For example, I just discovered that all my posts with art at https://skool-yard.mn.co/ under "Virtual Travel" have been taken down along with the ones by all other users under that topic. It's a commercial site operated by Sketchbook Skool and I even paid for courses there a couple of years ago. Lately they've been trying to funnel "old" members into a subscription plan that costs +$100/month and there was some debate in their forum about how this effectively excluded a lot of people from online activities that were previously free. I enjoyed participating there because it was a kind of gated community protected against "likes" and mean people, and now it's all lost. I usually don't post my art on Instagram or Facebook because of the pressure of the "likes", family and friends expecting me to interact, and not being able to get really open, vulnerable and weird as I can here.
One could of course post art on IG/FB under an alias, but it defeats the hope and purpose of some time being able to sell signed art and creating some sort of reputation, both locally and online. Let's face it, few of us are on Banksy's level
. Also, with the new AI image scraping tools it has become trivial to reverse-search all versions online of a particular image, and even art created in a similar style down to the use of certain colors, figures and strokes. You could easily find out who "troebia" actually is and find pictures of my family, my house, my vacations...and make replies on my real name IG posts about what I've shared here, for all to see. One can also opt to create a personal domain and website on a hosting space, which gives total control over content and comments/messaging. You can be as odd and weird as you like and kick out or block anyone who bothers you. But it's basically like putting yourself into a little box that nobody finds, except if you announce it on social media...and you're back to square one. People prefer to comment on and share your works on social media.
I'm now looking for a new art forum that is member-based to continue to be weird and strange. Suggestions are welcomed.