How to make weasyl your main gallery and encourage others to follow by TwoFancyOwls
So, I know there's already been some journals about this, but we've done the "moving to site" thing before and wanted to share a few tips with you guys a few ways to help move your watcherbase and make an easier transition to weasel from FA:
1. Post your submissions to weasyl first. We would do so up to a week before posting to FA, but a few days is also good. In the comment of your FA submission, state that you upload art to weasyl before FA. If you post a lot of art (a post a week or so) you can always have something new in your weasyl gallery for people to come look at. It helps new people to see that you actually do have other content on here.
2. Post cropped thumbs to FA and leave a link in the description (or write right on the art) that you can view the full versions on weasyl. This is one of our faves and has worked super well for advertising our comics, which are all hosted outside of our gallery.
3. Mini Kiribans this one takes a little more effort, but kiribans can be fun to do, especially sketches exploring things you are interested in! You can see an example of how to make a kiriban that includes everyone (not just the watcher of that number) here: https://www.weasyl.com/journal/22199/weasyl-kiriban
4. Spread This Advice Helping others to leave the abusive relationship that is FA can also help you. The more artists who come here, the more watchers will follow and the less reason people have to stay on FA. You don't need to link back or credit anywhere, just copy pasta this and any other good advice you may have for people! If we all help each other out, we can make this a very real thing.
5. Open commissions and giveaways on weasyl first Giving users first dibs on art on weasyl first will create more incentive to be here. Eventually, the offers won't last long enough to even get to FA.
In doing things like these, we have been able to afford to leave our main base of operations for commissions behind for greener pastures without taking hits. Commissions also used to be our main source of income and it can be scarey, but do not fret! There is always a way out :)
More very good tips that I did not include here because they are already here: https://www.weasyl.com/journal/24818
Tools for moving your galleries: http://projects.weasyl.com/
Tools for moving your watch list: http://projects.weasyl.com/soft/
Advertise you weasyl commissions: http://fa-exodus-database.tumblr.com/
Some benefits to starting over: http://mommashaus.tumblr.com/post/73884299686/the-benefits-of-starting-over-on-a-new-website-to
How to make weasyl your main gallery and encourage others to follow
Journal Information
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Comments
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They seem to be mostly flipping shit over people who mention zaush. People post "omg fuck FA" journals all the time. FA has been pretty careful to only 24h suspend people they don't really like for not breaking rules, I don't think anyone will see an actual ban over this. Visibility and helping others move is probably the most important thing on here in community building.
We've gotten some funny attention over this thing, so if anyone's going to see backlash from the admin, it'll be us first. I'll let you know if anything happens.
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Hopefully that won't happen to you guys!
But I have seen a lot of censorship over various things before. Especially on the forums--I've heard past mods for the FA forums were actually booted for even being involved in Weasyl.
FA is very against people advertising other art sites.
I guess I would just be careful, as I don't wanna see anyone get banned from FA who still cares to be there! >3<
They could see 'how to promote people joining Weasyl' journals as some sort of rioting or exodus promotion.-
Is it your suggestion that I remove it? I am not sure what you are trying to get me to do here ^^;
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Maybe just a 'do this at your own discretion, as it might be risky business' type thing?
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Edited :)
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Cool! Sorry if I came off bad in any manner, btw. I just didn't wanna see you guys or anyone accidentally get in trouble AAAAjfds; Cuz FA staff, man, you never know. >3<
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No, it's cool. We're both pretty hard to offend. I think in trying to be really diplomatic about it the point was being lost in pleasantries.
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Otoh, there is a "no advertising" rule on the forums in general. I've seen someone's thread get locked from trying to advertise a video game project they had. Possibly because they'd prefer advertisement of people's galleries/offsite websites to be done via banners or on the artists' own galleries.
So far, when people don't mention the recent events involving the new programmers but instead just talk about how they now have a gallery on Weasyl or such, and just talk about those positive features they know of on the sites(while providing tools to help those interested to setup shop there or find others on their watchlist with a presence on the site).... there is very little even the most beligerant admin could do about it.
