why i gravitate toward gallery based sites go back

december 2025

this topic actually came to mind due to a convo i was having with my sibling. we ramble alot about our awareness of the current enshittification of the world and what may come, or rather repeat, as a result of the progression. old youtube and the lack of algorithms was brought up, prompting me to think about why ive always, and still do, gravitate toward gallery based sites and apps similar to furaffinity, weasyl, deviantART and sheezy, inkbunny and buzzly rather than join and maintain activity on sites/apps like twitter, bluesky, tumblr, reddit, mastadon or instagram.

while instagram and tumblr can fall under gallery based if you look at it a certain way, instagram became feed focused and rotted imo due to reels and becoming algorithmic, and tumblr's feed taking a similar approach to this and requiring add-ons to remedy the issues. i have no idea where to put pinterest as it was once more like how i viewed furaffinity, deviantart and instagram, but the addition of comments and video content makes me place it in the same realm as bluesky, twitter and reddit. and well, youtube unfortunately is considered feed based in my mind too and has become harder for me to feel okay using unless i have brain power to remain intentional in its use because of the way the app will keep introducing shorts to me and my dopamine craving ass will click one food short wanting dinner inspo and get sucked into it until i realize im watching literal slop that sounds like AI scripted and it makes me super stressed out that i lost time to that.

im focusing more about functionality & behavior rather than relating it to my specific social difficulties i experience, as my social difficulties i experience with feed based sites still happen with gallery sites and of course in real life. some points i make do reference my social difficulties, but in terms of how gallery sites makes it easier to approach than feed based sites.

1. gallery sites feel more finite and steady. i dont feel like im necessarily going to miss out on anything, meaning i dont have to check it constantly to keep track of whats going on. almost all feed based sites add in extra recommendations into what would be your finite feed, which makes me worry im missing out on everything i followed people for and want to actually see, and to achieve this, id need to spend more time on the app. which sucks alot! ive tried circumventing this through app modifications (like i used to use a gutted version of instagram), but i ended up endlessly refreshing or going to the explore/popular feed due to boredom.
2. gallery sites give organization options. i really love organizing things into folders or tags, which is pretty difficult on feed-focused sites. tumblr does have a great tagging system allowing some sort of organization and laying out posts compared to others ive experienced, but not in a way i can organize posts into like a gallery or theme with descriptions of why i put all the posts in this folder/organization. its just nice having that option for people that enjoy it. i feel like this element was much stronger on gallery sites in the early 2000s (ie deviantart) but well inkbunny and furaffinity are decent about it. im trying to build my site into a better approach like this because of how much i realize i love it and how its starting to vanish from online sites.
3. gallery sites give me the feeling that i can be intentional - the sites i use dont seem to rely on algorithms, and if they do, its just one section of the site or an avoidable element of suggestion. (showing whatever is popular or trending due to the click/fav analytics). you aren't constantly suggested things and its more so up to you to dig through tags or click through galleries to find what you want. i dont know if others get comfort from this sort of thing of feeling free of handholding, as its likely due to my personal experiences make me go "blech" when i imagine algorithms as a overbearing pushy parent trying to suggest loudly what clothes to wear or overwhelm me with whatever i do mention i do enjoy, but thats the vibe i get esp with youtube algorithms. when i look up something on weasyl or furaffinity, its going to be what i looked up (whether it relates to the title or tag) and im not going to be given a bunch of unrelated things because there's something that assumes i would want to see it and shove it in my face every time i look anything else up. sometimes i like that the tag searching isnt perfect because i end up finding stuff i wouldve never thought id like to see or look up, but just come across while browsing. like, i dont want it to explore and pick what i should check out for me. it takes away my motivation to do that. i love the recent submissions page on furaffinity bc i end up just clicking through and finding random folks art to check out. and i guess its nice because i have to click to the next page, not just scroll on one page to see something new. this helps me disengage once i am bored and do other shit.

there are some things i tend to struggle to deal with on gallery sites, but it tends to be related to social elements (leaving comments or engaging with other folks) and it setting of my demand avoidance or insecurities. despite making progress with it, i still have extreme anxiety about leaving comments and feeling like ive "tainted" someone's art and profile as a result, or fear that they would be disgusted by me and me leaving a comment or interacting with them causing them distress.

however it is so much more bearable when im limited to gallery sites than feed-based sites.

