Taking one last scroll through the obliterated wastes of my Tumblr timeline, I stopped, deciding this image to be the final memory of my Tumblr experience.

Can't think of a more perfect note to go out on.

A quick PSA to Tumblr users
who just started on NewGrounds

As I'm getting in the groove of submitting to the art portal and gauging my activity on Newgrounds, I'm glad to see that a lot of aspects of the 2006-era Newgrounds I came to love are still very much intact in current 2018-era Newgrounds. In particular, the 5-star rating system. That system I found to be one of the greatest indicators of my development and impact I'm making with those who view my content.

Everywhere else on the Internet felt like such a hug box, where viewers had to chose an extreme end of either loving a work or gearing up to go to war against a work. Very rarely did I get an honest "I dunno man, this one just doesn't have the same oomph as your other works" comment outside of Newgrounds.

That being said I just want to remind a lot of the new Tumblr exiles, who have taken the same exodus I have, with a very important thing regarding the 5-star rating system.

Don't get discouraged.

The Newgrounds standards have always been very mid-range. 5-star ratings are seldom deserved. And those that deserve it don't always achieve it. Most people aren't going to immediately get off the ground eeking past that 3.5 milestone. But be grateful if you do, because yes, a 3.5 is a very good score. If you followed the Flash portal for several years, you would know how very few Flash submissions get above that covetted 3.5 line, which is a phenomenon made even more apparent due to said submissions actually getting a distinct flare for achieving that.

Unfortunately, a lot of the world has evolved to assume that anything less than a 90% is not worth anyone's time. You know, the ol' IGN standard of wildly generous excellence. But here, nothing could be further from the truth. You're getting a more honest rating, and after some time, you can amass all this feedback into some very useful information regarding your own progress. Don't see a 3.5 as only achieving 70% of your potential. See it as you still having a 1.5 star margin where you still can improve and build upon yourself, that you still have 30% of the game left to accomplish.

See? He's still smiling!

I've heard people talking about wanting to disable the ratings, how they don't like being judged, and look, I get that. Tumblr was great because it fostered a judgement-free zone. But after many years on Tumblr, did the lack of judgment help others become a better artist in the end? Can an artist go through their Tumblr feed and say, with conviction, which images people thought were best and which they were rather tepid to? Absolutely not. Sure they can point and wave a finger at that "1,500 Notes" at the bottom all you want, all that tells me is that they posted art at just the right time to be reblogged by just the right pornbot account.

My top rated Tumblr post has over 12,000 notes. My top selling artwork, when posted to Tumblr, only got 80 notes. Notes don't mean jack.

So don't sweat it. If your awesome beautiful artwork gets off to a lousy 1 or 2-star launch, have a little giggle. Chortle "man, somebody's being a bit harsh." Newgrounds isn't like some vapid social media site that flings recommended images around because of some stupid AI algorithm, where you can doom an image's future while it's still fermenting to ripeness in the maternity ward with a 1-star rating seconds after it's posted.

Getting a low score doesn't affect your work's visibility in the portal, it will still get as much face time as the other dazzling high-caliber works in there too. That's how the portal works. It's all very manual, it's all determined by the engagement of the Newgrounds community, and it doesn't use automated algorithms or reblogs to shuffle stuff around for bonus exposure. And that's how the site has operated for nearly two decades.

Manually.

Not every image is going to be a 5. Give an image a couple days to simmer and receive traffic before taking its user score seriously. And never take it personally.

And most importantly, recognize the standard and apply it to others. Don't just give arbitrary 5's all crazy like because you want to make somebody feel better. Be honest. Save those 5's for works that you feel really truly deserve it above the others. And if people get mad at your for saying "Really good stuff, keep it up! 3.5/5," just send them here so they too can be reminded that an honest 3.5 with an expression of encouragement is far more valuable than a superficial 5 with a bubbly haiku for Senpai's love.

If we all work hard to maintain a realistic standard, one where we still view 3.5 amicably and as a way to better distinguish an artist's works between their good, great, and best, we will all come out better in the end. Be positive and encouraging, but also be sincere.

Hey guys!

So, my last upload here was in 2011. So I've got quite a bit of dust to wipe off and some updating to do with this profile. But I'm going to be back here for a bit in lieu of Tumblr's lockdown on NSFW content. Since Newgrounds is expanding into sharing and promoting artists who just create images, and not just focusing on Flash content, I think it's really awesome that I can now submit alongside non-Flash artists that I've been working with for the last several years.

Great to be back, and have a more solid upload schedule instead of posting once a month when I would finish a Flash project...back in that halcyon window of time when Flash was still kind of a thing. Hope you guys enjoy the content as it comes up, and please feel free to give me feedback and offer to network up with me if you want to be a part of a large exchange of artists growing on Newgrounds!