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Yes, I'm not saying 'Don't do this!', just trying to say be careful.
Wording is everything, and the FA staff aren't always very nice or forgiving. -
I'm sure listing information about Weasyl is fine!
But posts like 'ways to bring people to join Weasyl' and promoting that they're gonna be weasyl exclusive at the same time COULD be dangerous waters.Of course if a person is planning to leave FA they may not actually care ahaha
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Basically, a good way of avoiding bans and such is indeed posts like this. Rather than mention the situation about Zaush(over which I do not know enough to make a defined opinion), I would say simply talking about Weasyl as "a site with a ton of great features for both artists and non-artists" as well as then pointing out the many tools which can make migration or creation of an account easier would be a much more positive mean to sell this website to potential new users in a fashion that nobody can do anything about.
At the end of the day, to beat negativity(both in events and environments) you need positivity. You can't beat a negative event or environment by throwing more negativity at it.
You need to be positive. Constructive. Which is how you "Build" a community at the end of the day.-
Of course I 100% agree with this!
I'm not trying to negative at all, just safe.
FA is a very... controlling place, though, and I have heard multiple times about how they silence users who try to promote people to leave their site. It's a very scary thing;;; --And a huge part of the reason why I want to leave to begin with
I just wanna look out for people and not see them get in any sort of trouble! (especially when they're just trying to do the right thing and really don't deserve it.) Just a general, y'know, be careful type thing!-
Well the thing is simply to now imply everybody should leave FA in favor of this new site.
It's simply a matter of presenting this site as an interesting new addition you've been interested to develop a presence upon. Which, at the end of the day, is the truth. You're not calling on people to "leave" FA by doing so, but just presenting them a new place to "explore" for it's own sake in addition to the places they already know of.
It might also bear to mention that many recent users have also been moving here not from Furaffiniry, but deviantart as well, who weren't involved in the events on FA. This kind of surge of activity shows that it's now just about FA's events but also the fact that there are people out there who're coming to this site not because of "drama" but for the site's own value :)
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They won't censor a journal like this. You're fine with posting it as long as it doesn't include hateful words.
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As an ex-admin there I'll happily say you are wrong. There have been plenty of mass exoduses from FA and the only time bans/suspensions are dished out are when people do all they can to disrupt the site or harass others (including the staff). Even journals full of misinformation like your comment were untouched (much to my annoyance, I like to try and set the record straight early on as it avoids drama. One of the reasons FA is full of drama is down to the complete silence that descends from up high until it's too late).
FA isn't perfect, and I'm not a fan of a few of the current staff, but they aren't running round banning people and deleting journals because someone posts something like this.
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Then I will say I fully stand mistaken, and thank you for correcting me.
I am glad I am wrong, tbh.
I just know I've seen it on the forums, and supposed I assumed the site staff did the same. (Aaahh this is what one gets, I suppose, you know what they say about assuming.)
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Good tips! Thank you!
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You should re-title it, given moving to Weasyl is easy without half those steps being involved, what you are promoting is exclusivity. Just thought I'd point that out. Wording makes quite a difference.
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Not really. people are having trouble moving to weasyl because their watcher base is on FA. It is easy to make an account on weasyl, it is less easy to actually move here.
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Just found the wording a bit skewed is all, since its mostly for artists and ones that plan on only moving to Weasyl or keep most activity there. But fair enough, just thought I'd throw in my opinion.
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This is great! Thank you! :D
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Wow, these tips are actually really amazing! Thank you for sharing!
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Great post!
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Ohh, some of these are very helpful.
