#this post is also on pillowfort

[wtftaylr]

We're gonna swing, baby

Reference: [Pinterest] bc I couldn't find a better source for this particular piece. The artist is Barbara Schwinn Jordan! Linked is a short blog post about her; and here's a small gallery on the Delaware Art Museum site.

[nights-at-crystarium]

As a twitter/tumblr user since 2010-2011, I believe I have sufficient grounds to say that currently we as a community are living through the scariest, shittiest time yet. This post isn’t trying to fearmonger, no I’m not leaving tumblr until it literally keels over, but I suggest that we don’t put all our eggs in one basket.

If twitter/tumblr stay usable, great! In the worse scenario, you’d have kept posting on a new platform and stayed ahead of the curve.

This post shares my personal experience with three potential “new”* fandom places, and is aimed to help fellow content creators. I’m an artist fully depending on internet to survive, my reasoning may not apply to you if you’re a hobbyist. Do your own research, it’s always healthy. * Pillowfort and mastodon have been around for 5+ years, bluesky is ~2 years old.

Discovering new people to follow kinda sucks on all three platforms, twitter and tumblr are eons ahead, but, given the recent chaos and uncertainty, I’m willing to be patient, keep posting on those, and feel safer than I would’ve otherwise been. More baskets good, one basket bad.

All three have poor visual customization, don’t expect custom tumblr themes.

This list starts with the least popular, but most human and easy to join, and what I personally trust the most. All three allow nsfw if labeled properly.

✦ Pillowfort is a barebones tumblr. Intuitive, cozy, but currently very, very small. Be patient with its clunkiness or lack of some features, it’s made by an AO3-like team. I’d personally love if the fandom crowd managed to redirect its attention to it instead of the sus bluesky.

Joining: is free, invite-only, but the waitlist is nearly instant.

Lurk around on their official tumblr: @/pillowfort-social

✦ Mastodon, for me personally, is impossible to explain directly. I’ll use several comparisons.

- Discord but all servers can interact. You’re still on a server curated by some human(s) that might tell you what you can and can’t post, BUT, if you don’t like that server’s policy, you can move to a new one while keeping your followers. - Email, users A and B may be registered on different domains, still they can talk. It’s a weird comparison, but fediverse (please I’m not explaining THAT but it’s a good thing) in general looks like another email story: unlike big sites that come and go, it might stand the test of time. - Someone compared mastodon’s structure to xiv’s dc and servers, if you look at its domain names that way, it might be easier to understand.

Depending on user, mastodon may feel gatekeepy/snowflakey. I haven’t spent enough time on there to form a proper opinion yet, but a warning’s due.

An actually good and hopeful thing about mastodon AND tumblr: the two might start interacting in future. Ever lamented that your fav asian artists don’t use tumblr? If they use misskey, or any other place on the fediverse, it might be possible to follow them directly from tumblr in future, and vice versa.

Joining: is free, however some servers close for new members sometimes, and have human moderators reviewing your request.

✦ Bluesky is a twitter without Musk: today’s average internet user reads this, drops everything and already looks to register there. It’s still sus, but people flock to it like crazy. Most likely to become the next big fandom place in my eyes, even if I’m not happy about that.

I personally have no good feelings about bluesky. Same as twitter, which I hated even before the 2018 tumblr exodus, yet the crowd decided to make it The New Fandom Place, and, grudgingly, I had to give up and also join them in 2022. During the year I haven’t stopped despising twitter, yet, I can’t deny that it helped me survive. I estimate half of my patrons, and, hell, even tumblr audience, comes from twitter. So, if bluesky ends up being the next hot shit, I’ll have to keep up because internet pays for my living.

Joining: is free but hell, invite-only, the waitlist is a lie, your best chance to join is a direct invite.

This’s all I’ve got to say for now. If you have a correction or an addition, replies/reblogs are welcome!

Screenshots of the current interfaces under the cut, you may spy on my profiles o/

Pillowfort

Mastodon.art

Bluesky

[keeps-ache]

skykids :D !!

[Eien belongs to my brother Leo, Pepeka belongs to @euclid-dragon !!]

[mikoriin]

wii sports music

[sinfulsunni]

OK TRYING THIS AGAIN. izzy [REDACTED] posting attempt part two electric boogaloo

view full image + two more nasty sketches on pillowfort!! (you don’t need an account)

tumblr pls don’t nerf me he’s just tired from some exercise I swear

[pinkyjulien]

Valentin & Mitch | 655/?? ▶ When the heat of the afternoon puts you in the mood 🔞

[zylphiacrowley]

I just remembered I have an ancient pillowfort account... pillowfort allows naughty content.... I think I may've found where I can post explicit age restricted content. :3

Anyway if you also have a pillowfort account and don't mind sharing let me know (you can also PM me if you don't want to share with everyone in the replies). My dashboard is super dead over there so I could use people to follow. I'm ZylphiaCrowley over there as well and rn there is a single old post of Sable on my blog.

Either way I'll probably use it to post age restricted content and then link it from here so it's not like you'll be missing anything either way.

EDIT: I also have invites I can send out if anyone wants to register for a pillowfort account, again just hit me up and I'll get you one. :3

[andresmounts2]

Tumblr alternatives?

I have a pillowfort, but I don't think I'm gonna use it. I've also tried mastodon & bluesky but I can't really get into their queer communities.

[cali-kabi]

~ hello hi I made a Bluesky :D💫just in case if anything happens to my acc on here ^^’ I hope nothing happens tho I gotta say it’s better than using Twitter at least ;w; I made a pillowfort too but not showing it yet cuz it’s so buggy ah ><

[omgkayplays]

having ideas for an edit.....that i might not be able to post here bc tits, aine's specifically

[hyn-hyperlaser]

Ok so my garage has been cleared out!!! And i have space for all my physical art again :D

And my mum is setting up a sewing room that shes gonna let me use so i can finally finish my phighting plushies :3

I also got more screenprinting paints so i can so more of that now!!!!!

[thuviel]

Are you on Cara or Pillowfort?

I'm trying to find more community on other socials (since most of the big ones have gone to hell). So if you're on any of these let me know so I can follow you! :D Reply with your username or just find me there, I'm thuviel on both ^^

[yardsards]

just made a pillowfort account for in case staff continues to ruin tumblr and i need to go somewhere else

my username there is the same as on here

i probably won't be posting much on there, and it'll probably mostly be me crossposting things i've already posted here if i do post, but it's good to have a contingency plan

[morningnoodles]

still deciding which one of my (many) bagginshield wips i'll work on next so i'm doing more doodle-y sketchy stuff over the next week or so

[faerymercy]

pillowfort is funny bc there's an "anti dni pledge" that i see sometimes and it's like a 10+ paragraph post and it's just like... if DNIs upset you so much just don't have one?? don't follow people with them??? making and reblogging a fucking pledge about it is just hilarious to me idk 💀

[ace-of-hearts-and-spades]

If y'all don't mind me plugging myself for a moment - I now have a Pillowfort where I'm cross-posting my art. Just in case Tumblr really goes down the shitter. Yanno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