#if you're anything like me

[chloe-or-sam-or-sophia-or-marcus]

Fan art concept: Reputation (Taylor's Version) 3 disc set || Standard | Country | Rock Inspired by Shania Twain's Up! album(s)

If you're anything like me, You never wanted to lock your door, Your secret garden gate or your diary drawer Didn't want to face the you you don't know anymore For fear she was much better before... But Darling, now you have to.

edit: Keene // chloe-or-sam-or-sophia-or-marcus

Concept inspired by Shania Twain's Up! album which originally came in 3 versions: Red (rock), Green (country), and Blue (international)

[autumnrory]

“...So It Goes”, Taylor Swift / “Look What You Made Me Do”, Taylor Swift / The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid / “If You’re Anything Like Me”, Taylor Swift / Midnights, Taylor Swift

[emails-i-cant-send]

You promise people the world because that what they want from you... But I'm still on my tallest tiptoes Spinnin' in my highest heels, love Shinin' just for you I want you to know I'm a mirrorball..... Dear reader, Get out your map, pick somewhere and just run.....I'm still on that tightrope I'm still tryin' everything to get you laughing at me...And I'm still a believer, but I don't know why I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try...I just wanted you to know that this is me trying, at least im trying.....And my cheeks are growing tired, From turning red and faking smiles, Are we only biding time 'til I lose your attention? And someone else lights up the room? People love an ingénue...they told me all of my cages were metal so I got wasted like all my potential, and my word shoot to kill when I'm mad I have lot of regerts about that... I'm still on that trapeze I'm still tryin' everything to keep you looking at me....And I know it's sad, but this is what I think about, And I wake up in the middle of the night It's like I can feel time moving....I was so ahead the that the curve became a sphere fell behind on my classmates and I ended up here.....drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten......Burn all the files, desert all your past lives And if you don't recognize yourself That means you did it right....SO I WANDER THROUGH THESE NIGHTS. I PREFER HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT. MY FOURTH DRINK IN MY HAND THESE DESPERATE PRAYERS OF A CURSED MAN SPILLING OUT TO YOU FOR FREE BUT DARLING DARLING PLEASE YOU WOULDNT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT IF YOU KNEW WHO WAS TALKING IF YOU KNEW WHERE I WAS WALKING. TO A HOUSE NOT A HOME ALL ALONE CAUSE NOBODYS THERE. WHERE I PACE IN MY PEN AND MY FRIENDS FOUND FRIENDS WHO CARE. NO ONE SEE WHEN YOU LOSE WHEN YOURE PLAYING SOLITAIRE.....you should find another guiding light but I shine so bright....if your anything like me, I'm sorry, but darling its going to be ok.

[bybyefromurgirlodam]

“no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity” // “no amount of friends at 25 Will fill the empty seats At the lunch tables of your past”

better than revenge (t.v.) / if you're anything like me

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

[professionalchaoticdumbass]

(2012 minecraft parody voice) I am mining... there are no blocks of sand.... you are digging down with me.... hand in unbreakable hand... and I hope we mine.... I hope we both mine.......

[swiftlyshelby]

You just find where you’re supposed to be

if you're anything like me, I'm sorry. but darling, it's going to be okay.

[genericpuff]

Tbh at this point you should just make your own webcomic app/website because it would probably be 100 times better than whatever going on with webtoon right now.

hahaha it wouldn't tho, sorry 💀

Here's the fundamental issue with webcomic platforms that a lot of people just don't realize (and why they're so difficult to run successfully):

Storage costs are incredibly expensive, it's why so many sites have limitations on file sizes / page sizes / etc. because all of those images and site info have to be stored somewhere, which costs $$$.

Maintenance costs are expensive and get more so as you grow, you need people who are capable of fixing bugs ASAP and managing the servers and site itself

Financially speaking, webcomics are in a state of high supply, low demand. Loads of artists are willing to create their passion projects, but getting people to read them and pay for them is a whole other issue. Demand is high in the general sense that once people get attached to a webtoon they'll demand more, but many people aren't actually willing to go looking for new stuff to read and depend more on what sites feed them (and what they already like). There are a lot of comics to go around and thus a lot of competition with a limited audience of people willing to actually pay for them.

Trying to build a new platform from the ground up is incredibly difficult and a majority of sites fail within their first year. Not only do you have to convince artists to take a chance on your platform, you have to convince readers to come. Readers won't come if there isn't work on the platform to read, but artists won't come if they don't think the site will be worth it due to low traffic numbers. This is why the artists with large followings who are willing to take chances on the smaller sites are crucial, but that's only if you can convince them to use the site in favor of (or alongside) whatever platform they're using already where the majority of their audience lies. For many creators it's just not worth the time, energy, or risk.

Even if you find short-term success, in the long-term there are always going to be profit margins to maintain. The more users you pull in, the more storage is used by incoming artists, the more you have to spend on storage and server maintenance costs, and that means either taking the risk at crowdfunding (ex. ComicFury) or having to resort to outsider investments (ex. Tapas). Look at SmackJeeves, it used to be a titan in the independent webcomic hosting community, until it folded over to a buyout by NHN and then was pretty much immediately shuttered due to NHN basically turning it into a manwha scanlation site and driving away its entire userbase. And if you don't get bought out and try your hand at crowdfunding, you may just wind up living on a lifeline that could cut out at any moment, like what happened to Inkblazers (fun fact, the death of Inkblazers was what kicked off the cultural shift in Tapas around 2015-16 when all of IB's users migrated over and brought their work with them which was more aimed towards the BL and romancee drama community, rather than the comedy / gag-a-day culture that Tapas had made itself known for... now you deadass can't tell Tapas apart from a lot of scanlation sites because it got bought out by Kakao and kept putting all of its eggs into the isekai/romance drama basket.)

