[POLL]Has the fandom changed in worse or in better over the years?

[Connor J. Coyote]

Eh... I voted the same on this one. As I don't see much fluctuation in the overall environment, (in all honesty).... either for better, or for worse.... and so, I guess - there's no real change, from my perspective.

BTW - there's "bad apples in every bunch".... as they say.... and so- the extreme cases (that many people often point to, as a symbol of what's wrong in this community) - isn't really reflective of the whole barrel - many of us would remind them.

And so - sometimes focusing on the whole picture - is often times more beneficial, and more accurate, than focusing on just a handful of extreme, unpleasant cases.... that many detractors often times like to fixate on.

 

[Christine Vulpes]

BTW - there's "bad apples in every bunch".... as they say.... and so- the extreme cases (that many people often point to, as a symbol of what's wrong in this community) - isn't really reflective of the whole barrel - many of us would remind them.

And so - sometimes focusing on the whole picture - is often times more beneficial, and more accurate, than focusing on just a handful of extreme, unpleasant cases.... that many detractors often times like to fixate on.

I think when people are using this argument with the fandom there is something you over look by assuming because the whole average is mostly okay, that its all kosher. It introduces cognitive biases, and logical fallacies and is generally a bad thing to do when dealing with sociology - blanket averages always work for hard sciences, but not always soft sciences.

There seems to be a disproportional representation of some fringe issues inside the fandom. Is this because people are just more open so they have a higher chance of getting outed? I think this is part of it, and that its just a representation of the general population. But it also begs the question of why? Why are they more open about those things? Clearly the furry fandoms inclusion and acceptance of a lot of people gets interpreted incorrectly.

There is a lot of grooming that seems to go on, adults making advances on younger people. If you would like to see for yourself, say you are 15 year old girl or a 13 year old boy and just wait. Someone is going to be DYING to RP with you and they are probably 30+.

Its a personal anecdote and thus meaningless... but the 2nd or Third guy I spoke with online in the very early 2000s? He was double my age. It was super weird, and I stopped chatting with him. 2 years later he sent me a message saying he moved to my city and wanted to meet up, and then kept messaging me for YEARS. HE STILL SENDS EMAILS. I have not responded in a decade. This does not seem normal, and I have never had anything like this happen outside of the fandom.

People talk about other aspects too. And lets be real IF you go to e621 and type in <animal type> it seems like a 1/3 of your results are just "feral"...or just straight up dogs and wolves railing each other or anthro/human people. This seems to be getting pretty close to zoophilic IMO.

And I am not even going to touch cub stuff with a 49 1/2 foot pole. *shudders*

Then you have some people that try and pass the fandom off as "mostly normal" with a sexualized minority. But I think this is disingenuous as well, just based on the shear volume of smut. My PFP is a cropped in Nude - I do not think its smut as much as a more classical romantic style art as there is no visible genitalia, but its still possibly suggestive and a lot of people would find not normal and objectionable.

The first conventions were highly sexualized including burlesqe/strip tease shows, and the artists have (mostly male - I am not sure if the female artists that were popular in the mid 90s ever commented on this) commented that there were after hours activities going on in the hotel rooms. Also IIRC they did not split the adult booths from the general booths as is common now. Its was all together at once.

These are the things people think about when they say the fandom has issues.

I guess the long and short is I think its a lot more complicated than "as a whole we are angels and good- but there are a few bad apples" Because A few bad apples REALLY CAN spoil the bunch.

 

[O.D.D.]

I think when people are using this argument with the fandom there is something you over look by assuming because the whole average is mostly okay, that its all kosher. It introduces cognitive biases, and logical fallacies and is generally a bad thing to do when dealing with sociology - blanket averages always work for hard sciences, but not always soft sciences.

There seems to be a disproportional representation of some fringe issues inside the fandom. Is this because people are just more open so they have a higher chance of getting outed? I think this is part of it, and that its just a representation of the general population. But it also begs the question of why? Why are they more open about those things? Clearly the furry fandoms inclusion and acceptance of a lot of people gets interpreted incorrectly.

