I've been a member of deviantART for more than a year now. During this time, I realised many things about the community, and one of them was that, although it is supposed to help you evolve your skills and develop your own style, everybody (apart from few exceptions -few compared to the number of 2,000,000+ members) praises the good and diggs the rest (except for their friends, of course). I tried to change that in many ways. I +watched any new deviant who seemed he had some potential -and of course was in an area of my knowledge, photography, so that I could help them get better. This was something I've been doing since my first times in dA. The other thing -for which I got suspended for one day- is that I welcomed new users with a comment in their userpage. By doing this, I made them feel more welcome. I remember, during my first weeks in dA, a "beta tester" (omgzorx) had commented on MY page (seemed pretty important to me ), welcoming me and giving me the links to help and forums, I think. I instantly felt like this is going to help me and started working immediately. THIS was a motive. And I tried giving that feeling to other new deviants by having a message welcoming them to dA, and giving them links for their settings, profiles, noting me if they need anything, forums, chat, submitting a deviation and things like that. But it was considered spam, and I was suspended for one day. Everything too real nowadays is treated suspiciously as an exception. That's true, and sad at the same time. But it's in our hands to change it!

Concerning commenting, now, what I found out was that, I've been one year in dA, and my photography has only progressed a tiny little bit. I immediately understood why: nobody actually comments. Everyone praises. They all like whatever I do, and if they don't like it, they don't comment, while if they like it, they just comment "cool" or "I like it". Some even +fav works without commenting, something which I completely disagree with (and refrain from doing myself, that is).

This article is about commenting. It's about giving you a motive to start commenting. Because in life, in some parts you may gain more by being egotistic (in the short run, that is, because in the long run you always benefit the less egotistic and the more truthful you are), but in communities like deviantART, no, this is not the case. This is a community, in which professionals exhibit their work, and amateurs show it to the public to get it commented. It's just that the whole environment is so friendly, that nobody cares about that, or if they do, they don't do anything about it. In order for this community to get forward, we must help each another. Give comments to other people first, and thou shalt receiveth comments from other people as well., that's the first rule (did I hear a "lol" coming out of your fingertips?). I've seen many people who do their best, every day, to enhance this community spirit, by helping fellow deviants improve their art, through tutorials or real comments, and by helping each another and making new friends. I really admire those people, and everyone admires this kind of people, not just me. So, if you want to become one of them, try to follow these few (ok, maybe not so few) things that I say in this article entry.


Commenting is a lot of things. "cool" and "" (to which I will refer as foofings from now on - don't ask why, I don't know) is not what commenting is, and definately not critiqueing. To sum up, before you do something, make sure you know how to do it. Before you comment, make sure you know how to comment. This article is exactly that, and I really hope you find it helpful and share it with other people.





This is my hierarchy for dA comments:

Shaddaps :: Foofings :: Comments :: Constructive (aka Positive) Comments :: Critiques

Shaddaps is when people don't like something, but they also don't do anything about it. They just refrain from commenting, "because it's not nice, so why bother commenting". This is a big UH-UH. You don't do anything this way. Commenting isn't about praising. Don't feel about making the other person feel bad, if you point out a bad thing in their deviation. The second rule goes like this: For every bad thing you notice, also find at least a good one. This way, you can start by pointing out the good thing about the deviation, and then continue by saying "However" or "I think, though". The more gently you do the transition from good to bad point-outs, the better the other deviant would feel. However, this would require time and a bit more significance given to the comments being written. This category also includes people who just +fav deviations and don't comment on why they faved.

Foofings are all those things that people do all the time, because either they are bored or don't know what to say. All they do is comment like "cool!" or "GOD THIS IS NICE +FAV +FAV". This is a foofing, in the way that, you simply don't do anything. You don't produce work, it's just some lazy words sitting there. These should also be avoided, as, although the deviant may temporarily feel good, this comment fills the deviant with some kind of.. um.. emptiness. As if, he gained nothing from that, because everyone wants to get better, and this is not the way to do it.

