If you didn't get the notice from last year, I've been posting for a while now as  budgiebin

If any of my watchers here are still active on FA, I would suggest they move their attention to my new account :)

Thanks for watching, everyone.

This is a reminder that I now post as  budgiebin :) Please follow me there as I will not be posting on this account in the future!

I haven't been terribly active lately, but I am working on a few things now that should see the light of day in a week or so!

I've decided to come back, though I don't know how active I will be beyond posting art.

If you still want to watch me, I am  budgiebin now.

I'm on the verge of a username change. I have decided to stop using the name "It's a Trap!" and will be using the name "Budgie Bin". I'll still be found under Kaye Devin, I just want to change my username. I have done this on twitter, tumblr, steam, and SoFurry. Next comes the sites I have to actually create new accounts for. After all that, I will be changing my personal web domain to reflect it. So basically, I'm taking some time and thinking to myself, what websites do I really want to stay active on?

So I sat back and really, really thought about if I wanted to make a new account here. I'm hesitant. I've been a member since the very beginning, back when SheezyArt stopped allowing adult art. I've been treating it as my main gallery for years. FA is the place that gets the first update, the sketches, furry and non-furry art alike. First choice on commission slots. Primary source for other peoples' art.

And yet as the years passed I've found so many other galleries that are *way* more advanced than FA. These galleries have active dev teams that fix bugs and add features frequently. These galleries that have features that are now considered standard, and they are things that FA said they would do years ago, but every improvement has been focused on the UI - which, might I add, is still painfully behind the times. These sites will cease to exist if people do not become active, and considering what FA brings to the table, this is a real shame.

It's not a matter of who has the shinier site. The fact remains that FA has been hacked many times before, and as long as you keep using this outdated, poorly-written codebase and focus more on banning fairly-harmless image grabbers and making the site *look* polished, FA will continue to be successfully hacked and abused.

This place just doesn't enthrall me any more. I've barely been keeping up on my watches and I rarely comment on anything. I've stuck to it hoping the site would improve and it hasn't. I may come back in the future, if things have improved dramatically. I'm not talking a shinier UI - I mean you have to start from the bottom up. Give us Ferrox like you promised years ago, and I may consider coming back.

I'll probably clear out most of my gallery. A lot of my old submissions are poor quality.

You can find me at the websites and messengers listed on this page:

>> http://its-a-trap.org/#contact-tab

Best of luck to you and your staff, Neer. I understand the monumental task laid before you. The competition is only getting harder, and you will find that you can no longer rest on the laurels of being "the biggest furry site". People will find and create better places to post their work. If you wish to remain the best, you have to take an effort to implement change. Hire any one of the good, talented individuals that have offered to help you for free and do not alienate them.

This change is inspired by the new beta.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m.....b0lo1_1280.jpg

Fixes:
- More specific image rules, so that userpages don't have tiny front-page thumbs.
- Thumbnail proportions are kept now
- Fine tuning of shit what ain't broken
- Removal of image border shadows
- Stories/Music now have less padding to reflect smaller images/show more

Additions:
- "Top bar"
- Creative removal of about half the header space.

Shit I need to fix:
- Images aren't rounded, but borders are
- Misaligned title/author text on submissions page - FIXED
- Tall image cutoffs in the stories/music section - FIXED
- Vertically centering front page images - FIXED

Shit I can't fix:

- A lot of the tables have blank classes and IDs. I can't touch these for obvious reasons, so I won't be able to reskin the actual content of the website. (example: I wanted to move user IDs/contact info into what is the bio/profile)

- The ad bar seems to have padding hard-coded into it that I just can not figure out how to remove. If it weren't for this space, there would be bigger ads. :\ - FIXED

- The ad bar's hard coded width leaves me with a huge amount of blank horizontal space I can't get rid of. - FIXED (but not completely)

No, really. All I did was get a browser extension that allows live and persistent CSS edits. It needs a lot more work, but I'm happy about it.

