Maybe all of you could help me out with some things I've been pondering? C'mon inside!
I must be getting old! I can remember back in the days of hitting up the Nifty server on the Carnegie Mellon network for their LGTB ftp login, where I'd pop on everyday in the hope that there would be some TG fiction posted that I could download and read (@ 14.4k speeds!) .. and then there was the Transformation Story Archive mailing list that was fairly active in the mid 90's, before Fictionmania became a thing. I'd also do mIRC for chats, follow Pretty Sissy Dani and most of the other Geocities sites, lots of web-rings, Bimbo Sanctuary, and then Rachel's Haven (been an admin for over 11+ years now!) Plus various things that are not quite at the tip of my memory.at the moment.
It's interesting to see where things have gone in those 25+ years (DAMN!) what stuck around, and what vanished .. people that perhaps have been reinventing themselves time and again, shedding previous personalities like a proverbial caterpillar transforming into a butterfly.
I've been pretty much ME for almost 20 years now, and I don't intend to be anything but me going forward .. and I find that many people find that comforting. Like the Haven, I haven't gone anywhere, and I've been steady in my production. Almost to a fault, I have thought from time to time.
And for the most part, I've tried to keep up with technology, and followed the different trends.
I've mostly kept to the Haven and this blog. I've resisted things like Pinterest, Deviant Art, and Patreon for different reasons, many to do with initial copyrights on the source photos I use, charging for things that should probably remain free, along with the whole "lets just share this without acknowledging the original creator" that some of the other sites seemed to employ.
I'd thought about writing short stories and selling them on Amazon, but I also like to enjoy my anonymity that could be compromised .. and I don't want anything to take away my time from making captions .. one of the other reasons for not making a Patreon at this point in time .. it possibly ceases to be fun if I'm 'cranking out product' for paying costumers to fulfill a quota with a deadline.
BUT I sit here now typing the proceeding lines into a blog that's been up for 11+ years now. I'm not really sure that blogger is much of a thing anymore! I get a good amount of page hits, and I would put my comment section up against anyone else's for quantity and quality of replies. I'm perfectly happy to keep doing this, but will people keep coming here, or will they fall away slowly, and head to other more modern ways to connect with the community?
SO, I am asking for replies to this pondering of mine .. where do you consume your TG content? Do you still mostly hit blogs and/or specific webpages .. or do you hit Pinterest, Youtube, Deviant Art, Patreon, eBooks, etc ... Are you currently paying for any sort of content, and if so, where are you purchasing said content. I am not sure I want to be a dinosaur in the community, and perhaps I might be able to freshen up things or keep them interesting at the very lease. Who doesn't want to feel relevant in the world for a little bit longer? Please do respond, as I'm very interested in what you all have to say!
Maybe I'll do a follow up posting in the near future?
Really digging this new Gojira album. This video has some metamorphizes too!