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So glad i can favorite journals on weasyl XDD
But yeah, thanks for the hints! Very handy. I thought of doing some sort of free raffle on weasyl... Now i'm sure i will do it XD
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I'm going to also be doing some free stuff pretty soon! Perhaps we can combine our efforts :D
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That would be beneficial for the project for sure. Maybe we can think of something like a big raffle with more art to win (i guess it's better to offer more small wins then just one BIG win, because even a small icon as a price can build a good association and feeling with the site, leading to more activity by the user who won - But these are just my first thoughts)
But the least i can do is promotion :) So just let me know when you do something, then i will promote it on my FA as well nods-
will do!
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I didn't even know I could favorite journals. I'm so used to being hobbled by 10-year-old site code that it never occured to me to try! Thanks for mentioning it, I need to go off and do a true deep-dive RTFM on this website.
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they do have that chrome add-on that crossposts for you idk the name tho :(
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it's linked in the journal if you want to find it :)
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Thank you for this! <3
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Fab. Thanks so much :) I think I'll start to post cropped versions to FA like you said and link here :)
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That's very good tips indeed. As i'm moving on weasyl too, i wasn't sure if i had to, like, remove everything on FA or not poste anything anymore but this make me wonder if a softer transition isn't better for people who were following me there.
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We didn't want to spend any more time supporting the site, so we just up and left and let everyone know via journals, but a soft transition is probably a better idea for people who are worried about their commissions or visibility.
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This is something I have been recently worried about, and this journal really helps. Thank you for being kind enough to share the info! I will be sharing it with some friends and trying to put the advice to good use. I'm sad things are going the way they are with FA, and I'd like to see it improve, but I don't really believe it will happen. :/
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I've been waiting 7 years for change. Shit into one hand and hope into the other, tell me which fills first x_x
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Yeah, love this. Really done with FA, but have 5k+ followers there and want them all over HERE. -insert patrick meme photo here-
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:D do it!
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I'm going an extra mile and intend to post on every other gallery I have before Weasyl. >>And I have a LOT of other galleries<<
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This is a great resource. :) I'll try to get this plugged through my FA journal to spread the word.
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Thanks!
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Just wanted to say that it Also would be nice that we make in every journal artist recommendations. It would be awesome for those who are just starting here c:
Also, there is this page for promote artist: http://fa-exodus-database.tumblr.com-
That's a good idea : ) I will start doing that! I will also add this link <3
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Have you posted this on tumblr as well? I'd like to reblog it rather than copy-paste it if possible. =)
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We have :) Our tumblr is twofancyowls.tumblr.com
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Ah, thank you for this!
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Thanks for posting this! I'll spread it around to friends and my own followers ! p
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Wow... I sent the admins a email this morning asking if they can make my user name an exception to the fA weasyl watch list comparison (people keep adding me thinking I'm Kotori the fA artist) and I got a response that the admins have fixed that for me. So now I won't get any more adding me by mistaken identity. =D
I really wish everyone would move here.
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Thank you. This is very helpful for the people who're interested in distancing ourselves from furaffinity.
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Went ahead and cross-posted most of my work, has more to do with the fact that the site is badly managed and hasn't advanced much in years.
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I love how you can favourite journals C: This really is so useful
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This journal made me feel so much better about things... And definitely useful tips to make this my new home! :D
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<3
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I may not be an artist but I truly support this endeavour here, great work! pokes the owls ^^
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eee
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If only we could +Fav journ-... Oh... Wait.
WE CAN?!
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If only there was a site that let us do that stuff we've always asked that other site to-OH WAIT 8DDDDD
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I JUST FIGURED OUT THIS SITE HAD THE ABILITY TO FAVORITE JOURNALS SDLFKAJGHAFJKDS;A'
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I just discovered this journal after spending far too many hours trying to track people down from FA to here. Bless this journal, bless!
Link
Jotaku on 20 January 2014 at 01:01:50 MST
I just wanna say I would be really careful about posting things like this to FA! They are very censoring, and there is a high chance they would remove the journal and possibly suspend you for such activity. : /
But these are hella great tips and I will def link to yours on mine, as well as add the tips you suggested on my journal! (when I get a free moment, that is)