BIG CHANGES (aka What I Think FA Needs To Do)

>> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9893046/web.....reifixedit.jpg <<

* Thumbnails are 130 high and a maximum of 150 wide. Music and Writing, which don't need such big thumbnails, are 75 high and a maximum of 80 wide. Landscape images will just squish a little, rather than get cut off. It’s a little ugly, but the best option without being able to mess with the underlying code (it's probably an issue with tables, which is a pain to modify third-party).

* Since I have a small monitor (720p), FA was only showing me 10 images per load. However, 22 “recent artwork” thumbs are loaded per refresh. This is a feature for wide or high resolution monitors, to make the front page look seamless. They added a 2-line height in CSS, which ensures that people with netbooks have fewer images to click on per pageload (but they're still loaded with the page).

* The Writing and Music tabs were carefully and magically moved from a horizontal layout to a vertical layout thus removing a need to scroll to see that kind of submission and also balancing out the weight and viewing focus of the page a little. I wish I was able to get rid of the huge vertical gaps, but that's a table restriction from the larger thumbnails and I'm not even sure I can work around that in just CSS. Divs are harder to work with, but better in the long run.

SUBMISSION PAGE

>> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9893046/web.....xedit-subs.jpg <<

* Removed datestamps and laid the submissions next to each other. This has always irritated me as spacewaster. It's not centered any more but I don't care much about it.

* Removed the checkbox - it still clicks, but it doesn’t need to be visible.

* To balance out the checkbox removal, I eyeballed a background color to visually reinforce the clickable area.

MINOR LAYOUT CHANGES

* Previously removed ads just to show that I could (I actually keep them on most of the time). You can remove the admin notice too, which is curiously labeled something like do_not_adblock :3c

* Changed the font to Trebuchet MS just because I like it more.

* Moved horizontal navigation closer to the banner. Removed trouble tickets and community sections in the menu only because I never use them. They're easily restored.

* Reduced footer font size

*Increased size of “message center” in header

*Made image borders more obvious, largely because I can't seem to get rid of the border shadow.

*Slimmed down the banner a little to save screen real estate

I've been wanting to get into scrimshaw for some time now. Scrimshaw is a historic art using ivory, bone, antler, and more lately tagua nut. The surface is scratched or engraved with a design and then coated with ink for a distinct "tattooed" look. Most scrim surfaces are legally and humanely obtained.

With that info in mind, I have this question:

If I were to learn the art and sell jewelry online and at conventions, would you boycott or generally oppose the sale of such things? Why?

I need to know. I'm making plans for my own product.

This is a repost of a journal by  archekruz. The original, with discussions, can be found here.

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Every now and then, artists gets shafted by commissioners. Most of the time, these are one-time incidents by first-time offenders. While there is little one can do to avoid these types of scammers besides being constantly vigilant and wise in your business dealings, there are things you can do to avoid being shafted by habitual scammers, and that comes primarily in sharing knowledge of known charlatans and blacklisting them collectively. I am here to do my duty as a fellow artist to warn everyone around me of a particularly nasty case I've had the misfortune of witnessing, and this person is called Michael Hirtes, but before we can delve into his activities as a commission scammer, we will have to dig into his past activities to see what kind of a person we are dealing with here.

Michael Hirtes began his streak of online infamy nearly 20 years ago on the furry usenet groups, where he was seen posting an unending torrent of hostile and inflammatory comment. Since, back then, all he was doing was being a white noise poster, he was quickly dismissed as just one of many trolls, and pretty much forgotten by any sensible person.

Fast forward a few more years, and we would have found out that he is living on government welfare in a government housing estate, earning extra money on the side by harassing artists to get them to donate their works to a fanzine series he had been making. It worked for a while until he stepped on the wrong toes and got told on. He was sent a letter which pretty much stated that if he is earning good money from his fanzine operation, he has no need for welfare checks. What did he do? Well, he halted the production of his fanzines, and continued to get his welfare checks.

