I have a deep disappointment going on, and...the direction this site and administration is going is disheartening. If you wanna know what's up, check out this post. It's such a cold take by GR, and it makes my stomach turn to watch all the doubling down and digging in. I do not support his stance in the slightest. So I'll echo a lot of sentiments on the site right now about the whole matter: Do better. Be better. Stop letting this site be a prime example of the tolerance paradox / nazi bar parable.
And now I have to weigh choices that I never wanted to have to weigh, and it sits heavily on me.
I respect anyone leaving. I respect anyone not posting anymore. I don't blame you for it. Be safe, feel safe, take care of yourself, take a stand, whatever the reasoning is, you deserve it.
I will miss you, if I followed you. I will try to follow elsewhere but I don't go around many other social sites. Thank you for sharing your art, your experiences, your work, yourself. Be well.
For me, it's like...knowing your landlord is a trash human being. But everywhere else is falling apart, leaking, rotting, doesn't want you in the neighborhood, or won't let you bring your pets with you. And your small group of friends are all a 5 minute walk away and they always make you feel better. So it's cope and deal with things knowing you have to deal with someone being completely scummy and feel unwelcome, or be 'homeless'...uprooted, starting over again, possibly ending up somewhere you don't feel like you belong or are actively isolated (even in the bsky link I posted, there's still comments like 'given the kind of content that's hosted there, it's no wonder'). Folks that can't seem to separate fiction from reality make me feel just as uneasy/unwelcome.
It's also like living in the US for me atm. I can't fucking stand who's in charge, I definitely feel unwelcome (honestly borderline threatened), and all around you hear BS like 'if you don't like it, then leave'. But leaving and uprooting, finding somewhere new, leaving everything else behind, expenses...it makes it impossible so I just have to bunker down and weather the storm in hopes things get better.
I don't really feel like I have anywhere else to go. I don't want to separate my work / commissioned art / characters / everything into four, five separate sites. Stories go here. Art here, as long as it's not cub. The rest can go here but it's just an image hosting site, so you get little to no feedback or interaction...which is demotivating to want to get or produce more. Plus I just don't have the time, motivation, or desire to keep up with spreading my content across five different sites.
I've met some of my best friends in the world off this site. I'm in some of the nicest spaces I've ever been in online (art streams, discord servers) because of this site.
I'm sorry to dump this on everyone. My heart hurts because I firmly believe trans rights are human rights. Treat people like people. Be respectful. It's not that fucking hard, yet so many feel the need to make it so difficult.
For now...I'm not going anywhere. Mostly because I feel like I don't have another choice. And partially because of the friends and community I've surrounded myself with or gotten attached to. I'm reluctant to leave that. If somewhere at least similar pops up (posts, comments, journals, social interaction, stream announcements, etc.) then I'll let you all know where to find me, and close up shop here. Just so it's not a surprise if it comes to pass in future.
