AuthorTopic: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?  (Read 15123 times)

Offline Ma3vis

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Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

on: October 28, 2021, 03:05:55 am
It seems sorta dead. :/ I used to love this community but there doesn't seem much participation but the occasional holiday competition. Did something happen? Is this mostly used as a [Jobs] and [Paid Offers] board now? I know there was a discord channel for awhile, did the community move there?? Is there another more active community I am unaware of? There was DeviantArt back in the early 2000's, and PixelJoint and PixelDailies on Twitter but even those communities seem gone too. Where can someone go to find an active thriving supportive pixelart community now?

Offline eishiya

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #1 on: October 28, 2021, 06:54:32 pm
Most of the community moved to Discord, yeah. PixelJoint has more art-related activity on the site, but even the users there seem to be mostly on Discord. Shame, because I don't get on with Discord for art feedback, the post format is just too inflexible >:

Another problem is that a lot of the older artists are too busy for this place or don't have use for it anymore, and there hasn't been much influx of newer artists, because most of them are on Twitter and Instagram and such instead, but those aren't communities as such.

Discord is mostly where the community has gone, but it's still splintered. And I've yet to find a pixel art Discord I like, there's not enough pixel art happening at any of them for my taste :'D (Granted, I haven't tried out very many, they're hard to find if you're not in the "in" crowd.)

Offline Ma3vis

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #2 on: October 28, 2021, 07:12:45 pm
Is there any discord or website you might recommend at this time?
Despite none being satisfying, which one is most preferable to you?

Offline eishiya

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #3 on: October 30, 2021, 06:07:39 pm
PixelJoint's the only somewhat-active website I can recommend.

As for Discords, I can't recommend any as I've not looked at any of them in a long time.

Offline cels

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #4 on: October 31, 2021, 06:27:47 pm
In my opinion, the evolution of the internet has not been that positive for the pixel art community in terms of collective learning. Maybe I'm biased by nostalgia, but I feel like the move to social media and Discord have changed the way people communicate. When we used forums with threads, people would invest more time in tips and edits because their feedback would stay visible forever. Feedback didn't disappear in the feed and become invisible after a few hours, so people who were active with feedback would get more attention and praise for their work. There was as much praise for edits as for the originals, sometimes.

I also feel like whenever I try to critique someone in 2021 as opposed to 2015, they're often... just looking for compliments. It was always the case that some people were more willing to change their work than others, but now I feel like artists are more sensitive. If they don't like the CC, they will ignore you or react negatively instead of being grateful that someone tried to help. As pixel artists get better, there's also a bit of elitism going on, but I won't get into that. More importantly, I think the whole nature of Discord and Twitter is kind of angst-inducing. Everyone can see what is being said in real time. They can see if someone is typing. And when no one answers, the silence is deafening. If someone critiques your work on a server with a lot of people, it feels more significant than getting a reply in a thread. I have definitely sinned in different ways as well, so I'm not simply criticizing everyone else.

But yeah, maybe I'm just an old fart. There are some positive aspects too. I notice some Discord servers have a real fellowship going on. For some people, Discord is definitely better. I'm CELS # 2625 (without spaces) on Discord, I can send you invites to some Discord channels if you want to check them out. PJ is probably the best place to start though.

Offline Ma3vis

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #5 on: October 31, 2021, 08:21:05 pm
Yes please, send anything you can that helps. Desperate here for some sort of community or support.

Offline cels

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #6 on: October 31, 2021, 11:58:13 pm
Well, like I said, I can send you some invites on Discord. You have to add me though.  ;D

Offline eishiya

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #7 on: November 02, 2021, 07:47:45 pm
Does the PJ Discord still have a single channel for both off-topic chatter and art feedback? That was one of the things I really didn't like about it when I was there, there was no way to mute channels such that I would only get notifications for art-related conversations. I suggested the idea of splitting them, but the moderation preferred to keep them merged.

Offline cels

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #8 on: November 02, 2021, 11:42:11 pm
I'm on three big PA servers (PJ, Lospec and Pix) and they all have separate chat / off-topic channels. Lospec has started using threads in their art feedback channel, which seems like an ok compromise between forum and discord.

Offline eishiya

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Re: Do People Still Use this Website/Forum?

Reply #9 on: November 04, 2021, 02:01:25 am
That's good to hear, thank you! Maybe I'll check the PJ server out again some time.