To start...
I realize this is easy to overlook, as I am generally polite and kind in most of my comments, journal entries, and deviation descriptions. However:
I am a blunt person. This often translates as mean. I am not trying to be cruel, I just refuse to constantly sugarcoat my comments.
I am not your mother, sister, or your close friend. As such, your personal happiness is not my priority.
I am an adult who must handle responsibilities requiring attention on a daily basis while also maintaining a full time job (which I highly enjoy working in).
Art is my hobby (def.). I do it, by definition, for fun and relaxation when I have free time. Not on demand.
I find reporting art thieves to be a rewarding secondary hobby. I've mostly broken my habit of trying to warn or talk to them; now, I just report.
I have a low tolerance for idiocy and jerks. While I will happily forgive misunderstandings, know these three things: (1) I am not judging you based on your appearance, race, nationality, IQ, art, physical or mental ability, disease, etc. I am judging you based on your behavior. If I see that you are performing art theft, behaving rudely, or other similar activities, I will treat you accordingly. (2) "" and its variations are not an apology or admission of wrong-doing. It is an emoticon, and thus is not an acceptable patch for a mistake. (3) Apologizing and then repeating the same activity a week later is also not acceptable. You get the permanent "idiot/jerk" stamp for that. Once is a matter of not knowing better; the second time, now that you are aware of it, proves that you just don't care enough to behave.
DeviantART, much as I love it, is not my life. It cannot and will not be a number 1 priority in my life.

Seriously people. That last fact is true for every artist on deviantART. And almost every artist here has at least some part of one of the above bullet points in common with me. Please keep that in mind when you comment or note.

Now, with that said, I want to touch on a few sensitive deviantART subjects.


ART   STYLES   AND   SUBJECTS

The Versus Wars
Ah yes, one of the deviantART community's favorite blood sports. You'll see a few variations on this, but some of the biggest include: "Fan Art vs. Original Art", "Anime Style vs. Realistic/Cartoon/Original/etc", "Pornographic/Fetish/Erotic vs. PG", and "Hetero vs. Homo".

I honestly don't understand the need to stir up dust over this. If you don't like it don't look at it. Don't go around insulting people just because you disagree with them. Just move along.

You're throwing up dust because of what? Popularity? Daily Deviations? Is that why you draw? Is that why you create? I do it because I enjoy it, whether I get a single comment or not. So cry me a river.

Shipping Wars
This is pretty much limited to the fan art areas of the deviantART community. A "Ship" (often referred to as an "OTP", or "One True Pairing") is when a person or group of people support a romantic pairing within a book, manga, TV show, movie, or etc. The term comes from the phrase, "to worship a relationship" which became "to ship a ship" and now is the general fandom term, "shipping". People become very passionate about their ships.

However, one should not discuss their opinion of a depicted ship that s/he does not agree with or like within someone’s deviation. Whether the ship is officially in the story or completely fan created, harassing the artist about how you disagree is completely pointless and off topic. If you don't like the ship, the artist does not understand why you are looking at the piece in the first place, and complaining at them is unlikely to change their opinion of anything, other than you.

There are entire forums dedicated to arguing shipping wars, please take it there, not on someone's personal page.

When Wars Take the Battle to Your Gallery
In both of the above cases, why people cannot simply "agree to disagree" on something so subjective is beyond my comprehension. Arguing back is pointless, but difficult to restrain yourself from.

When these "Wars" make their way to your personal gallery, arguing will generally only turn into a pointless flame war that is not about to alter either side's opinion on the subject.

On deviantART, generally the best solution is to "Hide" any offending comments, and block users from your pages that can't behave after an initial warning. That will end most problems. Of course, deviantART does have a 100 user block limit, but hopefully it will not escalate that far. [FAQ #96: Can I block people from my user page?]


COMMENTING

Read The Descriptions
I cannot stress this enough. I get more stupid questions and comments that could've been resolved by reading the deviation description than you can shake a stick at. And it's beyond irritating to take the time out to write a detailed description explaining something only to have 5 people turn around and immediately ask a question that is already answered in the description. Show a little intelligence people.

Pay Attention to the Comments Setting
There are multiple levels at which the artist can accept comments on deviantART. [FAQ #300: What does Critique Preference mean, and how can I change it?]
"Advanced Critique Encouraged"
"Critique Discouraged"
"Critiques Welcome" (default value/also: No Preference Specified)
"Comments Disabled"
Please make your comment with consideration to this setting. It seems like I never get proper critiques except on images that I have set to "Critique Discouraged", because I already know it has major errors. Most artists love to get critiques, except in cases where they already know the piece has issues, and thusly have marked it with "Critique Discouraged".

