#Platform & Tools:

[genericpuff]

Tbh at this point you should just make your own webcomic app/website because it would probably be 100 times better than whatever going on with webtoon right now.

hahaha it wouldn't tho, sorry 💀

Here's the fundamental issue with webcomic platforms that a lot of people just don't realize (and why they're so difficult to run successfully):

Storage costs are incredibly expensive, it's why so many sites have limitations on file sizes / page sizes / etc. because all of those images and site info have to be stored somewhere, which costs $$$.

Maintenance costs are expensive and get more so as you grow, you need people who are capable of fixing bugs ASAP and managing the servers and site itself

Financially speaking, webcomics are in a state of high supply, low demand. Loads of artists are willing to create their passion projects, but getting people to read them and pay for them is a whole other issue. Demand is high in the general sense that once people get attached to a webtoon they'll demand more, but many people aren't actually willing to go looking for new stuff to read and depend more on what sites feed them (and what they already like). There are a lot of comics to go around and thus a lot of competition with a limited audience of people willing to actually pay for them.

Trying to build a new platform from the ground up is incredibly difficult and a majority of sites fail within their first year. Not only do you have to convince artists to take a chance on your platform, you have to convince readers to come. Readers won't come if there isn't work on the platform to read, but artists won't come if they don't think the site will be worth it due to low traffic numbers. This is why the artists with large followings who are willing to take chances on the smaller sites are crucial, but that's only if you can convince them to use the site in favor of (or alongside) whatever platform they're using already where the majority of their audience lies. For many creators it's just not worth the time, energy, or risk.

Even if you find short-term success, in the long-term there are always going to be profit margins to maintain. The more users you pull in, the more storage is used by incoming artists, the more you have to spend on storage and server maintenance costs, and that means either taking the risk at crowdfunding (ex. ComicFury) or having to resort to outsider investments (ex. Tapas). Look at SmackJeeves, it used to be a titan in the independent webcomic hosting community, until it folded over to a buyout by NHN and then was pretty much immediately shuttered due to NHN basically turning it into a manwha scanlation site and driving away its entire userbase. And if you don't get bought out and try your hand at crowdfunding, you may just wind up living on a lifeline that could cut out at any moment, like what happened to Inkblazers (fun fact, the death of Inkblazers was what kicked off the cultural shift in Tapas around 2015-16 when all of IB's users migrated over and brought their work with them which was more aimed towards the BL and romancee drama community, rather than the comedy / gag-a-day culture that Tapas had made itself known for... now you deadass can't tell Tapas apart from a lot of scanlation sites because it got bought out by Kakao and kept putting all of its eggs into the isekai/romance drama basket.)

Right now the mindset in which artists and readers are operating is that they're trying way, way too hard to find a "one size fits all" site. Readers want a place where they can find all their favorite webtoons without much effort, artists wants a place where they can post to an audience of thousands, and both sides want a community that will feel tight-knit. But the reality is that you can't really have all three of those things, not on one site. Something always winds up having to be sacrificed - if a site grows big enough, it'll have to start seeking more funding while also cutting costs which will result in features becoming paywall'd, intrusive ads, creators losing their freedom, and/or outsider support which often results in the platform losing its core identity and alienating its tight-knit community.

If I had to describe what I'm talking about in a "pick one" graphic, it would look something like this:

(*note: this is mostly based on my own observations from using all of these sites at some point or another, they're not necessarily entirely accurate to the statistical performance of each site, I can only glean so much from experience and traffic trackers LMAO that said I did ask some comic pals for input and they were very helpful in helping me adjust it with their own takes <3).

The homogenization of the Internet has really whipped people into submission for the "big sites" that offer "everything", but that's never been the Internet, it relies on being multi-faceted and offering different spaces for different purposes. And we're seeing that ideology falter through the enshittification of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. where users are at odds with the platforms because the platforms are gutting features in an attempt to satisfy shareholders whom without the platforms would not exist. Like, most of us aren't paying money to use social media sites / comic platform sites, so where else are they gonna make the necessary funds to keep these sites running? Selling ad space and locking features behind paywalls.