Right now the mindset in which artists and readers are operating is that they're trying way, way too hard to find a "one size fits all" site. Readers want a place where they can find all their favorite webtoons without much effort, artists wants a place where they can post to an audience of thousands, and both sides want a community that will feel tight-knit. But the reality is that you can't really have all three of those things, not on one site. Something always winds up having to be sacrificed - if a site grows big enough, it'll have to start seeking more funding while also cutting costs which will result in features becoming paywall'd, intrusive ads, creators losing their freedom, and/or outsider support which often results in the platform losing its core identity and alienating its tight-knit community.

If I had to describe what I'm talking about in a "pick one" graphic, it would look something like this:

(*note: this is mostly based on my own observations from using all of these sites at some point or another, they're not necessarily entirely accurate to the statistical performance of each site, I can only glean so much from experience and traffic trackers LMAO that said I did ask some comic pals for input and they were very helpful in helping me adjust it with their own takes <3).

The homogenization of the Internet has really whipped people into submission for the "big sites" that offer "everything", but that's never been the Internet, it relies on being multi-faceted and offering different spaces for different purposes. And we're seeing that ideology falter through the enshittification of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. where users are at odds with the platforms because the platforms are gutting features in an attempt to satisfy shareholders whom without the platforms would not exist. Like, most of us aren't paying money to use social media sites / comic platform sites, so where else are they gonna make the necessary funds to keep these sites running? Selling ad space and locking features behind paywalls.

And this is especially true for a lot of budding sites that don't have the audience to support them via crowdfunding but also don't have the leverage to ask for investments - so unless they get really REALLY lucky in EITHER of those departments, they're gonna be operating at a loss, and even once they do achieve either of those things there are gonna be issues in the site's longevity, whether it be dying from lack of growing crowdfunding support or dying from shareholder meddling.

So what can we do?

We can learn how to take our independence back. We don't have to stop using these big platforms altogether as they do have things to offer in their own way, particularly their large audience sizes and dipping into other demographics that might not be reachable from certain sites - but we gotta learn that no single site is going to satisfy every wish we have and we have to be willing to learn the skills necessary to running our own spaces again. Pick up HTML/CSS, get to know other people who know HTML/CSS if you can't grasp it (it's me, I can't grasp it LOL), be willing to take a chance on those "smaller sites" and don't write them off entirely as spaces that can be beneficial to you just because they don't have large numbers or because they don't offer rewards programs. And if you have a really polished piece of work in your hands, look into agencies and publishing houses that specialize in indie comics / graphic novels, don't settle for the first Originals contract that gets sent your way.

For the last decade corporations have been convincing us that our worth is tied to the eyes we can bring to them. Instead of serving ourselves, we've begun serving the big guys, insisting that it has to be worth something eventually and that it'll "payoff" simply by the virtue of gambler's fallacy. Ask yourself what site is right for you and your work rather than asking yourself if your work is good enough for them. Most of us are broke trying to make it work on these sites anyways, may as well be broke and fulfilled by posting in places that actually suit us and our work if we can. Don't define your success by what sites like Webtoons are enforcing - that definition only benefits them, not you.

[juney-blues]

when you're part of a group with structural power over another goup, you really do gotta just learn to say "i am not exempt from 'fuck 'em' when relevant" whenever someone expresses frustration with you or people like you.

[saintaviator]

the feeling of being watched or followed

[hajihiko]

💕

[teaboot]

Social anxiety level: Chatting with someone experiencing a schizophrenic episode and becoming increasingly self-concious of how I'm just saying "That sounds really stressful", "I've never heard of that but it sounds scary", and "You must be pretty worried about that" over and over again

[shalom-iamcominghome]

If even acknowledging antisemitism within your community spaces is going to "distract from the cause," maybe that's because the foundation of your beliefs comes down to antisemitism. What you're doing is telling on yourself.

[trans-androgyne]

Yes, trans men and mascs have historically been subjected to less public violence and ridicule than trans women and fems. Is having privilege really the only reason you can think of for that? Have you considered that they had less ability to be publicly visible in the first place? Please remember that the lack of autonomy women have historically been granted also applies to transmascs. They would have been considered the property of men. Spousal rape wasn't illegal everywhere in my country until 1993. How easy do you think it would be for forcibly impregnated transmascs to transition? For abused transmascs in general? Do you think they were all even allowed out of the house often without a man? There are so many stories of transmascs being forcibly institutionalized for being trans. Is that situation and otherwise being quietly abused and erased really so much better than hypervisibility?

[classicslesbianopinions]

the other thing about being disabled in academia is everyone is like "yeah we can't do much about the buildings they're old :/" as if "old" being a synonym for "inaccessible" isn't just a constant reminder that the people who built the school did not imagine that someday someone like me might study there

[mbohjeezart]

[ WIP ]

Bring a goat to a courthouse...