I MISS FORUMS, MAN!

[Dominicque]

I 100% agree the other platforms are just too big for the sort of community you need cultivate for artists, but especially Artists starting out and/or needing a creative push and guidance from more experienced peers. Facebook is really for family and friends, you can't post multiple posts on Reddit without it feeling like spam, and I'm not sure if it will be all that good bumping your post so the right people will see it. And, regarding Instagram it can be awkward for artists practicing master studies on a same platform that the actual artist hosts on. Even if you post and label it correctly, it might not defend you from stan culture. It's more image heavy and not community ready. You post and go, post and go, post and go. You can feel pressure to always post your best work, even if that's not actually helpful to you. One of the most inspiring and amazing things about CA was you saw absolute novices, become masters in their field in span of a only a couple of years, via personal dedication, and the other forum users encouraging and pushing other members forward. And, of course getting expert feedback. The forum user interface, also let people easily walk through other people's journey, without having to scroll though a feed that can take hours. I have yet to see Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or Instagram produce the stories of Rapoza, Miles Johnson, algenpfleger or Hardesty

Bigger platforms as just too big and fast, it's only really helpful if you are already established. Sometime I feel like I have 'missed the boat' so to speak and I wished I had the confidence to post on CA when I first heard about it. (I was only a year older than Johnson and I felt bad then) At least Crimson Dagger is still poppin. It's like the 'last man standing'. (I guess along with Cubebrush. There are others, but this seems to retain the most traffic.)