And this is especially true for a lot of budding sites that don't have the audience to support them via crowdfunding but also don't have the leverage to ask for investments - so unless they get really REALLY lucky in EITHER of those departments, they're gonna be operating at a loss, and even once they do achieve either of those things there are gonna be issues in the site's longevity, whether it be dying from lack of growing crowdfunding support or dying from shareholder meddling.

So what can we do?

We can learn how to take our independence back. We don't have to stop using these big platforms altogether as they do have things to offer in their own way, particularly their large audience sizes and dipping into other demographics that might not be reachable from certain sites - but we gotta learn that no single site is going to satisfy every wish we have and we have to be willing to learn the skills necessary to running our own spaces again. Pick up HTML/CSS, get to know other people who know HTML/CSS if you can't grasp it (it's me, I can't grasp it LOL), be willing to take a chance on those "smaller sites" and don't write them off entirely as spaces that can be beneficial to you just because they don't have large numbers or because they don't offer rewards programs. And if you have a really polished piece of work in your hands, look into agencies and publishing houses that specialize in indie comics / graphic novels, don't settle for the first Originals contract that gets sent your way.

For the last decade corporations have been convincing us that our worth is tied to the eyes we can bring to them. Instead of serving ourselves, we've begun serving the big guys, insisting that it has to be worth something eventually and that it'll "payoff" simply by the virtue of gambler's fallacy. Ask yourself what site is right for you and your work rather than asking yourself if your work is good enough for them. Most of us are broke trying to make it work on these sites anyways, may as well be broke and fulfilled by posting in places that actually suit us and our work if we can. Don't define your success by what sites like Webtoons are enforcing - that definition only benefits them, not you.

#my favorite out of these is comicfury because it gives you the most control out of all of them #and you can offer monetization tools like ads and patreon links #it also offers super easy tools to help build your own site if you're new to that #it's as close to “running your own site” as comic hosting can get #but you can also learn how to run your own site if you want undeniably full control without fear of the platform host shuttering #also look into collectives like SpiderForest! #they basically operate as a co-op where people host their work with them and get ad opportunities #but you have to apply to get in #ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything #webcomic tips

[buginacup]

Unity's behavior is embarrassingly greedy. Clearly trying to brute force their way into skimming revenue from every mobile game on the market -> pushing their adware onto every piece of software. It's been really disheartening to see every game development software company demand exponentially more profit the past few years. Especially since it comes at the expense of scaring away blossoming developers...

If you haven't learned to make games, but plan to - use something open source like GODOT, or at least an old version of RPG maker with a one-time purchase of a license.

If the owner of the IDE you're using would be legally within their rights to do what Unity is doing now you should assume that they will do it eventually too.

#text #unity #Amazing that years of cumulative tool development and resources can just be exploited #Unity is derided (somewhat justly) as a platform #but for many it's been a crucial step for learning at LEAST #gamedev

[icewindandboringhorror]

I got these shoes from someone recently but thought they were way too plain looking, so I set out on a quest to customize them with some sharpies and charms and miscellaneous ribbon I had in my craft drawers. Mostly sky themed (clouds, rainbows, rain, stars, etc.) because that's my favorite aesthetic, but I had to include some cat imagery as well, of course lol.

