#i wanted to advertise on my Twitter but I have a lot of irls from uni and I’d rather they don’t read my stuff

[astercontrol]

If KOSA passes

Or if any other form of censorship (there are many in the works!) ever succeeds at stepping in to impede our ability to communicate online:

We have to make plans.

Now, I dunno who'll even see this post. The few followers I have are TRON fans (who despite the fantasy we live in, tend to have realistically dismal views IRL about Disney and the various corporate uses of software).

And this fandom, on average, is pretty tech-savvy. It's where I've encountered the most people under 20 years old who actually know how to use a desktop or laptop computer.

So, if there's any hope for what I'm thinking about, this is prolly a good place to start with it.

(As with all my posts, I encourage reblogging and containment-breaching.)

(Gifs are clips from TRON 1982, mainly the "deleted love scene," from the DVD extras.)

Anyway.

Current society has moved online communication much too far onto major social media sites for my comfort. Whoever you communicate with over the internet, chances are you do it through a service owned by a big company: Tumblr, Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Facebook, whatever. Even TikTok (shudder).

These sites, despite their many flaws, can provide experiences that are valuable and hard to get otherwise. And once all your friends are on one site, you can't just leave and stay in touch with them all, not unless they all go the same place. It's easy to see why it's hard to abandon any social media platform.

But a backup plan is important. Because, as we've seen over and over, social media sites can't be relied on. They change their policies suddenly, without good reason-- and are inconsistent, even discriminatory, about enforcing those policies.

If they're funded by ads, the advertisers are their main customers, and your posts are the product. Their goal is that the posts most valuable to the advertisers get seen by people the advertisers consider desirable customers.

Helping you communicate-- making your posts get seen by the people you want to communicate with-- is optional to them.

Not to mention that the whole business model of an ad-funded website is generally unsustainable. Many of these sites are operating at a loss, relying on shareholders in a fragile bubble, doomed to fail soon just from lack of real profit.

And the more restrictions --like KOSA-- that the law puts on freedom of online speech, the likelier they are to go down or just become unusable. Every rule a site is required to follow is another strain on its resources, and most of them are already failing badly at even enforcing their own self-imposed rules.

If we want any control over our continued ability to stay in touch with our online friends-- we need to have a backup plan. Maybe it'll be simple at first, a bare-bones system we cobble together-- but it's gotta be something that will work. For a while at least.

There are lots of really good posts about ways to build your own website, using a service like Neocities. I VERY MUCH recommend learning this skill-- learning to make websites of the very simplest, most stable, glitch-resistant type, made of html pages-- which you can upload to a host while you store backups on your home computer. If you value the writing and art that you put online, this is probably the safest you can keep it.

But that's for making your own creative work public.

As for communicating with others-- for example, receiving and answering other people's comments on your work-- that gets more complex. I personally haven't found it worthwhile to troubleshoot the problems that come with having a system that allows visitors to comment publicly on my website.

But what we do still have-- and likely will for a long time-- is email.

Those of us who came of age before social media's current hold... well, we might take this for granted. Email was the first form of online contact we ever encountered… and thus it can seem to us like the most ordinary, the most boring.

But in the current world, it is a rare and precious thing to find a method of communicating that doesn't require everyone in the chat to be signed on with the same corporation.

Email is, as of now, still perfectly legal-- as much as social media companies have been trying to herd the populace away from it. I'm sure there are other ways to share thoughts online that are not bound by laws. But I am not going to go into that here.

Email service is provided by law-abiding companies, which will comply with subpoenas if law enforcement thinks you are emailing about doing illegal things. So, email is not a surefire way to be safe, if laws become dystopian enough to threaten your freedom to talk about your own life and identity.

But it's safer than posting on a public social media page.

For now.

Email is beautifully decentralized. You can get an email address many different ways-- some reliant on a company like Gmail, others hosted on your own domain. And different people, with all different types of email addresses, hosted in all different ways-- can all communicate together by the same method.

Of course any of these people, individually, can lose their email address for some reason or other, and have to get a new one. But as long as they still know the email addresses of their contacts, they can reconnect and recover from that loss. The structure of a group linked by email is reliant not on a single company-- but on the group itself, the friends you can actually count on.

This is why I am trying to promote the idea of forming email lists, as a backup plan to give people a way to stay in touch as mainstream social media sites prove to be unsustainable.

I'm envisioning a simple system of sending emails to several addresses at once, and making each reply visible to everyone in the chat by using "reply all" (or, if desired, editing the To field to reply to only some).

If enough people get used to using email in this way, it could fill most of the needs met by any other group chat or forum …without depending on a centralized social media company that's taking dystopian measures to try and make the business profitable.

So here are some thoughts about how I personally imagine it could work.

(Feel free to comment and bring up any thoughts I haven't addressed, or suggestions to customize how specific groups could set it up. This is meant as more of a starting point for brainstorming than a catch-all solution.)

As I see it, here are the basics of what you and your friends would each need to start out:

An email address. Any kind, hosted anywhere. You should use a dedicated email account just for this group, one that you do NOT use for other communication. Being in this group will result in things you don't want happening to your main email address-- like getting a TON of email, one for every post and reply. Or someone could get your email address that you really don't want any contact with. Use a burner email account (one that you can easily replace) and change it if needed.

The knowledge of how to "REPLY ALL" in your email. This will be necessary in order to add a comment that everyone in the group can see.

The knowledge of how to EDIT THE "TO" FIELD in your email, and remove addresses from the list of all recipients. This will be necessary if you want to CHANGE WHICH PEOPLE in the group can see your comment.

The knowledge of how to FILTER WORDS in your email. This will be necessary if a topic comes up that you don't want to see any mentions of.

The knowledge of how to BLOCK PEOPLE in your email. This will be very important. If someone joins this email group who you do not want to interact with, it will be up to you to BLOCK them so that you do NOT see their messages. (If they are bad enough to evade the block with multiple burner accounts, that's what you have a burner account for. Change it, and share the new one only with those you trust not to give it to them.)

Every person in the group will be effectively a "moderator" of the group, able to remove people from it by cutting their email addresses out of the "To" field. Members will all have equal "moderator" privileges, each able to tailor the group to their own needs.

This means the group may naturally split, over time, into other groups, each one removing some people and adding others. Some will overlap, some won't. This is good! This is, in my opinion, what online interaction SHOULD be like! There should be MANY groups like this!

In this way, we can keep online discussion alive, no matter WHAT happens to any of the social media websites.

If the dystopia got bad enough to shut down email, we could even continue with postal mail and photocopies, like they did in the days of print-zine fanfiction.

If it looks like the dystopia is gonna come for postal mail too, we'll use the connection we have to preserve whatever contacts we can with people who live near us.

Not saying it's GONNA get that bad. But these steps of preparation are good no matter exactly what kind of bad stuff happens.

As long as some organized form of communication still exists, we'll have a place where it's at least a little safer to be your true self…

to plan events and meetups…

and maybe even activities a little too risque to make the final cut of a 1982 Disney movie.

They're trying to censor us. We want a Free System. So we're gonna fight back.

For the Users. Not the corporations.

Peace out, programs. <3

[comicaurora]

I really dislike the posts that are like "IF YOU DON'T RB UR A BAD PERSON AND HATE ME" or whatever THAT'S manipulation. But for the posts that are like "hey if you like my art/other ppl's art it's good to reblog!!!" Those are like. Imagine if it's an irl small little business that relies entirely on people coming in and knowing about you, and someone comes to your shop and likes your stuff, maybe buys from you maybe doesn't whatever whatever; you'd probably encourage them to come back again or subscribe for updates if they really liked it, and you would ALSO probably ask them to tell their friends about you, because that's a part of their livelihood. Obviously phrasing is important and again the guilt tripping is shitty, but most people aren't ACTUALLY demanding anything from people coming by, and with the twitter exodus, a lot of the twitter artists DO have art as their livelihood and NEED discoverability/popularity. They don't have a platform that's self-sufficient yet. It's not guilt tripping to ask for validation and shareability, and maybe I'M being a little presumptuous on your intent here but I'm actually mildly shocked you as a creator dependent on views would be critical of that sentiment and not acknowledge the nuance.

You know, I knew tumblr did this, and I still chose to post a short and snappy opinion on the "how dare you say we piss on the poor" website.

Not everything I say is caveated for every possible read on the subject. "Likes are worthless and if you don't reblog everyone will think you're a dick" is a take I find frustrating and weirdly entitled. My statement says nothing about the actual value of reblogs or the softer-touch takes about how a reblog can help out an artist. It says exactly what it says: I am baffled by people who are given praise and validation for their work and dismiss it as worthless unless accompanied by active advertisement. We are in agreement about which posts are a problem and which ones aren't.

As an online creator I understand the value of attention. I am very lucky to have built up a sizeable audience across various platforms over the last ten years, and for the first three of those years my audience was quite small and cozy. I never, ever expected so many people to like my work, and I am still shocked and grateful when people tell me they enjoy it. I've never even done "like-comment-subscribe it helps the algorithm" calls to action, and I have never pressured or guilted my audience into giving me attention, because I think an audience acquired through guilt and pressure and weird manipulation tactics is not an audience that's actually getting something out of my art.

So when I see these "welcome newcomers, reminder that if you only like without reblogging you're personally killing artists" it makes me feel like I'm seeing someone open a birthday present and immediately throw it in the trash because they wanted the more expensive model.

Reblog if you want, like what you like, don't do anything you don't want to do. I'm done talking about this.

