Hey art frens
It's okay, there are no algorithms here, you're not fighting to swim upstream any more 
You can sit here and just breathe and look at all the pretty things coming across the timeline while you take time to untie the knots that the other nastier places left in your creative muscles.
You don't need to perform here. You don't need to prove anything. You're valid even when you can't put pen to paper. You have the heart of a creative and that's enough.
*hugs everyone*
I saw one of our creatives here saying they're struggling with creative block because of all this, that they can't shake that 'need to prove myself' feeling.
I told them to take a pen and paper and draw a squiggle and take a photo of it and post it here, because it will be appreciated. Everybody knows this feeling.
I want to see your squiggles. <3
Twitter Tired: Post new complete finished amazing art constantly. Engage with everyone. Use hashtags, but not too many, or not too few, and always the right ones (we won't tell you what the right ones are). Post on a schedule, but keep it random. Sign every tweet with your sweat and tears.
Wired MastoArt: draw squiggles pls
@Curator also Twitter: if your media tweet is longer than a sentence say byebye to your reach. You are a content cog in the content machine.
Mastodon: please describe your picture, write what you feel, how it feels, be a Human.
@pyromairon This actually looks like a little heart that went through a chaotic dance trying to figure out which way to go and eventually found how to break free of the tangle and landed in a nice quiet spot <3
Which is, you know, appropriate :D
"You don't need to perform here. You don't need to prove anything."
This is the exact feeling I've been getting across Mastodon. I feel like I can be who I am. Twitter, Instagram, etc. gives too much social pressure.
@Curator @nerk I wouldn't really put it to the levels of stockholm syndrome, but absoloutely: it's godawful for a creator's mental health.
Algorithms enforce these content-first rules that are unachievable without bending to unhealthy lengths, and because the corporations know we're dependant on it and it makes them money, they don't care if we break our backs doing it.
You have to dance for the algorithm, or you don't get to eat. And over time you forget that That's Not Okay.
@kraaico awwww
I've been sitting at the computer most of today and yesterday while the surge has happened, seeing people coming here from Twitter, saying how burned out they are, creative block, can't shake the feeling that they need to always be thinking about how to break through the algorithm and keep up with everything and constantly perform perform perform and it's just heartbreaking.
@Curator it really is!! Thinking about the right time to post, boosting yourself over and over, it's just draining. Insta truly is the bane of my existence, even LOSING followers after I post a piece I'm very damn proud of. I'm glad I have that place safely locked away from my mental state, though, after YEARS.
I'm really happy to be here, I feel like I can be a whole person here with multiple interests instead of an art-making machine.
@kraaico I happened to see at some point from an entirely unadvertised source that I stumbled upon that your insta posts scored more highly on the algorithm if you responded to comments within the hour.
Like, wft? Who can stay on top of that?
Stuart
Mastodon•ART 🎨 Curator
Jax
🏳🌈That one skunk...🏳🌈
Pyromairon 
Malte Hollmann
Gina
Molartime!
Jenn / CaptainHanyuu
~ Auntie Violet ~
ewill
Mónchis 
Natalie Metzger
nerk
Buttons & the BRB
Susanna Pujol🏳️🌈
emma