No matter how bad the decisions of the other platforms are, Pixiv takes them and implement in a weirder way. It tries to compromise, but never commits to a change. There are many things on a site that simply duplicate the functions of the other's.

First, did you know about "stacc" thing? It looks like an old twitter, even has the same limit of 140 characters. I've stumbled on it accidentally. Stacc feels like a weird window into someone's bookmarking history, and since the people are constantly bookmarking each other's stuff, it's hard to find anything else here. This relic shows that Pixiv does it's very best to copy Twitter since the Age of Gods.

I don't want compare Pixiv to Twitter directly, but Pixiv does it itself. The main page now duplicates also existing "Illustrations" section but without R18 stuff and with less content per a square unit of space. Visually it replicates the new twitter. Personally, I hate it. It tries to promote more types of content, like collections and text posts, but seriously, who needs it without R18 content? Twitter has the rated stuff on a homepage, if you're following a poster, but not Pixiv. It's a symptom of a puritanical shame that ingulfed Internet. Gooner's problems aside, Pixiv's copy of feed is also inferior to Twitter's simply because it doesn't have a lightbox, an overlay that appears when you click on an image. Lightbox allows you to request less stuff from a server, accelerating the loads, and it just destroys itself when you close it, so also less work from the server's side, unlike opening an image page then moving back to a homepage at Pixiv. It's not exactly a problem in a usual sense, but it shows the lack of commitment and effort. It's a mimic of a modern UI.

Now, in how many ways Pixiv can display the illustrations tagged 東方Project. I've thought two. But it seems there are at least 3.

1. https://www.pixiv.net/search?q=東方Project&s_mode=tag&type=artwork - the "search" way. If you put 東方Project in a seach bar, you'll get it. It alsos offer you to explore the tag.
2. https://www.pixiv.net/tags/東方Project - the "tag" way. If you thought, that's where the "explore the tag" from a previous route will lead you, you've guessed wrong. I found this one recently by clicking on a bookmarked tag in a header of Illsutrations section of site. This page offers you an exclusive view on a small selection of popular works, also showing the same artworks in a premium banner. You can also access it by the "Top" link at the second way.
3. https://www.pixiv.net/tags/東方Project/illustrations - the "tag/illustrations" way. This is where the bookmarked tags would lead me before the previous way came to existance. It's also where the tags under an artwork lead you. It still offers you a description of a tag but it doesn't show you the most popular works.

Each of three routes have 東方Project in a search bar.

It feels like my description is confusing, and I'm sure it is, just like Pixiv. It's like an old city that instead of renovating the existing blocks decided to build the new blocks around. When you're local, it's not as confusing. It's still better than a straightforward demolition of your favorite block and building an ugly highrise on top of it, but the old blocks feel abandoned.

And that's not everything.

As a creator you might want to upload the animation, aka ugoira. Pixiv has a unique way to deal with the animation - it doesn't show it as a GIF or convert to MP4. Pixiv shows the animation as a sequence of the static images, which is... a prime definition of animation, very raw of them. It also means you can upload your animation frame by frame. These quirks result in a slightly outdated UI for an animation upload which is not critical but they deliberately decided not to waste effort on it.

I enjoy Pixiv as an art platform. It gives the amateur artists a chance by gating the sorting by popularity behind a paywall. The users have to explore their favorite characters in a chronological order, so they have to give your work at least a glance. Even the blacklist is paywalled - you really need to hate someone to use a single mute slot on them. On the other hand I had to install an extension to filter out at least some of AI-slop that doesn't tag itself. So much for a creative spirit.

I prefer be closer to the source and not to be managed by a feed algorythm, and that's why I'm using pixiv for years (12 at least). I have no idea what the higher ups are thinking about, half-assing all the changes, but I still prefer their weird ways over steamrolling the creators the other platforms do.