Comments are comments. By that I mean that you actually comment on something about the photo. Comments would include "I like the photo, but I think that it's DOF doesn't give the result that would be suitable for 'loneliness'" or "Very nice! I really like that! I like how the colours bounce off the speedboat and the reflection of it on the water! It makes it look so.. smooth. This reminds me of when I was in Alabama and I saw this boat on a lake! It was wonderful!". This is what you all should AT LEAST do. It's not the preferred kind of commenting, but it's the least you can do.

Constructive Comments are comments that are meant to construct or build on the recipients' knowledge or awareness of their subjected strong point and bad points (as stated by =TrappedChild - also, the third rule). This is the kind of comments that help deviants improve their art. It's what points out the bad and good elements of their deviations, helping them recognise what they should repeat and what they should avoid when creating art again. It's what makes us better. Example: "This looks really nice, especially the light coming through the trees. But maybe, some other time, you could go take the same photo from another angle, maybe a bit closer to the tree. And if you tried to focus on the tree itself instead of the background, it would make a greater contrast between the colours, see what I mean? You could just experiment around with angles and focusing to get different results. What's more, the tree looks a bit cliche. You could find a different tree. If there are palm-trees in your local area, try and find some of them, they look pretty cool for sunsets! I really like your photo, however, if you take under consideration some of the things I mentioned above, I believe you can take much more beautiful photos, which is totally within your capabilities."

finally, Critiques are heavy commentary, they are extensive comments going in an in-depth analysis/examination/judgement of the deviation. It's more than just saying what I exampled above, in Constructive Commentary. It's about not fearing to hurt the other person's feelings. (fourth rule) About concentrating 100% on the art itself. Again, that does not allow anyone to start swearing and making the deviant feel inferior, but rather say, as objective as possible, what he has to say. Good examples of Critiques are included here: Workshop 01 Aug 2005 and Workshop 07 Aug 2005 by ~PoetryPleaseWorkshop

So, when you submit deviations, on Step 2 (entitled "Deviation Submission, Step 2"), you are given to fill in the title, description, keywords and critique level of your deviations. In case you haven't read them, here they are;

Comments Disabled - This option will disable comments for this deviation entirely - it will be available for exhibition only. People will still be able to add your work to their favourites or their wishlist (if applicable). Only the commenting feature will be disabled for this deviation if you select this option.

Critique Discouraged - There's a number of reasons why you might select this option. Perhaps you consider the submission to be complete and will not be making further changes on it. Perhaps you feel very sensitive about the submission and would rather not have it dissected by user comments. Whatever reasons, selecting this option indicates to the deviantART audience that you would prefer not to receive critique-heavy comments for this deviation.

Critique Welcome - You neither invite advanced critiques nor do you discourage them. This is the default option for this setting, and should be selected if you feel indifferent about the intensity of critiques that a user may include in a comment on this deviation.

Advanced Critique Encouraged - When you select this option, you are indicating to deviants browsing your work that you openly invite all manner of advanced critique on your deviation. This is especially useful if you are actively working on improvements for a work of art.


You understand that, in the first case, the deviant does not want any commentary, so only Shaddaps are allowed. Forced. to be exact. In the second case, it's where the foofings belong to. Why? Because either the deviation is complete and needs not any further comments to be improved, so Critiques and Comments have no use, and Shaddaps are never welcome, so this is the place for foofings. In the third case, however, you can post whatever you want, mostly comments, but even foofings and critiques could be written here, but not too much. Except from Shaddaps. Those are never welcome, as I've stated before. However, going to the last case (which includes 99% of my deviations, and of those of many other deviants), you should notice that it says "you openly invite all manner of advanced critique on your deviation". This means that deviants commenting are encouraged to make either a Constructive Comment or a Critique on the deviation, so as to help the deviant improve the deviation, and therefore improve himself. Unfortunately, this is what most people fail to see. When you see the Advanced Critique Encouraged, it has two things you should notice: Advanced, which means extended, and Critique which means, more than just a comment.

