FA Musings

[enteirah]

Has FA become the cool place to be suddenly, but I missed it? In the last few months, everyone seems to be all of a sudden abandoning LJ and moving their journals over there, or reposting all their art, writing etc from other sites there.

I guess I find it a little confusing really as nothing of the last 6 months or so tallies with it. All the hate for LJ was years back when they were selling off to Russians, implementing ads etc etc, meanwhile furries are all lately in the 'bitch endlessly because Dragoneer didn't do xyzabc' phase instead for FA, so it seems such an odd time for the pattern of behaviour to be showing up. Really, is there some news or info I missed guys? >.>

For the record, I'll post the odd bits of art up there (and probably considerably less once the current few commissions are out of the way), and keep an eye on folks who've abandoned other places completely for whatever reason, but I certainly am unlikely to be using it for much more than that and anything worth reading (yes... yes I know!) will be stopping on here, which is why I follow so few people on there compared to other places. =:P Whilst there are some good folks about, I still stick by my original view that the level of creeps on that site is frankly scary, and every time I go back there I just run into more of them! o.o

Comments

[eliki.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't deny that there are some pretty scary so and so's on FA. And it seems excruciatingly easy for damn trolls to surface there time and time again. I've been keeping a watchful eye on a few as it is, (pickledawg and his merry men) and have seen at least 4 banned. But then the scum resurface just as fast under a new name. So theres no easy way to keep them out. I suppose the same applies with LJ, but FA seems so slow on getting rid of them!

For the record, I really honestly have no intention of giving up on LJ. My personal reasons for putting things on FA, here and there, is because LJ just isn't the place for me to put links to the artwork. FA is (apparentley) dedicated to the creative side of things, and LJ... well, quite frankly isn't. I don't crave the glow of an audience, by any means, but it just does seem pointless linking to work on here. (Case in point, the last but one post about the song - zero comments - and not a word barely about the songs I've done over the last few years.) So FA seems the sensible place to post them.

But I really have no intention of jumping ship and heading on over to FA, and leaving LJ behind. LJ is the place I've been with for very nearly 10 years now, and I like the place a lot. I don't know other peoples plans, but I intend to stick around here as long as they want me. :)

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

Well, speaking for myself (which is probably a better idea than getting someone else to impersonate me =:P ) the two sites serve different purposes.

LJ will remain my primary rambling outlet for the foreseeable future -- and one major reason for that is its security settings. There doesn't seem to be any way to make the equivalent of a locked post over on FA, and there are odten things I'm happy to say in front of people I trust but wouldn't want to share with the world. (As has been the case recently!)

FA, on the other hand, seems a better place for straightforward artistic stuff. Even though I have the obvious drawback of not being able to draw, I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest I've had in my photos and even writing. Nothing like certain artistically-inclined snowkittens, of course, but probably as good as I've generally got on LJ, even after a very short time really paying much attention to FA.

I'd only leave LJ if it really fell apart completely and the people I cared about left -- for example if it went the way of alt.lifestyle.furry and the like. I like the control it offers me over who can see what I write, and tied in with that is the (good) point you make about there being some dodgy people over on FA who it's harder to stop than it is over here.

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

And while you're around, I'm afraid I really can't resist pointing you at this little gem. Okay, so you've probably already seen it months ago, but I confess to laughing like a drain when I came across it. =:P

[freakylynx.livejournal.com]

Most people I know who have dropped LJ did so because they have moved their addiction to Facebook and Twitter :P

[stuart-otterson.livejournal.com]

This I imagine is the case. Generally most people seem to like twittering about their little musings as it requires less work than a full post.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I concord too.

As for FA, I haven't heard of any significant migration to over there. Rest assured I won't be going over there, I rarely use it anyway.

[stuart-otterson.livejournal.com]

If anything, I'm seeing a slow but steady stream of artists making the move to InkBunny.

If I was the owner of FA I'd be worried, after all history has gone to show that FurAffinity itself didn't steal VCL's crown overnight.

[wolff-slaven.livejournal.com]

It does seem LJ is a dieing place honestly.

[stuart-otterson.livejournal.com]

If anything, the spiritual idea of LiveJournal lives on in Tumblr.

Tumblr is an ever growing service which takes aspects of both LiveJournal and Twitter. It's predominately a microblogging service like Twitter, but has no word limit and thus you can make a post as long as you might make on LiveJournal. In turn it has the social friendship following aspect that LiveJournal and Twitter have, so friends are notified when you make a new post.

LiveJournal was a great idea, blogging with what was effectively a subscription feature, but has suffered from a mixture of misfortunes. I don't think it's just developers taking a back seat, there's the growth of microblogging and better competition. It's a painful decline for LiveJournal mind, fading out like a dying candle that once shone so bright.