Melvian

(In the style of the "Stop Doing Math" meme) STOP KILLING DRAGONS * DRAGONS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EVIL * THOUSANDS OF DRAGONS SLAIN yet NO REAL IMPROVEMENT in society * Want to improve someone's life anyway? We had a tool for that: It was called "DRAGON SNUGGLES" * "Why yes I'd love to harm and kill a giant majestic creature for merely existing" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged LOOK at what Dragon Slayers have been demanding your Respect for all this time (Three very poorly drawn dragons with 'X's in their eyes. The one on the left is more quadruped, laying down, the middle one is more biped, with an arrow stuck on it, the right one is a big quadruped with a tiny stick figure on top raising their sword and saying "I am the best!") "Hello I would like a dead dragon please" They have played us for absolute fools

#dragon #dragonposting

I am far more active on Mastodon if you'd like to follow me there: dragonchat.org/@melvian

I am officially declaring this account dormant. I don't really check this place often anymore, nor do I feel comfortable posting much here. I will continue to keep this account but it will only be used to post new art, project announcements and updates, and website articles.

This is cool, but it's the opposite end of the spectrum for me. I can't see why having even an 800+ char limit is bad... it's not that long, and if it appears too long, truncate it and add a "Read More" button (this is what Mastodon servers typically do).

But whatever, I guess.

This isn't to say that Mastodon is perfect. It definitely has its own issues, and some people unfortunately have not had good luck with the platform. There are also numerous different corners of Mastodon because of it being highly federated, different areas have different cultures.

2) Custom emojis, which bring a new level of interactivity that is impossible to live without once you start using them. For instance, not only are there species-specific emojis (fox, dragon, etc.) but also things like dragon headpats, which feels way better than having to write it out in text.

Mastodon isn't for everyone, maybe Bluesky is a better fit for some. The two things that make Mastodon a better fit for me are:

1) Most servers have larger char limits, allowing posts to be more in-depth without having to split it up, as I have to do here. The server I'm on has a 2048 char limit.

It's likely a mixture of both. At least, that's how it is for me. The microblogging format IMO isn't very conducive to proper social interaction, yet that's how we find most people on the Internet.

I think what I'm trying to get at is that this doesn't feel like the kind of place where people want to converse, it's mainly just looking at each others' art. But perhaps that may be because *I'm* not providing a place for conversation...

It's hard for me because while I make art and people like it, it's almost impossible for me to find accounts that I personally like to follow. And even the accounts I do follow are just basically art posts, and I like seeing them but I don't have anything to say about them.

One thing I had to learn when getting into Bluesky was that I had to take a LOT more initiative to find people to follow than I did when I came on Mastodon. I'm definitely getting more use out of Bsky now than when I initially joined here, but still, something feels a tad missing.

I guess it says something when I frequently check Mastodon a lot, but almost forget about Bluesky until later in the day. Not that Mastodon is perfect.

In case anyone who's interested in my stuff happens to be on Mastodon as well, here's my handle, where I'm WAY more active. dragonchat.org/@melvian

My current usage of Bluesky has pretty much just relegated to being an art gallery. Sure, there are lots of great art and I enjoy seeing them and giving artists my acknowledgment, but something feels missing. It doesn't feel like a place where I can speak my mind and have good conversations.

mrawrrwr

"I should participate in some communities, could use the socialization"

vs.

"Merely being present in communities and the platforms they're on makes me feel like shit most of the time"

Overall, I'm sticking with Bluesky, but note that I don't post as much on here as I do Mastodon. I mainly post my animations and illustrations on here, but on Mastodon I post those along with other random thoughts that come to my mind.

I'm mainly on Bsky to diversify my social media presence a bit. Especially since I left Tumblr, Cara, and Discord. I refuse to get Instagram, X, or TikTok. I could just be on Masto but being on a single platform feels wrong. In any case I have a website, which is my true Internet residence anyway.

In general my experience on Bsky is mainly an art gallery. People post nice art, but I find Masto to be more interactive and personal. This could be due to differences in culture, features, but could also be due to how I'm approaching Bsky at the moment. I generally don't look through Bsky as much.

I also just dislike how short posts have to be on Bluesky. It discourages thoughtful exchanges IMO. I very easily write much longer posts on Mastodon. In fact I'm even having to abridge some of my writing just to fit each paragraph into its own post.

A feature of Mastodon that feels missing in Bsky is custom emojis. As a dragon, it brings a new level of interaction and play that just can't be replicated as easily on Bsky. As a result, posts that were really meant for Mastodon are completely lost in translation if seen from Bluesky via a bridge.

Some people on both platforms are bridging their accounts to make it easier to post on both. I tried this briefly, but quickly abandoned it as the culture and features of Mastodon are just too different from Bluesky. So I've resorted to posting on separate accounts.

In all honesty, Bluesky doesn't really fit me. I'll continue to stay here and post since I don't mind it, but I generally feel more at home with Mastodon.

Thanks! I am a little bit.

I've officially exited hibernation. While I wish it lasted a little longer, at least this time I predicted I'd be back before 2026.

This dragon is currently in hibernation.

new security feature in the rawrPhone 17

#art #dragonart #animation #dragon #furryart #sfwfurry

2025 Jul 20 Update: I’m going into hibernation again. Why I'm doing it this time, and what it will look like.

Starting July 21, I'm going into a second hibernation.

I will be uploading one last animation before this.

melvian.net/update/6/

The social aspect of drawing each other's characters is cool, and that's what attracted me to ArtFight in the first place. It feels slightly selfish to stop attacking, but everyone else will get plenty of art of their characters, and right now, I have projects that I feel are more important.

I think there may be a future in which I participate more heavily in ArtFight. When I do make my art program, I will very much take ArtFight as an opportunity to heavily test it out and find issues to fix.

However, I am still leaving my participation status on in case anyone still wants to attack me.