FYI a lot of the people that are very vocally resisting it are probably trying to suck up to administration and 'look good' so they can ask for favors in the future. At least, that's what I'm seeing. Honestly, ignore or block them; responding to them or giving them any sort of opening beyond hiding their comments and blocking them just encourages them. They know they can get to you.

: )

:) its such a beautiful day

Oh golly, you can fav journals here!?

I had some big thing to say about all of this, but it just didn't type out quite right... Bottom line is, I can't see you, or anyone else losing much by dropping FA. Life is too short to let haters bring you down, and the people who really care about you and understand the reasons why people are fleeing will still be following and commissioning. Maybe FA will come back, like the Phoenix they've named their proposed site update after, but for the foreseeable future, Weasyl has MUCH better juju.

Good on you. I find myself actually commenting here on Weasyl too... At FA I was just one of the silent swarms. Something about the better comments system makes me actually want to reply to things more. here. Something about this place is more appealing, I think; it may be because of the filtering process with how people were pushed to switch to Weasyl, so I -know- most of the fol here actually care about other people. So I feel more comfortable commenting and participating in the community...

Also you can +fav journals here, like this. The most important feature.

I am very sorry you've received so much backlash on FA for even suggesting moving your prodigious energies over here. It's really sad and a trend I wish I didn't see pretty often at the moment. However, you (and many others) do feel that tremendous weight of social pressure and stigma to stay there, because hey, this is how you make your money. It's a really disgusting situation and I wish you, and all those like you, didn't have to be pulled into the crossfire.

So while I couldn't blame you for seeing the idea as more work as an unattractive one, might I suggest just posting on both websites? I know that seems like an insurmountable task (especially if you wanna repost old stuff to help get yourself traction here), but there's actually an unbelievably easy solution. If you use google chrome (and seriously I'd download and use it for doing this alone, it's that good) download this addon: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/waxpost-weasyl-crossposte/boddplgmdhddfmchbifhpdpekfdaenjc/related?hl=en In case It's called Waxpost, and what it does is whenever you're on the page for one of your submission on FA, you'll see that little Weasyl hat in the address bar. Click that little Weasyl hat, and suddenly you're on the Weasyl art submission page, with everything that can be moved over, moved over. The submission itself, its description, the -tags- even, everything! From there all you gotta do is a pick a folder and rating for the pic, and you're done! It turns a scary mountain of work into a couple of four clicks of the mouse.

But no matter what you do, as hard as it can be to do this at times, do what makes you comfortable, and what works for you. No one, and I mean no one is going to blame you for keeping up over there, since you rely on it so heavily for income. Just do right by yourself.

People have been such ignorant rags about this whole thing to the point where they're openly harassing and scorning artists that want to leave, just because they want to leave. It's pretty disgusting and speaks volumes of a good chunk of the userbase there. "OH YOU'LL JUST BE BACK IN A WEEK ANYWAY" um not with that bullshit attitude I'm not

I think if more awesome artists come here more awesome people will show up.

One of the things that kept me from Weasyl was there wasnt enough people on it. I felt Weasyl dropped the ball before about getting people hooked. Now with what has happened with FA, there has been a big push. The DDOS attacks have also shown what Weasyl is capable of. One issue I have had with FA is no folders. Every other art site I have been to has had this option. All in all, Weasyl has many good points to it. It all depends on who comes over. The more I see, the happier I am. I am glad you came here.

My client base is nowhere near the size or ferocity that yours is, but the majority of my customers came from FA. It was both a difficult and easy decision for me to leave FA. On the one hand, I will have a hard time building up a client base on a new site. On the other, I refuse to actively promote and support a site that so grotesquely censors and shits on their users. I would rather be on a smaller site where I feel that my concerns will not be swept under the carpet just to save face than to be somewhere where I will make more money.

With so many new people come to Weasyl -DAILY-, I feel that there is a great amount of hope for this place. It's run by people that not only know what they're doing, but also listen to their users when they have questions, concerns, or suggestions.