Things People Commonly Comment with that are NOT Compliments
(that they seem to think are)

"Hey! That looks just like <insert-character-here>."
This is particularly an issue with original characters. I cannot count the number of times an artist has drawn an OC with short bright red or orange hair only to immediately have the character assumed to be a Weasley (Harry Potter) or a copy-cat of Ichigo (Bleach). I promise J.K. Rowling and Tite Kubo did not invent red heads. Some artists do not mind the occasional "Haha, the way you drew Sweeney Todd kinda reminds me of Wolverine", especially when they can also see the resemblance.
However, unless it is fan art for that character, we usually do not want to hear how our work resembles some character we may or may not have heard of before. In the case of completely original characters, saying something like this is quite rude. It's an insult to the artist's creativity.

"Hey! Your character looks exactly like my friend/brother/sister/cousin <insert-name>."
No. No it doesn't. GO AWAY.

"Hey! Your character reminds me of my character for <insert-god-knows-what>! TeeHee"
So... am I to assume that you're implying that I've "stolen' your character or am I to take this as if you're planning to steal/edit my art and claim it as your own? How am I supposed to take that?

"I really like that! I'm going to use it for <insert-commenter's-personal-project>."
Not "may I", but "I'm going to"? Rude, inconsiderate, and oh yes... Where's that report art theft button?

"I really like this picture, but I hate the way you draw <insert-name> character."
Particularly when the mentioned character is the focus of the drawing. Huh? Ummm... I'm sorry you don't like my style applied to <insert-name> character, but that's just how I draw them? If you are attempting to critique the art, please provide more detail as to what you dislike about how the character is drawn, and be certain that you are not saying this on a deviation with "Critique Discouraged".


Grammar & Spelling
We all make typos. It happens to the best of us. But consistent use of the caps lock, texting acronyms, l33t speak, and etc isn't cute; it's annoying. Not to mention a pain to translate. Not everyone on deviantART is a 14-year-old super-texting l33t speak Jedi master, and to those of us who aren't, you look like a fool.

Also, a quick reference:
"your" is a possessive form of "you".
"you're" is "you are".
"u" is a letter, not a word. Same goes for "y".
"ur" is also not a word.
"2" is a number denoting two things. It is not "to" or "too".
"their" is a possessive form of they.
"there" is a noun indicating a location.
"they're" is "they are".
"its" is a possessive, meaning this belongs to it. Think of "its" as saying "his" or "hers".
"it's" is a contraction, meaning "it is" or "it has".
(And the list goes on.)

This isn't cruelty on my part, but to demonstrate that I cannot understand you otherwise! There's a very fun and thoughtful grammar book in the world titled "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". [link] It has a panda on the cover. Pandas eat bamboo shoots and leaves. Either that, or the panda eats, then shoots and leaves. That is the course indicated by official punctuation of the title. See? Something as tiny as a single comma makes the difference between life and death.

Spelling can also make a difference. I've had cases where I was expected somehow understand "blobber" meant "blooper". Trust me, the sentence made no sense. We're not psychics here. When someone replies to your comment with "Huh?" Something you wrote doesn't make sense, re-read it. Don't reply as though we're insane.

The Language Barrier
People on deviantART come from all over the globe and speak many languages. Diversity is good. And you can usually get a rough idea about the content of a deviation description in a foreign language by popping it into Babel Fish ©. [link] It's fine to comment on such a deviation, but realize that it's entirely possible that the artist will have no clue what you said.

This brings me to slipping other languages into your regular one. The most common I see is random Japanese and Spanish in an otherwise completely English language comment. Being an anime geek myself, I know the Japanese phrases in use, but I don't know a lick of Spanish. I just respond with: Huh? "<insert-foreign-word-here>"?

While I understand the Japanese most anime fans spout at random, I don't really appreciate the assumption. Not every artist out there does, and I know unintelligible comments annoy me. You should never assume an artist knows whatever foreign language you're about to throw at them. Writing "Kawaii!" doesn't make a comment any more meaningful than saying "Cute!".

Images in a Series and FAQs
This is really kind of a part of "Read The Descriptions", but I think it needs to be addressed separately. Many artists that do image series, be it a long-term comic or something along the lines of *AlisaChristopher's Avatar Dress-Up series (~DressUp-Avatar). There is often an FAQ linked from the deviation description. Before you ask something, make sure it isn't already covered. The question is really-really old by the 10th time we have to answer it.

Commenting on an Art Style You Don't Like
Can I start this with a "Why God, Why!?"; yes, I believe I shall. When your comment is something to the effect of "X art-style sucks, you should draw this way.", what are you expecting to accomplish? Other than inciting a flame war. No artist is going to appreciate that. It's one thing to give a critique on it, but if all you have to say is that you dislike a style, all that the artist can do is wonder at why you're looking at the image to begin with.