#also honestly had NO IDEA that real converse have that star logo on the INSIDE not the outer part??? why the hell would you want it on the #inner portion where nobody can see it?? my entire life I always would have sworn it was on the outer facing portion.. #I think these would be perfect IF they were just slightly taller (top part higher above ankles instead of just weird hard material digging #right into your ankle whenever you walk) and if they were actual good platforms. they're so short. It's good that 'chunky' shoes are gettin #more popular as they've always been my favorite Look ever since I had these shoes with roller skates that pop out of thebottom (not heelys. #but like. before those. it was two whole entire roller skate wheels like a normal pair of roller skates) and the bottoms were so tall and #clunky and it made my feet look giant (because it had.. entire wheels in the bottom pockets lol). so #I've alwatys been into the aesthetic but . still I find a lot of the 'brands jumping on trend' are too short of platforms #OR they're plafrorms with a raised back/heel/wedge which to me is not aesthetically good and also makes them exceptionally uncomfortable to #wear compared to just plain completely flat chunky platform bottoms. ANYWAY.. if these shoes had a 3 or 4 inch platform I think they'd be #cooler. however for what they are it's still fine! and I like them more now that they actually have some sort of anything to them and #aren't just plain white. The weird thing is that the material it's made out of (maybe some sort of leather or something) absorbs sharpie? #the color changes over time. You draw a mark and then leave it for a few days and it either fades into being barely there or has changed #colors. so I had to go back in and redo parts. ALSO the shoe chains are so funny because I did NOT have the right tools for them #I don't have the stuff to make bracelets or open and close the little rings. they're held onto the shoe with just safety pins and the actua #little rung things that hold the charms on half of them are like broken or the metal is just jam smushed together bent and warped hhbjhjhb #I actually like the back a lot where there's the irridecent star thing hot glued on there. it's cool and shiny. and the clouds #are sparkly on the main parts of the shoe though I'm not sure how well it shows up in pictures #ANYWAY... shoegs..... If I were rich this is one of the things I would definitely custom order from craftsman #why would I spend like thousands of dollars on plain ass shoes that are just expensive because they're a Luxury Brand when I could literall #like pay people to create me custom shoes to my exact specifications?? I could have like 5 inch flat platform boots with fur andclouds #and cat shaped holes in the bottom with LEDs in them with pom pom and charms and etc. etc. etc. Like as gaudy and excessively over #decorated as I want lol.. AND they could have skates in the bottom somehow!! ghjgbhjb #this on top of all the custom wizard costumes and period clothing I would order.. Like i LOVE customizing things. I love everything in my l #life being as particualr as possible and cultivating every experience I have to meticulously meet my own specific criteria as much #as is possible. If I had the money to I would never buy something from a store again. EVERYTHING I owned from furniture to clothing #would be either made by me - or mostly - comissioned from craftsmen. custom tiles for my floors. custom bed. custom table. #even like. custom toilet. custom sinks. etc. etc. ouGGH... but yeah.. anyway... shoes..

[girlwarlock]

maybe it's a coincidence but it's a lil sketch that when i searched the ''intrusive thoughts'' tag (due to some curiosity from a post that crossed my dash) that this thing come up. @wip @changes I really don't like this kind of targeted communication, whether this kokobot is something that tumblr is cooking up internally or whether they're a third party getting the info from tumblr for this kind of targeted spam.

#after the fact tag ramble added a few hours after making the original post: #this has the feel of tumblr feeling like they need to make a show of ''doing something about harassment on the platform'' #without actually improving their moderation tools and policies in ways that might reduce harassment so they do this partnership #with a third party that claims to be acting to try and help the symptoms that might result from harassment #A lot of this is based on a more detailed review of platform.kokocares.org #and as a refinement of prior stated bandaid idea i think this is in response to the whole Thing where tunglr was blacklisting tags #associated with any kind of mental health issues incl. not allowing iOS users to **even see** posts tagged with those things #this caused a tremendous backlash that they had no good answer for: they wanted to remove the ickybadthings that advertisers don't like #so instead of actually moderating those tags (which would require people) they just have a bot bother you #into trying to use this weird third party thing instead of looking for/talking about whatever you might be trying to look at #basically it looks like they're offloading moderation onto this third party instead of trying to handle any of it themselves #tag novel

[apostaterevolutionary]

You know what would be really funny, is if people came together to have an anti-crab day. A day where every user who joined prior to automattic’s acquisition logged off for 24 hours to show that yes, actually, older user retention is important and you should listen us just as much as new users