There is a lot of grooming that seems to go on, adults making advances on younger people. If you would like to see for yourself, say you are 15 year old girl or a 13 year old boy and just wait. Someone is going to be DYING to RP with you and they are probably 30+.

Its a personal anecdote and thus meaningless... but the 2nd or Third guy I spoke with online in the very early 2000s? He was double my age. It was super weird, and I stopped chatting with him. 2 years later he sent me a message saying he moved to my city and wanted to meet up, and then kept messaging me for YEARS. HE STILL SENDS EMAILS. I have not responded in a decade. This does not seem normal, and I have never had anything like this happen outside of the fandom.

People talk about other aspects too. And lets be real IF you go to e621 and type in <animal type> it seems like a 1/3 of your results are just "feral"...or just straight up dogs and wolves railing each other or anthro/human people. This seems to be getting pretty close to zoophilic IMO.

And I am not even going to touch cub stuff with a 49 1/2 foot pole. *shudders*

Then you have some people that try and pass the fandom off as "mostly normal" with a sexualized minority. But I think this is disingenuous as well, just based on the shear volume of smut. My PFP is a cropped in Nude - I do not think its smut as much as a more classical romantic style art as there is no visible genitalia, but its still possibly suggestive and a lot of people would find not normal and objectionable.

The first conventions were highly sexualized including burlesqe/strip tease shows, and the artists have (mostly male - I am not sure if the female artists that were popular in the mid 90s ever commented on this) commented that there were after hours activities going on in the hotel rooms. Also IIRC they did not split the adult booths from the general booths as is common now. Its was all together at once.

These are the things people think about when they say the fandom has issues.

I guess the long and short is I think its a lot more complicated than "as a whole we are angels and good- but there are a few bad apples" Because A few bad apples REALLY CAN spoil the bunch.

Normally what stays in art, even if it profoundly disgusts me, is not something I will make a huge sticking point (notable exception for art specifically created to harm someone else)

but the number of times someone in the fandom gets outed as a sex pest and their gallery is full of that kind of thing is so high, I think it's reasonable to consider it a red flag/point of concern

 

[TyraWadman]

@Christine Vulpes
It's hard to tell if I feel different [about today] because I'm getting older, or because things truly are not the same as they used to be.

It's both, really. Ten years ago you basically had to be hazed in order to get into a conversation with anyone. I can't really say it's changed for some pockets of individuals, but ten years is a huge leap of time for things and people to change. Sites are easy to access, policies change, people come and go from all different walks of life... you're going through your own. You are becoming more aware of things you may not have had exposure to, and new life challenges/problems to overcome.

That tight knit feeling of being part of something isn't really a feeling I get anymore, especially not on modern social media sites. Twitter and similar networks just feel like an unordered torrent of chaos. Anything shared there is just tossed into the wind and instantly forgotten. I get no sense of community from those, only a sense of isolation. Nothing really seems to matter and nothing really goes anywhere. Discussions can't have depth, or even if they do, it doesn't matter because it's all just temporary entertainment for people that crave constant stimulation. It's no wonder people feel so bad today, if nothing is of consequence. If the only way to be seen is to do something outrageous, and even then, it won't matter. I think we need that sense of belonging and meaning, and Twitter (and the like) provides neither. It only makes you unhappy.

I could argue that no fandom (as a whole) has ever been organized and welcoming, but the question is, are you looking for a sense of belonging in a digital space, or something a little more local? Do you know that you are loved/care for yourself? I can definitely agree that 99.99% of online relationships are impersonal and most of them have been 5+ year investments that have left me empty-handed every time, but it's either I give up and never succeed, or I keep trying and make my own happiness.

The fandom used to be about escapism - about dreaming yourself away to a different world inhabited by these wonderful anthropomorphic beings. And now, instead, people exploit it to further whatever dogma they happen to have fallen victim for, whether that be political or religious. It creeps me out, and it makes me very upset and disappointed people would tarnish it that way.

