Preface

Hello. My name is Yatsufusa. I am one of the people who will regularly take a lot of time out of their day to answer questions and give longer feedback in the Artist News, even when we are not "in love with your artistic output".

Shout-out to @Gekkotsuki and @ShangXian, who I genuinely think are blessings for this section of Newgrounds.

In my pursuit to help others by sharing knowledge, insights, and opinions, it has not escaped me that a lot of users ask the same questions and have the same problems as many other users before them, yet are unwilling or unable to look up how their peers dealt with those situations (in part because tags are underutilized). So instead of copy-pasting the same replies again and again, I'll collect common issues and my personal replies to them here. For ease of use, they will be roughly sorted by how common they are. Some particularly rare questions that do not get asked often enough will get added at the end. I will curate this FAQ as a living list. Since I am an adult who is able to change their opinion, my replies may change at irregular intervals.

Several of these topics are also covered in the official FAQ, but with a different wording. My expectation in said cases is that any reader coming here would have checked there first, but either didn't understand the wording or was unable to identify something as the answer to their question because they think about it differently.

I am writing this post in part to vent some of my frustrations with the 2024 US presidential election. Did you get that? This is "a vent post"! This is how people should "vent", in my opinion! Not "Bo-hoo, I hate aspects of my life!" or "X sucks!" (dig intentional) but by putting that energy to good use.

Since I curse a little every now and then, this post will be rated "T" for the time being. It is exclusively aimed at people who can have a Newgrounds-account, so this "shouldn't" pose an issue.

Something to note before you look up "your" question: I am not a Newgrounds moderator nor do I represent this site in any official capacity. Your chances of getting a moderator-reply by shouting into the void are around 1%. Why? Because "writing a wish on a slip of paper and throwing it into the street" is not how humans communicate. If you want somebody specific to read what you have to say, then write them a PM.

(Any new additions to this list will be marked with a "→" symbol for a month or so.)

Frequently Given Replies

"Hi." (with a text body of "hi" or "I have an NG account now")

Congratulation. Depending on whether you have uploaded something to NG before your post will show up either here or here for everybody to see. In doing so you successfully spammed that list and made it clear to everybody who saw your post that you are boring and have nothing to say. You may have gotten 3 generic welcome messages, but you "may" now also be on the block list of several users without even knowing it.

If you have nothing to say, it would be beneficial to you to just say nothing...

How does Newgrounds work?

You read the ToS. Then you explore the site and read the FAQ as questions come up. If you want to submit something, you read the rules for that Portal as well. Same before writing reviews. If you don't know if you presented something well, take a moment and look at well-received examples of what other users have recently done.

This is hardly rocket science.

What happens after that? Awkwardness. Fun. Mingling. Recognition. Success. Celebration. Immortality. Sainthood. ;)

I can not do art for a while because I'm sick/have fallen ill/have injured myself...

This is the kind of post you absolutely should make in such a situation, so your followers won't crack up and chew off their fingers in your absence.

But more importantly: Don't stress yourself over it.

Get plenty of rest, drink enough liquid, have a spoon of honey (unless you're vegan), and most importantly: Avoid making important decisions.

I am taking a mental health break.

Another important announcement to make when the time comes.

My condolences. But also: Congratulations for making the adult, healthy choice in this situation.

Many middle-aged adults pay for the reckless, health-related decisions they made when they were younger. I know it sounds weird now, but taking a break when you need it instead of burning the candle at both ends will save you time, money, and sleepless nights in the future.

Juggling all of those websites is too much for me, so I'm quitting NG.

If you're struggling with publishing on multiple platforms at once, you might find the free software PostyBirb helpful.

I do not use it myself, but many of your peers in the forums do. If you run into Newgrounds-specific problems with PostyBirb that are not already covered by their FAQ, search the forums and you might get a nigh-immediate answer.

I'm gonna do all those great things y'all...

I think talking about doing something instead of actually doing it is on a certain list.

Here's a progress update for whatever large project I am working on this month/year.

As long as there's actual, notable progress you can talk about or show off, those posts have a right to exist.

