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Community, community, community.
10 years ago
As someone who actually wants to try and start keeping up appearances, and start trying to submit art again, I can't help but feel that I'd rather be at FA and have even the worst-case scenario occur, than be exclusively on Weasyl or Inkbunny or wherever where even the most recognised and established artists seem to share their art with an audience of dust and tumbleweed.
You'd think that considering so many people have jumped ship and started submitting their work elsewhere, there'd be some sort of thriving community by now where people actually comment, respond, and communicate with one another. There just isn't, and it's a shame. Weasyl and co. can be as functionally superior as they like; it means nothing if the community simply doesn't act like an actual community there. The only reason the furry fandom exists is because somehow we've created a vaguely-linked social system where we're all miraculously connected in some form or another. If people are just going to straggle off somewhere else and play on their own, then what's the point?
I'm not saying that FA deserves to be the furry hub of the internet, but it just so happens that it is. That matters more than anything; the sense of community is entirely what the fandom is about. If some other site can recreate the sense of lively bustle and social mingling that FA can, then superb! Alas, as much as I'd love that to be the case, it simply isn't. The simple fact is that I'd rather be with my friends and family in a steaming turd-hut, than be lonely in an immaculate palace.
To all those who boycott FA by jumping ship, your obligation doesn't just end with moving away; if you really want to make these new, more functional places work, you've got to demonstrate that you can stir up a community. If you're going to make the likes of Weasyl your new home, treat everyone there like family. Demonstrate to everyone else that moving over is worthwhile in the only area that actually matters - community. Otherwise, there's just no point, and all you're doing is detracting from a positive thing.
Also, in regards to the idea that IMVU may (and nobody really knows if they do) have the right to use our works as they please... even in the worst-case scenario that they can, why would they? What the fuck would IMVU do with a multi-cocked, dick-nippled hyper herm donkey? They've bought FA for the sake of having intimate access and exposure to a subculture, where many individuals are very prone to spending their money on any old tat. It's really not in their best interests to go parading their endorsement of one of the least socially unaccepted circles of the internet around. I'm well aware that to many, it's the principle that counts, but... well, like I said: community comes first. FA can fuck me as hard as they like until there's a real alternative.
You'd think that considering so many people have jumped ship and started submitting their work elsewhere, there'd be some sort of thriving community by now where people actually comment, respond, and communicate with one another. There just isn't, and it's a shame. Weasyl and co. can be as functionally superior as they like; it means nothing if the community simply doesn't act like an actual community there. The only reason the furry fandom exists is because somehow we've created a vaguely-linked social system where we're all miraculously connected in some form or another. If people are just going to straggle off somewhere else and play on their own, then what's the point?
I'm not saying that FA deserves to be the furry hub of the internet, but it just so happens that it is. That matters more than anything; the sense of community is entirely what the fandom is about. If some other site can recreate the sense of lively bustle and social mingling that FA can, then superb! Alas, as much as I'd love that to be the case, it simply isn't. The simple fact is that I'd rather be with my friends and family in a steaming turd-hut, than be lonely in an immaculate palace.
To all those who boycott FA by jumping ship, your obligation doesn't just end with moving away; if you really want to make these new, more functional places work, you've got to demonstrate that you can stir up a community. If you're going to make the likes of Weasyl your new home, treat everyone there like family. Demonstrate to everyone else that moving over is worthwhile in the only area that actually matters - community. Otherwise, there's just no point, and all you're doing is detracting from a positive thing.
Also, in regards to the idea that IMVU may (and nobody really knows if they do) have the right to use our works as they please... even in the worst-case scenario that they can, why would they? What the fuck would IMVU do with a multi-cocked, dick-nippled hyper herm donkey? They've bought FA for the sake of having intimate access and exposure to a subculture, where many individuals are very prone to spending their money on any old tat. It's really not in their best interests to go parading their endorsement of one of the least socially unaccepted circles of the internet around. I'm well aware that to many, it's the principle that counts, but... well, like I said: community comes first. FA can fuck me as hard as they like until there's a real alternative.
Part of why any of the nasty or seedy things that may or may not have gone on behind the scenes with FA for all these years now never bothered me was simply because I did have some pretty good, solid connections here.
I'm not terribly worried, but we'll see. I'm good at playing the long game.
and that generates other problems for me in the longer term. i don't think imvu will - necessarily go looking for that kind of thing in amongst the crazy amount of porn that does exist here, but in the back of my mind, the possibility exists.
to whit: dragoneer didn't tell anyone what was happening until two months later. dragoneer might think he has this whole situation under control, but he's one dude and they're a company. if they want to [and chances are, they may want to, in the long term] get rid of him, they'll just lawyer him out of the way.
so, while i don't think fa is going to go south any time soon, i do think that it might be worth considering options.
i also do think it'd be worth - over the coming weeks - watching whether or not the tos/aup/etc change, because it's totally possible that imvu might see what they've got and UTTERLY CRINGE.
so, some of this stuff is hypothetical, but worrying.
i was in the beta for imvu in 2004 [or whenever it was] and haven't used it since. but nothing i've generally heard has been especially good about them. [even in the beta they were doing some fairly loopy stuff as it was] - a dysfunctional company like that might do dysfunctional things.
[their wikipedia page - for example - is regularly "scrubbed" by imvu editors so no hint of controversy ever gets out.]
as for dragoneer, i completely agree. i just find it somewhat laughable that he thinks that he's "in control" of the situation - he sold fa. that means that even if he is "in control" right now, legalese can sort that out pretty quickly.
finally: as for the community, i do agree again. the community will totally go where they will go. [which more than likely means a lot of them will stay here.]
People comment, respond, and communicate on FA?! Oh right, for everyone else it seems. :P
But seriously, if people refuse to leave FA because of that reason, it's basically a self-fulfilling prophecy.
1. Most people are on FA.
2. No one wants to leave because everyone's on FA
3. Go to 1.
So... *shrug*? I'm on FA, Weasyl, and IB, and I post to all three at the same time. It's really easy to do. Just copy paste the details and keywords. I'm tentatively on FA for now. I have issues with many things FA does/has done. I will see what happens, but if they make it any worse, well, there's nothing in particular here to keep me around in the face of that.
Thing is, it's not a matter of volume, there are -loads- of people there now. I can see why you might feel there's a catch 22 in regards to leaving FA, because the vast majority of the furry populace are here, but... that's really not what it's about. It doesn't really matter about how many people are there, it's about what the people who're already there are actually doing.
Now, far be it that I'd want to imbue a sense of duty upon anyone, but I feel that the onus is on those who piously sing the praises of the likes of Weasyl to actually demonstrate that it's worthwhile. I also use Weasyl, but I find it to be an alienating experience. It's alienating because people are there, but they're just keeping to themselves. While I definitely agree that a lot of people aren't inclined to leave FA due to the sheer number of people here, I also feel that even the smallest collection of community-minded individuals are much more likely to have a gravitational effect than those who oddly enough, simply keep to themselves.
I don't get much on my own work, but I don't get much on it on here either, despite having a lot more followers (of which no more than 1/4 look at any given piece, at the most).
And if I had my choice, I like InkBunny a lot more than both FA and Weasyl. xD
I also feel that even the smallest collection of community-minded individuals are much more likely to have a gravitational effect than those who oddly enough, simply keep to themselves.
It still feels like that is a catch-22. Said small group of community-minded individuals don't want to go to Weasyl because in their group is on FA. Apparently people have a problem with using more than one website, too, which exacerbates the problem.