do a few things INCREDIBLY RIGHT: unlimited hosting, uploading is SUPER HASSLE FREE, and the web players work about 99% of the time. And if you’re not a musician, these places are reskinned Deviant Art clones with more social networking features.
[2] I do believe that there is a general disinterest in music produced within this fandom. However, the issue in itself is very unique and complex; topic for another day.
[3] The way the web filters information that it only thinks you want to see is a serious problem, and it could have far reaching implications for the future in terms of the openness of the web, social influence, etc. Our fandom is small enough as it is; we don't more issues like this. Topic for another day
[4] One could argue that furry-made music rarely deals with furry fandom itself, which leads to a perceived disinterest from most people in the fandom. Whether or not this is true, the furry fandom is drastically different from many other fandoms for TONS and TONS of reasons, so I don’t think this factor has far-reaching consequences, if it really exist at all. Topic for another time.
Simply put: I use FA over Weasyl due to vastly larger user base, and Weasyl's feature set does not offer me enough initiative to switch as well.
If Weasyl did, however, address some of my complaints, I would freaking champion that site, as many others would do.
Thankfully, Weasyl is still in beta, it's still being built, and it's designer seem to care about what people think.
Maybe there is hope!
I thought you already had a Weasyl.
If you decide to use Weasyl, then friend request me!
If the user base were to migrate over there in an instant, I'd happily follow along.
And I added you.
COWBLELL*
I meant cowbell
Anyways, thanks for the suggestions and inspiration!
THANKS SO MUCH