Sign In
Close
site discussion by Tofubread
As the title suggests, i want to talk about this site and what i think are issues that need to be changed, because as it stands, this site will continue to have it's problems if these issues i bring up aren't changed.
-Disclaimer- If you act like a dick in the comments, be prepared for a swift block. -End Disclaimer-
- Browsing System This is the main issue of this site; how it searches art. In a system where it must depend on tags only to find other people's art, the problem with this is that people can mistag or outright forget to tag art properly, making art pieces hard to find, especially if you just want to look for more specific art. Compared to systems like DA or FA (which has a neat category system, which is handy), it's really inefficient and problematic.
1a. As a subsequent consequence of how this browsing system works, if you don't happen to be a popular artist with an already large enough following, your art is probably not going to catch on. I've single-handedly noticed this with my own profile because as a budding artist, being able to get feedback has been rather abysmal on this site; just a handful of views and seldom any comments whatsoever.
Markdowns
Considering how the markdowns work: https://www.weasyl.com/help/markdown
Was it really necessary to try to be different? Linking someone on this site (and self) can be a bit of a chore since i'm just rather used to typing :iconusername: all the time on DA and FA, which is much faster and more efficient than it's current markdown. It takes up some more time than it should, and while it's not THAT big of an issue, it's an issue regardless.Collections
Not as big of an issue either, but i'm wondering if this is really necessary?
I personally like to post commissions i get from artists as a way to advertise them along with sharing the art i got. For some people, this option makes the site feel "anti-commissioner" and more geared for people who already make art. Not everyone does art on sites like these (cause there are watchers who post this), so i can get where they are coming from.Elitism attitude
This is one of my bigger beefs with this site and honestly comes with the last few FA issues, and i feel the need to discuss this to the extent to which i think is the problem. I didn't know anything about this site until a certain incident came up last year around this time on FA. A lot of people left the site (some more really stupid reasons) and said they'd be coming here. I was very hesitant to join this site because it'd be flooding with users who "Assumed" they were right. I made a journal on FA on how i felt about it, saying that it wasn't right to assume anything based on what was presented before us and it would be also involving myself in something i didn't know about. Come a few months and i decided to make one to see how the site was.
Fast forward to a few months ago, to which another large incident occurred. Some more people left FA for this reason, but some people sprung up conspiracy theories, some of which came to mind "Are these people seriously in such a hate for FA that they'd make up shit just to rile people up?" Because that's how it felt. Only a handful of users on this site actually provided info on the whole ordeal, and i made better sense of it because of that user, but some still kind of didn't get it, and continued their raging hatred.
Then, there was the callout incident, to which i believe was the revelation as to who some users were on this site, and cemented in my mind what group this site made up. I should mention; i agree with the site admins for what they did and they did the right thing. What was wrong were how some users reacted to this and basically left weasyl for the same reasons some people left FA a year ago; the site being a "rapist apologist". To those that left the site, i call these people the "Tumblr SJWs" because for the most part, the retreated back to Tumblr, which i consider that site a "site for assholes". Seriously, Tumblr is the source of most drama i have seen to date. Don't mean to be a dick either, but if you stayed despite calling this site what you called it, you're a hypocrite, and not worth my time and attention.
Speaking of hypocrites, i've noticed some users who are on weasyl return to FA despite their vocation to "never use it again" or having "Standards". As someone who saw this occasionally on this site, perhaps these people can learn something that i've come to learn a long time ago: Humility. Admitting there's a problem helps bring the problem to light, but just saying "FA is a necessary evil", despite the fact you DON'T want to use it, doesn't make it better. Not to mention, some users who are still using FA, despite not wanting to use it, act all nice there, but as soon as something happens, they return to this site and basically give weasyl the soapbox treatment and rant as to how FA continues to suck. I repeat; this is not helping the problem; this act though makes you look more like an asshole. It's why i have a number of people ignored (probably totalling 100), and a change in that attitude is probably for the best.
And there you have it, as i feel that these are the most persisting issues on this site. Feel free to DISCUSS what you think and if you feel i'm right or wrong on some of these notes.
Journal Information
- Views:
- 140
- Comments:
- 13
- Favorites:
- 1
- Rating:
- General
Comments
-
-
The popularity is always short lived, as people seem to return to FA after a while.
I know the community is small, but the way some artists seem to get their business suggests that unless you're as popular as them, then you shouldn't expect anything out of this site
-
-
Re: collections
it's kind of annoying to ask every time a commissioner uploads one of your commissions too, wish there was a way to make it more 'automatic' - the artist can't even add it to your collection until after it's been uploaded.
