🛟Civitai Lifeboat 🛟

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night.

To anyone reading this, I hope you’re doing well — whatever time of day it is for you.

As I used to say in my profile: you have nearly unlimited ways to spend your time online, and the fact that you’ve chosen to spend a few minutes here means a lot to me.

Recently, I hit two milestones on my Civitai account: my two-year anniversary and a follower count that feels like a nice, round number. Unfortunately, these achievements come at a time that feels… uncertain. The writing seems to be on the wall. The public departure of Civitai’s Community Manager two weeks ago didn’t paint a rosy financial picture, and his own words hinted at trouble. Add to that the changes many of us have noticed — even before the introduction of green buzz — and it’s hard to shake the feeling that this site may not be around for my third birthday badge. That’s a shame.

But enough doom and gloom.

I want to take a moment to reflect on the past and look toward the future while we still have this space. Civitai — despite its lofty, Icarian dreams — was the first platform where I felt truly comfortable sharing the kinds of images I create. At first, it was rough: some crummy SD1.5 monstrosities that I now look back on with a mix of fondness and cringing, like being asked to admire a coworker’s pet in a Halloween costume. But those first reactions — the likes, the buzz notifications, the thrill of seeing what a stranger thought of something I made — that feeling hasn’t lost its luster. I still chase that dopamine hit.

Today, I have more followers than I ever imagined. I always knew there were people out there with similar interests — 4chan taught me that decades ago — but the dream wasn’t just about finding those people. It was about finding a community. Would my images be met with hostility? Harsh critiques? “Uninstall A1111” comments? No. They were met with thumbs-ups and hearts. That sense of welcome is something I’ll never forget. It’s something I want to keep fostering, even if it means doing so on a different platform.

There’s a group of creators who’ve taken me under their wing and helped me grow. Real people, from all over the world, with real lives and faces behind their online personas. People who share the same frustrations, the same hopes, and the same desire to toss out a life preserver before this ship sinks.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. If you’re reading this because something I created resonated with you — through tokens and prompts, bits and bytes, clip skips and upscalers — I’m grateful.

So, while you’re backing up your favorite LoRAs and checkpoints before creators purge their accounts in protest, consider taking a moment to encourage the artists who inspire you. The time to do that here may be short. And if you’d like to join a Discord community born from Civitai creators, reply to this post or send me a DM for an invite. We’re not the only server out there, but we’re welcoming — and we’d be thrilled to have you for as long as you’d like to stay.

❤️