About polls and moving forward (Patreon)

Hi! Now that I'm back and a new comic page is in works, I'm ready to talk about something that I've been thinking (and re-thinking!) for quiiiite some time now. It's in regards to the monthly voting system we've had going on. I'm going to write a lengthy post, so grab your favorite drink or something lol ❤️

Since I've opened this Patreon in August of 2021, I have done a suggestion thread/voting in polls nearly every month. You guys give me ideas on what to draw, and the next day I put them in a poll for you to vote on. Obvious exceptions are when I'm on my annual breaks, or when comics are being drawn - like now.

So far, this model has been great and it's been working quite well - a lot of you frequently expressed your satisfaction with it, and I think it's a great idea to give you a chance to vote on your favorites to be drawn. Sometimes an idea is so good that multiple variations from it were created. Sometimes it would carry over in the next month. It's been generally a very fun process.

I think having variety like that is great. Ultimately, my goal is to enjoy the process of art creation, and to provide results that will satisfy a gay tickle you might have, so I've been hard at work to find a nice balance that will make most of you happy. That works to a certain degree, as I've learned across the years that it's literally impossible to make everyone happy, which is understandable. With hundreds of people on here every month, it's only natural that not everyone will be pleased with the results every month. I'm also aware that a lot of you are here for specific ships only, and others are here for the variety. And that is totally valid!

With polls comes a chance that your favorite suggestions might win - there's no guarantee of some winning over others. I don't control the votes, it's up to you to pick your favorites and see what happens once the poll closes. I even allow multiple choices in case you can't decide. For specific requests there are of course, commissions. And regardless of results I may end up drawing multiple ideas from polls, just because I like them so much!

Which brings me to a big point that has been troubling me for quite some time, but I need to open up about this - a bunch of people message me privately EVERY month complaining when their favorites don't win. I've never openly talked about this, but I think it's important to share everything going on here, including things that bother me.

This has been a sore spot for me for a very long time now. I feel a little guilty when someone messages me expressing how they're sad and unhappy their favorite didn't win. There have been a few cases in which the person followed up by being kind and understanding in knowing their favorite may not win, and hoping it does next time, and we end up having a pleasant conversation. I always happily responded to such messages, as I know they're just so excited about the art and that makes me happy.

But sometimes, it gets bad. Really bad. I straight up get harassed, nagged, and threatened with sub cancellation if their preferred ship in poll doesn't win that month. My anxiety over this has been getting worse and some months I would dread the polling time because I always inevitably get comments like this. Some leave toxic comments in exit surveys once they do cancel their pledge (I stopped reading them after getting a couple of transphobic ones). Every time it would leave me super confused, and hurt.

If your favorite ship doesn't win in a poll that month that is not my fault. And it is kinda insulting, because I could just draw whatever I want without ever giving you a choice to suggest ideas and vote on things (which would be a valid thing to do, as many other artists do this already), so taking out your frustrations on me over polls that I don't control is extremely disrespectful and lame. Even the current comic I'm doing has been born from votes/suggestions and I've made an additional poll last month asking for permission and consent to continue drawing it. If most of you voted no, I would have stopped. Art takes time, and I'm not trying to take a moral high ground here, but some people have been behaving awful towards me. I'm not going to expose anyone who has done this because my goal is not to incite a witch hunt here.

This is by no means a call-out to everyone here - the individuals who are toxic likely won't change their behavior and some of them are (thankfully) already long gone from the platform. I had to block some that crossed the line. Most of you are absolutely wonderful and I get more positive messages than negative ones. It genuinely makes me happy to know my works are straight up helping a lot of people come to terms with their identities and make them feel seen. For every toxic comment, I get ten positive ones. All I ever ask is to be kind and nice to each other. I always welcome your private messages if you want to chat, give me constructive criticisms, suggestions, or if you need help with something - IF we can converse like two adults. I am not here to coddle individuals who harass me and act rude to me over things that are out of my control.

You could say that I shouldn't let things get to me, and I wouldn't be nearly as bothered if this was something that happened once every blue moon but it's become more and more frequent. I need to take steps to ensure I am comfortable if i am to continue doing this, and to protect myself from harassment.

All of this happening has made me rethink the whole poll system and how I do it.

For now, I will continue drawing my comic and enjoy a few of months of not having to worry about DM toxicity. Once it's finished I will resume the polls - but there will be changes in how we do it, and I will edit the information in Tier descriptions to match it. And I honestly think most of you will be still pretty satisfied with it.

I will share more details about it in a separate post or this will turn into a light novel lol. Maybe it already did... but at the end of the day, I want to un-apologetically create gay girl art for as long as I am able to, and hopefully posts like these wont be needed in the future. Art is my love, my life, and my passion. I want to enjoy every step of the way, even when there's bumps in the road. I don't want to be continuously stressed about it and lose my way because of it.

Anyways!

I hope nobody took this the wrong way. I'm not here to scold you as a collective. I simply felt the urge to vent about some unfortunate happenings on here that led me to consider changes in how I do things, and to give you proper explanations as to why I feel a certain way, why I want to change some things, and for all of you to see where I am coming from. To all the kind and wonderful individuals (which is the vast majority of you) on here that are supporting me and cheering me on in messages and art posts, I love and appreciate you SO much.

Asides from polls, I doubt much will change, but time will tell right?

Cheers! ❤️

ArtKitt