You're pretty cool. FYI

This journal has really made me respect you a lot more. I know it's stupid, but I used to follow you on other sites and was always kind of... intimidated? Afraid? To initiate conversation with you. It's refreshing to know that it was just my social anxiety talking and not reality, and you really are a good person. I used to be just like you. When I was 18, I acted like a HUGE asshole. My art was shit, and I thought I was the best thing there could be- and then I got ripped apart by... somewhere unsavory, I'll leave it at that. I've tried really hard to grow and change, just like you, and should adopt the same philosophy. There are some people who give me shit for the same things that happened years ago, and it used to upset me. But recently I've just started not to care.

tl;dr oh god im sorry i dont know where i was going with this /hides

Sounds like you've done a lot of growing up, which is definitely something to be proud of. I really think most of us go through the 'asshole' phase as a teenager.

That said, people follow people who act that way because it's entertaining, but the people doing it don't seem to understand that said followers aren't their friends. Those kinds of fans will be more than happy to turn on you the moment something more entertaining comes along. There's no loyalty there, and it's incredibly toxic, as you put it. Fortunately, I do think MOST people grow out of it.. most.

As for Deviantart, it's very, very cliquish and centred around fandoms. There's also just so much traffic that you have to really work to get any attention, but it's honestly not worth it. I pulled away from Deviantart long ago thanks to the dickish staff, and would do the same from FA if it wasn't where the buyers are. I'm reallllly hoping Weasyl takes off so that's not a concern anymore.

TL;DR, self-improvement is a very respectable thing.

Fiz from the time I started following your tumblr to now I've always respected you and the way you seem to brush things off when people came to your page trying to start shit. And I still respect you. I don't follow people to follow their drama. I follow you on tumblr for your art and funny comments, and I follow you on here to see more of your art. You've always made me laugh, especially when you take a big orge shit on trolls. I really enjoyed reading that you've gotten sick of being 'that guy', even if I never witnessed you in that stage, it's really cool to see you stand up and say " yeah, i was a dick, but i'm not anymore."

I also get incredibly burned up when people try to start shit and include Weasyl. I really love this site and would not have given a shit if you hadn't been pushing it so hard. I wanted to find a website that I can comfortable be on while still being a cross fandom website. dA does have furries, but it's not as much as here. And I'd probably get nowhere on FA, plus DRAMU. I am very comfortable here, and it meets a lot of things that I like customization wise. And I only have you and the other staff to thank. I know it doesn't sound like much but I think with how you feel about all this, that you deserve happiness.

Please keep up the great work, art-wise and as a member of the Weasyl family! ( psspss I really love Monte ok)

I watch you since I like your art and you made me laugh at times. I dont know you as a person.Its hard to know a lot of people especially if they are on the internet and you never meet them real life. I havent been able to keep up with deviant,FA,Inkbnny and now adding here as well not to mention sofurry too.theres so much art out there and so many places to see it that its frankly very hard to keep up with it all.

If you feel like youve matured over the years thats good.its sad when people dont ever mature and treat others as just personal entertainment or drama foes.I dont think thats just applicable to Sonic or furry .Its all over.I do think though people in those fandoms do seem to have more issues interacting maturely with other people .At least a little bit higher percentage then the average population

Yep, the angsty teenage days are over. Good on you for making changes and improving yourself though, I know theres some people that dont change well into their late 20s

I've argued with you in the past, I don't care that was the past hahah

draw more cats.

Relevant, I love that we can favorite journals here.

I believe that anyone from the Sonic scene that does not have a social life, outside of using the internet, can have extremely toxic personalities. I've had my fair share of experience with these kinds of people myself, so I agree that there's a lot of them out there. However, I have friends I've known for years that are Sonic fans, some of those that I have met for extended periods of time, and it's given me hope that there are people in this scene that aren't totally full of themselves, and that do grow mentally and socially.

I've been following you in DA since those years and still do, but I've always been more of a lurker than a commenter. I just don't see the point in posting a "lul looks great!"" comment and I wasn't really ever into the scene like a lot of people. I've met Sonic fans that are not complete dicks - the UK Summer of Sonic cons made me realize there are fans that are not all crazy fan-artists taking OC's and various issues way too seriously. Though I almost naturally avoid or go all coy around "popular" people in the fandom.

It's like being part of the pony fandom, yeah there's bad eggs that make everyone else look bad, or take the fun out of it, but I've also had some fun meeting bronies at cons and having a genuine good time. Every fandom has a level of toxic groups to them, the best thing to do is to avoid the drama and just do what you've gotta do. People from the mainly DA era have started to grow up - I think you'll find some of it is simply that those that were around in your drama-related-days have stopped drawing or posting to DA in favour of other places (assuming they kept drawing once real life got them into work, having kids ect.

idk ur cool

People being jerks in fandoms is one of the things that tends to keep me p quiet in any other than the furry one but I have been a jerk too (also trying to get over that being quiet in other fandoms thing). I feel guilty every time I ever picked on someone' weird or badly written fan fic (at least those which weren't intended to be funny because well, those are there to be made fun of), and every time I think about posting my own fics I remember how /I/ was about that stuff and wonder who is going to chew me up. But at the same time, I don't remember ever telling the writers I thought their stuff was wack, but just my friends who would laugh to each other. I still feel terrible about it. In the deep past I was probably like WTF in total about certain fics like I just could not understand much at all, then more recently I at least know that if I don't understand a thing that the writer does and that their headspace is legit. A lot of arrogance is gone now, but fortunately I remember what it was like having that and I can use that for empathy and for writing characters and for seeing why somepeople do what they do. I do remember that in the deep past I would comment on visual art and fetishes and things that I thought were dumb or bad or wack in an asshole way. Some of those comments still haunt me. I think about everyone is an asshole at some point. Especially if you are young, and grow up being treated poorly, and are full of hate and confusion. Man I was such an asshole in the past for other things irl. All of this motivates me to me kind now. I had a fair deal of shit happen to me, a lot of it unsurprisingly because of my own flaws. Live and learn.