Shen449ismyfoe

So, I took a brief period of absence in from December to February earlier. You may have known this by now, but I feel like I should have taken an earlier break when dA had that whole data scraping pitfall the month before that. Sure, the DreamUP scraping drama was huge, but that was only the calm before the storm.

Last December, another huge certain art website got involved in a huge art protest where artists kept posting the same image over and over and flooded the home page. A little bit of it leaked over here, but we lost artists such as ZaraLT back in November before this happened.

Maybe I should have left this sinking boat before the last few lifeboats have departed, but dA is still going """"""strong."""""" Sort of, pending current lawsuit against AI art.

Several artists left dA because of the other website drama around AI art, such as JamesTDG. Most deactivated, others just updated their art to be a protest image and posted a final journal showing their other places of work.

I'm not one of those people, but I am going to post the other links of where I can be found around the social media web in case I eventually say screw it and abandon this account:

Twitter - Jaletstweet

Newgrounds - Jalpster

YouTube - JAchannel (Will likely never post a video on there, unless I get a capture card or a streaming triple monitor setup)

Twitch - Yacker2 (Definitely will never stream anything, but I'm the most active on TwitchPlaysPokémon's chat)

Discord - Yacker The Crobat#7477

Tumblr - Jaletsplay (Also my go-to name across most websites. If you google Jaletsplay, you may find my forum posts and other gaming accounts)

TV Tropes - Jalpo99

Pixiv - echoes90

AO3 - Jalpo99

FF.net - Jalp99

Reddit - Jaletsplay

Pinterest - Yacker2

Steam - Jaletsplay

That's about it on the SFW front. If you want to know about my After Dark NSFW accounts, you will have to send me a note to get access to that information. By the way, I'm not linking to the artists I mentioned. Their accounts still exist, but it's just protest art now and not really worth watching anymore as their returns are very unlikely.

Have a nice day!

This isn't a call out post or demanding that you witch hunt this person. This is more of a post that I try to explain the point of "Why am I still blocked by them after so long?" By this point it feels as if they are holding a petty grudge over something so minor. Who am I talking about you ask? It's none other than @AsylusGoji91, creator of the Super Mario Bros: Heroes of the Stars series on YouTube. Yeah, that amazing sprite animator that has super cool spites and that you should definitely check out for his webcomics as well... except that I can't. And I know why he has me blocked.

Around the year 2012 or 2013 I first discovered AyslusGoji back when he was under his old name, making webcomics instead of sprite animations. He had this Kirby webcomic based on the anime that I enjoyed looking at, so I decided to start at the beginning of it. There's a comment section filled with many comments on almost every deviation. Many interestings tidbits, comments of phrases, degratory comments at points, and then the comments that are obviously left by trolls or children too young to be posting on DA. Unfortunately, I was one of those people back then. I tried leaving behind a comment on three consecutive pages trying to be interesting and all, but it went downhill really quickly.

For no reason other than to look stupid looking back at it now, I tried integrating this into something else. I kept inserting pings from a different user from a completely different fandom in a way that looked like I was being interrupted before I could finish what I wanted to say about Goji's deviation. Now, if you weren't living under a rock for so long, back before Eclipse, you could mention artists through their avatars. There were plz accounts made so that they could be used as emotes or other actions. I was using sayplz to express myself differently. At the time I only recently discovered how to use icon pings and tried using them in a way that would make me feel unique. So I went ahead, making my own stupid lore that didn't go nowhere on 3 successive pages of Goji's webcomic.

At first, AsylusGoji did respond to all three of them with one simple message on each of them: "Oh?" He must have been confused, and tried to respond to me asking for an explanation. The most fatal mistake I made here was simply ghosting him and moving on to other artists. At that point he must have assumed that I was a troll, and by the time I had found him under his current name back in 2014, he had blocked me. Now, At the time, I had no idea that I got blocked by him. Before DA made it impossible to view userpages of those that blocked you, you just get this notice at their comment section that you can't comment on their art nor their userpage anywhere (The infamous Deviously Denied! notice). I was still able to view his user page and see his art, but I was left confused and thought that he simply made his page private by disabling the ability for me to make comments. In 2012 I attempted to make a tag challenge tagging several artists that I liked at the time, excluding Goji. One of them cussed me out and blocked me instantly, which was the point I knew that I have been blocked by someone. That person has since deactivated, but it left a lasting impression.