What do we learn from this? We learn that Hirtes is a particularly belligerent character who would jump on the chance to earn money off the backs of the hard work of others, and a lazy welfare parasite who who would rather suck on the government teat than earn a living. (Albeit dishonestly) With his fanzine operation shut down, he was left with nothing to do but to resume being a dime-a-dozen troll on the now defunct CYD forums, spewing hateful vitriol on artists who refused to be a doormat for him.

Now with that out of the way, we fast forward a few more years to a much more recent time, with events that are still pretty fresh in existing memory. With the creation of the WTFur branch of the WTFUX imageboard community, (Which later became Sidechan before splitting into e621 and Lulz.net.) Hirtes found another outlet to spew out more hateful vitriol, in what he thought would be an anonymous manner. However, his brand of histrionic vitriol is more than what even the regulars have patience for. His ID and writing style is quickly recognized and met with the status as persona non grata. It is through those exchanges that we found out that he has been commissioning artists for harem toe ting fetish fanart, and that the circumstances of the closure of those commission deals are shady at best. We also learn that he's a hateful misogynist. We had our theories, but since nothing was confirmed yet but the fact that he likes to harass the artists he commissioned in order to squeeze out as many sketches out of them before allegedly dropping the commission altogether, we just poked fun at him for his weird fetish and how he deals with artists, for the sheer novelty of getting replied to with a comically overblown hostile response. There was also a story of him knocking down a female artist at a con, and then making off with her artwork that he claimed that she owed him.

My theory is that he has been shafting artists back then, and since they are practically unknowns in the fandom who are unaware of any possible recourse, their word of mouth did not carry much of any weight and was not spread around as far. He probably gained hubris as time passed, eventually getting the idea that he could con artists into doing many sketches for him, before making off with them without paying. It is the only explanation I could find that would lead to his eventual attempt at conning more fandom-visible artists such as chill , mirandaleigh or midori .

While disaster was averted for most artists, fluffball wasn't so lucky. However, it is through that incident in which we discover his exact mode d'emploi in which he uses to scam artists. He would seem to be actually complete the commission deal, then find something that the artist did (posting the image in their gallery being one example) as an excuse to demand a full refund lest he file a grievance with PayPal and have them force a refund payment. Whatever happens... whether the artist drops the commission, whether they cease to play along, or in any other method when Hirtes sees that he is not going to be able to abuse them into continuing to do as he wants, he will attempt to play the wronged party, making numerous public posts (both under his own name and anonymously) to attempt to vilify the artist and make them out to be the cheat.

This "victory" of his, however, turned out to be very Pyrrhic in nature in that while he did get the 10 dollars refunded to his account, all of fluffball 's friends and colleagues rose up in indignation and donated and gave her generous commission offers. In the end, she had gained far more than the 10 dollars she lost to Hirtes, and a lot more are aware of his unscrupulous dealings. In his mind though, the 10 dollars was very much worth it. He eventually got banned from FA, causing him to take refuge in Lulz.net where he spewed more hateful vitriol about the incident.

Now, we reach the current chapter of the Hirtes saga. A month ago, thanks to the reports of skidd in this thread. We found out that he is back to his old tricks under a sockpuppet account again and trying to scam artists, only this time, as is apparent from the report, most of the artists he had approached were already wisened up to him. After a tip off from freehaven , his sockpuppet account was banned. What this prompted was a tsunami of hostile comments, and lame personal attacks from Hirtes that raged all over Lulz.net and TGFB. (This tempest is only starting to peter out now though.) Myself, and a few other artists, bless them, responded by being creative and drawing harem toering fanart for the people he hates, this prompted quite possibly the most hilarious butthurt-riddled messages ever from Hirtes, as shown in an e-mail exchange with Miranada Leigh, and even more vitriol from Hirtes when he found out that his email exchanges were publicly posted. So much so that he made a thread wishing death upon Miranda Leigh. He even had the audacity to not only try leeching sympathy for his self-inflicted social stigma from an artist who just lost his house, but he also dismissed the artists' story as unimportant while flooding the chat with his own petty whining.

