As a writer/watcher/commissioner I don't really use my Weasyl account. I haven't even checked it in I don't know how many months.

I think Weasyl started off as a site that was extremely artist-centric, and had some policies that didn't encourage its use by non-artists. It's since corrected those policies, but it missed it's window of opportunity to supplant FA as the premier furry site.

As a writer and watcher, I've always gotten the best feedback and response to my writing and comments on others' submissions on SF. I think SF has a number of unique features that encourage participation and finding new content creators.

I really love SF! I really appreciated how authors get an equal chance to be showcased. I actually end up reading peoples' stories when I'm there and thinking, gee I really wish i could do some trades or commission these people- I don't really ever think that way on other sites because story work is kind of pushed aside. I think it might be the featured work section that helps in that regard. Such a better community for authors. Showcasing story work means there are more opportunities for writers and artists to collaborate and develop characters beyond just art. I just REALLLY wish they'd get rid of the ratings system. Someone popped in on all my art and like 2/3-star rated most of my stuff and it really annoyed me.

I kind of like the rating system. The way I use it is to show that I think the skill level/quality of a submission is good, even if the theme/content is not to my individual tastes (which is what I use the fave to show). Somebody going in and bombing all your submissions with a 2 or 3 rating was just one person being a jerk.

The recommended viewing feature SF has is really great. The key is to tag the crap out of your submissions, because it's all based on similar tags. I put every applicable tag I can think of on my submissions, and I create a few unique ones, such as tagging all of my submissions with Lycanthris, and the names of my characters in them. Everyday I get new faves/votes/comments on SF, because the tags on my submissions correlate with other submissions for the recommended viewing.

Two things I will give to Weasyl; not just folders, but sub-folders for your galleries, and the ability to upload PDFs that will display on the webpage.

Oh yeah, there are definitely some good sides. The best thing about SF is all that story work in my face is that reading peoples stories usually inspires me to work on a lot of my own artwork. I really like that SF has such good organization and character development systems. I would like to see sub-folders for the character tabs though. Apparently Weasyl has a character development system too but I haven't messed with it, but I think I've heard it's good- I'll have to see.

On another note, FA compresses the crap out of my art, it looks sooo much nastier here than when I post it to SF and Weasyl. I'm still looking for a site that has a good not-out-of-the-way and well formatted comissions information tab also. FA's is crud but I'm still using it. Weasyl might have that. I think SFs might have been kind of weird.

I also tag all my stuff with my FA name and my main character's name usually. Not sure if it does anything but for some reason that seems like a good idea. TAG ALL THE THINGS.

idk why. your art is beautiful -goes to watch you on both-

-hugs!-

It just feels so cold when I post there! The page views are up about the same as FA but I get like no feedback either. People don't often respond when I leave them comments on their own work too. I'm also starting to think that very often on these sites it's possible that page views might also be calculated by who sees your thumbnail on the front page or in browsing also, not necessarily who clicks on the artwork. Could be wrong though.

I agree, probably still a good idea to post there- can't help but feel strangely let down when people are posting up such lovely stuff on the front page but never talk to anyone though! I guess they might be in the same boat as us though.

WELL THANKS FOR THE INPUT! :]

I use both my FA and my Weasyl, but I'll say that I think Weasyl is still a small community, and it has yet to really reach the level of users you see here.

I don't get much attention on Weasyl other than comments and favs by my usual regulars, but I have 300 ish watchers there now and a good amount of submissions, though I mostly just like having a backup gallery.

I think it's a small community too I guess, but it has a substantially higher global site ranking (aka, way more viewers) than SF but I still get more real interactions from FA and SF. I just find that strange and I'm curious as to why that is! Maybe some other people do get a lot more input from users there but it's clustered to certain groups of people? I don't know.

Really? Hm. I know that I hear a lot of writers get more feedback on SF, but I forget why I had shied away from that one. Is it like FA and Weasyl in that it's art/writing/music etc galleries?

I suspect at least for me, my lower interactions on FA are due to my audience on Weasyl being 1/10th what it is here, or perhaps even less. FA, it varies. I see some folks with less watchers get ten times the comment on a pencil piece.

It's kind of like Weasyl in regards to the features, I guess but way more exposure for writers. I didn't get as much traffic as from FA there but I got a lot of feedback comparative to the exposure I got. I also find there's more inclination to read stories there from people, even from me. Admittedly I don't usually read things from the front page on FA that much because it's not really right in front of me, but there's a much bigger spotlight on it on SF so I read more. They also showcase stories and stuff which I think really helps. Only thing I don't like is their ratings system but if you're unlike me you can just ignore it. lol.

Do you have a sofurry?

By the way Lauren, do you ever use SF? I kind of feel like you'd do well there.

I've heard of it, but know next to nothing about it.

i dint use mine much. just hard to keep up with so much and then reposting all my stuff on it from fa x.x

Yeah, I was thinking it would definitely be useful to have some kind of app where all your comments and notes from art sites could be addressed. There's like, FA, DA, Inkbunny, SoFurry, Weasyl, Shadowness, sooo many sites a content creator might want to use, but its a lot of work to try and keep all of thise sites updates and contact open really well when you're operating on like 10 art sites- and everyone has their own preference as to what they prefer as a main account, so that means you could find other new faces to get to know that you might not see somewhere else. Kind of tricky.

yea i know. its even harder when you have like no motivation to post in bulk.

It is nothing in comparison to FA in terms of traffic, though the quality and purity of the art on Weasyl is much better in my opinion. It takes people to post before people will read, its sort of a chicken-before-the-egg thing. I have less than 1,000 page views and under 100 followers on there, whereas here I have over 600 - that being said I wish Weasyl's community was more lively.

I agree, I do think the art is a lot better, but I also kind of get this feeling that the majority of posters there are artists that are serious about marketing themselves so they use it as another like, posting site for their stuff, how people usually branch out I guess. Just seems like those artists are mainly there to post their own art and not much else, but I am not honestly active enough yet to say if that's the case with the majority.

Lol Weasyl is practically dead. I get like 1 comment for every 3 pieces I upload.

Apparently so..! that's just so weird because I get like the same amount of pageviews as FA, sometimes more, but no SIGNS OF LIFE. I think those numbers might be a little flubbed..