Introduction

Hello and welcome to the newly revised Help Desk Guides. Today we're actually going to cover a topic never covered before in previous guides. That topic is "How to: Submit a Policy Inquiry".

What is a Policy Inquiry?

If you have any questions concerning any submission violation notes you have received notifying you that we have removed or relocated your deviation, or if you need suggestions on where to properly place your deviation, then Policy Inquiry is the category you would use.

Policy Inquiry may also be used for any inquiries you may have concerning general site policies, or to report someone you believe may be ban evading.

What should not be submitted as a Policy Inquiry?

1.) Inquiries concerning a ban you have received on the dAMN Messaging Network. These types of inquiries should instead be submitted under the contact category "Chat Inquiry".

2.) You would like to inquire about a sitewide ban you have received. Inquiries of this nature should be filed under the contact category "Ban Inquiry".

3.) Your friend has been banned and you would like to inquire as to why. Information in regards to bans can only be discussed between the banned deviant and the Policy Team. This information will not be given out to 'friends' or anyone else requesting it.

4.) This section should not be used to request your account be closed. Please instead refer to FAQ #113: How can I close my deviantART account?.

5.) Please do not report submission violations here, this has a separate reporting method outlined in FAQ #155: How do I report a submission which I think breaks the rules?.

6.) Reports of severe abuse. These should be filed under "Report Harassment".

7.) Mob attacks at getting a site Policy changed or an action against a user changed. These do not belong in the Help Desk period.

Before Submitting your Inquiry

Depending on the type of inquiry you may have, there are a few things we will need from you.

1.) If you are inquiring about a deviation that has been relocated or removed, be sure to include the link to the deviation that is included in the note you received. If you no longer have the note, please be sure to include the name of the deviation. Including either of these items in your inquiry will increase the overall speed it takes to resolve your inquiry.

2.) If you are reporting a user for possible ban evasion, please be sure to include detailed proof of your claim as we will not take action based on a hunch you have.

Disclaimer

When submitting your Policy Inquiry there are a three rules you should follow. The first rule is that you should try and remain as civilized as possible. While we understand that having your deviation removed or relocated can be very frustrating, yelling or cursing at us will not get us to respond to your inquiry any faster if at all. The second rule that should be followed is that only one inquiry should be submitted for any questions you may have concerning an image that was removed or relocated. There have been times where we have had users send in one inquiry for every hour that they did not receive a reply. You can imagine that does not look so well to the people you want to hear your case.

If you have submitted a Policy Inquiry and did not receive a response within a weeks time and you have remained civilized in your inquiry, you may feel free to resubmit your inquiry as it is possible we did not receive it.

Contacting the Help Desk

Assuming you already know how to contact the Help Desk, this next step will be easy. Once on the Help Desk contact page you will need to select "Policy Inquiry" from the 'Category' drop down menu. After you have selected the category for your inquiry, proceed by typing up your inquiry.

After you have typed up your inquiry, you may wish to review your message to make sure you have included everything. Do so by clicking on the button entitled "Preview Help Request". Once satisfied with your message you will next need to click on "Submit Help Request". If your message has been sent to us successfully you will next be presented with a message of thanks.


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That's it, you're done! You should now receive a response to your request from the Policy Team within 72 hours or less, during the normal Help Desk hours.


Pstttt Hexe! This Guide is great and all but I have one problem! I cannot login to the Help Desk to contact the Policy Team because the site will not let me login at this time. Can I still contact the Policy Team? Yes you can, you may do so by emailing them @ violations@deviantart.com.

We hope you have found the above information helpful.


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Much ,
The Help Desk Team
$hexentanz , $ewm and $y2jenn