The admins can be even worse than FA sometimes :/ RealitySquared especially always sides with the art thieves.

As far as weasyl goes, it has been slowing down. It's also starting to feel like tumblr, and I'm not sure I want to be around once that fully happens

What about signal blasting Twitter? That's what I do for trades.

I have yet to have any trouble on deviantArt, FA or weasyl.

For FA and dA I have heard a lot of issues. For DA it's the Admins and Art thieves. For FA it's the Admins.

dA does seem to have a lot of younger kids on it. I feel very out of place at times being 22 years old now when I really think about it.
For FA I again have had no issues, I tend to keep to myself.

Really as a site grows I expect to hear good and bad things about it.

I enjoy Weasyl the most of the three sites I am on but more often then not it is fairly quite.

There was Tumblr but I never could get into it.
I also was going to try Sofurry and kinda forgot about it as I didn't feel comfortable using it.

DA has really gone towards a younger demographic, and ever since they started a commission section with their highest braket being $12, I've considered just deleting my already inactive account on there. I also feel like it's just too big, kinda feels like you're drowning. FAs issues are glaring and obvious and need no explanation lol. Weasyl has a format that works best for me, not too big and also isn't as creepy as FA. I really like using tumblr too, but it's format is kind f difficult to keep track of my stuff at times. I guess that's not a very helpful opinion though lol.

Anyways regarding other sites...

DA: doesn't matter if you're on it or not, art thieves still show up. I'm currently lucky that my art sucks enough that they aren't trying to steal my art. Otherwise the site is manageable and ok. It functions. You could still rum commissions without using the tab (because DA takes a cut if you do).

FA has not been giving me any issues and i've probably made the most progress there. In regards to the admins, that's none ofy business since my focus is to improve and post art (which is what I do; it just sucks weasyl has a lack of social activity.)

tumblr: don't use as of this moment, may not use it because of SJW attitudes.

Inkbunny and sofurry: not happening.

the sites I mainly use right now are weasyl (cream of the crop work) and FA (everything else decent enough to post, on one account, and EVERYTHING I'm embarrassed about or otherwise consider garbage, on another account). I feel like weasyl has better organization and passive-advertisement options than any site like it, but that's my experience/opinion. it's a shame tumblr doesn't let you separate all the accounts you're following into "channels" (other artists' art; retro; inspiration; silly; etc) otherwise I would DEFINITELY use it more often. as it is, I use it only rarely and only because I'm bored, not because I'm actively looking for inspiration or artistic improvement or such. it's a damn shame, too, because there are plenty of tumblr accounts dedicated exclusively to art "tutorials" and tips and tricks and such. in addition, the tumblr tagging system can definitely net you some stray followers, but as a whole it's not the best for networking, you still have to reach out like normal. anyway, that was all way longer than I expected it to be, but I'd suggest learning to use tumblr and tag a TON for every post (e.g. "furry", "furry art", "commission", etc, it helps both with networking and when people search your blog) and to keep using weasyl because it's not going to pick up if we all give up on it. it's showing down because it's not the hip rebellious thing anymore so people are looking for already-popular alternatives like DA and even going back to FA. I never left FA because I recognized it has and continues to have a function I use it for (everything I mentioned at the start of this), but when it is no longer functional in that regard, I will no longer use it.

I don't feel safe on FA, it's that simple. I only watch people that aren't anywhere else now and I wish I could leave cold turkey. Furry-centric sites aren't really to my interest anymore (unrelated to my quitting FA), so I don't know what the others are like.

DA I am starting to use again, but still mostly to watch people - idk how posting on the regular feels, other than that the submission process is kind of a drag for me the few times I've used it. It's still not my favorite place, but I haven't had a problem with stuff there, and I've found really nice people.

YELLS THOUGH I LOVE TWITTER? Twitter's been more fun as an art scene than I would've expected before getting into it. As a poster the only setback to me is your thumbnails being weird sometimes, since how they're cropped/zoomed in isn't up to you.

Tumblr is huge and daunting but I like keeping up with artists there since I'm on it so much in general. I don't have a sjw problem.

I've been wondering this too, I left DA years ago since (for me at least) it was slowing down THEN. I'm still on FA but it's slow there, too. I'm just sort've floating along, but an active site SOMEWHERE would be nice!

All the sites have good and bad points for me. Weasyl is a nice enough site but is still in beta and really small yet so there's not much attention to be had here. FA is run by assholes and idiots whose stupid "anti-drama" policies actually create drama, but it has an okay community and I get a lot of business there. dA has a lot of nice features and site functionality, but it's fucking huge nowadays so it's difficult to get any attention that's actually worthwhile (the whole sense of community is kinda...diminished?). Tumblr can be a useful tool, but it's also really weird, so I have a love-hate relationship with it.

I think you should be on every site that you can stand! (And I understand that there are valid reasons you can't stand FA, for example.)

Practically speaking, there isn't a single place where all your current and potential fans live, so the more sites you can post to, the more people you'll reach (and the more, or better, business you might get). More accounts do mean more admin, but it's a few extra few minutes invested in work you've spent hours on. And it's not as if we have to pay for any of it. (Touch wood.)

