I have definitely noticed an uptick in Russian artists over the past few years. Some of them do very fine work (I've gotten refs from two in the past), but it's been enough to be noticeable, and some of them really do like spamming the YCH advertisements.

I've got maybe like three that seem to be clones of each other and every one of them has been banned by fa. I'm not sure why, though I assume it's because of this. Reason I think they're clones is because their notes seem scripted, and they're identical. Another red flag is they ask you if you want to buy something from them, which is wrong, I don't think you should ask people to commission you, to me that's rude.

I don't see how it's rude to advertise, as long as they take no for an answer. It's suss though, since nobody else does that. Usually an artist just needs to mention taking comms.

It's not rude to advertise, but it's rude to seek people out to ask them to buy something. Advertise, don't beg.

Yeah, I see your point. It's the difference between an ad on TV and a salesman coming to your front door

I'm seeing a lot more Russians invading FA as well, and damned if some of their art looks exactly the same as others I've seen...

It's a fandom, nobody's in charge and there's no mechanism for letting people in or kicking them out. Still, it's odd that we're suddenly seeing so many CIS furs.