On the other hand, if it's just a "I'm working on it..." the post tells your audience nothing. From their perspective you could just as well be procrastinating and making up lame excuses.

→ My submission was frontpaged!

A Moderator for the Portal in question (or Tom Fulp himself) said that it's great and you can rightfully be proud of that! But many artists who celebrate this achievement neglect to include a link. Seriously: How are artists so bad at bragging? ;)

No need for false modesty at this point! You might as well link to the piece for posterity (and for even more praise).

Check out my cool stuff.

Self-promotion is "okay", if done sparingly (once or twice a week). Only self-promote if you actually published something that you are particularly proud of. The work you promote this way does not always have to be 5 star-material but it should at least stand out among your own works submitted so far. Otherwise your next post might very well be titled:

I'm getting zero bombed!

You are probably not the target of harassment but rather a victim of your own overconfidence. Low quality submissions "can" receive low ratings.

The average of 0 (Garbage.) and 5 (Perfection!) is 2.5. Unless you have gotten a rating of 1.5, or lower you have not gotten a "bad" rating for a submission.

Scout me!

I won't spoil anything, but these 3 texts "might be" useful to you:

Ornery's Handy Dandy Scouting Guide

Luwano's Scouting Guide

Lost-Psyren's Scouting Thoughts

I am no longer scouted anymore!

If it wasn't taken away over a removed submission or a poor scouting decision of yours, then you can still be re-scouted in the future. Your scouted-status can change entirely unrelated to your own actions - including, but not limited to "the user who scouted you was pruned".

You can check the guides linked in the question above for details and extended thoughts on the matter, but for now just concentrate on putting out quality art. Maybe don't publish unfinished/unpolished pieces. That's the fastest way to getting scouted again.

My stuff was removed by a Robot "for no reason"!

First up: No, it wasn't. It was reported by one or several regular users, subsequently checked by a human moderator and then unpublished. The robot was merely the messenger.

Speaking from experience, at this point, it is almost certain that whatever was removed actually deserved to be removed. Read the rules "again" to find out why it was removed. If you still don't see what the issue was, you could contact a moderator for the Portal in question and ask why stuff was removed. Maybe the issue is easily fixable - maybe she looked like she's underage...

Communication is key in those cases. They have communicated "You got caught." Now the ball is in your court.

Please be aware that she will still look like she's underage, even if you write up a disclaimer essentially stating "This is not illegal because I say so."

Why was there no reason for the removal stated by the moderators?

This might sound mega-mean right now, but the rules you agreed to earlier say they can remove stuff whenever they feel like it without having to give a reason. That being said, they never remove stuff without having a reason.

The base assumption is that users know exactly what they did - or that they will know when they double-check the guidelines respectively read the guidelines for the first time in their life. (This may sound condescending until you realize how many users never read the rules.)

Audio Portal Moderator Pingu gave more detailed explanations about this in the past, if you're interested:

https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/post/goto/27772547

https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/post/goto/27810527

The long and short of it is that too many users misunderstand or ignore the rules. (Apparently) one cannot "make people behave better", so our volunteer(!) moderation team is constantly overworked.

Nobody is happy about this (including me, btw), but the sad truth is that about 99% of the time, users will have "a strong suspicion" what it was that got them into trouble. Oftentimes they just want to complain about it to waste other people's time, or because they lack personal enlightenment, or something along those lines.

If I were in your shoes and one of my uploads had been removed, I would look into what noticeable changes I can make and either work them in or move on to an entirely new piece.

"NG's copyright system" flagged one of my songs! I am so pissed right now!

Welcome to the world of music production in general!

"NG's copyright system" is actually in accordance with international copyright treaties.

Any site which ignored "laws and stuff" would have to shut down pretty soon.

We would be happy to have your legally unproblematic tracks here, but if you want to share music that includes the (licensed) works of other artists/companies you are bound to run into trouble with any given site unless you buy a license. A ("sometimes") costly process which our Audio Forum will know a lot about.

That being said: If you can prove that your flagged track is legally unproblematic (and in accordance with NG's own rules) you should follow the instructions you received: With them you have received a link to an appeal form. Fill in that form. That's what it's there for. If you only submitted your own original work, this will all be over in a week or so.

