Marginalizing FA and Emphasizing Alternatives (and future Commissions)
I suppose it's worth saying that my intentions here aren't to alienate people from using Fur Affinity if they want. Websites don't necessarily compete like manufacturers of toaster ovens, where if you buy one, you're not likely to purchase a competing product. People can maintain accounts on several sites. This reality has kept FA's momentum as it is, since it can feel superfluous to watch the same artist post the same galleries on two different websites, so why not just watch them on the most trafficked site, where you'll see more participation and comments?
Do I have opinions about the latest kerfuffle? Yeah. But I'm not going to share them, other than to say that I don't know enough to form a definitive conclusion. I don't consider what I read on journals and Tumblr blogs to be "definitive", as I've read a lot of misrepresentations and outright made-up stuff about myself in the past.
The fact is, I've wanted to marginalize the importance of FA for a long time, mainly due to how the site is managed, professionally. But I don't really think that's going to get much traction until the site's heavy hitters, artists with big followings, like, over 20k, 30k, and 40k watchers, begin to do things on other sites that they aren't doing on Fur Affinity. I don't necessarily mean posting things on Weasyl that you won't post on FA. Go ahead and mirror your main galleries if you want. It's still exposure. But imagine someone posting their sketches and WIPs there, instead of their FA scraps gallery. Imagine one of them saying they will begin to take commissions again, but when they do, they will handle them exclusively through Weasyl. You can still post journals and images to FA which advertise your economic activity (commissions, YCH auctions, etc) on Weasyl. Give people a real reason to create an account on an alternative website. Talk about things on the alternative site, post project updates and WIPs that you don't post on FA, hold polls about what people would like to see next - advertise the things you're doing on Weasyl with your heavily-watched FA account. You aren't telling people to leave Fur Affinity. You're giving them a fine reason to also check you out where you'd prefer to do business. Since FA is intent on not being run like a business (therefor the attentiveness and responsiveness of a government office), they can't justifiably be upset over you encouraging parallel traffic.
I'm nearing the end of my commission reserve list of the past two years. There are currently only 9 names on it with commissions I haven't started, yet. I can't say for sure how long it will take me to get through the rest of this list, because a lot of people are asking for two and three page comics, which take me a bit more time to do. But when I do finish them up, I'm going to start taking commission reservations, again. I'll probably only do a certain number of reservations at a time. When I do, I'm going to manage them exclusively through Weasyl. You'll need a Weasyl account to message me and ask for a reservation. I'm also going to require that you send me a valid email address to talk to you through, in the event that websites go down, or you get banned, or you stop logging in to your account to check your messages for weeks at a time. If you do not give me a valid email address, I will not take your commission reservation. I will make announcements on every website I have a gallery on when I begin to take commission reservations, again.
To reiterate from a prior journal, places you can find my work:
http://jaynaylor.com - My free ongoing webcomic "Original Life", and the "Better Days" webcomic archive, as well as the adult catalog for those who wish to support what I do. Soon to come, donation buttons for those who wish to support me without purchasing adult material.
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fisk/ - Gallery of original work on Fur Affinity. It won't be the most complete gallery of my stuff moving forward. I will continue to post finished images here, not unlike how I treat DeviantArt. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jaydraws/ is my commission account on FA. When the current commission list runs out, this account will be replaced by the commissions folder of my Weasyl gallery.
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/jaynaylor - Soon to be my main and most extensive gallery of material moving forward, with the exception of my Tumblr feed. This account will manage my commissions, as well as showcase sketches and WIPs, in the future. It will also be where I write journals about future projects and other details about what I'm working on.
http://jaynaylor.deviantart.com - A gallery primarily for more exposure. Due to their content restrictions, this will never be a complete showcase of my work, but I do check messages regularly and respond to comments.
http://jayrnaylor.tumblr.com - A moment-by-moment blog feed of my work, and probably the most complete gallery of my finished work from the date I started it. I will continue to post finished work here, as well as sketches, though I tend to be light on the words on Tumblr.