Just a few days ago, he decided to attempt to get everyone off his back by producing the most backhanded, venomous, insincere, duplicitous and pathetic excuse of an apology ever seen. He didn't apologize to the artists he had screwed over, he didn't apologize to the artists he have harassed, he showed no remorse or any desire to make amends. He was basically trying to run away from responsibility for his own actions by saying "I'm sorry" but not meaning it. It was proven that he was insincere when he went right back to spewing his vitriol right after his apology was rejected for being insincere. To this day, knowledge of the kinds of tempests that rages in his mind still evades the best of us, but it could be that the coincidental death of his mother 20 years ago may have had something to do with it.

Why I am telling you all this? You may ask. Well, for one, recently I have been hearing from people who are just now introduced to the Hirtes clusterfuck and are posting self-righteous messages about how everyone is being too hard on him and that he is someone to be pitied rather than to be scorned and shunned with extreme prejudice. This is basically my response to them ; Hirtes has had 20 years' worth of a bad track records not only in his behavior, but also of his personality, attitude and business dealings. While I do try to be the last person on the planet to give a wretch like him a chance at redemption, it is proven many times that this WILL NOT happen with him, and any attempts in doing so is an exercise in futility.

The other reason is that part of Hirtes vitriol includes the "argument" that we are doing our duty to inform everyone of his sordid affairs only out of spite and hatred. This story serves as a testament to the fact that those who knows avoided the heartache of having to deal with him, and those who didn't got burned. It serves as a reminder as to why we should do our best to watch each other's backs, because this empowers us to make much more informed decisions as to whom we risk our time and money to. Most importantly, it empowers YOU, the readers, in knowing of one more charlatan to avoid doing business with, and to warn others of him. Sure, ousting ONE person may not seem important, but with every charlatan ousted, the fandom is a slightly more safer place to conduct business in, and in this way, every single one counts.

Hirtes will try to villify us, the empowered informants, as hateful people out to get little ol' him and sell apologetics in order to dismiss the track record of his dishonest dealings. The reality of it, however, is that he fears us. He fears the knowledge we bring, it scares him and keeps him awake at night to know that there is someone out there who is shutting down his scamming operation, and trying to stop him from predating on artists who didn't know better about him.

I live to shut down charlatans like him, and it gives me great comfort in knowing that what I do has a positive effect to this end, however small and insignificant the magnitude of it may be.

To all the artists out there, do NOT be fooled. Even if Hirtes paid you in advance, he will find a way to get it back through refunds when you complete the work, using any petty overlooked excuse to do so.

Thank you for your time.
Αρχή Χρύζ

Delibird - "Eat Fresh"
Bellsprout - "M. DeSade" (Marquis De Sade. Has Flash, Vine Whip, Wrap, and Sleep Powder; KINKY)
Swinub - "Hercules"
Miltank - "Milftank"
Ditto - "Xerox"
Seaking - "Fuck Yeah!" and "HECK YES"

I also like to name my Sandslash Dervish, and I have a Gyarados named Oceanus in Diamond. I usually name the Fire pokemon I obtain first/like most/plan on actually using "Firebrand", too.

I know I have other sweet names hangin' around somewhere but I only have my Crystal with me right now.

What's your awesomest pokemon names?

--

Also, unrelated, but I have about 36 mini cheesecakes i'm bringing into class tomorrow to say goodbye to most of my classmates, who are moving on to construction while I'm branching to cabinetmaking with 2 or 3 other people. Guy I Have Serious Crush On gets leftovers. :>

And check out the furbuy link for some original art i've been tryin' to get rid of for a while, and the woodburned leopard girl.

What is most important in an artist's travel kit?

Everything from size, what it contains, and even the quantity of color options available. Anything.

Making one for myself as proof of concept.

EDIT: IMPORTANT WEIGHT CONCERN. Kit will be constructed of wood, so weight may be a concern! Wood really adds up, though I want to make it quite thin (but still solid) to provide the most storage capability.

I could really go for some mac and cheese pancakes and salmon hot dogs/sausages right about now.

Holy shit.

