I'd hardly call FA dead. But some also have profiles on places like Deviant art and Inkbunny and the likes

I guess I should clarify,

For me and many mutuals it seems like getting clients from FA has proven a lot more difficult.
Where as a few ears ago I could sell out of slots in a few hours...these days I essentially have to spam in order to get any sort of business at all.

Not to mention the total lack of comments and connective activity that FA used to have a few years ago.
It might be different on the commissioner end, but for me my FA is barely worth keeping updated.

A large influx of people do work on Twitter, Instagram, and DA now, though I still see plenty on here, admittedly it has been slowing down over the last few years, or at least for me it has.

for me there was a DRASTIC drop in pageviews/comments/ and general activity in sales.

It seemed like every hit FA got folks seemed to care less and less.
I'm def one of the folks who found more success on Twitter

I feel you on that. I went from my art slots selling out in a matter of hours, to them now taking days, weeks, months to sell in full. If you don't mind me asking, how do you sell on Twitter? I recently started posting there due to how slow FA has become for me on a whole, but I feel I may be doing something wrong, as i have no real idea on the layout or how it works. ^^ ;;

It's not dead though?

I can only say people aren't on it all the time since there is Twitter, Discord, etc, now.

But this is my main place for income. x)

I've found it nearly impossible to make an income on FA anymore. Could be a number of factors, but the interest and activity (Comments etc) has drastically dropped over the years for me.

I've talked with a few mutuals and they feel the same. *shrugs*

RIGHT BEHIND YOU


Made you look :p

RUDE.

YOU GAVE ME A FRIGHT

FA isn't dead.
But a shiton of People went to Twitter

I was def one of the folks who left for twitter.

I've found FA is essentially dead for me as far as sales go

People have spread out to other platforms like Twitter, Deviantart, etc.

Folks are still around though.

seems like there is a drastic drop in activit, at least for me. I've found more success on twitter

It feels like there is a small drop but it comes and goes as it always does on Furaffinity.

I've had a pretty heavy, noticeable drop over the last couple of years.

Granted I've been less active on here..so maybe it's just me??

Likely a mixture of both.

I fail to see how FA is dead with the amount of activity it gets on a daily basis.........

numbers of submission and people viewing is NOT what I'm talking about.

I should have been more clear, but for me as an artist trying to make a living, FA is barely worth keeping updated. The number of comments, favorites, pageviews and sales has drastically dropped. I've also noticed that unless you have a very decent following sales are simply not filling as the used to. I follow artists who used to fill their queues in second now to be struggling on FA.

I'm still around

I hope you stick around too! I'd like to see more active folks on here.

Maybe people are scared of me then xD

I intend to! Your traditional work is beautiful.

there was simply a hickup of downtime, and people used faster unorganized twitter for backup.

nah I've had this problem of lack of comments, sales, and general activity on FA for the better part of two years now.
it's barely worth keeping updated these days aha

oh, well if it keeps declining, can use fa as a more organized dumping grounds. twitter is easy but its hard for followers to see older works. i suppose many sites could substitute for that though...

I ate everyone.

AND YOU DIDNT EVEN SHARE.

*overly dramatic response*

SHARING IS FOR THE WEAK!

But seriously, FA is probably dying because it hasn't kept up with the times. 50+% of internet traffic comes from mobile these days, while FA has no mobile site. Want to look at DA on a phone? You'll get a simplified website where the artwork fits the screen. There's even an app! Want to look at FA? Expect .05mm high text and scrolling around to see the whole image. Most artists are kiddos and gen Z don't have no time for that.

Comments on art seems to be a thing of the past. Which is very sad

I find typing on mobile phones so much more arduous than keyboards, and keeping up with journals takes most of my commute. And when I'm at home I have children to chase around and weasels to draw.

I think this is a massive part of it. it's depressing really.

No one comments and it seems like sales on FA(for me at least) has dropped dramatically

Same!

Twitter, Telegram, Patreon. A little bit goes on through other platforms like Insta, Tumblr, Facebook, Amino.