[mossy-kit]

I was tagged by: @polkadotpatterson (aka told irl I was being tagged, lol)

current time: 9:37 pm

current activity: just got back from a fun day out walking and having coffee on the waterfront & dinner at a diner and am now hanging out on the couch with my beloved partner 😌

currently thinking about: I've been thinking a lot lately about the state of monetization/enshittification on the internet - eg, the ways twitter is failing, the horrifying overrreach of Meta, and why websites like Wikipedia have remained largely independent, and what the internet could look like without constantly catering to the currently evaporating shell game of making money off users of their sites via advertising or predatory methods (and how that might work - like can voluntary donation work for something like a social media?)

current favourite song: My current top song is a House in Nebraska by Ethel Cain (that whole album is great - sort of southern gothic tragedy that's both so doomed by the narrative in a meta sense but also grounded and visceral) but I also want to shoutout Death of an AI by yeule (ethereal innocence-as-tragedy in a sense)

currently reading: back and forth between Harrow the Ninth and a nonfiction called Effortless by Greg Keown, which I'm reading mostly to try and figure out how to spend less time doing my job lol

currently watching: watched one of the new episodes of black mirror recently and the concept was interesting enough, and then also slowly working my way through the Makanai, which is about a teenager living with her friend and acting as the cook for a house of maikos (entertainers in training) - very peaceful.

current favourite character: can't pick just one ofc, but I've been thinking a lot about the Salt universe Moist Talkers and their relationships with each other as they adjust to being on the team, as well as my fanteam in the same universe, the Vancouver Deltas - they're only side characters for the Salt, but I'm way too attached to them anyways and have backstories on all of them

current wips: work is killing and rending and murdering me so I've barely written anything recently but the next wips are going to be for the Salt when we get zine 2 going!

Tagging: idk I think Cynda tagged everyone I know who hasn't done it so anyone who'd like to please feel free!

[therubymuse]

The State Of Things

A little while ago, I started thinking about social media, and the control it has over my life. I think it’s a conversation a lot of us have been having since a certain narcissistic billionaire thrust his latest pet project irretrievably into the zeitgeist, because his actions represent a threat to how we communicate, and how we define ourselves. Our pandemic, the one that appears set to dog us for years to come because we can’t take a few months off from grinding society into a fine powder for the oligarchs to snort at their next retreat, has shown us that our online lives are just as real as our offline lives. I won’t even use the term IRL, or “in real life”, because I think it is dismissive of a medium that allows many people, including disabled folks, to have meaningful connections in our lives, without the stress of existing in public spaces. But how do we have meaningful connections on platforms designed to monetize our every thought? 

Back when all this was farmland, social media didn’t have an “algorithm”, it was merely a chronological timeline into which your friends (or enemies, I don’t judge) poured their daily reflections and recent heartbreaks and triumphs. We would pick up an app like it was a newspaper, and see spread before us the antics of those we wanted to connect with. This is something that most social media doesn’t allow you to do anymore. Instead, it asks you to rate your friends, by assigning them values like Favourites or Default or Restricted, and asks us to trust the algorithm’s math that we’ll see the people we want to, when we want to. 

But as you and I both know, it rarely is so sanguine. It’s no secret that some of these networks spy on us via our smartphones and probably other devices too (looking at you, Amazon), and that the tech they use for that can make a suggestion so targeted it’s uncomfortable. They have amassed a vast picture of each of us, and using algorithms and AI, instead of filling your feeds with your friends, you’re seeing “suggested” content that other people are paying for your eyeballs to see. The amount of privacy we’ve lost in the social media era is incalculable, honestly. And then if that weren’t enough, to make the experience a little bit better, we’re now being offered the chance to pay these same companies, who have made billions of dollars on the trade and sale of our personal information. 

And you see, by introducing a “premium” tier of the experience, this releases them from any sense of duty to maintain some quality in the original experience, cause if you don’t like it, pay up, chump. The free versions of the service will continue to erode. We’ve already seen Twitter take an expected security feature like two factor authentication and put it partially behind a paywall. With Facebook and other companies preparing their own version of this final rug-pull, I’m sure other features will disappear too. 

So where does that leave us? Are we willing to sift through an ever increasing volume of shitty recommendations and advertisements just for a glimpse of our friends? What started as a beautiful idea in the digital world where anything we believed was possible, has become a cynical exercise in monetizing every aspect of human interaction. There are social media sites that don’t do this. I left Twitter last year for Mastodon, once Boy Wonder was installed as overlord, because the spike in hatred and harassment was too much for me to justify staying. I wish there was an alternative to Facebook, but that’s why everyone loves to hate the network but none of us can escape it. Because of the gravitational pull of all of us being there. 

I’m not sure I’m there yet, but I think in the near future, I might consider taking Facebook off my phone. I’ll still post things I write there, or use Marketplace or look for events, but my feed will become a ghost town, because I’ll spend more time interacting directly with people and not through a glass wall where we can see each other clearly but neither of us can hear each other. As I said, there’s other places I can put my effort and time, and maybe that will be good for me. Maybe it will end the rut I’ve been in with my creative process since last year. Giving that time and energy back to myself, instead of sifting through the river water like a crazed prospector for a glimmer of love and possibility. 

Maybe we can crawl back out from under the almighty algorithm and then we’ll stop knowing what being so connected, and yet so lonely and unsatisfied, feels like. 

[tfrohock]

The stages of grief and yes I'm writing about Twitter again

I know some folks are still locked in the denial, anger, bargaining, depression stages over the loss of Twitter to Elon Musk’s ego, but I’ve moved to acceptance. I got there about the time Musk allowed the rabble to take over again, and whether you decide to stay or go, I have some thoughts for you.

This is going to be long, so buckle up.

I want to begin by saying that Twitter did and does matter to a lot of people, especially to those who use the platform to market their own small businesses. If those people choose to stay because of the online collateral they've built over many, many years, no one should judge them for that.

Before Musk took over, I had almost 3,000 followers. That definitely made it worth my time to stay, I will definitely miss Twitter. It was a great place to pop in, catch up with friends and business, and pop out again.

Unfortunately, with Musk's continued degradation of the site and its brand, I've lost a good chunk of my followers, who have fled for what they perceive to be safer online communities. If I've lost the everyday users, who are there because they enjoy following authors, I've lost my audience, and while I enjoy being with my colleagues, I also follow many of them on various sites that lack the clown-car-on-fire/rage-machine Twitter is about to become.

I, like many others, cannot deactivate my account. If I deactivate my account, I lose the username @T_Frohock on Twitter, and that name can be assumed by anyone who wants it. That username is associated with me and my novels, so I consider it part of my brand, and I’m loathe to let it go. Maybe that’s part of my ego, but I also don’t want people pretending to be me contacting my agent or publisher on Twitter.

What I will do is remove any links to Twitter from my digital footprint wherever I'm able to do so (my website, my Goodreads page, etc.). I also won't be posting on Twitter. I will be checking my username/brand from time to time and also checking in with publishing professionals and other authors who have chosen to stay for as long as Twitter remains online.

However, I won't be spending a great deal of time there. Musk is counting on controversy to generate users and clicks, but I, for one, am exhausted by rich-people posturing and playing victim. I'm sure others are, too.

And those people who are sick of the controversies will leave.

What Musk doesn’t seem to understand, or doesn’t care about, is that advertisers will leave, too. The majority of advertisers don't want their various brands associated narcissistic-Nazi-vaccine-denying weirdos and their disinformation. Companies, whether they be big or small, tend to protect the sanctity of their brand as zealously as they guard their corporate secrets. Because of Twitter's degradation, they’ll choose to spend their online marketing time and advertising dollars elsewhere.

For those who choose to stay:

You are in charge of your feed and what you see. Cultivate it carefully. When it comes to trolls, block liberally and frequently if the need arises. Don’t engage. Also, let your followers know that you're not going to tolerate disinformation or the spread of fascist propaganda—even to dunk on it. Then act accordingly and mercilessly.

Set boundaries and stick to them. None of us need people around us, either IRL or online, who do nothing but try to antagonize us. Personally, I'm angry enough without anyone's help.

If you have any apps connected with Twitter, I highly suggest you revoke all permissions immediately if you haven't already. Twitter's security team is all but gone, and while some like to say Twitter is still there and isn't going anywhere, it's just coasting until a major hack takes the site down.

Begin looking for another site in which to build community. I know many have said that Twitter is their last stand, and that's okay, too. Trust me, I feel your pain in starting over somewhere, and like I said earlier, many have built a great deal of collateral on Twitter. Hang onto it as long as you can.

Just keep in mind, free websites/social media sites never remain free or stable forever. You're in control, so I always recommend that authors diversify their digital presence as much as possible and always have a Plan B. That way, you can begin moving your followers to your new site before Twitter goes down completely, and it probably will.

Musk will most likely file for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This will give him a chance to renegotiate many of his loans but keep control of Twitter. During this process, Twitter might experience downtime. Be ready for that eventuality, especially if you depend on Twitter for sales.

Also keep in mind that Musk is now in violation of several other countries' labor laws and the EU's Global Privacy Compliance (GDPR). These countries will take down access to Twitter, which won't hurt people who can access VPN's, but many will have a great deal of difficulty accessing the site. And in the US, Twitter has made itself so much a part of everyone's daily lives that even Congress is threatening to bring the FCC into the fray, which could affect all social media through regulations. Regardless of where you are, your reach will impacted governmental changes, whether they are in your country of origin or not.