The users giveth, the users taketh away

#this isn’t about the sidebar btw I’ve already said I don’t mind the sidebar #I think it could be a better sidebar like the 2014 tumblr layout which was great #but it’s Fine (tm) #this is about live and the new post editor and the apparent avatar removal bs ‘experiment’ #and it’s also about how these big overhauls keep being done meanwhile we can’t have like. a search function that works #or the queue reordering tools that already exist on mobile web applied to any other platform #you know. all the little stuff that’s comparatively easy to implement yet they ‘don’t have time’ for because they’re too busy #with these massive overhauls and ignoring all the asks that go to wip #also I don’t expect anyone to actually do this and I’m sure as hell not organizing anything cause that’s a lot of work lmao #but I think giving them money pre-emptivelt just showed they can do whatever they want and we’ll fall for it #taking away money would be more effective #idk I don’t think current staff are any better at running tumblr than yahoo was #they’re just better at the ‘we’re quirky and relatable just like you guys uwu’ bit #and a lot of us fell for it but I think the illusion is starting to lift #anyway idk it sucks here but all the other sites are either worse or empty so what can we do #(genuinely wtf can we do this nonsense is getting bad) #text #misc #shut up nerd #new layout stuff

[livetogether--diealone]

Maybe charles will only change when he is in his 30s like seb and lewis did lol

He can also start now though! No age limit for it

#again not looking for morality in this sport but the excuse people pile up him is not it #you can like him and say he's another entitled rich man out of touch that's fine #i aknowledged his wrong statement about blm and the whole debacle about him not kneeling this is on the back of my mind #so i'm always weary of him for these stuff #even if it's just out of ignorance it's not good because he has the tools to learn #this is where the concept of f1 is a white sport with rich entitle guys running in circles come in! #we can like drivers and say they are clueless because they live a priviledged life and would be great if they could use their platform in #a good way but let's manage our expectations #aks time #charles

[toastybugguy]

Was scrolling through fics the other day and saw that someone had posted somewhere around 15 works to a series in which they outright AI generated fics using a prompt and then posted them, and honestly words cannot express the fucking rage that went straight to my core upon witnessing that. You have got to have quite the level of disrespect for artists if you’re gonna put that soulless shit in a creative space.

#doing it in your own time and space? fine. i don’t like it but fine i can’t technically stop you from doing so. #but to put it on a platform made for creatives when it’s a tool that is actively gutting those people’s works? pack up and go the fuck home #writing #fanfic #ai writing #ai art #ai #toasty talks

[lunod]

I think the funny thing about the Reddit fiasco is they really pulled it on the wrong userbase. Tumblr users can't even stay off the app for more than a couple days and more often than not just complain about things to their followers.

But Redditors with a point to prove? The same guys writing like 15000 words fully sourced about some hyperspecific topic for Free and you not only thought you could pull a fast one on them but you want to insinuate that you, the guy basically just hosting the server they write this stuff on, can do without them? The users who form networks of related subreddits and who already frequently work together to moderate all of them?

#reddit #user.dat #btw the API nonsense affects mods' ability to moderate...among other things like issues with accessibility tools #like you could have done this on any other platform and the most you'd get is a slight rise in complaints before it smooths over #this is like the online equivalent of when that one cybersecurity department of a university tried installing cameras everywhere #like you CAN. Sure you CAN do that. But you sure picked a hell of an audience

[annakacoyett]

Guess which idiot spent over 15 hrs on a google drawing assignment for ICT thats not even worth 10% of their final grade.

Me. I'm that idiot.

#honestly google drawings update your fking platform #i cant even see my layers #and put a colorwheel somewhere #the amount of times my eyedropper tool got lost in that undeground palette is honestly astonishing. #art #artists on tumblr #digital artist #artwork #digital illustration #the amazing digital circus #technology #google

[v1pr3]

princess treatment

#grunge #outfit #ootd #goth #gothic #alt girl #goth gf #boyfriend #hands #platform shoes #concert #hand kink #size kink #tool

[icewindandboringhorror]

Very generic “”gothy” character in a children’s cartoon” type look just out of curiosity, seeing if I had enough stuff to put together a full outfit from a box of old clothes lol. I didn’t have an actual main shirt though, so it’s just a plain tank top with cat shape cut out of paper and safety pinned onto the front 