When You Do One of the Above
Don't get all hurt and offended in response when the artist says something about it. Oh please.


ART   THEFT

The first thing to realize about art theft is there are two basic kinds of art thieves out there: those who simply don't know better, and those who simply don't care. These can be further broken down into variations like, those who know about art theft but didn't realize this particular activity counted as art theft, and those who intentionally steal because they thrive on the attention and troll-ish banter.

So education on the subject is important. So is not giving them the flames and banter they might desire. Besides, deviantART enacts the policy prohibiting hate, inflammatory speech, and harassment as a way to stop deviantART mobs. All screaming at a troll-type art thief is going to accomplish is giving the thief the attention they want and potentially getting yourself banned right along with the thief. For all of the frustration it causes you, it's not worth it, right?

What qualifies as art theft?
Now, this is something that people naturally get a little defensive about here on deviantART, so let's put it out there, straight from the FAQ and deviantART TOS (Terms of Service).
Keep in mind, Art Theft isn't just for original art pieces and literature; it applies to fan art, photos, desktops, fan fiction... everything you see on deviantART.

Art theft can be anything you did not produce 100% yourself. [FAQ #8: What does deviantART consider to be Art Theft?]
Screen shots (both the altered and not) count as art theft. (This includes re-colored screen shots and scans of other images.) [FAQ #572: What does deviantART consider "Fan Art" to be?]
Tracing (by hand or vector lines) of an official art piece or screen shot from an anime/tv show/manga/art book/movie/etc or of another artist's work (original or fan art) can be considered art theft. [FAQ #304: Do you remove copies and trace-over art?]
Reposting someone else's art without explicit permission from the original artist is art theft.
Using someone else's art for your avatar, icon, forum signature, website layout (both on deviantART and elsewhere) without explicit permission can be considered art theft.

Wait, so can I use things created by other people in my submissions at all?
Actually you can, but only in certain cases. [FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?]

First off: Credit. Credit. Credit. Like your life depends on it. There is no one who will be angry at you for giving credit where it's due.
BUT! Crediting is NOT enough! [FAQ #306: Does "Crediting" let me use whatever I want?]

Collaborations
Collaborations like the cases of coloring someone else's line art must be done with explicit permission of the original artist. And you must also credit. Do not assume. Do not ask afterwards. Ask FIRST.
There are deviantART clubs like *color-me-club where artists submit line art with the automatic agreement that others can color and re-post it on deviantART (with credit to the original).

Stock Images & Creative Commons
You are allowed to use any valid stock resources providing that you obey the terms and conditions set by the stock provider. You may also use materials governed by a Creative Commons license providing that you obey the terms of the licensing. Failure to obey all of the required Terms and Conditions or License requirements attached to the stock may result in the removal of your submission. [FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?]

Never assume something is a stock image! The lack of obvious copyright information does not imply that the imagery is free for use. Always assume that everything you see is copyright protected by default.
This includes the results of a Google image search.

When in doubt, assume someone owns it, and you need permission before you can use it. [FAQ #193: How do I prove that I had permission to use someone's work?]

How do I report Art Theft?
Deviant Art, and every other USA-based website, is required to abide by the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). This means, as soon as the original copyright owner reports the image theft, they are required by law to take it down. If they do not remove it in a timely manner, or are making a profit off of the theft, they can be prosecuted under the DMCA. The primary thing to do if you see someone elses art posted by a third party, inform the original artist. The original artist should be the one to send the take down notice.

deviantART's system has a method of reporting art theft (regardless of if you are the original author or not) in the form of the "Report Policy Violation" link next to the description of every deviation. This takes you to a form you can fill out and submit. The full details of how to prove the image is stolen are available at FAQ #192. [FAQ #192: What evidence is required when we report stolen material?]

When Accused of Theft
Flaming someone back will not help matters.

If you are innocent, contact the deviantART support team. If you've been reported falsely, they are the people who can aid you, not your mob of devWatchers. If the accuser is blowing smoke and hasn't reported you, you can report them for harassment. [FAQ #221: I was banned, is there anything I can do? | FAQ #238: How do I report people for abuse, harassment, or another issue I may think is a violation?]

If you are guilty of art theft, the best course of action is to apologize and remove the deviation. If someone warned you before reporting you, they are probably taking the polite route and trying not to get you in trouble with the deviantART Admin. They are most likely not doing it out of cruelty. Removing the violating image and replacing it with something offensive only means you'll be getting reported for harassment or hate speech. (Sadly, I have personal experience with this to back it up. It is frustrating to try to take the polite route only to recieve hate and and insults in response.)



Editing/Writing Help By:

(Thank You.)