I had a dream that Pizza Hut was making chicken nuggets by throwing baby chicks against a wall with a pneumatic machine for a humane instant kill and then skinned and boned them to make each nugget. Zoidberg from Futurama was there, and he was trying not to get caught eating chicks raw on the disassembly line.

[20:16] kayedevin: so, i spent my time in art class last night drawing bambi.
[20:17] KulilinSama: D'aw. Deer trippin' all over his motherless self.
[20:17] kayedevin: lol
[20:17] kayedevin: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2648267
[20:17] kayedevin: i wish we were allowed to jsut improve the character
[20:17] kayedevin: because then I would've totally drawn Bambi with a knife in his teeth and a mother tattoo
[20:18] KulilinSama: Would Uncle Walt approve?
[20:18] KulilinSama: Very nice.
[20:18] kayedevin: I think he would, because it's a statement of revenge
[20:18] kayedevin: against a cruel world
[20:18] KulilinSama: I like the spiny/shaggy look on the fur.
[20:19] kayedevin: You know, the ref was like that, but I didn't do it right.
[20:19] KulilinSama: Disney was actually a pervert, supposedly. I'm sure he'd approve of La Blue Girl.
[20:19] KulilinSama: And Urotsukidoji's anti-semitism. But that's another matter.
[20:19] kayedevin: I felt dirty trying to get perfect curves for deer ass
[20:19] kayedevin: underaged deer ass.

Red Panda on auction. http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1006916.html

--

So Tohri and I went to the dump today and he suggested that I take a look at their book section. I found a lot of neat things there, and I now have quite a few books to sell on ebay.

One of them is a book titled "Manners", written by Helen Hathaway in 1928. (This copy is 5th edition, 1930). Most of the rules of "polite society" are just plain ridiculous to follow particularly in this day and age, but the section on conversation and speech certainly applies to the internet generation.

The following is a condensed, heavily-modified list of do's and don'ts, specifically for IMs as well as conventions and other party-type-deals.

--

1. Avoid TL;DR stories and excessive reference to memes.

2. It's okay to not know about something. It doesn't mean you're stupid. What DOES make you look stupid is pretending you know about a subject and pulling things out of your ass.

3. I'm sure you're a very interesting person, but you are not the center of the universe.

4. Talk about more than one thing. oh my god. It's great to have hobbies and interests but please, PLEASE for the sanity of everyone you're talking to consider that there is more out there than furry/your fetishes.

5. Listen to what people are saying! If you spend all your time thinking about what you are going to say (particularly if it's about yourself) then there is no conversation. You might as well talk to a mirror.

6. Avoid black-and-white ("dogmatic") discussions. There are many shades of grey for every situation, and the more shades of grey you can distinguish between, the more intelligent you appear.

7. Most of the time, you are funniest when you are not trying.

8. When complimenting someone, be sure there is truth behind it. If you are complimented, appreciate it but don't let it get to your head.

A few people have asked me some questions about where exactly Kaye lies on the great plane of gender.

Kaye, being an extremely personal avatar, is a real person. As such, does not react to everything in the exact same way every day. It is extremely hard to pin down something as intangible as sexuality and gender roles, and like myself most of the time she's just plain down the middle, with day-to-day and case-by-case variation. Sure, she has basic interests, dislikes and tastes like the rest of us.

What I mean to say is that a question like "is Kaye's personality more male or female?" is something I can't answer because I don't believe in gender roles. I believe they are harmful to society, actually, particularly to women. (Conversely, and just to be clear, I believe the "I transcend gender" view is extremely snotty)

I suggest y'all listen to "I'm Gonna Be an Engineer" by Peggy Seeger. It's half womens' lib and half gender roles, but it describes more or less what I'm trying to get across here. (Lyrics)

When I was a little girl I wished I was a boy
I tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys.
Everybody said I only did it to annoy
But I was gonna be an engineer

Mamma said, "Why can't you be a lady?
Your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl
Wait until you're older, dear
And maybe you'll be glad that you're a girl.

In closing, Kaye is not male or female. Kaye is Kaye.