With the amount of Russian and Chinese influence that will soon be flowing through disinformation, Musk is also opening the gate to national security issues. There’s nothing like having the FBI and NSA following your money trails with the scariest of agents: forensic accounts.

They don’t have guns, they have brains, and they know how to find your secrets and your off-shore accounts.

Talk about a rich person’s horror story.

Anyway, whether they find anything or not, the legal and accounting fees will be stunning, but I suppose that doesn't bother anyone with money to burn. For folks like you and me, the security issues will eventually result in congressional oversight and regulation, so keep one eye on any forthcoming legal changes and how or if they may impact you.

The lack of moderation and the reemergence of extremists might cause Google Play and the Apple App stores to drop Twitter. (See also, Truth Social.) That, too, will limit your audience and reach, because not as many people will be able to download the app.

None of this will happen overnight, or maybe it will. I know I honestly thought it would be a year before Musk destroyed Twitter, but if he remains on course, it may be gone by the end of the year. There are so many nails that can go into this coffin, it’s hard to determine which one will be the final one.

As for me, I think I will be landing on Hive Social as my post-Twitter spot for interaction. I’m @tfrohock there. Be patient. It’s a new site and there are only a few people manning it. They weren’t quite prepared for Twitter to go down so soon, so it’s kind of glitchy right now.

They have a moderation policy, and in a lot of ways, it feels clean and nice. If you followed me on Twitter, you may follow me there and I’ll usually follow back; although, I need to see something in your profile and your timeline. The app works great on an iPhone, but it’s glitchy on an android right now. They don’t have a web version of the site yet, either. I’ve marked my spot and when they get a web version, I’ll be there much more often.

In the meantime, I’ll watch for you.

[teaveetamer]

Look ma it's me!

For real though, I didn't bring this up at the time but I'll bring it up now, fuck it. The dude was also basically like "omg you didn't talk about Palestine you must be a shit person and a Nazi, I'm so much better than you because I retweeted 'free Palestine' that one time!"

So here's why I didn't talk about the situation under this username*, why I continue to not talk about it under this username, and why frankly never want to talk about it under this username: because I already have one freakshow of a stalker picking through my posts looking for anything he can to take out of context and whip up a shitstorm of harassment to send my way. I don't live on social media, but I'm not fucking blind. I'm well aware that many actual Nazis were piggybacking off of this entire situation to recruit, find targets, and justify hate crimes and harassment of Jewish folk. I'm also aware of just how easy it was to whip up a hate mob of (sometimes) well-intentioned people in the immediate aftermath just by pointing your finger and calling someone a Zionist (regardless of their race, religion, background, or any actually expressed opinions on Israel or Palestine). I am aware that if I had said anything at all, even if it was extremely pro-Palestine, it would have been trivially easy for my freak ass stalker to cut it up and take it out of context, point to my ties to the Jewish community, call me a Zionist, and sit back and watch the harassment flood in.

I've already gotten death threats and pro-genocide "jokes" over my opinions about a video game girlie. Reminder that he's stalking me because I don't agree with him about a fucking video game and I think he shouldn't harass people if they disagree with him. The Israel-Palestine conflict is something a lot more people care about, it has a lot more real life stakes and consequences, and there was a lot of extremely violent sentiment going around at the time. I am 100% certain that if I had actually said anything then this stupid fandom "beef" would have been taken well past beyond too far by these people, potentially gotten in front of the eyes of the kinds of people who will try to find me IRL to take their violence and hatred offline, and it could have put my actual safety at risk.

And I know that might sound paranoid, but I got a few rather suspicious anons around that time trying to bait me into saying stuff about the ongoing conflict, specifically asks that seemed to be trying to bait me into saying stuff they could use to call me a Zionist (such as trying to get me to imply that anyone who criticizes Israel is antisemitic). After the guy had literally been trawling through my blog (and other folks' blogs!) and posting screenshots of the things I or my anons said onto his fuckin' Twitter trying to drum up harassment, and knowing I've been getting shitty harassing anons to my inbox either from him or people who follow him for months, I was not taking any chances with something this serious.

So yeah, what a fucking trip to choose not to talk about the topic because I know it could be hazardous to my safety if my freak stalker decided to try and use it to harass me, only to have the very people who made me worried that talking about it could put my life in danger call me a Nazi and a fake Jew for not talking about it to their ~standards~ as uninvolved randos on social media.

*FYI this isn't the only social media handle I use. I talked about it plenty under those names at the time, but I wasn't going to bring it up in that situation because it wasn't going to be productive. It was just going to become a game of "who can virtue signal about the recent current event harder" or that weirdo would have just called me a liar or demanded I doxx myself to "prove it". And yeah I didn't mention it before now because advertising that you did something and begging people to see you as a good person because you talked about current events on social media is fucking cringe.

Wait, R*xykins and his group called Jews N*zis?!

Being more specific, someone from their discord accused a Jewish person, TheEeveeTamer, of using Nazi rhetoric... when she told them that tweeting about certain irl events doesn't excuse repeating the rhetoric that caused those irl events to happen.

Here's what was said by TheEeveeTamer:

And here's the response she got from the Edelgang person:

It's... about as bad as you'd think it'd be, if not worse

[lemon-drop-soda]

It’s been a while, so here’s some housekeeping.

Heya anyone who still pays attention to tumblr, it’s Lemon.

A lot has happened in 4 years.

I’ve switched jobs a few times, I’ve had to abruptly change the art program I use due to a software upgrade I never wanted but had to get anyway, I got into the critically acclaimed mmorpg everybody talks about now to the point that I’m a walking advertisement for it in my friend circles, and yet another poor little meow meow has given me year-long brainrot to the point of me joining a DND campaign where the majority of the PCs, including my own, are based off of him (the character in question being a certain Email Guy).

Due to the art program point above, I’ve had a pretty difficult time consistently finding motivation to create and post kink art, even on my twitter account. I’ve also frequently become far more active in select discord servers that pertain to my interests that aren’t kink-centered. That’s not to say I don’t have interest at all anymore, I very much do! It’s frustrating that my output hat to abruptly and radically shift, but it’s still going to take time for me to be able to fully adapt when the process feels so much like an uphill battle already.

So where do we go from here?

Well, I’ll first be spending a little while here vetting the followers I may still have here or random ones that have cropped up every now and then to make sure I’ve cut down on bot activity on my blog. I’ll also be combing for minors, as this is an adult space. I don’t want children of any type interacting with my output. I don’t care if you’re like 17 and out of high school and think you’re hot shit because you’re college bound or whatever. This is my space, and you are not entitled to be in my space if I don’t want you here. I’ve had both minors enter my space and try to use me as a replacement for therapy as well as minors lie to me about their age when I have explicitly expressed that I don’t wish to interact with minors. I’m not cool with either scenario. To me, both are grounds for permanently cutting ties with you.

Next, I’ll be slowly drip-feeding the art I’ve made but haven’t posted here (or anywhere besides discord, for that matter). There’s plenty of stuff I’d like to continue sharing and it’s becoming increasingly evident that this might be the site to go with in that case. If it gets flagged, I’ll just deal with it. I’d rather get things archived on a site that doesn’t fully delete my posts unless I say so, and I objectively hate the eclipse rework to dA and haven’t bothered with that site ever since my switch to the birdapp. 

Lastly, I want to make it clear that despite all of the changes that have happened to me over the years, things are still gradually in flux. I am in talks with friends to move to the midwest or perhaps the east coast early spring next year. It will be my first time moving away from my parents’ place. Gotta say, pretty nervous about committing to a moving plan, but it has to happen eventually and I’m fortunate enough to have the ability to decide when the time is right for me. All of this is to say that I’ll be prioritizing the steps I need to take irl to achieve the level of independence that I crave.

Thank you everyone that decided to read this wall of text on whatever day you saw it. Hope you have a good rest of your whatever!

P.S. That fucking Muskrat can burn everything he has to the ground for all I care

[thechekhov]

Hi Chekhov! Really enjoying your white diamond au! I had a quick art question: How do you start comissions? I've been improving my drawing skills and thinking about drawing for others after having fun in artfight, but I don't know where to start? How much to charge, how to get paid, etc. Do you have any tips? Hope you're doing well! :)

Alright, since a few people have asked, I’ve decided to put together a few things about how to get started on commissions - what you need, what you should make, and how to keep things organized. 

This will get a little long, so I’ll divide it into 4 main sections:

1) Draw Art - Getting started

2) Get Commissioned - Making a commission sheet, Advertising

3) ??? - Communicating, Setting Limits, Running the Business

4) Profit - Pricing Yourself and Getting Paid

* Disclaimer: I’m an artist, so this How-To will be illustration-focused. I’m sure many of these tips can apply to ANY types of commissions, but I will be focusing on the type I know best. If you are proficient in other types of commissions for other types of art - music commissions, photography, etc - feel free to chime in and leave a comment or make your own tutorial!

1) Draw Art

I think this is probably the most obvious part, but it needs to be said:

Before you start making art for other people, you must first be comfortable making art in general.

I’m not saying your art has to be Disney-quality, or industry-level! Not at all. 

BUT! You must be comfortable creating what you sell. If you try to sell something you have little confidence in, you will stress yourself out and possibly end up losing time AND money.

Don’t shoot for the moon if you haven’t landed on it even once. Sell what you know you’re good at. Your commissions don’t HAVE to include full-body illustrations if you don’t know how to draw feet/solid stances. Limit yourself to what you can do.

Things you need to should probably have before starting commissions:

1. Access to art materials or a fully downloaded art program

DO NOT - Use a free tutorial version that will expire in a month and leave you without a way to draw! If you are having trouble finding a program, try free ones like MediBang Paint Pro. 