I can definitely agree that there is more political mud-slinging than most would like, but it can be helpful to pay attention sometimes. Especially if they decide to change some laws that might affect your corner of the internet. DX Religion is easy enough to avoid though. Unless you provoke the conversation, you can just click and move on.

If people are using the fandom as a coping mechanism (and not for any other reason like it being fun or something), then it's no surprise that things start to look dull after a few years. You've seen and done everything it's had to offer and if you're still unhappy, either you've got something like depression, or you have yet to tackle the real underlying issue. I personally went through something similar with RP in general. I'd seen and learned everything there was to learn. Everyone used the same vocabulary and made the same characters (people REALLY like to stick with classics with no deviation whatsoever). I was bored and disappointed. I had this idea that I would never find an RP to look forward to ever again, so instead of just waiting for someone to impress me, I dedicated that extra time to chipping away at my own stories. Been a lot happier that way, too!

The fandom can still be about escapism/fun. You just have to make it for yourself, and not what everyone else thinks.

 

[TyraWadman]

@Firuthi Dragovic
I am glad that for you it has improved considerably. Would you be inclined to share why that is? I like hearing things that are positive

For me, I've seen how easy it is for people to connect. People here meet up on the forums and then join each others discord groups. The overall quality of art has significantly improved, conventions are more than a rare/occasional occurrence, whereas before, people would barely catch wind of it unless you happened to be local. I also imagine it's a lot easier to actually organize these events. I do believe there have been controversies/issues with blocking hotel rooms off just because people didn't like/understand the idea at first, and have eased up over the years.

LOTS of people have connected through their adventures in meaningful ways that they otherwise might never have had. But I can't really speak on their behalf.

 

[Connor J. Coyote]

I think when people are using this argument with the fandom there is something you over look by assuming because the whole average is mostly okay, that its all kosher. It introduces cognitive biases, and logical fallacies and is generally a bad thing to do when dealing with sociology - blanket averages always work for hard sciences, but not always soft sciences.

There seems to be a disproportional representation of some fringe issues inside the fandom. Is this because people are just more open so they have a higher chance of getting outed? I think this is part of it, and that its just a representation of the general population. But it also begs the question of why? Why are they more open about those things? Clearly the furry fandoms inclusion and acceptance of a lot of people gets interpreted incorrectly.

There is a lot of grooming that seems to go on, adults making advances on younger people. If you would like to see for yourself, say you are 15 year old girl or a 13 year old boy and just wait. Someone is going to be DYING to RP with you and they are probably 30+.

Its a personal anecdote and thus meaningless... but the 2nd or Third guy I spoke with online in the very early 2000s? He was double my age. It was super weird, and I stopped chatting with him. 2 years later he sent me a message saying he moved to my city and wanted to meet up, and then kept messaging me for YEARS. HE STILL SENDS EMAILS. I have not responded in a decade. This does not seem normal, and I have never had anything like this happen outside of the fandom.

People talk about other aspects too. And lets be real IF you go to e621 and type in <animal type> it seems like a 1/3 of your results are just "feral"...or just straight up dogs and wolves railing each other or anthro/human people. This seems to be getting pretty close to zoophilic IMO.

And I am not even going to touch cub stuff with a 49 1/2 foot pole. *shudders*

Then you have some people that try and pass the fandom off as "mostly normal" with a sexualized minority. But I think this is disingenuous as well, just based on the shear volume of smut. My PFP is a cropped in Nude - I do not think its smut as much as a more classical romantic style art as there is no visible genitalia, but its still possibly suggestive and a lot of people would find not normal and objectionable.

The first conventions were highly sexualized including burlesqe/strip tease shows, and the artists have (mostly male - I am not sure if the female artists that were popular in the mid 90s ever commented on this) commented that there were after hours activities going on in the hotel rooms. Also IIRC they did not split the adult booths from the general booths as is common now. Its was all together at once.

These are the things people think about when they say the fandom has issues.