I was still oblivious to AsylusGoji blocking me, even though I got blocked by someone in 2012 and still thought that his userpage was simply private. I even made a status shoutout to him in 2015 (which is now deleted) telling people to go check him out, not realizing that I will never see his art. And then... 2017 came around.

That was the year DA introduced an update that made it impossible to view userpages of those that had blocked you. And when I clicked on Goji's page expecting to see his page there. I was met by a simple Blocked message with his profile unviewable. That was it. My shoutout mention was the last chance that I had to request Goji to unblock me or ask him why I was blocked, but I simply sent out praise for no reason other than to look like a diehard fan. At that point I was livid, yelling angrish over finding out he had blocked me 4 years ago at that point and cussed him out over it on a status post. I then made a journal about it that got a few responses, but that felt mean looking back on it. That status post is buried down right now, but that made me look even more of a immature troll now that I look back at it. It's like I was a diehard fan crying over the breakup of a teen idol band. I was so devastated that I deleted my only post sending praise to him and avoided looking at his page ever since, but if I had to, I had to go incognito now since I can't ever view him on this account.

When I made those comments all those years ago I was only a 12 year old kid, someone too young to be tethered to a computer and making posts. I've seen my earliest comments. They are rather... childish and immature. There was a post I made on a mature content deviation which wasn't about the deviation at all and was just me celebrating over the fact that I can view mature content with only an account. I knew about DA since 2010, but only made an account on my 12th birthday. That's how long I've known this site. I should have waited until I was older before encountering him. Maybe things would be different and I would still be able to view his deviations. Perhaps I could even have been friends, but no. He still thinks I'm a troll and won't unblock me after all these years.

It's now looking like a petty grudge at this point. To block someone over three immature comments left by a then 12 year old kid and then keep them blocked for so long to the point that they become enemies with you. That's how I felt. In rage, I placed a mutual block on him in revenge, and it stayed that way for almost 4 more years. Seeing that he has blocked me, I was wondering how he would feel to not be able to see my posts, or my work at all... Yet I don't draw much (The only deviation that I posted was when I was 12 years old, I've stagnated since then). So I had nothing to show other than status posts, which I started using exclusively when they were first introduced. I was using DeviantART like a social media account rather than one to post deviations. I kept my distance from Asylus over the years, refusing to unblock him until he had unblocked me. I was thinking that at one point he would forget about what happened and unblock me in an unblocking wave.

Yet he doesn't know that people eventually grow up. That kid that posted 3 childish comments on that webcomic that is now stored away never to be seen again is now an adult. I've matured over time, but at a rapid rate. My father died a few months after I created my account, and I was quickly told to grow up and look after my sole surviving parent. But it seemed that I still haven't learned, and when I was 16 and found that AsylusGoji had blocked me, I still felt like an immature kid. That was the point I started looking towards acting more mature. I started commenting less, made sure to think of what I wanted to say before I posted them, and try to leave a good impression. But that didn't help out my cause.

I only started thinking of what I wanted to say after I was called out on it in a discord channel in 2019. A moderator had blocked me for causing drama, and that was the point I knew that I had to make changes. I was fresh out of high school for 6 months by then and should have been acting like a grown up, but I was still making the mistake of sending childish comments. It's not fun living with ADHD and autism at the same time. Those two disorders combine into a mismash of immaturity and childish, repetitive behavior that makes it hard to concentrate on what I am doing. I'm taking meds to control this, but my functionality has improved over the years. Once I turned 20 and the pandemic hit, I started to feel remorse over my actions.

