hey, a genuine plea from someone who used to love this space: please learn to treat artists & writers as human beings and not factories.
part of what drove me away was the absolutely constant push to be making new things. i’d post a piece of art or a comic or a fic and get tons of people asking for what was going to happen next, just more more more nonstop, and it was overwhelming and so discouraging. it didn’t matter how long the thing i’d just posted was, people just wanted more. when i went on my hiatus because i felt totally tapped out, i got asks & requests STILL asking me to make more things, telling what of my stuff they missed, keeping that pressure on, and it SUCKED. i couldn’t even rest on my break because of that and along with other huge problems in the community, it made me quit this place for good.
just, please learn some etiquette about how to engage with art and writing, please stop asking for more all the time. if you want something you need to either learn to make it yourself or put your money where your mouth is and pay for it. if artists or writers ask for requests then it’s okay to ask for things for free, but don’t assume that’s the case for every single creator out there. for the love of god don’t read someone’s fic and then say ‘what if you wrote this again, but with this different thing that i like more’, because you sound like an entitled child.
PLEASE remember we’re human beings with lives and other circumstances, we need to make money to live or we need to go to school or take care of ourselves and our families. we are more than the drawings or stories we create and if you treat us like factories, you’re just going to burn us out. we are not ‘content creators’. we are PEOPLE.
and hey! for any other creatives out there who feel this way, feel like your audience is draining you dry or a community isn’t treating you with the respect you deserve? there is nothing wrong with dropping that space and moving on to something else, something better. sometimes things can’t be fixed or reformed or shaped up. sometimes the rot is so deep that it’s not worth breaking your back trying to pull it out. If a space isn’t good for you, save your mental and physical health and leave. i’ve been in a much better place in almost every aspect of my life after getting out of this community. you don’t have to stick around if you don’t feel valued. anyone telling you otherwise is thinking more about themself than about you, so fuck ‘em.
