More of the abstract itch scratched, these are super relaxing.
Also I don't advertise it often, but most of my abstract pieces have the high res files available in my ko-fi shop.
#artistsofcohost
also: #ArtistsOnCohost, #artists of cohost, #artists on cohost, #The Cohost Global Feed (Artist)
Only YOU can prevent fires of the website variety
hey everyone. you've probably already seen quite a few of these already, but i'm also making a big i want to help cohost survive post, because i really think we can and should make it happen. i have thoughts on this from a bunch of different angles - i'll put them in collapsible segments. i'd appreciate if you read any of them. thank you.
me and cohost
i've never been a poster before. i technically have a twitter account that technically has tweets on it, but i've never really engaged with the platform or people there, or anywhere else. i took an archaic sort of approach coming here, inventing a new name and moving to a new town. in a strange turn, i've mostly become a film photography poster - something i had never done at the time i made this account. i still post some miscellaneous other things and don't really feel pressured into that as my niche, but it has been my biggest hobby for the past half year or so. and i think showing some of my work here has really helped that. there's people who like what i make! i still don't really know how to talk to people or make friends online, but that much alone is unprecedented for me, y'know. sticking with a hobby for a long time is unusual for me, and i think this place has helped me along.would that have happened on another platform? i donno, maybe. wouldn't know. but i think cohost has a lot going for it. if it were another platform, i don't think i'd ever have started. the general atmosphere here was a lot less intimidating to me (easily intimidated), and my first photography post is not a type of post other platforms even let you make. and ever since then, i've never had a single unpleasant interaction. everyone who has ever said anything to me has been nice. i know this is contingent on a bunch of things and not everyone is so lucky. but i think it'd be hard to argue that cohost isn't less hostile than other platforms for any given interaction.
i've been hemming and hawing about getting cohost Plus!, mostly because of my own financial situation, but - i'll be fine. again, i know not everyone is so lucky, but i'll still get by. and if some people in my situation making this decision helps, i'm happy to chip some money in. if cohost does go under i don't think i'd try and set up camp anywhere else - i'd probably ask if anyone wanted me in their discord servers and give up on posting. so i think cohost's continued existence will have value to me, personally. especially if i ever decide i want to make something commercial - or if i do ever end up in financial dire straits. which already leads into the next point...
wherefore i want to save cohost
okay, hear this: tumblr and twitter have never been profitable and are going down the drain, firing a lot of their staff. elsewhere tech companies are cramming "AI" into more and more products (often also firing staff), making their product worse to please vulture capitalists. and any damn place i go i constantly see godfucking advertisements, increasingly often ones that make me goin the face of this, i think cohost has value both in practical terms and in what it represents (though i find these hard to fully disentangle). on the practical side, ASSC is a worker co-op without VC backing, making a website that is designed to be free but still not to be exploitative of their user base. the money they get is spent mostly on livable wages and nothing is appropriated by a parasitic capitalist owner. they are also working on building an alternative to existing tipping/subscription services that don't have these advantages. i am very optimistic that these would be good for both ASSC and the current user base here:
- i've seen creators on here talk about how cohost has made a positive impact on their patreon earnings - so this platform is already facilitating money transfers, even going through another service
- i've also seen people say the user base here has helped them fundraise for personal emergencies, also through other services
- this site not being beholden to shareholders would only make these transfers better. profit would not be funneled off to investors or their whims. and i have a lot more faith in ASSC to not introduce things like dark patterns or to pull the rug out under marginalized creators (like e.g. platforms banning pornography post-hoc).
that really adds support to my hope that, if we manage to keep this site afloat, it will eventually become profitable in itself with (at least) less direct support. and there are more reasons i really want this to happen, though i believe it would be a material good in and of itself.
as a leftist (don't laugh), i believe that worker solidarity is key to creating a better world. and i believe you can find more of it here than on most other platforms. i don't think ASSC is the vanguard party or anything, but succeeding here would mean a lot to me as a sign (and potentially tool) of projects of solidarity in this day and age. this place is mostly independent of and largely hostile to capitalist establishments - and i think it would be beautiful if we could carve this space out of the existing commercial landscape. if we could tear just a little bit of the public square out of the hands of the profit interest, a place for and by us. the website already exists, has an established user base and a lot of goodwill from them. this is, to my mind, the best going opportunity to create an online space like this. that's all the more reason why i want to do what i can to make it succeed, and to ask you to do the same.
the great cohost bake sale
so what do we do if we want cohost to survive? you've probably seen some ideas already. a fundraiser to tide things over until eggbux rollout or user-created ads seem to be broadly popular. i would also be in support of these! but they require some buy-in (and development time) from staff, who seem to be reticent to do these for now (and i understand this to some extent). in the meantime, a lot of people have been increasing their cohost Plus! subscriptions, which doesn't require any further action from staff. and i think we can leverage this for even more.there are a lot of great artists and creators of all kinds on cohost - a lot of whom have said that the community here has been really helpful to them as well. and with so much goodwill and people wanting to give, i feel like we could make a communal effort to raise some money ourselves. maybe my vision is excessively rosy, but i feel like if we managed to get the word out to the writers, painters, musicians and anyone else who creates, we could find plenty of people to make a beautiful festival of arts and crafts, aimed at getting funding for cohost. we can make the talent show real.
what about me? i am also a hashtag artist on cohost, though it feels a bit weird to say. and yeah, i'd be willing to - well, put someone else's money where my mouth is. i don't think my main medium of "opportunistic amateur film photography" is the best suited to commission work, but i'd be happy to try things!
some ideas of what i could do if you give eggbug money
i mean - i could take pictures, happily. are there subjects you'd like to see me tackle (more)? some theme you'd like a series on? some kind of exposure experiments? do you want me to take some cc0 stock photos of something? i don't know if you should really ask me for those, but i could try.i develop my own, would you like to see me try alternative development processes like bleach bypassing or b/w reversal and maybe write about my process and outcomes?
would you like me to write about my gear or something about process? or whatever else? maybe not even photography.
or maybe something completely different. do you want me to clean up the kia spectra horn and publish an even easier sound file to use? do you want me to try and draw my cameras from memory? do you want me to, i donno, actually bake some cookies and gift them to my grandma?
if anybody wants me to do anything i'll give out an email address and we can talk about it. also, i'm just hiding this here because i don't want to pressure anyone not interested, but i'm "making myself responsible" for two more cohost plus! subscriptions. if no one takes me up on any of this i'll just fork over ten dollars myself. so if you just want me to have a little walking around money... hahaha
if i sound like i'm grandstanding a little, well - you caught me. i'm invested in this! and i think a lot of other people are! and i really believe this community can keep this website alive. so if i can inspire anyone in any way to help, i want to do that. if we can help ASSC keep the lights on for longer, i think not only is it possible that they become sustainable through eggbux soon enough, but it'll be a burden off their shoulders for a time anyway.
if you have any suggestions or if anyone is already doing something like this, please let me know.
it's possible that this ship will sink regardless. but in this instance, i'll be happy to have plugged some holes with my fingers until the evacuation notice comes, you know?
thanks for reading. here's a bonus image for you.