#Though not calling anyone generic if this is your style or something. I don't mean it in a bad way. I just mean like.. all of the steretypic #al elements are there. The choker thing. the 'fishnet shirt under a tank top' . the 'carefully placed slightly askew studded belt' etc. #the skirt + some form of patterned specially striped tights + platform boots combo. etc. Like from a character design standpoint #These are the elements usually present in a show when they want to portray 'this caracter is slightly edgy and alternative' #just missing like.. hair with straight across bangs in pigtails that's black with a few colored streaks in it. OR just like shoulder length #shaggy hair that's also streaky and has a sidebang. and like.. one lip piercing or something ghhjbjh.. dark eyeliner #black nailpolish. I'm not painting my nails just for one uoutfit though. I actually used to wear nailpolish more but I just hate the smell #so much now. I can't see how I ever was able to bear it. I think maybe because usually I had some bigger spaces with ventalation. I guess #I could paint them outside maybe. Still #It's still hard to beleive some poeple will like. full on #get their nails done on a constant basis. get hair done. etc.etc. Not even just becuase of the money but like. the sensory experience seems #ovwerhelming. I only have been to a hair salon like twice in my life and both times I HATED a person touching me. and having to like lay my #head back and get it rinsed. etc. I went to a nail slon literally once because someone else wanted to go and I happened to be with them #and the smell was bad to me and also I did not like them touching me even if it was just my hands. Also I've never had fake nails #and didn't want them so when I went in I just got them plainly painted a plain color with nothing special andit's just like.. I could have #done that myself for free lol.. I get going to a place with special tools and equipment if you want something complicated but like.. #why pay to have your plain nails plainly painted in a plain way #Hair thing if more bothersome though like. Maybe strangers can touch my hands i guess but like. letting someone near my head and face. #automatic bad reflex. Like an animal protecting it's belly or something. I think amplified by the fact that not only is a stranger touching #you but also there's like. so much. stuff. wet feeling on hair and then the feeling of hands and then so many smells and then other poeple #being there too. etc. etc. Though since my hair is so long now I have been curious every once in a while to like.. go into a place and get #an estimate. Not to go through with it actually but just like. hey if I theoretically wanted you to bleach my very dark extremely thick hai #r that is all the way to my fingertips. and make it like white.how much would that cost and how long would it take. I feel like it would tak #e froever and be very expensive since it'd probably use up a lot of product. I barely even keep up with coloring my own hair at home anymore #because it's always such a process. Instead of one thing of dye I need literally like 4 lol. etc. #Or maybe it'd be cheaper because they'd have bulk items instead of buying single package. But still. the man hours probably. cost of labor. #ANYWAY khjk... Another fun look just to be silly. Not really my style but it's all just playing dress up

[lord-radish]

It really does feel like the most prominent social media conglomerates are closing their fist around the throat of the internet and its users. like sorry to be dramatic but a combination of the over-sanitization of the internet, bad-faith actors actively dismantling the infrastructure of the platforms they run and the increased monetization of pretty much every digital platform and media service is making the internet less accessible.

Netflix's library has continued to shrink for years due to every media company under the sun pulling their catalogue to start their own dedicated streaming platform. They've disabled account sharing, they're introducing tiered subscriptions where the cheapest rate forces you to watch ads, and the price of all their tiers has sharply increased. And somehow that actually fucking worked for them, despite being a worse service for a worse price.

YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Twitch monitor what people say and remove content on the grounds of vulgarity, or they disincentivise it by making content harder to find and interact with. Efforts to control misinformation has resulted in topics like COVID affecting the visibility of what people publish, meaning that you can't even mention it casually as the fact of life that it's been for years without it getting flagged, which affects who can see it. Want to mention the two years you had to spend inside? That's deemed just as critical as COVID safety tips, and it's subject to the same scrutiny as COVID misinformation, which means less people will be able to see what you posted.

You have to pay more money to play console games online for absolutely arbitrary reasons. Platforms that are ostensibly free are either moving to paywall content, or they're slathering on monetization schemes and pushing them hard. You can't post NSFW or Google, Apple or fucking MASTERCARD will shut you down.

There is a white-knuckle grip on the throat of the internet, and it feels like it really fucking clamped down in the last six months, all at the same time from all sides. It's been there for a while, but it almost feels like it came to a head in one fell swoop and either no-one gives a fuck or they've accepted that every company ever is going to fuck us in the ass and get away with it.