Do not click the "close" button on appeal forms. The "close" button "closes" an appeal which is essentially saying: "Close/Discard this appeal, please."

I got copyright struck for uploading one of my own songs that was already uploaded to another site.

Let me put it like this: Everyone can register an account on NG. For free...

If somebody wanted to impersonate somebody else, them could easily do so... Not only could they ruin an artist's reputation, they could even commit various cybercrimes in their name. ("Yes, officer, this is the man.")

Unless you somehow made it clear that your accounts are connected, said connection can be hard and time-consuming for a Newgrounds Moderator to check. To speed up the process, you could link to your Newgrounds accounts from at least one of the accounts that you use to host your music - if there is still space for that link.

If you're running out of space in that regard you could use free services such as linktr.ee or carrd.co to link to a bunch of accounts at once. (I'm neither related nor affiliated with these services. Other services are available. ;) )

Something something Geometry Dash.

Over 98% of the Geometry Dash-related questions I have ever seen are already covered by the official Newgrounds FAQ (which is also linked to on the bottom of every single page).

Oh, and while we're at it... There is also something members of the Geometry Dash-community do not seem to communicate to each other:

In general, Geometry Dash-players come here and immediately upload music they did not make (either songs created by other artists or AI-generated tracks - which are also plagiarism). Then they get caught before they even get 10 votes, get banned from the Audio Portal, complain about having to follow the rules that they agreed to without having read them and then they leave forever.

As you might imagine, seeing that kind of behavior on display over... and over... and over... and over again has resulted in a piss-poor reputation for the Geometry Dash-crowd. We know not all people who like to play GD are "like that" - but that becomes very hard to remember when that name always shows up in a negative context.

Don't be part of the problem!

I am 12 years old or younger.

Welcome to Newgrounds. Please feel free to continue to use this site but I would urge you to delete your account. I do not mean this in a mean way.

DL;DR:

We are a community that should only be joined by people who are at least 13 years old (16 years, if you ask me). We have a lot of adults here. Hanging out with us is the equivalent of a kindergarten kid wanting to hang out with you. On a daily basis...

More detailed explanation why you shouldn't have an account, yet:

Don't get me wrong, but you really shouldn't be here. I cannot explain this to you in an easy to understand way, but trying to hang out with people who are a lot older than yourself will mess you up. A lot of our users are in their teens, but most are in their 30s and 40s... If you pretend to be 13+, other users will see and treat you as stupid, immature, or incompetent. Trying to toughen it out or to "get better pretending" will just hurt you emotionally - and others will not know that they are being mean to you, because you pretend to be one of them. You probably do not want to hear this, but you should delete your account here and come back once you turned 13 to 16. (Honestly: Even 14 year olds struggle here.) You can still visit Newgrounds without having an account, but I would strongly recommend that you hang out with people your own age - which will be way better for your growth as both an artist and a person.

I cannot "make you do the right thing", but I would like you to think about showing the message you are reading right now to your parents/legal guardians. They can explain all of this way better to you because they know you. And they will prefer it if you came out and admitted that you wanted to sneak in with the grown-ups. It's way less scary for a parent if their child trust them and tells them on their own accord. Having to find something like that out without your child telling you is very scary for adults and they might get loud or overreact when they are scared - just like yourself.

There are a lot of other cool things you can do online or offline that are more age-appropriate for you.

Take care. We'll gladly have you as a member of our community once you've matured a bit.

→ It's my birthday/cake day!

I'm happy to hear that you survived another year.

But disclosing your date of birth publicly means your various accounts are becoming easier to hack. This can also apply to places you frequent in your offline life (such as a pharmacy) usually confirm a caller's identity with their date of birth.

I understand that hearing this will be very off-putting to people, and I wished we were living in a softer, more agreeable world. But until this is the case, cases of identity-fraud will only grow in numbers. In the near future, somebody might use a program to determine the real identities of people purely based on writing style, photographs, online times, and/or the massive digital footprints we all leave. Said program will likely be fed with all the stuff that's easily accessible online, including Newgrounds, but also Twitter, facebook, Instagram, various forums, anything associated with Google... *sigh* and all the other plagues of the modern age...