2. Free time to complete the amount of commissions you want to take.

DO NOT - Take on or offer commissions if you KNOW you’re going to be overwhelmed with school or personal life for the next 2+ months. Pace yourself, otherwise you’ll burn out, get stressed, and get discouraged.

3. A reliable way to communicate with your customers like a commissions-only email 

DO NOT - Use your friend/family/college email. It’s hard to keep track of things as it is, and creating new emails is easy and free. And keep it professional if you can! Not many people will reach out to dong-wiggles20434 to ask for a design. Ideally, your email should be close to your brand - however you want to brand yourself. Usernames are fine!)

DO NOT - Use Instagram/Twitter/Tumblr to collect commission info unless you are ready to do the organizing yourself. Some people make it work, but in my experience, if you use these SNS sites to communicate with friends and network... you’re going to be losing commission inquiries right and left and accidentally ignoring people. Email is much easier to organize and sort into folders.

4. A portfolio or at least 2-3 pieces of each type of art you’re planning to sell. 

DO NOT - Advertise commissions without having any examples of the art you plan to sell. People will find it difficult to trust you if you can’t even give them a vague idea of what sort of drawing they’ll be getting. 

Disclaimer: These are not hard ‘do not’s. If you have had a different experience, I respect that. I’m simplifying for the sake of streamlining this advice. 

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2) Get Commissioned

So - you have your art, you have your art program, and you’ve got all the time in the world. That means.... that’s right! It’s time to let the world know you’re taking commissions.

One of the most common ways artists signal to their audience that they can do commissions is by creating a commissions sheet. There are MANY ways to make this - and they range from simple and doodly ones to VERY complex designs. For example, here’s mine! 

There are many ways to organize a commission sheet. At its core, a commission sheet should display the types of art you WANT to be commissioned to make. Let’s go over a few ways they can be done!

#1.... Body Portion Dividers!

This sheet is most common with those who want to capitalize on drawing people and characters. If you want to draw lots of characters, this is a great way to offer several tiers of pricing based on how much of their character your customers want to see. 

#2... Complexity Scale

If you’re open to drawing many things but want to base your pricing off of how complex something is, you can split your tiers into done-ness. This type of commission is popular with those that draw characters AND animals, furries, etc.

#3....  Style and Type

If you’re more on the design side of things, or if you have various niche art styles that you can’t quite lump together, display a variety of your skills alongside each other! It helps if all the ones you have can be organized under a common customer - like those looking to advance their own business and get logos, websites, or mascots made for them!

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3) ???

You got your first commission... what happens now???

Well, ideally you have the time, tools and motivation to make things happen! Now all you have to do is... sit down and... draw.......

I’m going to say something that may be a little controversial: 

Commissions aren’t fun. 

No, no, hear me out: I have fun doing commissions! I genuinely enjoy drawing characters and coming up with designs. But even with all that said, commissions are, first and foremost: WORK

I’m not saying this to discourage you, I’m saying this to keep things realistic. When I first began commissions, I thought it would be just like any other type of drawing. I would sit down, imagine a thing, draw it... it would be fun! 

But then I realized that I couldn’t just draw what I wanted - another person had an idea in mind and had asked me to do it. I stressed over getting the design correct from descriptions. I stressed over not having the right reference for the pose the commissioner wanted. I stressed over not being able to draw the leg right in the way I had promised I would do. I stressed about billing. I stressed about digital money transfers. It was difficult, and time-consuming, and I did not enjoy it. At all. 

And a part of that is definitely on the commissioner - we, as artists, NEED to demand proper references or descriptions. We, as artists, NEED to limit the amount of changes we’re going to make at the flick of a finger. We NEED to demand clear instructions and set boundaries. That’s also super important. 

But also - don’t be discouraged if you find yourself exhausted drawing your first commission. MANY artists go through this. Adjust your rules, fix up your limits, practice putting your foot down on finicky commissioners who expect you to read their mind! It does get easier, but you have to communicate and put in the effort and act as your own manager AND your own customer service AND your own accountant. That’s what you’re looking at. 

Good limits and boundaries to set: 

Limit the amount of changes a person can ask to make. “I want blue hair.” Next email: “No wait, yeah, make it red.” Next email: “Actually I changed my mind, can I get the blue but like, lighter?” Next email: “No, not that light.” ... At some point, we have to stop. I personally allow 2-3 changes on the final stages of a commission before I start refusing or start asking for extra money.

Demand clear instructions and/or references. If something isn’t described, you have to take artistic liberty and design it, but that’s difficult! And if the customer is not happy with it but can’t tell you more? That’s not your problem - the burden of reference is on THEM. You cannot read their mind, and that’s not your fault.

Get at least half the payment up front! This is a good balance between the ‘pay before art’ and the ‘pay after art’ conundrum that will limit the amount of woes between artist and customer. (I’ll touch upon this a little more in the Profit section.)

Organization:

Where possible, create good habits! Tag your emails and organize your folders. I have a tag on my emails for active and finished commissions. I also keep my emails on Unread until I have time to sit down and properly look at/reply to them.

My Commissions in the folder are also organized chronologically and I mark down which ones are paid and which ones are not.

(I understand not everyone can do this, but if you want to give it a try, it does make things easier in the long run. Again, this advice is just what I have found personally helps.)

One last thing - I do not want to shame ANYONE for taking their time with commissions! Commissions are complex, and they take time and work. You can draw in 8 hours, but some things take research, materials, etc. Some illustrations realistically take up to half a year, or, depending on what’s involved, several years!!

THAT BEING SAID - it’s good manners to be upfront with your customers about how long you expect the commission to take. If you think you’re busy, just say that! Explain that you have a lot going on, and you will probably take (insert time period here).

And if your commissioners are worried, work out a system to keep them updated! I send my commissioners updates when I finish the lineart/flat colors/etc and I try to be clear about how long everything will take. I try to estimate with a +3-5 days buffer to give myself extra time... and recently I’ve been using it. Always say a bigger number than you think you’ll need. 

If someone wants a rushed commission... make them pay more. If ANYONE wants a commission done ‘by the end of the week’ - that’s an automatic rush-job for me because I’m juggling an irl job and several commissions at once. I WILL charge a rush fee and I won’t feel bad about it. 

If someone wants a commission within 24 hours...... Well, they better be paying you 3x your normal amount, or more. And remember - you CAN refuse! It’s perfectly reasonable to say ‘No, sorry, that sort of turnaround time is not realistic for me.’

Food For Thought - Invoicing

Many artists I’ve commissioned in the past have not used Invoicing, but I’ve recently begun to fill out invoices and file them in my Commissions folder just to keep track of things. It’s not necessary until you start getting into the Small Business side of Freelancing, but it’s not a bad idea to get into the habit early in case you might need to do it later for tax purposes. 

Here’s what my Invoice looks like, for example. 

I’ve optimized it to help me remember who, what, and how much is involved! It also contains important info for my customers like where to send the money.

Which brings us to...

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4) Profit

One of the hardest things for artists is pricing themselves. I’m not going to tell you which way is BEST - there is no BEST way, only the best way for YOU. 

One of the options available to you is pricing by the hour. It includes averaging out how long it takes you to draw a specific type of art (whatever you’re offering as a commission) and multiplying that by an hourly wage you’ve decided on.

When you do this, I stress - do NOT price yourself below minimum wage if you can help it. When you first start out, aim for the $15/hour mark and adjust accordingly. 

Other ways to price your art:

- Per complexity: Portraits vs full body should be scaled based on how difficult you find one vs. the other. You can also easily decide on a price for a sketch and double it for lineart, triple it for full color, etc.

- Per type: Look up for industry prices for website design and logo design. They may surprise you! You don’t have to charge that much, but it helps to keep things in perspective. 

It’s okay to change your prices! Keep your commission sheet image handy so you can update the amounts as you grow. :)

Payment up front or after completion?

Some artist take full payment up front. Some only demand payment after they’ve finished and sent out the piece. I personally think these are both risky for everyone involved. 

I recommend doing at least HALF of the payment BEFORE you start the commission. Calculate your full price and ask for half before you start working on it in earnest, to make sure the person can actually pay you. Then, when they receive the full piece and are satisfied, they can complete the payment. 

I personally work in this structure:

> Someone emails me with their idea/reference

> I send back a rough draft sketch that shows the idea/pose (only takes me 10-20 minutes so not a huge loss if they ghost) and quote them a price

> They can pay the full thing upfront OR pay half

> I finish the commission and send updates when I do the lineart/colors to double check anything so they have multiple chances to spot any errors

> If the person paid only half on completion, I send them a low-res version of the finished thing, they finish up their payment and THEN I send them the full-res version plus any other filetypes/CYMK proofs, etc. 

Many of the people who commission me pay me up front even though I offer they pay half - and I’m really flattered that they trust me that much! Because of that, I feel encouraged to update them frequently and ask for their input as I work, so they have the peace of mind knowing I’m actually doing their commission. 

Great, but how do I get PAID????

There are NUMEROUS ways - these days money is relatively easy to transfer over digital means, and you have a few options. 

Paypal is perhaps one of the oldest digital wallets and is geared towards businesses. By setting up a PayPal and connecting it to your debit card of bank account, you can tunnel a pathway from your online business directly into your hands in a matter of days. 

Paypal also offers Invoicing - you make an invoice, price it and send it to the person’s email and they can pay whatever way they need! (It also allows partial payments.)

