Well, I surely did not want to produce a discussion about the importance of crux or non-crux. I like both. Actually, I have to disagree with
@Dazza and
@windar that there is little artistic challenge in doing crux images, or that they all look the same. I find the posing very difficult, for my first picture I basically copied an Alice Kiss image I found
in this thread.
And also I got really good input from the experts how to improve particular aspects of such depictions. Somewhere I came across a comment by
@SkatingJesus, who basically said the same: If you want to get better at depicting "girls on sticks", ask the girls. And the guys who love them.
Here is what happened: I could not help noticing custom titles that sounded a lot nicer than the one that was stuck to my profile. So I inquired with the moderators, and I got the verbatim response by
@Madiosi that there was a "secret rule" (so,
@Wragg, I did not make that part up) about the required 1000 posts, with no hint of consideration that not all post are created equal. And no other road to this little trophy for somebody who contributes original and on demand images than for anybody else, for reasons of "fairness". So a very strict quantity over quality perspective.
I do agree with what has been said that such little things are actually of no importance. I also don't believe that after a handful of posts I deserve a privilege given to long-time active forum members. But my one and only interaction with a moderator has also made it very clear to me that this forum just may not be a place where original creations, poems, stories images, you name it, are particularly valued over any other type of post. This is a management decision, but it is not one that works for me.
This is not what I was told. I was told POSTS, not LIKES.
I think this comment speaks for the big shortcoming of cruxforums that
@crumera has rightly pointed out: cruxforums has an achive, it has a section
dedicated to original stories but it does not have a place to gather original image contributions by various artists and allow for interaction. For example, I did not know about
@algabal's artwork, and I would not have known where to look for it amongst literally dozens of threads that are more review-type of a particular subject matter or artist (which is fine and inspiring, too). What I would like to be able to is to easily identify the works of fellow artists and leave my comment there. Like, tell to
@algabal that he makes such fine examples how diverse crux images can actually be, and that some of his faces remind me of
Milo Manara's work. I am sure there are plenty of such hidden gems in the forum. Basically, the only strategy now is to first suspect that somebody else is a creator and then find all the threads he/she has started.
In this context:
Sorry, but this is a mess. For one, you left behind
this orphan post. Secondly, now that you have carved my last image out of its original thread and stuck it on top of this one titled "Honory titles" you have effectively buried it. As pointed out above: Nobody will suspect original content in such a thread in a couple of weeks from now. Which is a shame, because it took a lot of work to make this picture.
Oh yes, there is! Lotte's new forum. I have just been too shy to go there yet.
@JackPott, thanks for your comment, old friend, you will probably find me there soon. And surprisingly, quite some of my stuff seems to be tame enough to survive on dA, for the time being, anyway.