FA isn't dead, it's just mostly narrowed to an art gallery hosting and commission slot opening sort of platform while people do social networking elsewhere. I think in terms of raw submission and daily users the actual volume of activity on FA hasn't gone down at all. However with everything else growing, FA flatlining is a big loss.

I feel like FA has flatlines for the better part of a few years at this point. For me it's majorly lost its charm and is much more difficult to make sales. I've turned to Twitter to get sales these days.

FA is my artwork home and I'm having to sift through 100 submissions a day from various people I watch, which no real complaint but I hardly think it's dead. That said I've been fighting spotty net myself and some other stuff.

for me, at least, it seems there is a drastic drop in comments and activity between users. I also make so little in sales from FA that is barely worth keeping updated.

It seems a lot of the older accounts I watch have died but a lot of new peeps are showing up

I have noticed the influx in younger audiences, but the old charm of commenting and interacting with one another seems have to gone totally dead.

I BARELY make any money or sales on FA any more..I'm one of the many who turned to twitter

Doesn't seem dead to me. Just not able to check submissions like I used to.

I feel this is massively true on many accounts. People dont check submissions as often as they used to nor do they comment.

I've also noticed a massive drop in sales

I spend more time asleep or failing to pay attention to valuable parts of the internet, like people and art.

hey, sleep is one of my favorite activities. I'm not going to judge you for it!

I'm not noticing much of a difference here. But having a diverse spread of accounts couldn't hurt. I use Twitter and ArtStation

For me FA is barely worth keeping updated. Sales, comments, and general interaction has dropped.

Could just be me but I've found more success on Twitter.

Seems about 50/50 for me, but I am notoriously bad at social media, so Twitter's been a boon, but perhaps not as much of one as it could be if I ran mine properly : P

The only thing that's changed that I see is more people posting to other sites like twitter an instagram. But most of the ones I follow still post here too. So I'd hardly call FA dead. To many, like me, this is their site of preference. Look at the stats of people online down at the bottom of the page now and again and you'll see just how many people are online here at any time. For instance I looked just now and there are over 50,000 people online with FA right this minute. Dead? Hardly!

I should have clarified,

For me Sales, comments and general user to user activity has dropped DRASTICALLY.
I know I'm not the only artist who feels this way. I know several mutuals who had to move to twitter and other platforms to continue to make a living(I was and am one of them)

so even if there are 50k folks online...if no one is commenting or interacting with each other..its lost a lot of the profitable spark it used to have

Ah! I see and understand now. Those other sites have stolen away the base that actually support you artists to a great extent. I am sorry to see that happen, but I don't think there's much one can do but go with the flow and post on the other sites too. But please, don't completely drop FA! There are still quite a few die hards like me who refuse to tweet or instagram. Or at least I like to think I'm not the only surly dinosaur who won't follow the trends just to stay totally in the loop.

Believe a lot'a folks still have accounts/are on FA; just fewer and fewer peeps are comments/engaging/posting (except for some small pockets)
-Lotta artists have flocked to, or are on Twitter in general as far as I can see

I personally frequent;
Facebook, Twitter, FA, DA and occasionally Instagram myself

This is exactly what I'm talking about. there is a noticeable, DRASTIC drop in commenting and user to user interaction.
For me it's hit sales hard enough that I always debate on keeping my FA live.

You active on many other platforms in tandem with FA?

I think the bulk is on Twitter, aside from that... We are a house divided

agreed..it's kind of sad

I have Twitter, FB, instagram, Artstation, Amino, FA. Most of it feels alien to me. Like I'm shouting into a void holding up some hashtag signs not knowing who to actually address or who actually views my stuff. With FA and FB groups I at least still know who the fuck I reach for that's why I stay here too. Dedicated Discord servers do nothing for me, because I can't excessively chat and am not very social. And if I'm not part of the group people view my art as random input.

Still searching for my place. 2000 watchers over 9 years - with being featured by artists once or twice - is a bit of a sad signal for me, considering my skill compared to others, I think Ijust don't appeal to the mass or lack in marketing/socialising.