In the fall of 2020 I unblocked AsylusGoji, sending out a status update ping that he will never get. In that same update that made it impossible to view userpages of people that blocked you, blocked users also can't send pings or mentions to them. They just get sent out to the void and silenced. But I knew there was still a chance that I could get back to him. At first I tried his other contacts. He has a Twitter account and I wasn't blocked on there, likely because I never posted towards him. So I sent out a tweet pinging him and reminding him to unblock me, but I was ghosted. He probably saw the ping, but likely just deleted it as nonsense. At least I wasn't blocked on sight. I turned back to DA afterward for another opening, since his YouTube comment section would bury my message regardless thanks to his subscribers. I hoped that a follower of his on DA would see my post and send it forward to him requesting that he unblock me after all these years. My status update was met with silence. I don't have a strong following on DeviantART, only a few people know me, and that made my chances of getting recognized by a follower of his extremely low. When I got no response, I reinstated the mutual block, but that was completely gone by 2021. Because people grow up.

It's been 10 years AsylusGoji91. Why do you still hold this grudge against me? You still think that I am some immature troll that left nosensical comments on your deviations causing you to block me, but I'm not that kind of person anymore. I've grown up. I'm 22 now. I'm in college chasing after the job of my dreams, learning how to drive, and have plans on starting a family in the future. And yet you are still stuck with the impressions I gave back in 2012; that I am some sort of immature kid who's too young to be near a keyboard. These impressions shouldn't last forever. It's about time that you consider giving me that long awaited second chance. To see me as a new self, a renewed me. One that is willing to make passionate comments of praise and compliments. A great way to repair the broken bridge that fell long ago, but I know that you will never see this post at all because you still have me blocked. It's like I am shunned by you, being cast of as an example of how not to act on your profile. I want to apologize for those actions that made you think I was immature. I've sent out another status post directed at you yesterday, but I know it won't be given a response by you thanks to your lingering grudge and refusal to unblock me, so it will never be seen by you.

That's where I send my message to the masses. Now that you have heard my tale, I want you to send this forward. To any follower or fan of @AsylusGoji91 that is reading this, you need to spread the word. I've grown up and have apologized for my actions, and I want to reconcile and for him to set aside this grudge once and for all. Forward this message in any note. Send out hashtags of #UnblockShen. I want the world to know that lasting grudges shouldn't be left as is. I'm a grown man now, and I am not that 12 year old kid anymore.

Nothing lasts forever. Let it go.

If you are reading this journal right now, then congratulations! You did not leave the site immediately once it had transitioned over to Eclipse. So, you are now wondering what's next? With most of your friends probably inactive or deactivated, you need to know about how to survive in the world of Eclipse. Well, here is some general advice I will have to offer you:

1. Check on status updates from your watchers/people you watch often. This is crucial to getting to know about your surviving watchers. They are in this together in the same boat as you when they decided to not leave the site immediately. This doesn't mean they will be on the site for long though. Slowly, one by one, they will eventually tire and deactivate. Sending messages to them showing that you can get through this together may help slow that trend. It may not work all the time, but at least you will get to spend some last moments with them.

2. Get to know the site better. DeviantART still does not have a guide on how to use the new site. It will take some time and effort to get used to Eclipse from the beginning, but as time goes on, you will become more and more used to it. Getting used to the site will lower the chances of you deactivating in frustration.

3. Save your journal skins. CORE members have a problem with this one, it doesn't appear that journal skins work in Eclipse unless you did them on the old site design. If you want to save up on the journal skins, write as many journals with your favorite skins on them as drafts, and then post them in a queue that you make up. It will be sad once you get through all of your drafts, but it will eventually be worth it.

4. Move stuff from your Sta.sh to a folder such as a scraps folder. The scraps page on the old site will be unusable once you move to Eclipse. Make a new folder where your scraps can be seen. With the lack of Sta.sh writer to back you up in Eclipse, be sure to move some of your favorite works from Sta.sh to your new scraps folder. If you have a bunch of scraps in, well, Scraps, move them out immediately before they are gone forever.