Pros: transfers from PayPal to bank account are free, and take a couple of business days. It also has no upper limit to the amount of money you can move in/out each month. It can force refunds due to the nature of its business-oriented payment system.

Cons: Because it’s used by businesses for larger transactions, PayPal may demand a more rigorous proof of your identity. It may also take longer to set up and be harder to get used to. I’ve also heard that they can be a hassle when it comes to closing your account. 

Venmo is another type of digital wallet that acts much like paypal, except for a few key differences - it is NOT made for businesses (so depending on whether you’re officially registered as a freelancer, you may not be able to use it). I personally don’t use venmo, so I cannot speak to its usefulness, but I know a few people that use it for casual transactions. It’s easy and quick! :) 

Keep in mind that you cannot force a refund over venmo! The transactions are final.

There’s also CashApp, GooglePay (which could load gift cards but also allows peer-to-peer transactions) and I’ve heard good things about Due, though I’ve never personally used it.

Other ways to pay: I’ve had people pay me over Patreon by upping their pledge, and I’ve had people pay me over Ko-Fi by donating a specific amount. 

Many people even use Etsy - the website specialized for independent small businesses selling art - by listing their commission sheet and offering up several ‘slots’ of commissions, which allows you to track taxes AND allows your clients to pay using whatever they feel comfortable with.

If you’re in Canada, you can even pay by emailing money directly from bank account to bank account - check whether your country offers this type of service! There’s no shortage of ways to move money in the digital world.

Just like everything else, there’s no singular ‘Best’ way. It just depends on what works for you.

I think that just about wraps it up! I can’t quite think of what else to put here - but I’m sure other artists will chime in with their own advice. :) I’m very sorry this became so long but I hope it was helpful! 

Obligatory Disclaimer: I’m not qualified to give legal or accounting counsel. Please double-check the laws in your own country/state in regards to taxation of freelancing work and do your own research. If you are underage, DEFINITELY get an adult’s permission before you start doing commissions, and have the adult help you through the process.   

. . . . . . . . . . . . 

OTHER POSTS YOU MAY FIND USEFUL:

An Extended Post on Pricing Yourself for Commissions

Dealing with Imposter Syndrome/Feeling ‘Not Good Enough’

Growing Your Audience

Advice for Starting Digital Art

[doubleca5t]

FAQ

Are you the person in the shipping videos? - Yes.

Are you the person who did When Posting Goes Wrong (bone stealing witch, ms. scribe, HIV Hamilton)? - Yes.

Are you still making videos? - No, I gave up making videos to focus on my irl career. I may return to it some day but for now I'm just a shitposter.

Should I call you Eldena or Doubleca5t or Ms. Ca5t or do you have a real name or what? I accept any and all variations on my username. You can also just call me Minerva.

Why is the HIVLiving video gone? One of the "main characters" so to speak, of the HIV Living saga started drama with a friend of mine and tried to rope me into it. I did not want to side with them in the drama, but I also did not want to profit from their story if I was on bad terms with them, so I took the video down. Additionally, a lot of that video was heavily speculative and I have reason to believe that a lot of my speculation was very, very wrong. Would rather move past the whole thing than try to salvage it.

What are your pronouns? - she/her

Are you LGBT? - I’m a trans lesbian (NOTE: I came out in December 2020 so if you’re reading my old posts or watching my old videos they will not reflect this)

Are you single? - I'm engaged 💞

Who's the lucky lady? - their name is Frenzy, pronouns she/they. They're an artist. You can find them on tumblr and twitter. Follow them if you like clowns, sexy demon women, sexy demon clowns, homestuck (derogatory), or if you want to see some silly comics about our domestic life.

What is your day job? - I work in home insurance.

Should I watch RWBY? - Probably not. RWBY is a weird, wonky show that is very much hit or miss. However, if you're really into femslash, and especially if you're into femslash and like action anime, I would recommend giving it a shot with the knowledge that it gets better in Volume 2 and gets a LOT better in Volume 3.

Am I trans/an egg? - I cannot answer this question for you. My only recommendation is that if you're having some Gender Emotions and think you might be trans, play around with a new name and/or pronouns in limited situations or try out a different gender presentation in terms of clothes or hair.

Where are you from? - I am PEAK Dumb American. I was born and raised in the US, I only speak English and I’ve never left the country. I currently live in Los Angeles, though I grew up and went to school elsewhere.

How do you pronounce your URL? - the 5 is supposed to be an S, so it’s pronounced as “Double Cast”. I originally wanted “doublecast” or “d0ublecast” but those were taken.

What does your URL/Your username on other sites mean? - My username is a reference to the unlockable hidden character Eldena and the Red Mage ability Doublecast from my favorite game, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

What's your hair routine? - Right here

Can I draw fanart of you? - Yes, but you are NOT allowed to send it to me or tag me in it

Do you answer all your asks? - No. I receive an ungodly amount of asks and delete a good 70% of them.

How do you tag your stuff? - I use the following tags:

#doubleca5t OC = my original content

#Red Mage Lookbook = selfies

#gf art 🥺 = Frenzy's art <3

#qualität scheißepfosten = faves tag (humor)

#that’s some good shit = faves tag (fan art)

#this image causes me physical pain = cringe tag

#jesus christ = posts that made me say “jesus christ” out loud (because laugh tags are overrated)

#frenzy shop = advertisements for Frenzy's Etsy, which you can find here

Other than that, everything SHOULD be tagged correctly by fandom/character/ship.

[lilypixels]

...............all of them.....?

It took me an hr to do this....🥲💀

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

Teacupsss

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

Lollipops

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

Uhhh cotton candy

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

Probably quiet and smart lol I did my school work and was friendly with everyone so I was a favorite and heard all the nice things 🙈

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

I kinda like bottles more but like the glass ones with the caps that could slice your fingers-

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

I’m for all but sports lol

7. earbuds or headphones?

Earbuds

8. movies or tv shows?

Shows cause I’m the type to watch an hr long episode vs hr long movie idk why but I’m rarely in mood for them

12. name of your favorite playlist?

Drop the beat (ie songs that are upbeat and I like most)

13. lanyard or key ring?

Hmm...I guess lanyard?

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

Skittles or twizzlers

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

I had lots I had to read in school but only ever finished a handful lol my favorite I think was maybe Macbeth? I would say Odyssey but I don’t think we read the full thing cause I remember being disappointed about something like that...

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

Sitting with my legs bent up in seat with me in some way

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

Converse and some nice but cheap sneakers from Walmart

18. ideal weather?

Not too hot, not too cold, mild like before/after a rain (most the time), idc if it’s raining or sunny but as long as temp is comfortable I’m fine

19. sleeping position?

On my side most often

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

Phone and notebook

21. obsession from childhood?

Oh gosh uhhh I guess my like of dolls maybe? Or obsession with anything ✨unexplained✨ like ghosts, aliens, cryptids, etc

22. role model?

Kim Namjoon lol just kidding (sorta)

23. strange habits?

Ok I know I have some and my friends would be more than happy to point them all out but hm let me think...idk if these count as habits but I’ll never place a mirror facing a bed (this is more superstitious I guess than habit,,,) I can’t stand my food touching, if I have a tray like in cafeteria I have a certain spot for everything and uh my mind just went blank-

24. favorite crystal?

Moonstone, lapis lazuli, and I feel obligated to say garnet cause it’s my birthstone

25. first song you remember hearing?

Circle of Life maybe who knows xD

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

Walk or clean,,I’m more active and about with warm/nice weather

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

...stay inside where it’s warm

28. five songs to describe you?

Not this again😭 uhhh idk you tell me ajdbd

29. best way to bond with you?

Indulge me when I go off about things I like or learn 😔✊ I know I’ll talk your ear off and I’m sorry but know I don’t often talk about these things with people so once I start it’s hard to stop,,and it makes me really happy when people do listen to me about these things and send me related items every so often or even look into it themselves to learn more 🥺

30. places that you find sacred?

For some reason this feels like a trick question...um cemeteries and anything with ages of history I guess

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

Oof do I really have a true outfit?? I have shoes for this which are just black platform sneakers I call stomping shoes

32. top five favorite vines?

I never,,,watched these,,,

33. most used phrase in your phone?

“Yes”...?

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

State Farm and McDonald’s, always

35. average time you fall asleep?

10-11...usually...

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

Uhhh that one with the ginger dude (I think it was someone’s yearbook photo??) I don’t remember much else about the meme but it was on ifunny, or whatever the app was, a lot

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

Suitcase

38. lemonade or tea?

Easy, tea

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

...neither

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

Dude these questions really testing my brain power here- for senior prank someone put cereal in some bathroom sinks I think

41. last person you texted?

My mom

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

I’m gonna say jacket since I wear those often

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

Hoodie or cardigan

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

Fantasy

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

Usually whatever shirt I’m wearing that day and some pj/lounge pants 🤷

47. favorite type of cheese?

Mozzarella

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

I-what kind of question is this? How does one even answer this?

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

What comes around goes around lol (yes I’m a heavy believer of karma)

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

Lol who knows, probably something dumb me and my siblings were doing or something we watched cause there’s been plenty times of that xD

51. current stresses?

Homework vs free time e-e

52. favorite font?

I like the gothic looking ones but it’s usually not practical to use so idk

53. what is the current state of your hands?

My hands...? They’re fine ??

54. what did you learn from your first job?

How to care for babies and little kids, how to put on a diaper lol

56. favorite tradition?