BUT on my personal scale disconnected from what I see from other artists, for me activity as a whole went up. That's why I stay here and don't consider FA dead. Even though I've seen someone else literally beg and demand for activity and I can't tell if it's based on a tendency for FA.

perhaps the activity is rising again.

I know for me sales dropped drastically as well as comments and general user to user activity, its barely worth keeping FA alive these days.

and dont knock yourself down too much, Its realy difficult to market yourself and be sucessful as an artist.

I feel like it was a hell of a lot easier 4-5 years ago

Mostly here, hanging with friends on discord and telegram and out in the great city. Graduated university though!!

I'm deeply considering looking into joining some discord servers...

There are some good ones out there, its just determining what group you want to socialize with, and what you wish to do in it
But yea, Discord is great, I like it

What Aerys and Kingman said. Also, it's con/holiday season

I'm not really talking about recent activity. it seems or feels like on my end that user to user activity on FA has drastically dropped. it's gotten harder and harder to make profit here, but I also recognize it could be pointed at my general inactivity as well.

I know I've been making more of a profit on twitter for some time now.

Fa's not dead? It's the most active site I'm on, and still one of the most that offers commissions.

I'll share, though, I also main Weasyl (has a tag filter) and DeviantArt. And Crosspost heavily to Inkbunny (list for people who ask for commissions on a site ends here), while also partially managing Newgrounds, twitter, and some aminos, although all of those aren't building much. I use http://www.postybirb.com/ for managing all those sites really easy (except for aminos).

I honestly hate Twitter as a watcher because I never see anything I want because its a feed and not an artsite so I miss everything while also getting sent.... the porn that everyone likes since Twitter likes sharing what you fav. *shivers* But everyone keeps going to twitter only, and its so frustrating.

I should have clearified that for ME it has died.

I find it extremely difficult to make sales here and have found that user to user interaction has gotten rarer.

It very well could be my own lack of activity though. I'm willing to give it a go again.

*takes a peak at your gallery Descriptions* Hmm, Your descriptions are all mostly only business related in your artwork.
Do you ever have any stories or reasons why you draw an artwork? It could help prompt conversation with your audience
about the art itself by putting in a bit in the description beyond commission advertising. Even off topic descriptions can
spark a little commenting to happen.

Aside from Description conversation starters, the other way I get my audience to interact with me and my work is to
directly involve them as part of the artwork. Things like my OCs interacting to viewer's comments, or to incorperate
the viewer as part of the art itself. Although those type of artworks are all personal and not commission type art.
They're only designed to involve viewers to get them to be a part of the art I made by being a viewer and grow the community I have.

FA still seems to have the most commission buyers, but I see the most activity on Twitter.

i've found its really difficult to get commissions on FA these days...could be due to my own inactivity though... *shrugs* I'm willing to give it another go.

I'm still here. :)

and I'm extremely glad you are

can't leave our favourite spirit kitten. :)

FA still seems pretty active to me. I don't watch all that many folks, but I still see a dozen or so new posts a day. And half a dozen new journals too.

Dominus tecum

I'v found user to user interaction has dropped, but maybe I've just been returning on bad times?

I guess it depends on the users. I know a lot of folks I used to chat with here all the time have moved to other mediums for one reason or another. Nothing lasts forever on the web, but FA does still seem to be going pretty well right now. In another ten years? No idea.

Dominus tecum

Ooooh, that's really cool work of you! Is there a way to access this?
Also nice to get clarification, since I didn't feel a drop in activity, but I now know at least two people who felt a drop. So it was hard to judge the reality and tendency.

Thank you!
Yes, it's alarming. This site needs a massive overhaul. They should hire someone to design better UI and content management ideas.

(Btw. that file gets flagged as malware by Chrome!)

Yeah, it probably condemns the source itself.

I think furry twitter has dealt a huge blow to FA, but don't get used to it. Twitter could pull a Tumblr at any time.