Oh, how overdue a good rant/vent is. And this morning started with the perfect trigger for one... 😹
I've had this idea in mind to do a post sharing Affinity Studio here on Hive for a while. Basically, it's an all-in-one alternative to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign... that's free. No catches.
I discovered Affinity last year and paid $100 for their trio of V2 app, stoked to discover it, as have been quite turned off from venturing into Adobe due to their price-gouging $20-30/month subscription model. Recently, Affinity changed their model, packing everything into one and giving it away free, simply to draw people from Adobe's ecosystem into theirs, entrusting they'd make enough profit on upsells of other pro AI tools. Solid.
So, yesterday was the day I finally put together the post. Maybe it was the 'Christmas spirit' to give - nothing to gain myself, merely sharing something of value that others who don't yet know about Affinity may greatly appreciate, whether already using Adobe and keen to save a few hundred bucks every year or expand their creative explorations with such tools at no cost.
"What community would have the most people who'd appreciate discovering it?" First thought: Photography. Photographers use Photoshop... makes sense.
And what did I discover when coming back today and checking notifications...? The post muted with a "friendly reminder" of the "rules" from a mod.
Well apparently, stupid me threw the post together so quick that the screenshot of the program I grabbed, I'd chosen based on what looked good, rather than "photography." "Digital art has nothing to do with photography, after all." And heaven forbid I give everyone enough credit to assume they're contextually intelligent enough to piece together "PHOTOSHOP alternative = photography related." But apparently, that’s not the case” in the realm of this archetypal hall-monitor turned community moderator who deems it “photography related” ONLY if there’s a photograph or instructions on how to use the software.
I honestly don't even know why I fucking bother trying anymore, sometimes.
Ok, rule #1: "original photography only." My fucking bad for having thought that a community full of photographers would appreciate a high-quality alternative to Photoshop, and that a little flexibility would be reasonable in order to share such a valuable offering.
Fucking seriously.
Am I fucking retarded here for having assumed CONTEXT here would be obvious???
Or are some community moderators just SO fucking rigidly fixed in bureaucratic "enforcement of rules" as checking boxes, taking their positions of "authority" so damn seriously that they shut down the sharing of GIFTS with their community because it doesn't conform 100% to ideal expectations?
I've got NOTHING to fucking gain by having spent my time & energy putting together that post. (The $2-5 worth of Hive rewards definitely ain't EVER an incentive to post anything here, lol.) Simply did it for the sake of sharing something awesome with some people who'd likely use it in/for their craft and appreciate. And SHUT DOWN. I'm the bad boy for "not following rules" because I didn't use a photograph or treat readers like children by educating them how to use the program, having assumed some would already know and the scope of learning for those who don't is way beyond the scope of the post.
My patience for dealing with this kind of shit is out.
I'll go on Santa's naughty list for not conforming to rigid-as-fuck rules and bending over backwards to people please with political correctness in the face of such "conflicts."
"Y'all wanna gather under the rule of 'leaders' and 'moderators' who shut down the sharing of actual VALUE, censoring posts whose relevance should be 100% clear to anyone not looking through the frame of Nazi-strict formalities... have fun, I'M OUT & DONE."
But hey, at least fvckin' ChatGPT gets it...
Blah, blah, blah.
Anyways... if any of y'all reading this have either been paying for Adobe's Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign and are curious to check out a quality free alternative or would be interested to start playing around in/with one... Affinity Studio.
Your welcome. I pay forward the introduction, with gratitude for mine as stoked to expand my creative outlets without ridiculous monthly subscriptions. Have fun. Happy fvckin' holidays. 🎄