I can’t remember a particular one off hand but I’m trying to start few new ones like decorating cookies for Halloween uwu

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

Uhhhhh like personally or...? Cause we’ve overcome homelessness before, um finishing assignments idk😭 oh maybe bullying?? That’s all I can think of since I still struggle with a lot,,

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Alright let’s do thisss: creativity (mostly in writing sense), I can bake/cook, I have amazing organization skills and many work places have used that lol (bonus is I don’t mind, I actually really enjoy it, very peaceful), surprisingly good balance all things considered, I’m a quick learner

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

“I’m too tired for this.”

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

Good question good question🤔 I don’t think I’d last in any of them/have a terrible side character role so 💀

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

“Life’s too short to hold grudges.”

62. seven characters you relate to?

Dude this is gonna get embarrassing I can feel it🤠

Itaru, Iori, Sogo, Belle, Simeon (obey me), Nozaki (he’s clueless about romance irl and doesn’t know when someone has a crush on him yet can write romance well enough and yeah it’s me lol), and uhh Swindler/Ordinary Person in Akudama Drive (still can’t believe no one really has names in that anime but the way she gets wrapped in everything felt like something that’d happen to me lol)

63. five songs that would play in your club?

Like nightclub...? I’m skipping this ajdbd

64. favorite website from your childhood?

Probably the Barbie site, me and my sister played all the dress up games almost daily istg

65. any permanent scars?

Appendectomy scars and then looks like I have one on a toe but it’s possible it still might heal...

66. favorite flower(s)?

Nightshade, foxglove, baby’s breath, bellflowers, roses

67. good luck charms?

I don’t think I have any...

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

Lemon

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

Let me think...I read something once about flowers having ears(?) but like not ear ears just something about having a part that picks up sound waves

70. left or right handed?

Right

71. least favorite pattern?

Lolll animal print I think

72. worst subject?

Physics...the worst science

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

6...?

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

I don’t remember, it probably happened when i was 6. I do remember losing one of my front teeth during my birthday one year and I was happy since the tooth had been loose for some time xD

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

Chips I guess or just like fried in skillet

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

A succulent probably

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

Neither ew

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

They are both about equally terrible

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

Earth

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

Fireflies

82. pc or console?

I am on pc side now

83. writing or drawing?

Writing

84. podcasts or talk radio?

Podcasts I guess

84. barbie or polly pocket?

Barbie

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Mythology, it’s too fun and chaotic lol

86. cookies or cupcakes?

Hm...cupcakes

87. your greatest fear?

Uh,,,I don’t have many fears but I guess one would be falling from a great height? So I would get scared of crossing a bridge and it collapsing or riding a plane and it falling easily

88. your greatest wish?

World peace🥲

89. who would you put before everyone else?

My mom maybe...?

90. luckiest mistake?

I honestly don’t remember but something I do remember is I out semicolon instead of period and turned out to be correct grammar lol

91. boxes or bags?

Boxes

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Sunlight or fairy lights, I don’t require much either way and prefer more natural lighting

93. nicknames?

Lassie, twinkle toes, Ash, poody butt (by 3 yr old I sometimes watch and play with lol he means it affectionately; I call him monkey butt and it’s catching on slowly instead)

94. favorite season?

Starting to be fall just a little more but I like transition times most

95. favorite app on your phone?

Let’s go with twitter

96. desktop background?

It is a moriarty and gang pic

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

2: mine and my moms

98. favorite historical era?

Ooo tough one but I’ll say renaissance as some of the coolest things came from that time

[ectonurites]

a very very genuine question: so its bad to repost art but no one says anything when people repost things from the source material/creator's sketches.....why?like sure everyone who likes it may recognize the style but there are plenty of fan artists i recognize immediately, new or old art, with or without. to me it just feels the same, like either dont repost art or people should be able to repost stuff, i dont see how they can work at the same time. and this isnt me saying people should be allowed to repost and all that bc i do understand the theory of why reposting hurts artists, just that the logic doesnt seem to fit once it extends to famous artists/creators. just bc its official and easily recognizable makes it okay? how does that work? again, there are plenty of fanartists who are easily recognizable and lose no money when people repost their work (bc they posted it for free) and from my own observation, it seems it just, somehow, makes them want to do art less (from what i have read from artists themselves). why do we not consider that when it comes to official creators? wouldnt they also feasibly be less motivated seeing their hard work plastered across the internet for free when thats the sole way they make their income? and its not a system where its solely sticking it to the man bc it hurts the artists income, as well. but if it makes them happy to see people enjoying and sharing their work with others, drawing interest, why isnt it the same with fan artists? people often repost art, not out of malice or intent to claim credit, but bc they enjoy it + want to share it, esp on social media where sharing isnt a feature (instagram, for example) again im not trying to justify reposting, just confused about the contradiction

First of all instagram does have a form of sharing posts- stories. Which yes they are temporary by default, but you can use the highlight feature to collect your favorite things you’ve shared from people right there on your own profile AND it links back to the original post and can permanently be on your profile as long as you keep it there. You can even label them and everything! But then moving on to answering more of your actual questions

To start: this is a very complicated thing. And I feel everyone trying to answer it might have slightly varied opinions. 

I personally see a pretty clear distinction between ‘Officially published/released’ works (like comic book [as like you’ve probably seen I frequently post comic panels] or other materials that may have been released in creator guides, official video game art, promotional art for things, etc etc) as opposed to like, personal work and fanart. Because with official works:

There’s usually a source to buy it and you should if you’re referencing it a ton (while I don’t own every comic I’ve ever read I do have a lot and if I did read something first through illegal means [because some comics are just straight up hard to find due to age/being out of print] and enjoyed it I try to seek out a physical copy after if possible)

There is a level of far wider recognition (I know you personally might find fanartists’ styles recognizable but like, things that are in mainstream media.. have just such a higher profile. it’s not really comparable) 

If you’re not supporting the official release you’re harming the big company that published it far more than the individual artist (like, the individual artist probably also wouldn’t appreciate it, because it can effect them for sure as well, but they’re not gonna be taking the brunt of the damage unless it was entirely self-published work, which I’d definitely categorize differently from what I’m mainly talking about here.)  

Often fanartists/professional artists who aren’t that well known, in addition to wanting to just create work for the sake of it, also want to build their own platform, to have an audience that they interact with. Or like, if they’re offering commissions, a bigger platform puts you in a position where people will actually see the art and want to commission you. When you say reposts of smaller artists’ fanart doesn’t ‘loose them money’ because they didn’t charge to post it, you’re missing the fact that it makes them loose out on proper linked-back-to-them exposure. Especially like, when a repost account on insta or something says ‘ah yes credit to [username] on tumblr’ the vast majority of people who see it aren’t going to then open up a whole different website and look for the artist. Some people might! but if there’s anything i’ve learned from working professionally in arts marketing it’s that people want things that are convenient and directly in front of them. Someone who wants to see more works because they liked one is significantly more likely to click on the username of someone who posted it rather than opening up a browser or a different app and searching a separate name put in the caption. 

Then honestly, I do feel weird about reposts of professional artists’ more personal works unless the artist has stated they’re fine with people reposting with credit. It should be about the comfort level of the artist. I think a lot of professional artists who aren’t in a position where they’re as worried about building a platform, because they already have one and might have professional connections/opportunities already lined up, might not really care about reposts especially on a website they don’t use. (Like tumblr. I’m coming at this mostly from a comics artist perspective here, but most professional artists I see are waaaay more active on twitter and instagram than tumblr) If it’s a website they don’t use, it’s not taking away from the platform they had been building there for themselves. And also, some artists really just don’t give a shit, which is their choice they can make with their work! But that’s not a universal thing. One artist being fine with their personal art being reposted =/= all artists being fine with it. 

In my own experience as a fanartist, when I see my art reposted without credit, especially when it’s art I’ve also already posted on the same platform... it’s definitely disheartening. Even worse is when the repost gets even more attention than my original post. (something that has happened to me multiple times!) Like, it can get so upsetting!  Because it lets me know that someone else was using my art to build their platform and I got exactly zero benefit out of it. Then when it’s reposted with credit it’s a little less annoying, but I still don’t... get much out of it. Especially if it’s an instagram repost and they credit my tumblr not my account on there, since insta captions don’t actually do links unless it’s to other insta accounts. Also with insta for example, I have a 'business’ account set up so I can look at and track popularity of my posts and see how they’re doing as something to keep in mind when considering posting times, etc etc. When other people repost my art there I have no control over it. That sucks a lot! Also, when I quite literally ask people not to repost my art (it is IN! MY! DESCRIPTION!) and they still do, it’s just straight up disrespectful. I asked for a boundary to be respected with my work and people have just completely ignored it. That doesn’t feel good at all.

But, conversely, I’m gonna talk about my more professional irl work for a sec. I’m a graphic designer, so I do things like posters, logos, etc, When I design a poster for a client that is meant to be advertising something, even if it’s got my own original illustration or something as part of it, I know my name isn’t necessarily going to be attached to it the same way as it is with my personal work. I get a credit line somewhere, but that’s in a fine print probably not even on the poster itself at all, but that’s like, part of what I signed up for. I already get paid separately, I am giving permission for my work to be out of my own hands in that way. Professional work for a client is often setup in some way similar to this. I don’t get mad when I walk down the street and see a poster I made up somewhere without it directly ‘linking’/referencing back to me (aside from maybe my signature if it had an illustration), in fact I go ‘OMG ITS THERE ugh wait i see one pixel is off oh noooooo” and then move on with my day. It’s just an entirely different situation because that kind of work has a different arrangement from the start, where you know it’s going to be put in a different type of circulation.

