Have I been YA-SCREWED?...hardly.

[Celtic_Emperor]

This afternoon, when attempting to log into my yahoo e-mail account and my IM service failed to log me I realized the problem- my account had been deleted/deactivated.

Now, this is the first time this has ever happened to me over anything. And I know why it happened- the fetishy stuff on my group. Its the only explaination other than a dire error with the system that I paid the price for. Despite the fact my group was in the adult section (something I only did to protect it, I didn't like having to put it there because theres nothing adult about it), it was probably still dealt with for the same reasons other artists and their groups were dealt with.

But theres one big difference between them and I- I don't see this as a bad thing. I've not been ya-screwed. I don't see a reason to believe I have been. I accepted the fact, as a non-fetishist, that simply dabbling in the tickling community would have a reprocussion or two for me later on. I accepted this as an inevitability, not a long shot. Unlike alot of people who thought they were safe and complacent, I knew a day would come when simply being associated with this genre by any means would cost me something, however trivial it was.

I'm guilty by association, I suppose.

Well, whatever. Whatever happens happens. The group is still there, I just cannot access or moderate it. But I am smart and think ahead. By having everything about the group moderated, no spammers will be able to make prey of it (they sure as hell haven't even tried for years), and no new members will be able to join. Since its effectively out of my hands now, out of everyone's hands, I feel liberated. The group, despite its long success since October of 2002 and wealth of members (3,500+) was losing a significance to me. This became especially true when I joined up with TMF, this site, and also created my own DeviantArt, SheezyArt, MA, RA, DH, AH (and other site accounts).

The actual NEED for the yahoo group was no longer necessary, but was more of a novalty for me after having seen how fast my art was taken in and how famous I became in a much shorter ammount of time on these other sites. The yahoo group could no deliver to me what I needed as an artist to make any sort of an impact. It had outlived it's usefullness.

Indeed, yahoo was the first stepping stone on the internet for my art, the first place I'd ever uploaded my pictures and the first place I had ever taken a fetish request (which is how I came to be a part of this community to begin with). There are very fond memories still and I do not nor will I take for granted the times and loyalty you have shared with me in this journey. I earned every single one of those memberships. I did not spam other groups, ***** my own artwork on other groups, or did anything that would give me an edge I might not necessarily deserve. Whatever I had there I owed to faithful friends, new fans, and my own artistic merits and abilities.

I played it by the book, fair and square and I won. The end of this group is the end of the game. I have completed it proper, and I couldn't be happier with how that went.

DJ's_Fanart will always be something I will look back on and smile.


...............especially since I can just create another damn group if I wanted to! ROFL! 😛 I just don't see it happening. It serves no point or purpose. I'm bigger than a yahoo group and these other sites are more high-tech and just are capable of more. By creating another group, its like defying yahoo and spitting in their eye for doing, whats in my opinion, a favor.

I would never have deleted the group on my own, and will have continued posting and updating as always though. With the links intact this leaves the group like a museum. If they want to go to the source they will know how to find me.

To quote Commander Gendo Ikari from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion:

"Everything is kept in my heart, I'm satisfied with that."

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Also, in light of this event comes the need for new information.

My new e-mail address is [email protected]

My new yahoo IM sn is jaded_jones_7

If you are going to contact me for business related purposes, commissions, etc, please PM or e-mail me instead. This new IM is to be for basic conversations and chit-chat, and I'd appriciate it if you do not request things from me or commission me via this account. Please use the other resources available to you. Thank you. 🙂

 

[MistressValerie1]

If the group was left standing, your account may have been deactivated by accident or at random. I suggest that you try the password recovery procedure before giving up.