#messyposting #toxicposting #both of which are filter tags so that people can choose to filter them out of their feed #but that's a courtesy measure I came up with for my followers where the platform has given users the tools to do so #and not an automatic flag disincentivising me to post it at all

[goodgifswithfreetoolschallenge]

TUTORIAL 1

Making Gifs With DaVinci Resolve and FFmpeg or Gifski

FULL TUTORIALS | RECOLORED GIFS

Want to skip the tedious traditional process of screencapping a scene frame by frame and coloring and captioning those frames in batches? Would you rather make high quality gifs in a video editor instead, with a huge toolkit of color adjustment options, applied shot by shot rather than frame by frame, all for the price of $0 per month??? This tutorial is for you!

EXAMPLE SETS

Operating systems: Mac, Windows, and Linux

Quality potential: High

Software needed: DaVinci Resolve and FFmpeg (or Gifski CLI)

Difficulty: Moderate to Advanced

Time: Example set took me 17 minutes

Competencies: Some general familiarity with video editors and using your computer's shell helps but isn't required to follow the tutorial. There is a workaround that allows you to avoid the command line entirely on Mac of Windows. Familiarity with recoloring tools is also great but not required.

LIMITATIONS: None, but do note that DaVinci Resolve has minimum hardware requirements.

See the full tutorial here!

#tutorial #ffmpeg and davinci resolve #good gifs with free tools challenge #cross platform #windows #linux #mac #ffmpeg #davinci resolve #moderate #advanced

[pointsfortrying]

honestly tempted to make a masterpost / guide on tumblr rp,,,,,

#rye rambles #i know that it's been done 1890320 times before but. i cannot find them atm fsdlkjds #i don't Know anyone personally who might be interested in it but i do geniunely find the rpc side of tumblr to be fascinating #<- they lie in the weird middle ground of casual and “formal” when it comes to things #i have Not been roleplaying for that long not including other platforms maybe 6-7 years total on tumblr? #and i usually just stick to a handful of mutuals #but. thinks ab it. #it is a surprisingly convoluted (but i would argue in a fun way) system #think i'd try to. go over like #things like terminology / how to find communities / graphics / tools / etiquette / pages etc. #ofc not set 'this is how its done' but more of a #'hey if you want to get into things you'll probably see a lot of these things so here's what they mean---' #idk. #rp's become one of my main ways of engaging w/ a fandom and i have fun with it think it could be fun to write things down fdsklsd #bc it does feel incredibly disconnected from the general tumblr space and i think it could be fun to try n show things off

[glitzybunny]

I really hate Instagram KJFNDKSFNKD

#HOW DID THEY MAKE IT WORSE??? #side note #WTF DID THEY DO TO THE CROPPING ON PC??? I CANT EVEN MOVE IT TO FIT???? HUH??? #IT LITERALLY CUT SHIT OFF LOL #I HAD TO SNIP TOOL THE IMAGE FJKLDNLKFJND #PFFF #can't believe thats my first and practically main platform #honestly why- KJFDKJF

[punk-pins]

tumblr live update on mobile: it now has the option to snooze the live streams at the top of the dashboard for 30 days, but the video icon for the tumblr live tab in the middle of the footer can’t be disabled at all :/

#BOOOOO WE HATE YOUR COCK ! #the logic of the tumblr developers is wow people love to live blog events like concerts and conventions #so we should offer an in-house live streaming tool to keep our userbase all in one place when they do that #the PROBLEM is that you NEED two devices and/or at least two separate programs to liveblog #bc you need to be constantly refreshing your dash & making your own posts on tumblr #while you stream from another platform / device #if you’re watching the stream on tumblr then you can’t actually use tumblr to blog #which makes it useless for its intended purpose !!! #also the average long-term tumblr user stays with the platform bc of its anonymity & text-based features #live-streaming is like. The opposite of that #and even with the understanding that only 5% of people will stream and 95% will exclusively watch (of those that use the feature) #they’ve done nothing to incentivize any streamers with any sort of presence on tumblr to use the service !! #they need to provide a monetary or perks incentive to the top streamers #or else why would literally anyone choose to build a streaming platform on tumblr when they can get monetized on a competitor’s platform #it’s just Bad all around