So yeah, my word isn’t god here, but I definitely see official releases as having a different set of permissions based on the fact that they are published in an entirely different situation. And I think reposts of personal art aren’t cool if the artist isn’t okay with them, no matter how big a platform they have. Other people probably approach this with a slightly different perspective, but that’s mine!

[technobladetimestamps]

Dec 3 Stream Timestamps

Timestamps from Technoblade’s “a new home [dream SMP]”

Link to my youtube comment with all of the timestamps x

Timestamps with hyperlinks below

01:26  “I just did a 70 second intro with my mic off” / “It’s ya boi Technoblade” 05:14  “Philza joined the server! What a fortuitous coincidence” 07:22  server looked good for a week 8:56  Tommy joining vc and being annoying / “Dream owns this server. I’ve never said I have the most subscribers” / “You’re speaking a lot of trash for someone who is 99% getting exiled tomorrow” 10:21  really wants to kill Tommy / kills Tommy / “Mexico is now canon” / wall is so ugly / “I find you so annoying” “Hearing that from you Tommy is the best” 11:53  Tommy trying to roleplay but getting every fact wrong / “We made the crater 5% deeper I am the true criminal of that stream” / “You go ahead and prove me wrong about that speech Tommy” / Tommy is Phil’s new neighbor / “My condolences” 14:00  “If I could kill you I would...maybe I could talk you into killing yourself” “In a video game” / recruiting Phil to help him move 16:57  “God I look good in that photo though” 18:17  agreed to take a plot break / “I take a week of and suddenly they’re on the brink of war” / Tommy starts problems 19:31  Ghostbur joins vc / makes a string axe / “They’re gonna put me in the failed crafting compilation” / “The server is cursed” / “The amnesiac is flexing his memory on me” 22:00  4/4 sleepy bois / “Me and Ghostbur go way back” 25:08  “You’re telling me [government] isn’t coming between you and all of your friendships right now” “That’s because of Dream” “Blame someone else” 30:47  “Tomminnit is only like 700k subscribers away I’m getting scared” 34:41  sneaking into L’Manberg for blaze powder 43:55  “WE have natural predators, everything wants to kill us” 47:19  “I think the reason people picked glowsquid is because they were afraid of another annoying mob getting @dded like phantoms” / “Hubert is off limits 48:50  vc with Tubbo / “I stay up all night thinking of cool things I can do on Dream SMP and then I realize I have to do a stream in 5 hours” / lying about not moving / wanted posters 52:44  “Not everyone hates you, they just want you dead or alive” / rain is back / Jesus could walk on rain / “My career is over” 56:17  Tubbo trying to explain how leap years interfere / “mmm 5 hours of sleep mmm” / Ghostbur joins vc / Mexican L’Manberg / “We have to ban some people...from building” 59:09  “We’re making you drugs” “He’s going back to his roots” / explaining the sellout timer / Tubbo is not aware of what his cabinet does 1:03:59  his brother named the cow Bob 1:07:32  “I’m a tactical genius! I’m so wise” / barely used his palace in smp earth so he decided to go smaller this time / compass for Phil 1:11:44  "The start of a new era... I could not control the hearts of men" 1:15:11  Tubbo's pickaxe 1:21:54  Bedwars nostalgia and potential reaction video 1:25:47  Plot summary 1:27:32  Second monitor 1:28:40  Unopened packages 1:29:51  Sony Vegas free trial 1:31:42  Plot video/video integrity 1:37:54  Tommy and endscreen statistics 1:38:02  Tommy character development 1:40:15  Ten-noblade 1:42:30  Not a traitor just an anarchist 1:44:39  "I'll save you Ph1lza!" 1:46:22  "There was a lot of killing" 1:47:59  TECHNO WRITER 1:56:01  Second monitor and new desk 1:57:00  manager/no breakfast/sleep 1:58:40  subscriber statistics 2:01:07  YouTube should sign Techno/eat IRL 2:06:35  3 foods a year / restaurants should be using streamers to advertise 2:09:10  asking for the emeralds back / putting the art back up 2:11:42  don’t insult anime Techno or art twitter will cry 2:13:47  Fossilnet’s love of Carl / exclusive Carl video 2:15:44  complaining about Puffy returning his horse / secret collaborator 2:18:31  hungry / “No one has it harder than us...Dream SMP streamers”  2:20:01  “boring writer” / “Tommy is getting exiled so hard”  2:26:54  tnt collection / chat spa.mming E  2:29:04  exp farm / spiders killed stats / not using creative mode 2:31:26  trying to stop Tommy from catching up / being more productive / Tommy’s twitch viewerbase is too big 2:33:04  SBI streamer house / Kristen can join / ideas for more streams 2:35:18  “If the turtles had netherite armor they’d be wearing it too” / “Masterchief fishing”

[autumnslance]

how do you get into roleplaying on a ff server? like how do you do it and how do you know if your character is lore compliant? ;A; pls youre a big inspo to me

*Hugs Nonny* Getting into RP on a FF server can vary; I don’t actually RP much these days, outside of some friends I already have connections to--and that in itself can be difficult just due to Life! It can take time, and patience, and some fits and starts.

And this gets...really really long, so buckle up and go below the cut, please. :)

The cut got broken by an edit. Sigh.

In game there’s always the RP status tag, and just doing RP with folks in public spaces. There may be trolls now and then, but they can be ignored. I personally find Balmung’s Quicksand area too busy and anxiety inducing and not actually all that conducive to actual RP, even “meet at a tavern” walk-up type. But unless you already have a ready-made group of friends/FCmates willing to RP more than some random walk-ups with you, it may take some legwork to find folks you can and want to write with.

Social Media There are a couple of RP community blogs, like @mooglemeet​ and @ffxiv-crystal-rp​  and plenty of server-specific ones. There’s also some Discords for these communities. They host and advertise events and reblog people who are looking for RP contacts. Some of them have running gdoc calendars and in game linkshells and fellowships as well.

Shofie has a good post about Tumblr/social media RP blogging.

@shofie-ffxiv

It’s a fact now that social media outside game is a way to make contacts, or even a medium for RP itself. There are few centralized websites/forums for server RP communities anymore. Making connections over your social media, like Tumblr and Twitter, can help find RP. You can’t just throw your own character info out there or reblog prompts hoping others bite, though; you have to put in some work and show interest in others, too. This can be difficult and even scary. That’s OK.

RP is about collaboration and creating with other people, which means finding folks you can write with, and who see you as someone interesting but also interested in them and their OCs. If you want to keep it a solo endeavor focused on your own OCs, write fanfic (which I’ve actually made friends and gotten RP interests that way too through comment interactions, so hey).

If you reblog a prompt from someone, see others on your dash reblogging prompts, if people reblog that prompt post from you? Send them asks! Alternatively, don’t wait for prompts, just send asks, comments, or chats saying hello and things you notice or like about their blog/character/posts they make. Try to form connections with people you think are genuinely interesting and might be fun to talk with. Social media should be, well, social.

BUT respect boundaries, too. Don’t try sarcasm or jokes with people you don’t actually know, it tends to go over poorly. Unless someone’s specifically posting a naughty meme/prompt, keep stuff you others send clean and polite, especially if it’s unsolicited and you’re not already friends (doubly so if you don’t know how old they are IRL, there are laws you do not want to break). Respect if people aren’t open to random asks or chatting with new followers, or say “no” to RP, and know it’s not personal--it’s just what they have time, energy, and emotional/mental capacity for. Don’t give up on other people, though. This stuff can take time and effort to find those you click with.

Respect and communication with RP partners is pretty key.

Do curate your feeds and don’t be afraid to unfollow/mute/block folks, either. I’m selective in who I follow and remove as needed, too, for my own mental health. I miss so much of the discourse and drama and that’s fine by me. Also it costs nothing to not step in on a lot of the drama when it does pass in sight.

Profiles I have static RP profile pages for my girls here on Tumblr (and a lot of other static links and pages, but I’m weird about organizing like that). This way, if people want to write with me, send me prompts, if I sent them prompts, or they want to otherwise interact with my characters, the information is handily available. For some folks, this makes all the difference in who they choose to interact with: how easily can they find even basic info about your OC?

Some people make Carrds. Some folks have gdoc links, or use Dreamwidth, etc. Just keep the links in the blog’s sidebar menu, and/or in the blog desc so people can see ‘em on mobile. There are templates out there, or you can make your own. Feel free to snag mine if you’d like. A lot of times people also copy their profiles to rebloggable posts when looking for RP contacts. Profiles are a good way to let folks know just the at-a-glance basics about your character(s).

I picked a simple theme with a simple layout that makes it easy to add and show off links. I put them in the blog desc to make them easy to find on mobile, too.

[Images: links from my blog sidebar menu showing how over organized I am]

RP, Stories, Lore Post some stories or RP logs (with permission of others involved) or even just random little blurbs and headcanons, as well as any screenshots, art, aesthetic posts for your OCs. Have something of interest to show for your character, too, so some of those folks your interacting with have something of their own to see and ask about!

If possible, try some light RP with friends and FC Mates who are amenable. Go to events, even if just to lurk at first. When you do get up the nerve to talk to people, don’t try to throw a character’s entire backstory at them, or try to steal the limelight--RP is collaboration, back and forth, and a lot like real conversation. Maybe come up with little light things to talk about if asked; a recent adventuring job, a silly shopping incident, etc. They can break the ice or just give you something to reply with for a few minutes.