I guess the long and short is I think its a lot more complicated than "as a whole we are angels and good- but there are a few bad apples" Because A few bad apples REALLY CAN spoil the bunch.

Okay...
My points above, still apply though, as that's what many of us think and believe.

 

[ferretsage]

It was always bad. But, its denizens adapted to expect extremely little. Hard to qualify if underachiever identitarians who enforce everyone to go nowhere counts as, "better".

 

[BadRoy]

I think the fandom, like many online cultures, is worse now than in the past.

I place most of the blame for this on social media and the endless stratification of groups. Back in MY day being a furry meant you were first and foremost a nerd for anthro media, full stop. There were gamers, and musicians, and pervs, same as now but it felt much more centralized around the anthro pre-social media.

Twitter has almost supplanted FA as the main furry hub now. It's not that I think FA is so great, but the fact that furries are just congregating in a general space is really the whole difference. Decentralization. These days 'furry' is just one of many identifiers the average furry has. 'Furry' is competing with "Comics fan | Liberal/ Conservative | LGBT | Vegan | Collector | Trans | Activist" and so on. People are coming at the furry fandom from so many different angles now that I just feel like it's lost some of its identity.

Side note: But I also feel like cons have increasingly become just hubs for people trying to get laid. Maybe it's just the ones I've been to but, ugh.

 

[ferretsage]

Also, *posts Maslow's Heirarchy of Human Needs*. People go where human needs are met. Furry can't compete with other better communities when furry only offers ego boosts and porn. Ultimately, people will go where their needs are met, and that's why furry's base is drying up. This isn't a call for change; lord knows anyone wise would rather apply eye ointment to a kennel full of angry, nervous, bite-y chihuahuas than be furry fandom's PR agent -- let alone throw their life away in vain as its misguided savior. Furry fandom's downgoing and losing its support, and being subsumed back into the wider monolithic culture as just another human unsustainable fad, is just facts; math.

 

[Kinguyakki]

Normally what stays in art, even if it profoundly disgusts me, is not something I will make a huge sticking point (notable exception for art specifically created to harm someone else)

but the number of times someone in the fandom gets outed as a sex pest and their gallery is full of that kind of thing is so high, I think it's reasonable to consider it a red flag/point of concern

Yes, this. Just yesterday I saw a new comic art on my FA feed, depicting two guys checking out a girl at a gym while she was working out. What happened next was absolutely not consent. The comic ended with the girl being left bound and gagged in the men's locker room, while one of the guys said something about the football team finding her here later, like it was a joke what they'd do to her.
Most of the comments were very positive, except for one that simply pointed out NONE of the keywords for that art said anything about rape. It was stuff like "threesome" or "group sex."
I get that people have their fetishes, and the fandom is very open and accepting about most of them, but this absolutely wasn't the first time I've seen rape celebrated in art, and people not even acknowledging that's what it really was. It might be a fantasy some people have. . .but call it what it is. Some of that mentality probably does bleed over into people's real life interactions within the fandom.

 

[Judge Spear]

I think the fandom, like many online cultures, is worse now than in the past.

I place most of the blame for this on social media and the endless stratification of groups. Back in MY day being a furry meant you were first and foremost a nerd for anthro media, full stop. There were gamers, and musicians, and pervs, same as now but it felt much more centralized around the anthro pre-social media.

Twitter has almost supplanted FA as the main furry hub now. It's not that I think FA is so great, but the fact that furries are just congregating in a general space is really the whole difference. Decentralization. These days 'furry' is just one of many identifiers the average furry has. 'Furry' is competing with "Comics fan | Liberal/ Conservative | LGBT | Vegan | Collector | Trans | Activist" and so on. People are coming at the furry fandom from so many different angles now that I just feel like it's lost some of its identity.

Side note: But I also feel like cons have increasingly become just hubs for people trying to get laid. Maybe it's just the ones I've been to but, ugh.

Furries dying to have their hobby commidified and mistaking it for "representation" or getting more popular is definitely rotting the fandom faster. There's nothing sacred or deep about being a furry, but keeping it a niche was what allowed the whole thing to be charming in the first place.