If you want to celebrate, just tell your actual friends and leave it at that.

I do not like my account name anymore.

Just a suggestion (and at the risk of sounding like an Ad-Bot): You could support Newgrounds for a single month (for $3/$5), change you account's name, and permanently unlock some features even after that month has ended (including the chat). That way you could keep all of your submissions in one place. ...as well as your inbox, hard earned voting power, your reviews, your faves, and your account age-bragging rights... ;)

You can find the details here.

If you think that this is too expensive, then I would like to point out that most other sites either do not offer this as a feature or ask for a higher price just for a rename - without any other perks.

I am worried about receiving spam and/or hate-mail in my Private Messages on Newgrounds.

You can either turn off your inbox entirely or set it up to still accept the private messages from (NG-)friends.* Accepting/denying friend requests is a very non-spammable and concise interface. You can also remove "friends" again, if need be.

Doing this makes life more complicated and less complicated at the same time. But it keeps the door more open if somebody wants to point something out to you that they (or you) would prefer to not see in public. Or just boring, odd, or janitorial stuff like "You accidentally set this track to loop." or "Your game has a bug that I rather would not mention in public." or "Your email address shows in the corner of that screenshot..." or "That other user is saying you #Censored#. Maybe you would want to write an opposing point of view." or "Your avatar looks cute. If you drew it yourself you should submit it to the Art Portal." ;)

You can always hope that other users will use this comment section instead, but I don't think there is much awareness for approved only-comments on NG since so few people use it.

Stay safe.

* This can be done by going to the Incoming Messages page. Click "Options" and select "Accept Only From Friends". Or "Block All Messages", if you don't like people. ;)

I am pondering/announcing to intentionally cause my own death (suicide).

I feel that it is best to be direct here... The Newgrounds community can be quite helpful when it comes to a lot of topics, but it is not a place that's ideal to ask for help when you're considering ending it all. Regardless, some users do exactly that. I don't blame any of them, but our community does not exactly consist of professionals trained to help in situations like these. Most of us come here to appreciate art, play games, have a friendly chat, or look at drawings of naked people.

So, please consider adding the following links to your bookmarks while you contemplate what to do next.

International Suicide Hotlines

List of suicide crisis lines on Wikipedia

If you were expecting something more uplifting, I am sorry to disappoint. But I feel that that is not a topic a bunch of internet strangers can help you with - at least not with an easy conscience.

Keep in mind that a lot of us might secretly be dogs or come from countries with health-care systems that aren't quite as fucked up as the one in (for example) the US. Our insight into the helpful resources at your disposal might be limited by factors neither you nor us can take into account.

As a relevant aside: Suicide announcements are against the rules and will be removed once somebody reports them. You cannot "immortalize" yourself on NG. (Not that people were paying much attention to those kinds of posts in the first place.)

Somebody is being "mean" to me. Let's gang up on them!

Listen here and listen well: I do not know what fucked-up corner of the internet you were hanging out on before, but here on Newgrounds we do not fight bullying with more bullying. Newgrounds, like other communities, has rules and regulations where you can report racists, homophobes, neo-Nazis, creeps, and other toxic people who harass you. Please don't make it sound as if we would organize lynch-mobs on the regular.

Just report them and move on with your life.

How do I report/"flag" [stuff]?

If you see users act inappropriately you can either use the little [flag symbol]-button (if there is one) or send a PM to Tom Fulp, the creator of Newgrounds.

(You don't need to write Mr. Fulp an essay. Just the name of the account in question, a link to where they misbehaved, and a short description what you think is wrong with that kind of behavior.)

If somebody keeps up with this kind of behavior, their account will be deleted in no time.

Private Messages have a flag-button as well, by the way.

If you're not sure what is and isn't okay to flag, you can find the various guidelines here:

Forums

Reviews

Blog/News Posts

In addition to reporting someone you can also block users from interacting with you. Blocking them solves the problem for you, but reporting them can solve the problem for everyone. You can spare others having to go through the same stuff you just went through. Please do your part to protect others and make the world a more agreeable place.

