where would you go if dA shut down?

a lot of us have been part of dA for many years now - i've had this account since 2007, and visited it from 2004-5. over the years, the site has developed a diverse and stable community which, despite our grumbles, works - unlike other sites, it is full of conversation and social interaction. we draw a lot of pretty pics, do lots of silly things.

but what if the site shuts or company goes bust? where would you go then?

i'm asking because of a few journals doing the rounds at the moment, lamenting the state of dA. in general, these are two things which irritate me: whinging about dA (especially petitions etc.), and the rumour mill. forecasts of doom and destruction crop up pretty regularly too. but, reading the opinions of former employees (in these journals, and on external employer review sites like glassdoor), the same concerns do keep coming up from insiders: shrinking staff numbers (down to 40 from 100), shrinking userbase, and maybe declining revenues. 

and then there's that awful shade of green they chose last year.

so whilst i'm joining in the doom-wails of 'OMG dA IS DYING', it did get me thinking: where would i move on to if dA were to shut down one day?

what i like about dA is how talkative it is - people comment on pictures, we have conversations, people discuss things in journals. the architecture of the site supports this - for all that is is dated and clunky, it is easy to manage a gallery, collect your art together, assert ownership, and to manage a collection of your favourites of other artists’ work. it’s really easy to comment and have conversations, and to show appreciation simply (+fave). i’ve never found anywhere else that works like this.

then there’s the content. i like dA’s TOS - i don’t want to see anything extreme, or even just pornographic. so one of the things i like about dA is that you can have kinky art which isn’t porn. besides, given how strict the law in the UK is becoming, dA’s limitations on content are a protection against accidentally breaking some nasty, discriminatory laws.

other sites seem to fall down one way or another. the mainstream social media like facebook won’t tolerate kink at all (and is little place for art); twitter is useless unless you use languages more info-dense than english. Tumblr is full of silence and stolen art. Pixiv is full of paedophiles. HF is full of porn, which is kind of the point. none of them suit me, so I have no idea where i would go if the good ship deviantart hit the rocks.

so where would you go? do you have a backup plan?