Curation

feeling: tired

reading: fanfic

playing: digimon survive

drinking: water

I recently watching this video on AI and how it's flooding the self-publishing book industry (you can tell how long I've let this blog sitting bc of the date on this yt vid lol).

It doesn't say anything new (to me, anyway), but there's one comment that stuck out to me:

I suspect the comical amount of generated garbage on the internet is going to ironically make the old system of publishers and gatekeepers come back. (@karenwang313)

And it reminded me that I've been wanting to talk about this for a bit.

Curation

I think this will be the way forward. The old ways will be readjusted and reinforced for the new age.

It's one of my (and most) issue with platforms like Steam, Itchio, Etsy or Amazon; is that because it's so simple to post there and get paid... the market is flooded with low-effort games/books/crafts/3D printed shite so people who don't care can make quick cash. Itchio had collections, which was a effort to combat this. Steam has their review system. This has always been an issue on these platforms. I'm sure you've seen those Side hustle hack: how to make $1000s with no effort by selling ebooks on Amazon youtube videos. But huh... maybe if you paid for their course... they'll tell you the real secret... Now of course, it's all what AI prompts to use to game the system. If only it were so easy, right?

Word-of-mouth has always been the best marketing tool, but now I think it will swing back more powerful than before. There was a lot of "discourse" about "gatekeeping" during the late 2010s + early 2020s, and I think (tinfoil hat on) that mindset is a partly why we're here. You're obviously keeping SECRETS from me (I also think that's why artists usually end up being pressured into making tutorial videos...). I always think back to the legendary discourse from the last of the posters, Ana Mardoll's writers don't need to read books. you're ableist if you think otherwise.

Makes you think.

Arguments like that are transparent. They're a clear panic from the speaker. If I'm not X, what am I? It's a love of the idea of being an artist, the idea that people think you're smart, that you're worth listening to, that you have an.... expertise...

Sad thing about experience, you have to do it to get it.

I've said it before, but there is a real lack of love and celebration around art online these days. All of it. Recently I stumbled on someone's comment about how they love fanfic but think its cringe to share it... okay you utter fucking gobshite. If you don't care for anyone else's work... Why on Earth should I give a shit about yours? Do you care about the history of the medium you're in? Don't you have anything to say? Do you not look to your peers? Don't you know that rising tides raise all boats? I don't think people like that have deep opinions on their chosen medium. They're tourists.

Don't even get me started on vn tourists... I think if you are even thinking of making one, you have to play Saya no Uta. I have been in so many vn dev discord where I'm speaking to someone and suddenly they reveal they've never played a VN because they're weird. lol. lol. lol. lol!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS MINDSET!?!

Going back to curation... It's why influencers and youtube video essays are popular. We do live in the age where there is so much amazing work being created, and it's hard to parse through them all. Sometimes, you do just want to be told what's good, what I should check out, what's important to the culture, what would make me think, cry, what would make me seem cool to my friends; whatever reason a person has, we all like being recommended something from someone we think is an expert, or as a friend. Some people don't enjoy the trawling process, of being the person who discovers. And that's fine! It's why we have critics.

Living in the New Age

The old way is gone. You've got to ride the wave. Who knows what it'll look like when we wash up on the shore.

Crossposting is back, baby. Yeah, you'd BETTER post all your work on as many sites as you can. I'll like it every time.

I kinda don't know what to think. We are seeing the death of web 2. I don't know if many sites will survive the shift we're going through. What will posting be like in the future...

I still see other artists I quickly unfollow do the whole hum-haw of wow, twitter's making me feel SO BAD i dont get ANY ENGAGEMENT oh? what do you mean i should at least get off the site? but all the effort i put in... oh yeah and i guess the revenge porn thing is kinda bad? but listen i need private account or now the fun yeah i know i feel just terrible doomscrolling on TikTok and I DISAGREE and am AGAINST America and Israel owning it and yes it's tracking if i'm trans/nb and my race and probably my income bracket but my shortform videos... Girl. You are addicted to socmedia. To the point where it's almost comical.

I don't know how to convince people that twitter cannot come back from this. It is over. The normies now know it as the child porn site. They will judge you on this. I'm judging you on this. When I see someone link their twitter out in the wild my reaction is eww lol. It's getting to the point where people will react like you're on kiwifarms/lolcow/4chan. There is no way it can go back. I literally don't know. I don't know. I don't!!! Oh my god why don't you care!!!

I guess I'm just sick to my teeth of people (who say theyre radical, mind you!) not bothering their arses. ...So you cannot do this one single thing. Okay. Sure. I don't know what to make of you. People are so caught up in themselves.

--xoxo becky