You might've noticed that I've been posting art less and less over time. In fact, I hadn't even regularly posted art since earlier this month. So I feel like I'm gonna have to get this out of my chest and be blunt.
This decline has been going on since early 2023 when I've made the right decision to permanently block a certain parasocial follower from every socials we mutually share, and banned them from an old server, due to the persistent obsession with me as well as me getting tired of their own stupidity and constantly asking me burdensome questions. Mind you, this has been going on since 2021. I'm not pinning the blame on them for being the sole catalyst of this issue, since this is just a coincidence. This is just barely scratching the surface, because this is just me having enough of their shit and finally set boundaries.
Now what really grinds my gears is how the site tends to play favorites towards certain problematic artists (and the non-problematic ones are overpromoted), and even protect them unless they're pedophiles, such as zionists, racists, etc. It's why I found out that this site's super unfriendly towards smaller and lesser-known artists, in fact, I've complained about this issue since 2022. Back in November, an ex-mutual went on a long tirade that's just a zionist death threat against me all because I drew a pro-Palestine artwork. When I notified the mods, it thankfully got deleted, but they never banned them (because the site centers itself around free speech and being "neutral"), not even from any Newgrounds-associated Discord servers.
TL;DR: This site has always faciliated bigger, more popular artists that steal the spotlight, stalkers, and bigots, so it has failed me, hence why I just gave up on posting art.
RamenButLeaf
To be fair, I don't like the Art Portal for this kind of reason. The Forum side of NG is really distinct from the rest of the community in my experience.
I wish people from the non-forum side didn't defend creeps like harassers & racists in my situation. I stopped to care about the Portal ( unless I receive kind / funny comments ) after deleting my old account due to harassment.
On the Forum side, you will have friendly, open-minded people who will try to help you in case you have an issue with your art or a problematic member of the Art Portal. Whereas, the rest of the community is a hit or miss if you're a small artist. You either meet nice people who are civil & simply enjoy art, or you meet weirdos who defend things that should never be a subject of debate, trolls 0-bombing your work for a yes or no, & racists who will harass you & spread awful lies about you as soon as they will know that you're aren't white. ( And the fact that bigger artists will accuse you of "throwing pity parties" & call you a "retard" if you vent about being harassed isn't helping ).
People can say whatever they want about NG, but I am, & will never be surprised, when I will read about one more artist having a terrible experience with the Art Portal. Definitely spend more time on the forums if you care about healthy interactions & help.