I joined FlipAnim in 2018 almost 8 years ago. I was in middle school at the time, maybe about 7th grade? Back when I was young, impressionable, inspired, and simply looking for a place to practice animation. And it all started with a silly winking llama anim.

FlipAnim was a small community I saw I could express myself and my love for storytelling and art. I found inspiration in many users that are no longer here today. The editor was easy to navigate for my small brain, and I found comfort in knowing I could make something high quality without the need of a big, popular program I didn't have the heart to ask my parents to pay for. The rotating gallery was a place I could find an anim I'd never seen before... it was as simple as refreshing the page. I drew little stories. I made my first persona. I gained my first few followers. I brought a friend I knew from Roblox. I learned basic animation. And just in the span of 4 months... I'd gained 40 followers. It became my everyday routine to come back to this site

It was here I made my first longrunning animated series: New Moon. It was here my OCs were given color. It was here I learned to empathize with other artists. It was here I drew my first fanart. It was here I celebrated yearly holidays. It was here I made and joined many onsite contests. It was here I made temporary friends. It was here I made longlasting memories. It was here I coped with my depression. It was here I created my favorite OCs. It was here where everyday I could try new things. It was here I got my first feature. It was here I gained 919 followers. It was here I followed 283 others. It was here I earned 11245+ likes. It was here I posted 2117 anims.

This site is literally my home inside of home. I've spent nearly 8 years on this site during the most important period of my adolescence. And now I'm an adult. I'm an adult holding onto what's left of my childhood. It's been an underlying fear of mine that I'd lose my home, not just because of the memories... but because of the structure I've built from the ground-up. All 2117 anims here have a story; a story in the archived comments and in the anims themselves. It's the story of who I was, who I pretended to be, and who I eventually became as both a person and an artist. So my biggest fear isn't losing all my progress; the ability to look back on individual drawings I made years ago. My greatest fear is not being able to look back on the person I was and the progress I made to become me.

I'm sure the site isn't getting nuked to hell, FlipAnim himself would've said that if that were the case. But I've made peace with the public part of the site going boom. Unlike me, a lot of people don't have fond memories of this place. Unlike me, people have made and lost important friends here. Unlike me, people were harmed here. Unlike me, people were scarred here. And I'm sorry to those that couldn't experience the same love and joy this site has offered me. It wasn't your fault. This place wasn't meant for you, or the people that harmed you. I wish you peace going forward. I hope you'll find your home like I did.

I wish I could take back the 3 months I'd lost on this site while my tablet was broken. Would it have made a difference? Hell no. But a girl can dream of the possibilities. And I'll continue to dream of a world where FlipAnim can continue to be an important pillar in my life. So this may be goodbye to FlipAnim as a social platform, but you got me ****ed up if you think this is goodbye to me. For those that won't be returning but would like to keep the memories, I intend to repost a majority of my most important anims on places like DeviantArt and ImgBB. I'll make a new SFW DeviantArt account, for those of you concerned about my... other account. So please feel free to follow me in the following places: Instagram: @spoicymanga DeviantArt🔞: @DeviantArtist2002 NEW DeviantArt: @MaeIsAlwaysLost ImgBB: @Spoicywolf NEW ImgBB: @Maeisalwayslost Pinterest: @SpoicyWolf Magma: @itsmeduh