Now everyone wants to be "validated" and it just erodes the fun for everybody they share the space with.

You raise a good point.

 

[Nexus Cabler]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a significantly large number of posts explaining how fandom has turned sour correlate with Tw#tter and sometimes F@cebook. If a lot of your bad experiences (I have some too) stem from these places, use them less if you can.

I understand that it's a prominent way for content creators, specifically artists to keep a active business through advertisement, so I understand it's not something everyone can do so easily.

 

[Attaman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a significantly large number of posts explaining how fandom has turned sour correlate with Tw#tter and sometimes F@cebook. If a lot of your bad experiences (I have some too) stem from these places, use them less if you can.

I understand that it's a prominent way for content creators, specifically artists to keep a active business through advertisement, so I understand it's not something everyone can do so easily.

Now now, let's be fair. Several of the posts talking about how the fandom's turned sour also make mention of Furries... uh...

Let me check the notes on this...

Several of the posts talking about how the fandom's turned sour also make mention of... members sharing that they have other hobbies? And / or openly sharing that they're something other than cishetero? With sometimes the latter being rolled up into the first for some reason? Which if we accept that as logical: Damn. Have to say I'm pretty bummed out about this ace hobby of mine. I probably should have picked up gay instead - just look at how active the Gay Ol' Thread is in comparison - but at this point I've sunk over a decade into it and I don't think I have the energy to start over from scratch. Y'know?

More seriously it feels like some of the complaints aren't even site specific (though there is a lot of that too) so much as people balking against an increasing expectation of... like, I don't even want to say "socialization", but "object permanence"? "There is somebody on the other side of the screen and they may not be entirely or accurately represented by their funny animal person".

Gods. I really have been on FAF too long when I can clearly recall the site actively talking about souring on the fandom for the exact opposite reason. "I post on FAF because it's the only site Furries seem to have any openly identifying features other than 'Furry' and you can talk with the person instead of the character."

 

[Judge Spear]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a significantly large number of posts explaining how fandom has turned sour correlate with Tw#tter and sometimes F@cebook. If a lot of your bad experiences (I have some too) stem from these places, use them less if you can.

That's part of it, but for me it's not entirely about bad experiences. More so being funneled into one site instead of having a healthy selection of grassroots options. Something crops up, fizzles out and then everyone goes back to Twitter.
But you're right. I've been using Twitter sparingly these days because I'm sick of feeling like I'm walking on eggshells. Only logging on to upload my work.
If fans find my server they join it and that's how I interact with them mainly today. But it gets dull quickly.

There's this place, but I don't hold in as high regard as I used to.

 

[quoting_mungo]

I still feel like most of the changes aren't fandom-specific so much as the basics of "being a person on the Internet" has shifted a ton in the last 20 years. The way we relate to the Internet has changed, almost everyone is "always connected" rather than having to balance being on the Internet with not tying up the phone line, and/or paying for your connection per minute. So, yeah, social media has changed furry fandom, because it changed online-ness. It's not really possible/plausible for furry fandom to stand there like some unchanging constant while online culture shifts around it.

Though in all honesty, regardless of anything else, I don't think "better" and "worse" as binaries are great for describing how a cultural phenomenon has changed. Like... individual changes can sometimes be pretty clearly good or bad, but you can't just tally up marks in the "good" and "bad" column and conclude that there's a net improvement/worsening, because it's not that simple. And that's just for changes that have a clear, objective value. Many won't.

I place most of the blame for this on social media and the endless stratification of groups. Back in MY day being a furry meant you were first and foremost a nerd for anthro media, full stop. There were gamers, and musicians, and pervs, same as now but it felt much more centralized around the anthro pre-social media.

Twitter has almost supplanted FA as the main furry hub now.

Pray tell, when are you thinking of when you talk about what things were like back in your day? Because, like... FA sure wasn't the main furry hub when I got started - it didn't even exist yet. Most of the furry communities I participated in were on Livejournal. The big gallery site du jour was VCL. Real-time group communication was largely done by IRC or on assorted MU*s.