4. the limitations of reach from no algorithm = less eyes until u find ways to gather a following = less likely to go "viral" is one. this just lets me feel more alright being vulnerable and real for the reasons above. going viral is something that makes me feel sick to my stomach, i do not want it. the little taste of virality i experienced was terrifying and it really is not good for my mental health issues or progression. the lack of reposts and sharing via feeds on gallery sites removes my fear that a post will go viral and there will be expectations going forward or anger directed at me for something i didnt want. i can essentially eat a can of beans in peace and it wont get shoved in some poor bastard's face because other people who also like eating beans fuck w me eating beans. i wont become the perosn that is expected to eat beans all the time, ect ect i hope u get my drift here

and

5. i end up not caring about analytics because they arent super shoved in my face or made to be important or some sort of signal of value on most gallery sites (and by extension, the community you dwell in) - i am able to use the site without checking them, like its an optional thing in a way. every post on insta or twitter would list all your stats right at the bottom and you could watch the number go up in real time. on furaffinity, i gotta have to actually care to look at it to see - its not RIGHT THERE, in my opinion. of course i get notifications which will show me how much attention pieces get, but the beauty is my ability to just nuke that shit to oblivion anytime i open my notification box - i can reset and clear out what i can scroll through later, so if i did want to see how a post is doing, i have to go click to figure it out. its not plastered right on the image or post and assigned some sort of value from the get-go

these are the main factors off the top of my head, which is why i remain on gallery sites and cant for the life of me manage to get on board with feed based sites. past these, in general, the feed based sites just fucking suck for my mental health - they encourage the worse of my behaviors and stifle my ability to change them. i have to keep timers in place on the apps i do use, as i am a user on some listed just to keep up with artists i like (accs that i don't post on at all), and even without posting ill still have anxieties and like get lost in scrolling through shit mindlessly. it pisses me off when i catch myself and i get madder when its hard for me to stop and i start something else, just to pick up my phone again and slowly turn into an anxiety bubble.

youtube is my biggest enemy right now which frustrates me a lot since it is a site that gives me access to amazing informational content and diverse perspectives (and lately, ones that help me feel less ridiculous or absurd for struggling in environments not healthy for me & show me that it can and will be better), but the fucking shorts get pushed so much since a lot of content creators have no other choice but to make shorts for the sake of income & being able to make longer videos. so, when i watch a creators short form content with intention of supporting them, the instinctual scroll leads me to things completely unrelated after i watch their content instead of what i intentionally chose to watch.

i am planning to take more offline approaches long term as i've always had a unhealthy relationship with technology and online posting (like literally earliest evidence of me using online in the worst ways from ripe age of fucking 8 years old), however i'm hoping to keep using gallery sites since they are pretty much the kind of posting site suitable for me right while i work to get the worst of my behaviors in check.

i do have high hopes for myself because of the level of anger i get when i catch myself doing what i don't wanna do & trying to break habit of. so far, the frustration and annoyance of realizing what's happening is the most effective driver for me to make changes abt stuff. i just don't know if ill ever use feed based sites more than browse them due to how they're structured and work - its just something i really don't like outside of any personal issues or anxieties, i don't like how they take advantage of how humans brains work to generate income and encourage behaviors that don't really help many people long term, if that makes sense??? things that could be and have been shown that it could be fine! but once it generates money it stops considering the impact on people and that rlly rubs me nasty moral code wise haha thog hates it! xD

anywho, i hope you enjoyed my ramble about websites. this is just off the top of my head and heart kind of stuff and not something comprehensive.