Lore Compliance is Variable. Some people really want lore compliance, others are OK bending it here and there, while still others throw it out the window entirely. If you want to be super lore compliant...read. There’s a LOT of information, in game and out, for finding lore; from official publications and website material, to tools like Garland Tools site, to compilation blogs like @mirkemenagerie.

Note what’s important for your concept. Narrow it down. Characters aren’t going to know or be or do everything, so only worry about what’s necessary for the base idea. And be flexible; it’s SE’s sandbox, we just play in it, and they can change things any time. They usually do it in the guise of characters not knowing/having all the correct information, at least, but also some places just don’t exist in game yet so we don’t have info.

I’m unspecific about a lot of elements of Aeryn’s childhood, for instance, other than “traveling merchants near Thavnair.” I don’t have to be super specific. I can keep most details vague, and focus on her family and those relationships.

Dark, as my first character, has a fairly simple backstory that I’ve expanded on and adjusted over time as I learned and came up with new info. I also bet no one remembers I originally said Dark was from the North Shroud. I’ve changed things (now from East Shroud, due to the proximity to Gyr Abania and its Hellsguards) as I learned more about the world and my character. You don’t want to change things willy-nilly, but sometimes being flexible and smoothing down some rough edges and making small changes can be fine, especially as one gets more lore over time.

Iyna has a pretty detailed backstory, that came from a basic idea, and checking dates in the pre-Calamity timeline. I based her being taken and trained the way she was not only on what info we have about Garlemald’s imperial practices with conquered provinces, but borrowed a bit from real life and the re-education schools many Native Americans were forced into (though I haven’t gone into detail on that yet, either). I tied the turning point in Iyna’s life to a major event that wasn’t the Calamity, and have left plenty of space in between for me to fill in as time goes on and I learn more about her and the world.

The world isn’t static, and is bigger and more diverse than what can be shown in the game. There’s space in the margins for plenty of weird stuff and contradictions or unusual cases. So read up on what you can, ask questions, and then find where in those spaces your OC fits. Then, find people who enjoy similar tastes in lore compliance (or non-compliance), and who enjoy playing with you and your OCs, and not worrying about the rest. Can’t please everyone, nor get along with everyone, so don’t try; just find what works for you, and who works with you, and don’t police anyone else’s pretendy fun times, either.

There’s no magic answer on the “right” amount of lore compliance, or how to quickly and easily find RP partners or break into the broader RP community.

I hope this helps at least a little bit! Good luck in finding your niche for RP, and maybe I’ll see you sometime at an event :)

[compscicreative]

Books to read if you liked The Social Dilemma and want to learn more about social media, algorithms, & society:

[instagram / blog]

• Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle — my personal favorite. Grounded in media studies and sociology, presents more of a reframing than elimination approach. • Data and Goliath by Bruce Schneier — more deeply about the data and it’s interpretations than about societal impact, and touches on ad auctions (the key to how the economics operates) too! • Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufekci — about the good and bad of how social media has changed political movements and protest. • Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil — how ‘black box’ “algorithms” detriment our society when used to make big decisions. Author was featured in the film. • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff — introduces the term surveillance capitalism and how it affects our media and economies. Author was featured in the film. • American Kingpin by Nick Bilton — a narrative non-fiction story that I think uniquely highlights how tech leaders move towards money making, and how fringe ideologies spread online. • A Human’s Guide to Machine Intelligence by Kartik Hosanagar — I’ve only read excerpts from this, but it seems to do a good job of breaking down how these “algorithmic” systems work and how they can affect us *beyond* social media.I also have a lot of Thoughts ™ about the documentary, specifically on it’s centering of young adults when all people need protection in these systems, and how it seems to equate childhood internet uses with the relatively recent popular social medias of the world (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tik Tok) when non-advertising exploratory computer-based childhood spaces have LONG existed for kids who are interested in interacting with other children they don’t have IRL access to. Basically, PLS slide into my DMs if you want to discuss.Ok thanks to anyone who read this long, bye!

[venicechick]

Hey girl I need some advice. I’m a new provider as in I just made site, pro pics the whole thing last month. It’s been okay so far. Could be better. My friend wants to tour DC next week and I told her I would if I get prebookings to pay for flight etc. Welp she announced it on her two and tagged me and bought her flight. I haven’t had any prebook so I’m wondering if it’s even worth going? I kinda want to back out but feel bad leaving her. I just don’t want to waste my $ in the unforeseen times.

Girl, do what you think is best for you !!! If you were to tour, it should be based on prebookings. What kind of high school stuff is this !? This is why I work solo! I mean it’s nice that you have a friend but honestly, hoes friendships don’t really work IRL. Eventually you’ll run into some bs.

She’s putting you in a dangerous situation! Because if you were to spend money going there and go without prebookings, you’re kind of in a bad situation and would be forced to accept last minute bookings and it’s always a risk. Although obviously this is how it works. I used to take same day bookings A LOT. I would never make as much money if I declined same day requests. I’d only take them if I was able to screen to my satisfaction and get my deposit. Taking same day requests doesn’t give you enough time to check references though. I feel like getting IRL info like name phone number LinkedIn is more important anyway. And it doesn’t mean they’re dangerous it could be that they saw your ad online and really liked you and they see you’re leaving soon and want to meet ASAP. But of course, you get a lot of dangerous and time wasters contacting you last minute hoping that you’re touring and desperate to take any bookings.

Having said that DC is a great place to tour 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 The best honestly. Advertise in Tysons and go there. It’s in Virginia right across the bridge from DC. That’s where most people live. DC is empty now, just like all the big cities. I mean you can get a place in DC if you don’t want to stay in Tysons but advertise that you’re in Tysons ;) There’s nothing to do in Tysons other than the mall.

Also I’m still lurking on Sw twitter even though I was forced to deactivate mine because of a stalker problem. This one provider was warning of a dangerous client targeting ladies in Tysons and she asked to DM her. I guess DM and I’ll let you know her twitter so you can contact her. I can’t DM her now because my Twitter is inactive. Maybe you can ask her and tell me.

[mathcat7]

Discussing my Commission Plans

So, two weekends ago, I made a post inquiring on potential opening my texture editing skills up to personalized commissions, complete with a Google Form asking questions on the matter. This is a follow-up observation on the matter, explaining most of how I’ll want to navigate this from here on out. (Results under the cut)

For starters, we should talk about the main result of course:

With the majority of respondents giving favorable responses, I’m comfortable with turning these commissions into a reality. Which really makes me happy as making custom textures is something I enjoy and something like this gives me a way to make income off of that. Moving on...

Fates has the majority, which isn’t too surprising; it’s the game I made most of my previous textures on, and the game most people know me for modding. Awakening coming in second makes sense, given its similar variable class structure. SoV being last also makes sense, given that there is no avatar character to use as a launching point for OCs, and that for once all the playable characters have some semblance of a texture color existing for each of their available classes. But also, I do not, nor do any of my friends, really like the game either. I asked this question because I wanted to know what game I should feature for commission sheets and the like; I will still do commissions for any of the games.

While I did expect most respondents to go with the first response, I didn’t expect so many people to say I should open a Patreon. I won’t open a Patreon immediately, as that’s a moving piece too many at the moment, but it is good to know there is support for one there.

Most, if not all the respondents know me from either my Tumblr blog or one of two Discord servers I frequent in, so I did expect most to be favorable towards promoting commissions on those two fronts. Twitter on the other hand is an iffy thing. I don’t like the constant combativeness on it, or that my brother wants to drag my nose into any drama he finds on there. On the other hand, it’s probably the best social media site to advertise artist stuff on, so it would be unwise not to open an account on there. I guess I will open a Twitter account before month’s end, then. I’m glad support of Facebook promotion is in the gutter, because I really don’t like using it, not to mention my Mathcat facebook page is maybe a degree too close to the people who know me IRL... So, I won’t push hard to be active on that page. I was surprised to see that support of making my own server was that low. Granted, I don’t think I could manage a server like that if people from different aspects of my life crossed paths like that, especially with clashing ideals, so I won’t open a public* server for now.

Not too much commentary on these results, but I will let you know that I will provide the majority options here. And since the yes vs. anonymous results are even, I will defer to an anonymity question. By default, all textures will have a public** release and clients can opt in to keep their names anonymous.

Now you might have noticed I skipped over the responses asking about price plans. I deliberately omitted these for two reasons:

I’m still currently unsure of how I want to price the entire thing. There’s a lot of texture variation not just between the games, but within the games themselves. And while I have an idea for pricing what’ll likely be the main order, uBody and uDres combos, there’s still things like accessories, mounts, mount armor, etc. Additionally, Awakening doesn’t have a uBody/uDres split; most if not all character models are dictated by one texture each. Basically, I need more time to chart everything out and make proper decisions.

If I were to show the results, I would be worried that people would be upset if my actual price points were outside what they were anticipating. To be clear, I do realize there wouldn’t be a price point that everyone would agree upon. However, if I were to show the hand I was dealt too early I’m sure people would argue that I should raise/lower prices immediately. Better yet, it’s already happened in the 3DSFE hacking discord, even without me giving any explicit numbers that weren’t in the form. It’s in my best interest to keep that data to myself for now.

*I did actually set up a server, but it will remain private for now, with no one but myself in it. **I may do private releases for close friends, but that’s the one exception.

TL;DR Commissions will happen in the near future. It’ll be directly PayPal for now. I will open up a Twitter account and promote my commissions there as well as here. Fates will be the main focus. Textures will be provided publicly and the client will receive images and previews.

Thanks for reading. The askbox is open as always for questions.