Introduction

Community Development

From My Desk

• London Terror Attack. On behalf of the entire Community Development Department I would like to offer our condolences to all those affected by the recent terror attack in London. We sincerely hope that no deviants were hurt as a result of the attack. All those in London, whether affected or not, are in our hearts, thoughts and prayers.


• YAWT Return! After a slight hiatus the Yellow Alien Weekly Transmission is back in action. The weekly feature has moved from Wednesdays to Fridays in order to ensure that the content is top notch and prepared flawlessly.


• deviantART Summit. If you were unable to attend the deviantART Summit then let me just tell you that it was a blast. Finally meeting cool folks like °attila, +cweeks and others was a treat! Hopefully we can catch all of you that were unable to attend the next time we have a Summit!


• Daily Deviation Features. We receive 10000+ submissions of art to deviantART on a daily basis. On the "best" day we might feature a total of 20 deviations via the Daily Deviation featuring mechanism. We search every crack and crevice of the site in order to locate some neat things to showcase for the community. The fact that we might feature 20 deviations out of 10000+ does not degrade the "honor" that is bestowed upon one's art being selected as a Daily Deviation. After all, we end up featuring a mere 0.2% of all art submitted each day. Can you honestly say that we are featuring too much knowing that bit of information? I have no idea why people continue to question the number of Daily Deviations; it completely perplexes me but until this issue subsides you are going to see constant information flow from the staff.


• Daily Deviation Bashing. We do not tolerate offensive commentary, or remarks leading towards the disagreement with a deviation selected as a feature, as a comment on a deviation that is selected as a Daily Deviation. While we do encourage feedback regarding our selections we will take immediate administrative action on any individual that complains about a particular deviation being chosen as a Daily Deviation. After all, it is not fair to the artist to have to read such disparaging comments when they had absolutely no say in the selection of their deviation as a feature. If you want to voice your dislike for the choice then do so by sending a private note to the administrator that featured that particular Daily Deviation.


• Mature Content. If you do not desire to see erotic art when surfing deviantART then turn on your mature content filter. This will ensure that you see all content that is not marked as mature. If you somehow end up running in to a deviation that is mature content but not marked as such then report it via our Community Help Desk. Furthermore, if you do not desire to see Daily Deviations that are considered mature content then turn the filter on. It is really that simple! For the love of God, please stop saying that the deviations are pornography. There is a difference in pornography and erotic art and our Gallery Directors know the difference. If erotic art is featured as a Daily Deviation you can rest assured that it is not considered pornography. Remember that pornography is a violation of deviantART policy and will be removed as soon as we locate it and the deviant will receive a lovely parting gift.


• Help Help Help. If you require assistance then please use our Community Help Desk as opposed to sending a direct note to an administrator. We need to maintain official accounting records of all administrative activity that takes place between the staff and the community and the only way to do that is to make use of the Community Help Desk. On the same token, prints and accounting related help requests must go through the Prints Help Desk. Everyone on staff will love you to death for paying homage to this! Trust me.


• Frequently Asked Questions. Check out our FAQ. It is filled with a plethora of information that will surely answer the majority of questions you may, or may not, have.

Community Help Desk Team (HDT)

• Backlog. Our Community Help Desk has been on top of the tickets and response times are fabulous. If you do end up submitting a ticket you should expect to hear something back within 24 hours though do not go postal if we somehow do not get to you in that time period. There are many factors that could lead to a delayed response even though we are handling cases in record time these days.

Policy Violation Team (PVT)

• ^devart. This weeks opening transmission from Policy Enforcement concerns the ^devart account.
  
  Everyone should be aware that this account is merely an automated point of origin for various notes and other standard messages. ^devart is an unoccupied account which is unused by any human being. Please do not send devart notes as they will never be read by human eyes. Likewise do not leave questions, complaints, reports, or any other message which needs a response on its userpage - such missives will go completely unanswered.
  
  To sum it up you have about as much chance of receiving an answer by communicating with ^devart as you have by communicating with your toaster. Please bring your issues to the Community Help Desk which is operated by actual human beings who can talk back to you.



• Forum Sexuality. Please be aware that while we welcome all deviants to use the deviantART forums for the discussion of many subjects we will close any thread which contains an explicit sexual discussion.
  
  While we do allow certain kinds of discussions to use sex as a topic everyone should be aware that these threads are extremely likely to be closed should the conversation become irresponsible or in poor taste.



• deviantART Purpose. Once again we’d like to remind everyone that your purpose here should not include making someone miserable. If your account is used to insult, harass, or otherwise bully another deviant you will be banned as a warning to correct your behavior. If you fail to catch the hint don’t be surprised when we don’t allow you to come back anymore.


• Abusive Commentary. On a related note; if you are on the receiving end of abuse please do not respond with abuse of your own - we don’t want to have to ban you for being part of the problem and being aggressive makes you part of the problem. If you come across a situation involving userpage spam or abuse please DO NOT "clean" or "sweep" the page clear before the Enforcement Staff has had an opportunity to review the situation - by pushing abusive comments off the userpage you are hindering the investigative process.


• Originality. This next point should be common sense but sadly is not - deviantART is for the submission of artworks which you have created yourself completely from start to finish. If you are caught submitting the works or photographs of other artists to your account they will be removed - and if you have deliberately removed their signature or copyright information in the process you will be immediately banned as we have zero tolerance for this activity.
  
  The same situation holds true if you are attempting to assume the identity of a model or photographer - we have no tolerance for cases of identity theft.

Message Network @dministration (MN@)

• Sick Operators. The MN@ has taken a few hits lately, with sickness and other personal issues coming to the forefront and forcing some of us to take care of "real life" for a bit. In the meantime, the remaining members have been holding down the fort and working on some great things.


• Live Tutorials. The bot for our Live Tutorials is almost finished, and we think you're going to love what we've done with it.


• Signature Chats. Signature Chats is still alive and well: We're looking at bringing in some offsite talent, including some big surprises.


• Chatting. There has been a rise in channels that allow or are created for cybersex and sexually-based roleplay. Again, we need to remind you that these types of rooms are not allowed. When we find them, the owner/founders will receive a warning and the channel will be delisted and deleted. Multiple warnings will result in a ban on the deviantART account; so please take the time to read the FAQ before creating a channel.

In Closing