Is There Something or Someone You Miss on DOA?

I haven't been around here long, but what I miss are all the owner photos! Whenever anyone had questions about how dolls look with different face ups or blank on the Facebook bjd groups, nice DOA members would show up with plenty of owner pics to share, that they found on DOA lickety-split. That was when there were registration barriers like invites or time limited registration (can't remember, maybe it was both?), so a lot of us who didn't have friends here relied on that. Searching in FB is almost completely useless because they want to push ads and other irrelevant posts on you to encourage habitual scrolling. Google images is even worse, because when you look for a sculpt you might find the sales pics and then a bunch of random dolls that it decided look similar enough.

So when I found out that registrations weren't closed here anymore and joined, I was thrilled at the thought of digging through all the owner pics, new and old! ...only to find that the vast majority of images are missing. Dang image hosts! I guess it means that noobs like myself need to do our part and contribute more photos to help make up for those that were lost... It's making me wish I had photos of all my dolls who came and went, now that my collection is so small, I don't have much to contribute.

 

For what it's worth, the wing sets do occasionally show up in the marketplace. They were made by Syrinxfox, though. Nezumi is the maker of most excellent outfits.

 

I really miss some of the frequently-updated, long-running photostories from back in the day. I joined in the later 00s and remember spending hours reading them, keeping up with the antics of various crews. I can't even remember who made some of my favorites since it's been so many years, but checking in and seeing updates used to be one of the highlights of my day.

On a related note, the lower quality standard for photos was also great. I'm in awe of the stunning, perfectly posed, perfectly edited photos that make up a lot of people's feeds now, but I miss how common the casual, haphazard photos of people just posing their dolls randomly used to be. It was just so real and so sweet; I absolutely love when I come across photos like that now.

I'm also another one who misses when DoA was more active. Modern social media is great for casual photo sharing, but not so great for discussion or longform posts. The ads and suggested posts are also just too much and makes it much harder for me to just chill and enjoy the doll photos.

Overall I'm glad that the hobby is doing well and that there are other platforms available for people who prefer those, but nothing feels quite right for me these days. I do love that my local group has a Discord now, though! That has been a nice addition

 

I miss the bustling meetup, box opening, and gallery subforums. I remember looking at newly posted box openings every day! It was so exciting! But maybe it's better that subforum is much slower because I don't feel the need for a box opening adrenaline rush as much anymore. I also miss the lack of a like button. I'm addicted to the small dopamine hit every time I get a like, so I wish I could turn that part off.

At least all the cute themed emojis are still here!

 

Oh, I remembered the username I was trying to think of! I miss SapphireStargazer! She was such a sweetheart and her photos were always so lovely. I enjoyed chatting with her on the Resinsoul mini thread a million years ago.

 

I often think back to the earlier days of DOA (I joined back in 2006) with a lot of fondness, even in times when I've been 'out' of the hobby -- it was always so exciting trying to keep up with all the different threads and activity despite being mostly a lurker. So many names have already been mentioned (Nezumitoo, bread17, Lachlana, Morbidollz and her sisters, etc.) whose works or crews I loved so much. @Brightfires - I will say that I was relieved to see you still active when I popped back in yesterday! I'm a longtime admirer of your CP clan

It's hard to think of specific names, but I also miss the general feeling of creativity back when things weren't as accessible -- the many DIY clothing or accessory projects were always so fun to follow, as well as the sharing of characters / backstories.

 

Sock fashion competitions!

 

I miss @Lady Samhainne. She did my absolute favorite faceups, and was such a nice person to work with. She had great artistic vision and I never worried about sending any of my dolls to her I had to give one of my older dolls a new faceup last year and it meant wiping her faceup from my Yder. It was really sad for me, because he'd had it for so long. I started trying to do my own because I missed hers! I am definitely no where near as good

 

Thanks! There aren't many of the original Seattle crew left who still post here on a regular basis, though some do stop in once in a while.

Most of my early dolls are still in the collection, even if it's rare for me to post pictures of them anymore. (CP/Delfs are considered seriously Old School-) It always takes me a little by surprise when someone actually remembers my guys from the old days, though. They were never the most interesting characters or most visually fabulous dolls in the collective Seattle gang... Not with Jenova and Fuan, and Leeda's Dollshe guys, and Mister Have and Clean Slate, and the rest around, anyway. My gang are/were the basic ones.

 

A couple years ago I went back to her website to see if she still had pictures up of Mister Have and Clean Slate and was sad to see there wasn't much left. Artists move on, but I loved the dioramas and stories built around them. It was mysterious and interesting.

I wouldn't mind seeing Teacup again. Shiwoo elves are a precious thing!

 

Pouring out some Windsor Newton Brush Cleaner for all those we've lost. One of the best things about this hobby is the wide age range it attracts, but that makes it especially hard when friends pass away.

I miss pre-greedy bastard Photobucket. Their hostage tactics tanked the forum model for so many niche hobbyists. It drove a lot of people away from DoA because there was no free and easy way to host photos anymore and repairing the damage done was too overwhelming. I think that was really what handed the advantage to Instagram and Discord.

 

Agree. Losing Photobucket was really hard, and I've had to move to a haphazard imgur and/or tumblr image linking...thing. And the loss of tinypic, too. And it's not just for dollie images, but art as well. All the anti - nudity ToS don't help, either.

I miss... a lot of my friends. Mostly, they just moved off DoA, I think. But where? I dunno.

I miss the bustle of the Handmade section of the Marketplace. And the numerous projects that always seemed to be going on in the Workshop. I even kinda miss the Debates subforum where so much ridiculous drama happened.

I'm sad to know that so many familiar faces haven't just moved on, but actually passed on. Even if I didn't know them beyond their user icon and some posts, it's still sad.

 

I miss the buzzing forum too. What a shame that photobucket pushed the
change off of forums.

I miss Grace of EtherealAngels and vermontchick. No idea where they went.
So many that were here in the beginning have passed away too.

 

I miss @propertyoftheuchiha /Angie… Her faceups were fantastic (Ciel still proudly wears her work), I can’t believe she only charged $35 back in 2011…

 

I miss VermontChick and DailyMare.

 

I'll echo several others who mourn the loss of Marsh and the absence of Jenny Nemesis.

Marsh's idea of providing a few simple styles of clothing, but with multiple fabric choices and made-to-order sizing, was a perfect solution to dressing little anthros.

JennyN. seemed to disappear after Photobucket betrayed their customers by retracting all their posted photos unless they coughed up some ridiculous sum.

I also miss the activity on the Elfdoll Catsy thread. It slowed down, of course, after Rainman moved on to other things, but I think we also got lazy about posting. I'm as much to blame, I need to take some new pics.

 

Lyrajean, I'm so sad to hear this, but thank you for letting me know. She was such a bright spirit.

 

Thank you @Lyrajean for the very sad update. i am so sorry that
she’s gone too - and that you weren’t able to see her before.

 

I will say I went missing for some time but finally came back. It's definitely is a bummer to see the form not as lively as it used to be. Had a lot of fun here. But still happy to be on again. Reading through definitely a lot of names I recognize.
A couple of clothes makers I miss.
Hitasura who made See no evil clothing. I had bought a bunch from her since I loved her style. My Yosd Yue went to visit her so she could start making clothing for Yo's. She was nice enough to send him home with some as well. I still have the card she made with his picture on it modeling the clothes.

Wickedstitchery was another awesome clothing designer, loved his style. Brandon was always super nice.