There is also something else you should notice when leaving comments of any kind (except Shaddaps: those are never welcome - I think I've said that before though...). In life -therefore in dA too, it's not what you say but rather how you say it (fifth rule). So, if you say it like "d00d, your deviation sucks big time. Only an idiot could think that the coloured flower in a b&w background would look nice.. dude that sucks...", that would never be successive, and instead of make the person feel good and help them develop and be open to new ideas, it will close them to themselves. Moreover people would just think you are rambling and swearing around, and nothing more. However, if you said it like "Hm.. interesting shot. However, there's something about it that doesn't seem nice. If you asked me, I'd tell you that, although it's very nice having the flower coloured and the rest black and, but it is kinda cliche, you know. I mean, it's been done by so many photographers, it's kinda boring. You could try something else. Maybe try having a few filter lenses and alter the image like this? In my opinion, an infrared photo of the same subject would be really cool. Maybe try a coking filter or so, and even a wide-angled lense. You can find info on those [here] and [here] (you provide links). I hope I helped! Let me know how you've progressed!", this would both make the artist feel comfortable, it would give a better image of yourself, PLUS it would enhance the community spirit, by creating a relationship between you and the deviant, which is another important element of dA: relationships (people who met in dA have gotten married, heh) (that is a fact, not a joke).

Lastly, the size of the comment does not indicate its importance. I could give you an example of a two-page useless foofing which resembles a comment, and a 3-line critique, which can literally make the whole deviation better, if followed.





So, here I've included various links to many worthy tutorials on commenting. It would do you good to read no less than two of them, as they are very varied and will give some important elements to notice. If you are not willing to read any, then, I wonder, why did you read this article up to this point?


"How To Give Better Comment" by `leodadominico
"The Art Of Commenting" by *inziladun
"Commenting For Dummies" by ~TheDevilMyself
"Constructive Criticism" by *PhotoLust
"The Comment Revolution" (3 parts) by `splat
"Guide To Commenting" by ^coshdaddy
"Guide To Giving Good Critiques" by *ThePhotoCritic compiled by `Doubtful-Della)
"How To Give A Helpful Critique" by `GoblinQueeen
"Critique Standards" by *ProCritique
"Creative Photography For Beginners" by ~lewcid
"Critique" by `tangledweb
"Giving a Critique" and Taking a Critique by *liiga
"How To Critique: for Dummies" by *skizzenblock
"Art Commentary Tutorial" by *osandstorrm
"A Positive Critique" by =ProsePlease
"Critique Guidelines" by ~WeCritique (submitted by *sisterjanet)





CLUBS

*ThePhotoCritic - a club regarding commenting on photography
~WeCritique - a club regarding commenting on prose and poetry

if you want to see how critiques are given to a specific deviation, you can as well check clubs like =PoetryPlease ( ~PoetryPleaseWorkshop or the above two), to which you can send deviations and get them critiqued. It would be good if you started reading other peoples' critiques (critiques, not foofings or comments) and see how they get around stuff and what they point out and how.


CHAT

Constructive Feedback Revolution (#PhotoCritique)

But of course, you can always go to channels like #PoetryPlease and #ProsePlease and ask for some help. There are many people who can help you comment better or provide you with examples of critiques to give you an idea.

Moreover, many ideas on what to notice when commenting could come from reading tutorials on the internet on how to actually write a poem or prose, or how to take a photo. Here are a few links on these:

Tips for the Novice by *suture
Tips for the Novice Editing (poetry) by *suture
Poetry Free-For-All Forums: Blurbs of Wisdom (suggested by =ordie, he says it can help anyone learn how to write poems better by just reading

those threads)

Photography Composition Articles
Understanding the Depth of Field (really good tutorial)
Free Online Photography Course (really good as well, and covers many areas)





So, to sum up, let's revise the Five Rules you should have in mind when commenting other people's deviations:

1. Giveth comments to other people first, and thou shalt receiveth comments from other people as well

2. For every bad thing you notice, also find at least a good one

3. Constructive Comments are comments that are meant to construct or build on the recipients' knowledge or awareness of their subjected strong point and bad points

4. It's about not fearing to hurt the other person's feelings

5. It's not what you say but rather how you say it


I really hope you enjoyed reading this tutorial as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I really, REALLY hope you are going to help other deviants, and expect to be helped too. Take care!



~Laonicos Chalcocondylis

P.S. I am really sorry for making it so huuuuge, but I couldn't make it smaller.