-
I know it's not that big of a deal, but that's true; it could be automatic
-
-
I agree with markdown, I've been looking for this for a while. @_@
I still don't understand collections though; someone suggested something to my collections, but I'm pretty new here, so I still need to learn how to use this.FA needs general redesign, reorganization and almost re-everything, to be honest |D I like Weasyl layout, but I simply don't understand what I need to do to encourage new followers. I'm trying to be more active on the forum, but guess what: forum's pretty dead also... On FA it's way easier.
There's one more annoying thing on Weasyl IMO: I've selected the highest mature rate as "13+", because I don't want to see all this porn >.> Now, when someone sends me an adult picture I have to go to settings... site preferences... etc... On FA I can just hit "NSFW" mode and I can see the ref.
-
The mature filter here kind of now works like FA's filter on your settings; if you don't want to see adult, you're not going to see it. I know because i have a filter on mine.
As much as FA does need a redesign, the current layout, as old as it is, functions and makes it easy to find art that you're looking for; it's why i like how categorizing art makes it easier to find stuff i'm interested in. Here, it's all tag based, and that's not sufficient in the slightest.
The forums i never use; got tired of using forums after a while on other general sites.
-
-
The search system here needs some major work, that's for sure.
I do agree on the elitism, too.
-
I'm not the only one it seems, and someone else noticed too
-
-
Hey there,
We actually deployed an improvement to the search feature earlier today -- the details went out in a tweet: https://twitter.com/weasyl/status/552336318941122560Some search improvements:
1) Multiple terms now default to AND
2) Searches are now bookmark-able
https://www.weasyl.com/help/searching
More to come, enjoy!On the collections issue, I usually upload commissions and 'offer' them to the artist. I guess that's the reverse of the concept behind collections, but it works just as well. If an artist would prefer to have the artwork in their gallery, I'm happy to remove my copy and let them re-upload it send it to me as a collection.
The main thing collections are there for, is so we don't have a load of copies of the same thing uploaded, and different view and favourite counts for each, with the whole "the original is here, go favourite that" mess which seems to pervade other art sites. They used to serve an additional benefit in reducing the amount of duplication of image files on the server, but that's less of a problem these days. As I understand it, we're not in any danger of running out of disk space.
I'm not get deep into the social commentary, that's way outside my comfort zone (and pay grade). It is probably fair to say that users of other sites do use Weasyl while their favourite site is down, but I'd expect that. To pick a real world analogy, if your favourite coffee shop closed for a day, you (and probably the rest of your coffee shop's regular customers) would probably look for another coffee shop. Most people who know of one art site, probably know of a few others and would visit them if their main haunt was down.
And hey, if all else fails, I guess there's always Facebook 8^)
-
Thanks for sharing the browsing update; that will be of some help. I don't know how well i'll utilize it, as it depends on me remembering these functions (as i'm used to other sites function).
I get how collections work, and i do see your point, though for some people like myself (who isn't alywas good at art and likes to share others'), not everyone i commission is active on this site, or even has weasyl. Still, should the person be active and such, i can always ask, though is it possible to have it as an automatic thing? (such as, as you post it, if the user who commissioned the piece has weasyl, they can just offer the collection as they submit it).
And that's fine regarding your views on how people treat this site; it just sucks that some people are kind of shitty, and it sucks you guys have to deal with them.
I didn't mean to make your work more difficult or anything, and i know you're a nice person and a hard worker; thanks again for the updates. :)
-
-
I pretty much agree with you on all but the 'Markdown' point. FA's message system is ancient and feels clunky. It uses markup from the early era of the internet and that few use anymore, especially the :cry: type emotes. However I'm not sure that using their own flavour of Markdown was the best idea either
It seems that the main time this site gets traffic is when someone kicks up a stink on FA and all those who want an excuse to kick off and leave the site. Then they realise they don't get any attention by fleeing onto here where there is a much smaller user base, so go back to FA
Link
Llyana Therasll
Hmm... how interesting. It is true that this site gains a substantial amount of popularity when there is a crisis to a CERTAIN site. But I'd rather not touch the topic on what is wrong there.
I absolutely agree with how the search system here needs an improvement. Sometimes when I search for multiple tags to specify an art in particular it ends up showing more results for each tags. At least, that's how I get and is not at all as specific as I want it to be. Collections though.... it seemed like a good idea but I am not sure. I am not even sure if people are using it as how it is supposed to be used too but that is just me.
The good thing however is the UI. As in aesthetically pleasing. I rather like it here. But this is an opinion I think, it just looks so clear here although a little complex than a lot of others.
Getting off topic a little, I somewhat like this site for its not so large user database. It makes me reach out to my favourite artists more easily :P . Back lashed however as those artists who are favoured might not stay because of that. That is my personal thought however, but I still think more users are better.