Probably a bit late to be coming to this thread now considering I've been actively on NG for a few weeks, but what the hell!
I'm treese, and I'd say my most "marketable" attribute is that I do art every now and then, I do subpar drawings of this green girl I made cuz she's cute and she doesn't wear clothes, which is both for self-indulgence and to make drawing her easier.
I do a lot more than art, though. I play a ton of games, I religiously listen to music, I write (which sucks cuz no one reads it cuz no one reads anything anymore), and I've even made a couple of crappy game prototypes! I go about my day gaming, wishing I was better at art or that I had more motivation to make games (which I'm planning on going to college for next year), listening to music with YouTube's atrociously broken playlist system, liking porn and memes on Twitter, and writing overly long/formal replies on the Newgrounds forums!
As for what brought me here...as cliche as it is to say...Friday Night Funkin' brought me to Newgrounds. I'd known of the website before FNF came into my life, I'd seen its logo on flash games as a kid and had a very vague idea of its place in internet history, but FNF was what fully introduced me to the site. I was starting to fully realize and appreciate NG's place on the internet, but I was still kinda indifferent to it. That was until someone, probably one of the FNF devs or someone who replied to them or something, said that NG was a great place for artists to get feedback and improve. After seeing that, in addition to my time on the site waiting to get access to Week 7, I thought I'd give it a shot, considering that Twitter had basically gotten me nowhere. So I joined and starting reposting my art from Twitter and interacting with the forums until I eventually became hooked.
I gotta give credit to @TomFulp where it's due because this website's "gameplay loop" or whatever you'd like to call it is shockingly addictive. Posting on forums, reading what people have to say, posting art and getting an actual response to it rather than just a passing like, and constantly checking back to see if there are new notifs because they might actually be something instead of an empty like...it's so fun! I don't feel nearly the same anxiety or fear I do when I post on Twitter, here I feel like I can express myself however I want! It's got such a great vibe!
Not to mention the success I've had! During my ~8 months posting art on Twitter, I've amassed essentially no following (12 followers, one of whom is an IRL friend and the rest of which have basically never interacted with me or my posts once) with no way to grow it, forcing me to rely on those aforementioned scant empty likes to subconsciously validate the art I work hard on for days after I whore myself out with hashtags (which only makes me feel worse because it makes me feel like a schill (even though there's literally no other way to promote yourself on Twitter)). Here, after only 2 and a half weeks, I already have 3/4 of my Twitter follower base, multiple people who have praised my art and given feedback, and even a piece of fanart! I actually get to discuss things with people instead of sub-250-char shower thoughts where I can't give any reasoning or logic. The people here are so nice and helpful, I don't feel like I constantly have to watch my step or defend myself! It's like the polar opposite of Twitter!
So yeah, I'm having a blast on Newgrounds, just interacting with the community and getting feedback on my stuff. I understand why ninja_muffin made Week 7 exclusive: he was trying to get more people to come to Newgrounds because it's a great place that has a lot to offer to anyone that joins it. I'm glad he did, because I've been loving every minute of my time on the site. How it will change me in the future is impossible to tell, but I think it will be good overall.
Sick site, Tom.