5. Find new people to fill up the empty spaces. Lastly, this is the most important part. With most of the people you used to watch are now inactive or deactived altogether, it's time to find new people to fill the voids they left behind. Search for a new subject in art that you want to discover. Find new deviants that have potential to do something BIG in the future. With a new watch list, you won't have to fear about losing out on the people you watch.

If you follow these 5 steps, you will be more likely to survive the transition to Eclipse. Be sure to remember all the old memories you have with this site, and keep them close by...

Until we meet again...

For the past few days I have been getting notifications from Deviants that I watch about their opinions about Eclipse. I know, I know, that we will all be forced to use it starting May 20th, but I want to finally make my words on how Eclipse is.

When Eclipse was first launched to the public last year, many were skeptical that it would replace the old classic design. dA did tell us that it would eventually be replaced, but we didn't know when. The first literation of Eclipse that was released to Deviants was rather buggy, incomplete, and hard to navigate. This trend was softened very slowly over time, but there are still holdouts that cling to the classic design and denounce it from ever replacing it.

Then just a few days ago, we were given the announcement that Eclipse would completely replace the old design. Now, with around a year to prepare for this change, you would think that people would be able to easily transition over to this starting May 20th right? Nope. I woke up and browsed through the main page, and it's full of rioting and protests against Eclipse. We were given an ENTIRE YEAR to prepare for this, but nobody listened. People are still clamoring about the unfinished appearance, with profile settings, group pages, and dAmn networking still not being implemented in Eclipse when it was announced. They still mention bugs, glitches and the staff not listening to the public's opinion when they said they would listen to feedback. Now people are starting to have plans on leaving or becoming inactive. When will this world ever learn.

As for me, I'm only neutral in this stance. I don't like Eclipse, but I don't hate it either. I only use it to make navigation easier since it reminds me of the mobile app navigation. I don't gloss over problems, but I still send feedback over what needs to be done in order to make it better. I still feel like they haven't used my suggestions at all. I rarely post art on here; the only time I did so was 8 YEARS AGO. Eclipse wasn't even around when I posted art, so I still have memories about the classic design deep in my memory.

Now I'm not going to leave dA on May 20th, but I may start to use it less. I have already seen this mass migration from sites twice now in the past two years: First it was Tumblr when they announced their ban on adult content, and then Smackjeeves just a few months ago when they completely redesigned the website and made it completely incompatible to view older webcomics. I've noticed that people are planning to migrate to Newgrounds or the currently beta artirise. The only problem is that Newgrounds is hard to navigate, and animations are the usual thigns found at Newgrounds. Artirise or whatever it is isn't even out yet, but it will be coming next year. All I'm saying is that I will still give feedback on Eclipse as best as I can, hopefully making it as good as the original design with a new look.

That was dA's intended goal when they introduced Eclipse, to reformat the website to fit modern specs. The classic design was going to be discontinued at some point as the years went on and the design became more and more outdated. This is one of the biggest changes to ever come to the website in its nearly 20 year history. I'm in the same boat as all of you are on how we should fare with this. Firstly, we should try and get settled with the changes over time. It may take months, or years to finally accept these changes for the better. People will still leave this site anyway. If you are planning on leaving the site, I accept your decision and wish you well in your future endeavors. I'm not going to be mad at the people who leave, but I will miss them and their art submissions greatly. This is going to be a large hole that will be difficult to refill.

For nearly 2 decades, DeviantART has been the place to post art, literature, animations, and more with a tight-knitted community. I've been on here for 9 years, and I plan on staying on here for as long as I wanted to. The community shouldn't be rioting over something that was already inevitable when it was announced. We need to stay together. The world is already in a bad spot in 2020 for other reasons, but we can't make it worse with this. This is not the DeviantART that I want to browse through, with toxicity and anger. I want to have dA as a safe place to post deviations without going mad. I just wish that this was the reality that I wanted.