Somebody keeps harassing me with different accounts.

My condolences. You have encountered what I personally refer to as "a Crazy-Person". Don't let them bother you. After a few more deleted accounts they will give up in favor of greener (meaning: "less moderated") pastures. They have to lose their little battles of attrition first, though, so keep reporting them. This is a tried and true formula.

I have a little copy-and-paste text you can borrow if you want, for when you encounter them commenting in a News Post. Try not to use their name, though. Some people try to piss others off in order to gain "infamy". Let them fade into obscurity.:

"""

Hello everyone. :)

As you are able to tell, that person "is not well". Interacting with them in this setting is not going to help them - or you. Just block them. ( https://www.newgrounds.com/account/blocked )

I have already reported them. If you see users act inappropriately in the future you can either use the little [Flag]-button (if there is one) or send a PM to Tom Fulp, the creator of Newgrounds ( https://tomfulp.newgrounds.com/ ).

(You don't need to write Mr. Fulp an essay. Just a name the account in question, link the News Post in question and add a single line about their ban evasion or other offense. That will already be enough.)

Thank you for your time and have a nice day.

"""

Please be aware that cybercrimes (such as cyberbullying) are crimes as well (in most countries). Depending on what happened and how many times, this might also be a case for the police.

Why are my reviews being removed?

"Probably" because you misbehaved. "Cruel, offensive and/or unhelpful reviews will be removed and can result in a ban." and all that jazz... (Here's a more detailed version.)

Слово./Palabra./Palavra./Mot./คำ/كلمة./Słowo./言葉。/מילה.

[ https://duckduckgo.com/?q=translate ]

Newgrounds.com is an English speaking site with an international community. The vast majority of our community is very well-behaved in that regard. But every now and then, users submit News Posts that make one wonder if they really want to be here in the first place.

English is not my first language either. I have no issues with users wanting to communicate in a language they are fluent in. But please also provide an English translation. If you do not speak English, there are lots of free services available online which will do your translations for you.

I want to earn money with my art.

Go and browse the front page for a few minutes.

Are several of your submissions here of equal or better quality?

Yes? Then you might have a chance.

No? Then don't quit your day job.

I am looking for a [specific kind of artist] to work with me on an upcoming project.

I think you might have higher chances of finding collaborators by using Newgrounds' Collab system, instead of the Artist News:

Explore opportunities or post your own listing!

It's also possible to find somebody the appropriate sub-forum.

Right now you are reaching your fans and anyone who happens to be reading the Artist News for today. And honestly, that number can be small or big, but it will reach a lot of people who simply cannot help you.

From my perspective, if somebody makes a post about a job opportunity in the Artist News it is the equivalent of putting a neon sign on your front lawn, instead of putting a (free) ad in the newspaper. Your sign might be very visible, but it's not particularly targeted.

Talking of that sign... Be clear about what specific qualification you are looking for in the [type of artist] you need. Make it clear what you expect from them and give an estimate of their workload. Talk about how they will be credited and compensated. If your work were to receive a cash prize, what would be their cut? Where are they allowed to upload your collaborative work? (Do not underestimate the crisis that can emerge from not talking about these things beforehand.)

I have art block/creative block/writer's block/etc.

Try if this can help to you:

Overcoming Art Block (by SourCherryJack)

(I'm just dropping this link and bailing, though. Sorry about that, SourCherryJack. I know I'm a monster...)

I want to do art better.

You should look up some tutorials. Like the ones I already collected for you. :3

But also talk to your peers in the forums or chat* about it. No art is so simple that you can grasp everything you need to know about it from a few guiding texts.

* Access to the chat requires being 18+ and having been a supporter at some point in time. The feature stays permanently unlocked, even for users who do not currently have supporter status.

I was kicked from Patreon. What now?

I am taking a wild guess here and suspect that you are an NSFW-artist who said "Everything works fine for me..." when other NSFW-artists posted about this - instead of asking yourself "How long until they come for 'me'?". Patreon has been banning NSFW-creators left, right, and center for years now. They also have some "choice opinions" of Russia's full-scale invasion of the Ukraine. "Maybe" it's for the best that those people no longer get a cut of your income...