 

[Ennui Elemental]

That's part of it, but for me it's not entirely about bad experiences. More so being funneled into one site instead of having a healthy selection of grassroots options. Something crops up, fizzles out and then everyone goes back to Twitter.
But you're right. I've been using Twitter sparingly these days because I'm sick of feeling like I'm walking on eggshells. Only logging on to upload my work.
If fans find my server they join it and that's how I interact with them mainly today. But it gets dull quickly.

There's this place, but I don't hold in as high regard as I used to.

Twitter is where conversation goes to die under an avalanche of Sponsored Tweets(TM) and shitflinging contests. You can try to curate your feed very heavily to filter out shitflingers and corporate smarm and Twitter will find ways to shove it right back down your gullet.

There's a certain degree of people in general backing away from more public venues into increasingly secluded ones that can be more heavily curated, leaving the habitual shitflingers and corpodrones to dominate public areas - the precise reasons for this seclusion are myriad. Attention spans are lower, people are chasing the dragons of righteous publicly-visible rage and being the Next Big Thing, and a lot of people are straight-up burnt the fuck out on other people. I don't think people were really ready for the Global Internet Community and all it entailed.

 

[Judge Spear]

Twitter is where conversation goes to die under an avalanche of Sponsored Tweets(TM) and shitflinging contests. You can try to curate your feed very heavily to filter out shitflingers and corporate smarm and Twitter will find ways to shove it right back down your gullet.

I literally unfollowed everyone and use Tweetdeck so that I don't have to see anything. lol
I just got so...tired.

 

[Ennui Elemental]

I literally everyone and use Tweetdeck so that I don't have to see anything. lol
I just got so...tired.

Twitter has sabotaged things like sharable blocklists and other ways to curate feeds, I'm astonished they haven't found a way to nuke things like Tweetdeck.

Something to remember about Twitter is that they have a distinct, vested interest in bombarding you with things to PAY ATTENTION TO. The latest controversy, the newest product, etc. They don't care if you're engaging because you're enthusiastic about X, or pissed about Y, or concerned about Z, as long as you're feeding into the metrics they use to sell you to the people who pay them.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Something to remember about Twitter is that they have a distinct, vested interest in bombarding you with things to PAY ATTENTION TO. The latest controversy, the newest product, etc. They don't care if you're engaging because you're enthusiastic about X, or pissed about Y, or concerned about Z, as long as you're feeding into the metrics they use to sell you to the people who pay them.

I ultimately had to stop using Twitter - and in fact, any social media with more engagement than YouTube, or video game chatrooms, or forums like these - specifically because I realized that engagement on the level that most social media demands is downright dangerous for me.

I'm prone to meltdowns and have a bit of an addictive personality. That is NOT a good combination for social media. That's not a good combo for handling political shitstorms (like the ones you oh so often see on Twitter). That isn't even a good one for engaging with news and current events. Hence I try my hardest not to anymore.

I've had to repeatedly tell YouTube to stop recommending me certain channels because of my own outrage problem.

Plus, if people are going to tell me I must know what is going on in the world? I no longer gain much of anything by "knowing about the world". I learned too much too fast, and it pretty much eroded my curiosity down to near-minimum.

 

[BadRoy]

I'm really curious to see how the growth of social media has affected 'specialty/hobby sites' like FA and others. Because it seems to me that when people realized they could get way more upc*mmies (dopamine-sparking likes, faves, retweets, etc) by shitposting on Twitter or Facebook they ditched the relatively slow trickle of them from FA.

I've definitely seen furry artists fall to social media over the years. Some artists who used to put their all into improving and pushing themselves seemed to stall after going to social media. Or they'd switch to just sketching whatever the trend of the week is for the likes. It also seems to have given many a crippling case of upward social comparison as they endlessly scroll through the work of better artists and compare their like numbers. This happens on any art site of course, but as with most things Twitter is so much worse because it's stripped down.