My personal feeling is that the search for the one perfect site that matches the people, culture and size you want could be never-ending. You can miss out on a lot by opting out because it's 'not quite right'; you may be better off cultivating a nice corner of each place that you happen to be.

dA is okay, and you reach a wider audience... but its so much bigger than weasyl and the 0.2 seconds you get on the front page make it feel kind of like putting a drop in the ocean. still, i manage to get more attention there than here, though i consider weasyl my main haunt art-wise. dA has the downside (or upside if you look at it that way) of not allowing explicit content, though. the groups feature i suppose is good for exposure, but ive never taken advantage of it.

tumblr i like for reblogging which helps more people see art, but it is really aggravating sometimes to work on a really nice piece and have it buried within minutes by silly memes and text posts. its not a site made for posting art as much as it advertises itself as "home to the worlds creators" or whatever. i dont mind reblogging my own work a couple times to bring it back to the front, but it definitely isnt sitting safely in an inbox until all your followers consciously have to view it to tick it away. also the lack of commenting system is really... really... people tag their reblogs sometimes, but not always, and a bunch of likes with no actual written feedback is disheartening (though that happens with faves on art sites too). i like the tagging system, and a bog is a nice archive where you can have a backlog of not only art but written info on stories and such but... yeah.

DA has gotten worse and worse and worse in my opinion. I can't post any fan work there at all or line work without it getting stolen immediately. I had to remove my gallery. Also the people who comment... just mean and rude, it's all a bunch of kids. I was getting notes from kids saying I stole their characters when I briefly returned and I looked at their ages and in some cases I had art of these characters drawn by me that was made before they were even BORN. Aiieee.. so like............ never going back there. I can't really recommend anything else. I just use Weasyl now, I liked Nabyn but it never left private beta. FA just.. yeah. Still return there for a bit of activity and see some friends art who don't post here but otherwise I don't plan on ever fully returning there either.

dA is up and down for me tbh. ive left dA multiple times b/c of the community (and sometimes admins) being shit, but i keep going back b/c of the nice gallery system and the fact that i can easily get feedback (though lately thats been slowing down for me but i think thats my fault lmao) and usually i just see younger people on there but i know that all ages participate in posting things uou even back when i was just figuring out dA (in like 2009) i still only really talked to other young people so i guess that much hasnt changed but dang lately ive been seeing a rise in original species designs/adoptables and they seem to be making a good bit of money from it like wow

FA totally went downhill and ive stayed away from it for a while b/c i moved to tumblr (which is pretty bad a lot of the time b/c of the community but i still post art on there mainly and i also use it for all my social stuff as well so idk) but that was before all the more recent drama that ive heard so i dont really have a first-hand say in that area but ive heard multiple accounts of it being terrible now

weasyl is pretty chill so far for me ?? i like the submit system and all the options it gives you, plus the fact you can type in your own gender oh man that is my favorite thing

i like weasyl the best for posting art, so far uvu it's nice and cool and so far the community seems nice from what ive seen

i still post all my art on tumblr though, but i do also post it again on here; i usually only post my good things on here and dA though uou tumblr has an easier and simpler upload system for me, and i really enjoy customizing my blogs to look how i want them to instead of one gallery theme for everyone

idk which site is better for commissions, tho ?? ive had about the same luck with every one of them but i think thats more of my own issue b/c i need to market my art better lmao

Weasyl is great but I have a lot of trouble paying attention to it, personally. FA and DA have more activity but are far worse websites imho. Not to mention it's totally true that on DA, most people will lowball the crap out of you unless you're very clear about your prices being set. I don't use inkbunny or know anything about it but a lot of people seem to?

One big thing to remember, is with each couple of generation, there will be an influx of new admins, art styles, and a new standard of running things.

While the root of all rules/guides may have a similar taste, things will change.

Reading what the others have already posted, I can say they have a few good points. One of them being to post art on more than just a few. Depending on what audience you want to draw in will greatly determine where you want to post!

All in all, just read and study the sites you are interested in, and contact the admins, as they can and should help you get a better picture on what they are about!

Good luck, til then!

I'm on DA to keep a presence and to stay in contact with friends. I disable comments, and watermark the shit out of my work.
Tumblr - I'm on there but I don't get it. It won't let me upload photos of my work, and as much as I like to stay updated on equality fighting prejudice, I feel a tad inundated with information about it, and it gets me down.
Twitter - again, I've been on it for years but don't have a clue how to use it; and it aggravates me that I don't know how to turn off updates from friends who twitter several times a day.

My current favourite social media outlet?

Facebook: my page for my art doll work is slowly progressing, I understand the layout, and it's good for keeping in contact with friends (online and IRL). Again, I watermark the shit out of my work, and all is well :)

Mostly I stopped using DA because of their lack of action against thieves. I faintly remember someone stealing another person's art, tracing it almost exactly, and then posting it as their own. The admins refused to do anything about it because it wasn't "direct" use of the artist's work. Ever since then, I haven't used DA.

if you want to get commissions and be safe against art theft, don't go back to DA. It's nearly impossible to get commissions off of it and unless you've got enough sway there isn't a whole lot you're going to get in the help department if your art is stolen. As for Tumblr, it is better but there is no coherent way to set up galleries and look through older art, also you'll need a commission page or sheet that won't get lost in all your posts. twitter is good for sketches easily lost and signal boosting but not much else.