Twitter account @jaydrawins - My new art-only twitter account, where I show completed work as well as WIPs and sketches, and make comments about what I'm working on, as well as other general art-related comments. @jayrnaylor is my older, more personal twitter account, which has sort of just become a place for general in-life observations, keeping in touch with friends, and things I just feel like saying.
Do I have opinions about the latest kerfuffle? Yeah. But I'm not going to share them, other than to say that I don't know enough to form a definitive conclusion. I don't consider what I read on journals and Tumblr blogs to be "definitive", as I've read a lot of misrepresentations and outright made-up stuff about myself in the past.
The fact is, I've wanted to marginalize the importance of FA for a long time, mainly due to how the site is managed, professionally. But I don't really think that's going to get much traction until the site's heavy hitters, artists with big followings, like, over 20k, 30k, and 40k watchers, begin to do things on other sites that they aren't doing on Fur Affinity. I don't necessarily mean posting things on Weasyl that you won't post on FA. Go ahead and mirror your main galleries if you want. It's still exposure. But imagine someone posting their sketches and WIPs there, instead of their FA scraps gallery. Imagine one of them saying they will begin to take commissions again, but when they do, they will handle them exclusively through Weasyl. You can still post journals and images to FA which advertise your economic activity (commissions, YCH auctions, etc) on Weasyl. Give people a real reason to create an account on an alternative website. Talk about things on the alternative site, post project updates and WIPs that you don't post on FA, hold polls about what people would like to see next - advertise the things you're doing on Weasyl with your heavily-watched FA account. You aren't telling people to leave Fur Affinity. You're giving them a fine reason to also check you out where you'd prefer to do business. Since FA is intent on not being run like a business (therefor the attentiveness and responsiveness of a government office), they can't justifiably be upset over you encouraging parallel traffic.
I'm nearing the end of my commission reserve list of the past two years. There are currently only 9 names on it with commissions I haven't started, yet. I can't say for sure how long it will take me to get through the rest of this list, because a lot of people are asking for two and three page comics, which take me a bit more time to do. But when I do finish them up, I'm going to start taking commission reservations, again. I'll probably only do a certain number of reservations at a time. When I do, I'm going to manage them exclusively through Weasyl. You'll need a Weasyl account to message me and ask for a reservation. I'm also going to require that you send me a valid email address to talk to you through, in the event that websites go down, or you get banned, or you stop logging in to your account to check your messages for weeks at a time. If you do not give me a valid email address, I will not take your commission reservation. I will make announcements on every website I have a gallery on when I begin to take commission reservations, again.
To reiterate from a prior journal, places you can find my work:
http://jaynaylor.com - My free ongoing webcomic "Original Life", and the "Better Days" webcomic archive, as well as the adult catalog for those who wish to support what I do. Soon to come, donation buttons for those who wish to support me without purchasing adult material.
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fisk/ - Gallery of original work on Fur Affinity. It won't be the most complete gallery of my stuff moving forward. I will continue to post finished images here, not unlike how I treat DeviantArt. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jaydraws/ is my commission account on FA. When the current commission list runs out, this account will be replaced by the commissions folder of my Weasyl gallery.
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/jaynaylor - Soon to be my main and most extensive gallery of material moving forward, with the exception of my Tumblr feed. This account will manage my commissions, as well as showcase sketches and WIPs, in the future. It will also be where I write journals about future projects and other details about what I'm working on.
http://jaynaylor.deviantart.com - A gallery primarily for more exposure. Due to their content restrictions, this will never be a complete showcase of my work, but I do check messages regularly and respond to comments.
http://jayrnaylor.tumblr.com - A moment-by-moment blog feed of my work, and probably the most complete gallery of my finished work from the date I started it. I will continue to post finished work here, as well as sketches, though I tend to be light on the words on Tumblr.
Twitter account @jaydrawins - My new art-only twitter account, where I show completed work as well as WIPs and sketches, and make comments about what I'm working on, as well as other general art-related comments. @jayrnaylor is my older, more personal twitter account, which has sort of just become a place for general in-life observations, keeping in touch with friends, and things I just feel like saying.