Do you think Policy Enforcement is done at random or done by a script? Staffed by Ogres and Sadists? Do you think policy decisions are made by dice roll or throwing a dart? If so then you should read on and learn the real way that policy enforcement works!

As any deviant who has been around for a few months can probably tell you, deviantART has a both a set of policies and a dedicated team of people who are responsible for the enforcement of these policies. Unfortunately there are a number of myths, urban legends, misrepresentations, and other confusions surrounding how policy enforcement functions. This is due to several things:

o The average deviant doesn’t actually know how these things function.

o For reasons of privacy the vast majority of decisions and staff discussions are held behind the scenes.

o Policy Enforcement staff are viewed as mysterious and somewhat threatening.

In this article we will be attempting to dispel these myths, legends and bogeyman stories with actual facts by explaining how the policy enforcement procedures work and how the staff goes about their duties.

MYTH #1; Reporting Submissions Means They Get Deleted Automatically.

A belief has arisen that simply pushing the Report Violation Button will result in the automatic removal of the submission; this is not true at all.

What actually happens is that your report is recorded and sent to the Violations Desk where an actual person reads what you have written, checks the submission against any evidence you had to offer and uses all the available information to make a judgment on whether or not the submission violates one of our policies. In cases where the evidence or information is lacking the submission remains ‘in review’ until we can come to a reliable conclusion one way or another.

MYTH #2; The Policy Enforcement Staff is Really Behind Schedule.

While there have been times in the past where three or four days would pass before we could get to your report this is no longer the case. Our current team consists of nine people which is more than twice the staff that we had just six months ago and we have little difficulty addressing new reports in as little as a day or less.

MYTH #3; The Policy Enforcers Single People Out While Ignoring Others.

Due to the sheer size of the deviantART community and the incredible number of daily submissions it is easy to think this one is true but it is not. With an average of several thousand people online and interacting every day and with exponentially more submissions it is literally impossible to review everything immediately as it happens.

The Policy Enforcement team instead relies upon use of the Report Violations system and the Helpdesk by members of our community to help bring situations and submissions to their attention. In addition they may begin lengthy reviews of entire categories and sections to remove submissions which are in violation of deviantART policy (during this time you may notice the deviation counter on the front page occasionally running backwards).

Because of this certain situations and submissions come to their notice sooner than others, but as deviantART users you may always focus your attention where it is needed and make a difference by using the Report Violation tool and the +helpDesk.

MYTH #4; Policy Is Made Up As They Go Along.

Believe it or not, part of the Policy Enforcement Team training includes the reading of a 43 page training manual before they are granted any administrative access at all. The training manual provides explanations of each and every policy, expected behavior, and details proper use of all the procedures and tools which they will use.

The training manual ensures that everyone is using the same interpretation of policy and also doubles as a pretty good club for beating the average internet troll into submission.

MYTH #5; The Policy Staff is Power Crazed, Biased, and Delete Art They Simply Don’t Like.

This one isn’t true either; as a matter of fact the Policy Enforcement Team is expected to uphold a higher standard than just about any other staff member. Any team member which begins behaving like a crazed lunatic will promptly be chewed up like a wad of bubblegum by their staff manager.

MYTH#6; Homosexual Themes Are Deleted While Porn with Girls Is Ignored.

Very untrue; pornography of any type is not allowed on deviantART. Whether it is homosexual, heterosexual, “yiff”, “yaoi”, hentai, masturbatory, or any other sexual theme you can think of all pornographic images and writings are removed the very moment we see them. Likewise any and all nudity depicting people under the age of 18 is immediately removed- don’t push your luck with this one kids or we’ll be forced to tell your parents.

The key here is the word pornography. Just because an image might not be up to your moral standards does not automatically mean it is considered pornography.

MYTH#7; People Get Banned For No Reason or For Trivial Things.

Since the vast majority of administrative decisions and investigations are done out of the public eye it’s easy for someone to believe this one. Banning is treated very seriously and the tools are restricted and their use is monitored closely.

Whether it is obvious or not, every ban has a reason behind it and most of them are temporary ‘warning’ measures. Why ban as a warning measure? Warning bans are reserved for those who have a history of violating our policies. In cases of people commiting copyright infringement, and in minor cases of poor behavior, deviants receive a verbal warning (sometimes several) before they are banned. In other cases where the deviant has been overly aggressive, insulting, or has otherwise committed a serious breach of one of our policies they may receive both their verbal warning and a warning ban at the same time.

Banned deviants are always informed of the reason for their ban (their own user page depicts the reason and displays it for them when they login and visit it) and the length of time for which they are banned, and many will be given a second chance if they are willing to change their behavior.

MYTH#8; The Staff Ignores Reports of Abuse and Harassment.

When you file a report of abuse or harassment at the HelpDesk one of our HelpDesk staffers will read over what you have written, check out any links which you have provided and put together a few quick remarks about the situation. After this quick verification both your report and their remarks will be forwarded to the Policy Enforcement staff. Your report may be escalated to all enforcement staff (in which the first available team member will perform the investigation), or it may be sent to a certain member of the team (who has probably handled related situations) or sent specifically to the attention of the staff manager.

With this procedure a minimum of two administrators will review every report of harassment and you will receive some kind of response within a day or two on average as your situation is reviewed and a decision is made as to what level of action might be needed.

MYTH#9; The deviantART Staff Support Racism.

This one is also quite false, but it is an easy one to believe if you don't know our official stance on certain things. This myth most likely began because of the presence of submissions containing swastikas or Nazi paraphernalia and the fact that the Enforcement team does not automatically remove them when they are reported.

Officially these sorts of things are judged by the way they are used and when shown by themselves they are not considered a violation; it is only when the imagery is combined with hateful or insulting speech that it is considered to be “Hate Art” and removed. We do not support Hate Art of any type and remove it promptly when it comes to our attention.


Related FAQ links

1. How do I report suspected policy violations on submitted deviations?
2. How do I report people for abuse, harassment, or another issue I may think is a violation?