I still feel like most of the changes aren't fandom-specific so much as the basics of "being a person on the Internet" has shifted a ton in the last 20 years.

This is true, and sort of what I was getting at before. To your question: I wasn't trying to imply that FA was THE hub of furry activity. Moreso that any by-and-for furry space was more active and populous back then.

Sorry for going off on social media so much. I hate it with a passion. Maybe I'll make a thread for that.

 

[Ennui Elemental]

I ultimately had to stop using Twitter - and in fact, any social media with more engagement than YouTube, or video game chatrooms, or forums like these - specifically because I realized that engagement on the level that most social media demands is downright dangerous for me.

I'm prone to meltdowns and have a bit of an addictive personality. That is NOT a good combination for social media. That's not a good combo for handling political shitstorms (like the ones you oh so often see on Twitter). That isn't even a good one for engaging with news and current events. Hence I try my hardest not to anymore.

I've had to repeatedly tell YouTube to stop recommending me certain channels because of my own outrage problem.

Plus, if people are going to tell me I must know what is going on in the world? I no longer gain much of anything by "knowing about the world". I learned too much too fast, and it pretty much eroded my curiosity down to near-minimum.

Here's the thing about being bombarded with ragebait or controversy - there's this nagging knowledge that you can't actually DO anything about it but scream about it. How much good does that do? Well, it varies, but typically it does fuckall other than piss other people off and burn them out.

 

[Judge Spear]

Or they'd switch to just sketching whatever the trend of the week is for the likes. It also seems to have given many a crippling case of upward social comparison as they endlessly scroll through the work of better artists and compare their like numbers. This happens on any art site of course, but as with most things Twitter is so much worse because it's stripped down.

 

[Ennui Elemental]

Furries have always been fairly prone to trendchasing but Twitter's prevalence has turned that up past 11 and snapped the knob right off.

 

[Attaman]

I'm not really sure I'd say trend chasing has become worse or even necessarily changed as a result of Twitter et al.

For a couple basic examples: Insect characters were extremely uncommon (as well as seen as an attempt to Make A Scene of your character, to the point of often being compared to Sparkledogs) until WhiteMantis and their works became popular, at which point suddenly there was a deluge of such characters who either clearly mimicked WM's style or tried to latch onto the popularity by taking what people already knew how to draw (Wolves and Dragons, predominantly), changing the colors around / adding antennae, and declaring "Bug"[1].

Then there were the aeromorphs, which have stuck around but had one hell of a surge due to all of... a popular story on 4chan in the very early 2010's? And the deluge of flash-based Transformation games from around the same time (based around... Nimin's, IIRC?). Late 3.5 / Early 4E D&D also saw a ton of Dragonborn OCs. Heck, every time a new Pokémon Generation's been announced there's been a rush to be the first to make OCs of the various designs (sometimes even before the designs have actually been revealed, such as when people made OCs based off popular silhouette interpretations). And none of this gets into the meme stuff.

Things haven't changed as a result of Twitter et al. It's just become more obvious since the fandom's no longer confined to people posting on a handful of art sites and a scattering of assorted webcomics. ... And tumblr, but tumblr was always relatively low visibility due to how it's designed.

[1]For reference, this isn't necessarily a knock on people having their own interpretations of funny animals. How dare. It's just to point out that for many people it was simply "Got to crank out buggos".

 

[TyraWadman]

It's amazing how many people bring up their hatred for twitter/drama but do their best to talk about it whenever they can. It's like the new 'im vegan'. XD

I only hear about twitter news because the people that claim to hate it so much, keep bringing it up.

People wanting to be popfur is nothing new and it will never change. People having a like addiction and seeking validation will never change. As one generation moves up and matures, another generation takes over.

It's a choice of choosing to subscribe to drama vs not and it ain't that hard! I tried using a Twitter account for character research (subscribing to thinks they like and seeing what the algorithm feeds me) and not one single drop of drama has popped into my feed, unless you count lil Nas marketing off his haters, drama.