Wow; so much going on!
I just want to say, first, that while I'm sad about Foxeye and Kael giving up running this, like many here already, I can only thank them both for everything they've done so far! Obviously, running a site this sophisiticated is a huge job, and it doesn't surprise me if folks don't want to do it forever. I think wanting to step away is quite understandable.
What I really appreciate is that you guys have thought it through and given the community warning, and are offering help with finding ways to keep it going. This is really the best of all possible outcomes. I think a lot of us have been involved in other places where an owner suddenly pulled the plug, with no warning; or with places that went down due to technical difficulties. Thank you guys for being so open and so practical-minded about it!
Anyway... I also agree with many here that this has become a community that "feels" a lot better, to me, than some of the other similar options out there. I just can't get into the new EQ.com/Scroll.
I suppose we could try to make a go out of moving over to there, but IMO, the place isn't all that "friendly" for art sharing. (Maybe it's just because I'm old and there's something about the way it's set up that is just not clicking in my brain.)
I'm truly grateful to see folks popping up who think we might be able to continue to have this place exist in a form very much like its current one. I feel bad, because I'm really not technically savvy about web stuff, AT ALL, so I feel like I have nothing to offer except opinions, and cheerleading.
If it came down to recreating the community in a different place, I'd like to put in a "vote" for deviantArt over Yahoo!Groups.
To be honest, I don't have a clear sense of how a group at dA would function -- I don't really belong to any other groups there, although I know they exist, and I don't use the journal function very much. But I trust others here who have a vision for how it could be set up.
I understand the hesitation of others, like Berit and branchscamper. All I can say is... I don't know, somehow in about 4 years on dA, I've largely managed to not be too heavily exposed to the really irritating people I *know* are there. Maybe it's just that my stuff flies under the radar a lot? Largely, the community I interact with on dA is very similar to (indeed heavily overlapping with) this one and the community of the Holt I'm in, and I don't get exposed to rude people posting stuff I don't want to see. So, that's just to say that... it's at least possible to spend a good bit of time on dA, but avoid the negative aspects of it almost completely.
I'm also heartened to hear Maggie say that she would envision operating a group there with *strong* moderation. I am ALL for moderation! Strong moderators make the difference in making a group bearable to its members.
The other option, Yahoo... well. I belonged to some Yahoo groups long ago. I haven't really taken part in anything there for more than 5 years. All the stuff I ever did there was pretty text-based, not involving images. So I don't have a good sense of how such an image-focused community would operate on that platform. I guess it feels very old-fashioned to me, as well; a bit clunky. So I wouldn't be categorically opposed to trying to move there, if we had to and if most people wanted it rather than dA. It's just not my preference.
Crossing fingers, however, that enough web-savvy folks emerge here to make keeping this its own site possible!
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