My hubby's main account was randomly deactivated last week for unknown reasons, but the groups connected to it were untouched. Fortunately, we plan ahead: he has a second account, as do I 😀

 

[MistressValerie1]

I also should add that fetish groups are allowed by the Yahoo Terms of Service, so if your account was deactivated because of fetish associations, that would constitute being Yah-screwed. As long as you follow the TOS, you should not have to fear random deletions. Yahoo needs to be more consistent and fair in its enforcement and notification policies.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

As I said at the beginning, my account itself, that is to say, the e-mail account has been nullified. Not having considered making a second owner-level account leaves me with what is and I'm fine with it. While it is true that I've not violated anything, and was rather upright about everything, I believe this was meant to be taking into account how things in my personal life are starting to restructure themselves.

Also taking into account the fact that I already post my artwork on many sites, one less site, and a group at that more than a site, means one less place to have to attend to. While the group was not burdensome or hard to control at any rate, as I said, it has outlived it's usefulness and that would be so whether its there or not. The only benefit it was to me was keeping the fetish folks updated (something I can and do here, on TMF and ATF and then for those that are on DA as well and other sites), but the bulk of my fans, most of which aren't associated with this community aren't even aware that group exists, as trivial as it is. No point to mentioning it when they can see everything on a better forum and art site.

Theres no reason to make this group the focal point anymore when its just not suited for that and only draws a minimal percentage of a crowd.

Perhaps its because me and my art are so well spread that the loss of but one is of less or no concern to me. Theres definitely a sentimental value to the group (which as I said I keep with me whether its there or not) but it doesn't hamper my efforts. I know the loss of a group may be a huge thing to alot of people, especially if thats all they have, and I've seen people cause commotions and uproars over something like this. So sorry if I'm downplaying this in people's eyes or it seems like I could care less. Its not like that, this just doesn't really effect me like it could have in the beginning. 🙂

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Also, technically speaking, creating a second group is more publicity rather than trying to reclaim the first. If I wanted to do this again, I'd not only have a fresh start but the benefit of establishment. While it would take quite some time to reclaim that many members, the benefit is with me that people know who I am and would join perhaps much faster than they did the first time.

Because the group was isolated, I could only ever expect people from this community (that is the tickling community, not this site particularly) to join it or have an interest given the content matter.

Either way, I win. If people start asking around that would lead them to the presumed second group or to me myself.

Again, ya-screwed? Not really. This canceltation works more for me than perhaps it could work for others. I had the good fortune to be able to have that group with no problems, deletions or anything since the day is was created.

My number has never been up, and if this was just a fluke and not a concrete decision then its definitely played to my advantage. Gotta think strategy, not mope around and sulk. 🙂

 

[MistressValerie1]

After the debacle with my notoriously clean femdom group, I haven't wanted to expend a lot of effort actively managing my several smaller Yahoo Groups because of their ephemeral nature. Like yourself, I have a diversified web presence and my stories are posted widely, so I'm not worried about loss of publicity.

Eventually I hope to develop a personal website to which I can link offsite multimedia content from adult-friendly hosts like Rapidshare and Fapomatic. Many people who have become disillusioned by the bandwidth restrictions and arbitrary deletions at Yahoo-type groups have found this to be a worthy solution.

Good luck,

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

I'm glad you know what I'm talking about because its evident that you Valerie have, dare I say, suffered from the same dilemma. Its not that the groups were/are not good its that they, or at least mine, had become obsolete. And because yahoo groups are not structured in such a way as a forum-based community, I often wonder if the group itself was only ever a transfer point to sites like this and the TMF.

Although I would get many people asking for membership approval stating the reason for joining was because they saw my art on TickleTheater or some such and that would bolster group membership and that did boost memberships (perhaps they thought there was more on the group then there was on this site, which is actually not true these days), I knew that the group had more or less become a watered-down facsimile of the grander and larger machine that is the art community and it was only repeating what I had done elsewhere already. The people who wanted/needed to see the work will have seen it here, on TMF or ATF anyways. The group has effectively become inconsequential.

Like a pair of jeans that just don't fit anymore.

I think alot of people mistook that group as my homebase or the place that was just for me and my art and that all the goodies would be there. I have no such place (unless you count some of the other sites and my forum here). If I wanted one, which I will need some day, then I'll just create a site. I wish you luck with yours.