With that out of the way: Use Subscribestar. From what I can tell after reading over 40 News Posts just like yours in the past, I'd say Subscribestar is definitely the most popular choice for NSFW-artists and I do not remember anyone ever complaining about their service.

Twitter/"X"/"Xwitter" is the worst. But where else to go?

My advice: Check out Mastodon.

It's less popular than Twitter, but reportedly it's pretty good for getting in touch with other artists. And... It's not run by a crazy-person. :)

To quote:

"Purely in terms of ux, I think I'd go with Mastodon. Its usage of ActivityPub and thereby the ability to integrate it into other services like PeerTube and Funkwhale is really cool, at least on paper. Also the availability of custom clients is nice too (I do not know about any clients for Bluesky right now.)"

– vekoN, artist

Bluesky/Bsky also exists, but I didn't hear enough positive things about it to say that it is worth considering. It's certainly "popular". But that just means that it is the place where all those horrible people who left/were kicked off of Twitter are going to migrate to. Twitter was a cesspool long before "Chairman Musk" entered the picture. Arguably, a big part of what makes Twitter so terrible is the community. Which is currently undergoing its mass-exodus to Bluesky...

But if you're happy on Bluesky and you have supporter status on NG, you can Newgrounds-ify your Bluesky username - if you want to.

I am bored.

To me, somebody being bored on NG sounds like the a person sitting on a bountiful table and proclaiming that they are hungry...

If you're bored you could check out the submissions that are currently under judgment:

Under Judgment Movies

Under Judgment Games

Or browse some fine (and less fine) art or audio from unscouted artists:

Unscouted Art Portal Artists

Unscouted Audio Portal Artists

You could potentially help some real talents get discovered with your ratings.

Why does nobody reply to me?

Because "next to nobody" reads the Artist News. (Do you read them...? See...?)

The few people who saw your post either couldn't help you or made no attempt to help you/interact with you because you made a bad impression.

Who wants to be my girlfriend?

Honestly, this question is very hard to take serious and I'm hoping most users who post it mean it as a joke. But my fear is that many mean exactly what they write. So without further ado:

You need to be able to manage your own life before you have any realistic chances to date someone. If you are looking for partners on NG (of all places), all that other people can see about you is your user profile. And I'm sorry to say this: What I typically see in "the kind of profiles which would contain that question" makes them completely undate-able!

This may sound mean-spirited to some, but: If you want to find a partner, work on yourself.

The reason you are single is "probably" not that you've been declining any and all advances up until now. Before you become date-able, you need to reach a point where you are able to be stable on your own. Once you find that stability, subtly signal that you're healthy, single, and have the space in your life. Then finding partners will become much less of a herculean task. From the perspective of a potential partner, they cannot deal with playing mommy or daddy or rehabilitation officer. They will support a lover in times of need, but they will want somebody who can support them as well (emotionally and otherwise).

I want to have an SFW account and a separate NSFW account.

Normally, the best way to go about this would be to make your current account your dedicated SFW account and move your adult-focused work to your secondary account.

Deleting it on one account and re-uploading it on the other will break a lot of stuff, but there is a better way to transfer submissions:

Add your secondary account to the credits of the submissions in question. Then remove your main account from the credits. Not only can you save yourself time setting everything up correctly, you also get to keep the votes, faves, playlists entries, links from ff-site, etc. intact. I'm sure fans of yours would appreciate this approach as well. (And keeping the original submission dates could become important for proving you are the original artist later along the line.)

I want to be better at self-publishing.

Unfortunately nobody ever says this... ;_;

But far too many of the NG profiles I come across look like ass. And not in a good way.

If you care about how people react to your online presence, think about it.

I have prepared some basic stuff on that topic, if you're interested.

And there you have it. That only took two forevers...

"I'm sure all that hard work will not be wasted at all..."

Update: It took me 11 days to notice and remove all the typos, weak wordings, as well as errors introduced during the initial editing process. Some sentences make more sense now. ;)