For what it's worth, I'm actually very proud of you for making the hard call and switching focus. I know the backlash makes a lot of artists wary of going against the vox populi, but I have a special admiration for the ones that stick to their guns and stand up for themselves, especially on an issue as grave as the one FA's choosing to ignore.

Hear hear!
I'm nervous about leaving FA entirely, but I'm disgusted with the recent stuff. Really, really disgusted. I almost couldn't care less about the coding stupidity - it could be fixed with a minimum of fuss if they'd just hire someone competent for once (yeah, hire) who wasn't more interested in the smell of their own code-farts than actually fixing stuff. It's gotten too big and bloated, with new submissions flashing past so fast nobody gets to see them. The market is so flooded with underselling artists that commissions for the less amazing of us are almost nonexistent if we want to make more than $3/hour.
What really bothers me is the silencing. I'm a rape survivor. Multiple. The WORST part of it isn't the act itself, it's the backlash if you speak up. It's the blame and the shame and the not being believed, all whilst being tarred with the "lying agitator" brush and being heaped with scorn and abuse. ON TOP of the bodily violation. That's my situation, not the 2010 incident of course, but the patterns are all the same.
You DO NOT protect those kinds of people, society at large does that pretty damn well by itself. You certainly don't appoint them to administrative positions and then suspend anyone who tries to point out what a completely ridiculous decision that is.

Yeah, no respect left there. Moving forward - keeping one tentative foot in at FA just to tail off and leave a calling card, but I think unless something drastic happens I'm done with it. Too painful.

Oh, man. I feel bad for all of the artists like yourself that have to deal with all of this craziness. The atmosphere at FA has become so grotesquely caustic in the last couple of days. I find it really odd that people are taking many artists' decision to expand to other sites outside of FA so personally. And I'm just talking about ** expanding ** not ** abandoning. ** You're still on FA, like you said, so I don't really see what the fuss is about.

And even if you were to abandon FA entirely for Weasyl—so what? The community is basically the same as FA's considering most everyone you find here currently has a presence on FA or at least had one at one point or another; this isn't a totally different entity outside the fandom. Even if they don't care to be an active Weasyl user, I don't see why they can't just make an account here and follow you and/or a select few people that have migrated from FA. They don't have to interact with anyone, they don't have to personalize their profile, they don't have to favorite a single piece of artwork, etc. They can go on their merry way being primarily active on FA with only checking their notifications on Weasyl once in a blue moon. Why is that so hard?

If these people really support you and what you do, then this wouldn't even be an issue.

There's such an 'Us vs. Them' mentality that both sides are guilty of and I find it all ridiculous. These are just two different websites that cater to the same crowd. Regardless of a person's stance on the issue regarding FA's staff (and my stance is a very critical one), we should be amicable and respect the artist's decision (and any user's, for that matter) about where they feel comfortable socializing and showcasing their work. People have legitimate reasons for staying on FA just like people have legitimate reasons for migrating to Weasyl.

In closing, I'd like to add that no one is entitled to your artwork and shifting focus from one site to another is not akin to a slap to your critics' collective face—no matter how much they believe otherwise.

Well know, whenever you go, I'll follow you betsy :3 anyone flippant about making a transition for others aaint worth the time u.u

I don't hold it against anyone who stays except the people who try and make the people leaving feel bad (like the ones you mentioned). My decision to leave was the result of years of build up and I'm not just jumping on some bandwagon uninformed, and I don't expect people to have my same feelings and experiences.

I saw someone call another artist 'pathetic' for leaving and man my rageboner grew five sizes that day.

Most of the things that could be said, have been said by the people who posted before me. But I do like you to know I love your art, and I was happy to bump into you hear as well. I am glad you found your way here and I wish you the best of luck.

I don't have much to say but you've brought a lot buzzing around my own head into clear questions that make so much sense. I have noticed FA made a journal stating they tend to address the issue and I do want to kinda see what will happen (sinking sensation in my stomach tho) but generally, I see the positive around here and am actually trying to get involved myself (unlike on FA where I really just... besides wrist pain, just... eh.