A friend of mine sent me something the other day, and I thought the community might like to read this. As a disclaimer, I would like to say that the views expressed in this article do not reflect on myself.

“An open letter to the Deviantart administrators and community.
Caution, contains open hostility.

Deviantart?
Yes, Deviantart. Deviantart has gone to the dogs; it’s as simple as that.
This once was a great community, where like-minded artists of any kind, could gather and form a community. Find like-minded people be friends and share things.
But lately, maybe even since Jarkoff was ousted by Sotira, things have chanced.
I have been a member of this site, for nigh on half a decade, do not late that paltry sign up date fool you.
I was here when V3 was introduced and I saw a lot of things chance and not for the better. Deviantart has changed it seems.
And not for the better either. The admins these days, they don’t care about us, the little people.
When you break a rule you either get a smart ass, know it al no help what so ever answer, that you should either wait or go through the proper channels.
Or you are banned for one little mistake, no warnings no strike out system a ban and you are out.
The proper channels are not good enough, I was forced today to see the account of a very good friend of mine [artist name removed] getting hacked by ascript kiddie and the admins refused to do anything.
Where is the justice in that?
Am I supposed to sit back and lie down, while the work of a fiend of mine is being ruined? I think not.
The admins these days seem only to care about the revenue of the ads and sticking to the rules, no matter how bogus or anti productive these rules are. Which are actually hurting the community.
They don’t listen to us.
We, the community are just numbers fit to sift through, file through look at the prerequisite ads and be cash cows; they do not care about us.
And if they do, its mostly close friends or sycophants, who don’t have the heart to say what they think.
And that’s not all apart from a mostly indifferent staff we also have to deal with art thieves and hacks who get away with it.
Trolls and spammers.
Flamers, who can happily flame all they want, but if you defend your self you get the, oh so helpful advice of ignore them.
Yeah and what if they come back? What if there is more then one flamer, what if they seem to get some perverse delight out of crushing your art and your spirit and there is not a damn thing the staff will do about it, until it’s too late?
And if a member stands up for you, that member risks getting banned him or her self,
just because they wanted to help.
Great going, if the staff can’t cope hire more people.
The copyright notice is somewhat bogus as well and as usually dispelled and hidden in legal claptrap, instead of fair clear language.
These days Deviantart has turned from a community we could be proud off, in to a sordid back stage back slapping popularity contest.
The most attention always goes to the same boring old artists. Most of them don’t even have an original bone in their bodies, they either pander to the common denominator (soft porn pretty colors nude photography) or hook in to the latest fad with all the hanger ons.
There are much better artists out here that nobody gives a damn about. That nobody sees and who are much more deserving of praise, gift art and attention, then these creatively bankrupt hacks.
What do the likes of Tailsrulez and Chalosan have beyond soft porn and pretty colors? Strip away the colors and the pictures themselves are pretty basic, yet they have millions of page views is the community really that blind?
Deviant art has become a popularity contest and the community is suffering under it. Real quality and artistry is shrugged off.
And then there is another thing, Deviantarts' dual policy towards nudes, especially suggestive nudes. It’s officially not allowed, but if a popular artist posts it it’s silently allowed, it won’t be reported that’s for sure. But if a lesser artist posts it, it’s gone before you can blink.
And isn’t it ironic that a site that is supposedly a family friendly site, proudly blazons Suicide Girls ads on its front page? Or that the majority of the daily deviations are nude females. Especially where photography is concerned.
Together with a measly five daily deviations, who are almost all from the paltry popular artist pool?
How strange.
I have been here for five years; it’s a part of my life.
But the community is gone to the dogs it’s no fun any more.
Deviantart is going to hell in a hand basket and the staff; they don’t seem to care any more.
Could I do a better job?
Maybe.
Maybe, not.
But one thing is for sure, I care about these people more then they will ever know
and I will risk everything for them.
My time.
My reputation.
My art.
My integrity.
My self-respect.
My sleep.
But enough is enough.
I loved this site, I loved the community, in some way I still do.
And if I could not do a better job, I could do it with more passion and zeal.
But I wont sit idly by any more, while it destroys it self.
I have made great friends on here people, I don’t want to miss for the world.
And that’s what Deviantart really should be all about.
But the popularity shit, the indifferent admins, the trolls, the flamers, the thieves and all the other bullshit, are too much.
[Artist name removed]'s gallery getting demolished, was the final straw.
The admins, they don’t care about us.
And if I am going to be banned, for what I said on the front page of several admins to help a friend? Then so be it.
Am I going to be banned because I had the nerve to speak the truth?
Go ahead, I won’t label anybody fascist, you will be just proving my point.

Goodbye, Deviantart.
It was great knowing you, its still great knowing you.
But I won’t sit here and watch your self-destruct.

And I doubt anybody will ever read this.”

After reading this, I thought to myself, “Well, I may not agree with all of it, but I think this is something that needs to be seen.”

Now, I, personally, have not experienced all of what she is saying here, although some of it I have. I have attempted to report a few pictures that were basically nothing more than pornography, barely hidden by the title, “Artistic Nude.” The outcome was a note in my inbox telling me that a DeviantArt administrator “has viewed the picture, and has found no problem with it.” I have to say that I have a problem with that. Blatant pornography, hidden by the title, “Artistic Nude” is a very large problem that I've been seeing every time I log on to this wonderful community. We’ve all seen it. It takes up about ninety percent of the daily favorites, favorites from the last two, three days, the last week and before you know it, you have to go back to the all time favorites to find anything that isn’t pornography. If you’re looking for a good new artist, there’s really no hope for you, because all you’ll see once you get out of the walls of pornography is the artists who have one hundred thousand plus page views and six hundred plus favorites on every one of their drawings, which we’ve all seen too many times. I’m not saying anything against these artists, they have talent that I envy; they have thousands of watchers; favorites on all of their drawings; they’re revered by the community. Honestly, even though I've been looking at these artists galleries for years before I even got myself a DeviantArt account, I want something else, and even though I have found good artists in the “browse newest” section, I have to say that it’s few and far between for me to find something that really hits me.

When I joined DeviantArt three years and two usernames ago, I was overjoyed because I finally had a way to talk to people who had similar interests. After approximately two months though, I was tired of it. All I saw everywhere I looked was, “leaving DeviantArt because I'm sick of everything!” pornography and the people getting away with it, people getting belittled for their ideals, opinions, views, art, writing, everything they stand for, even their age. I have to say, it’s mildly sickening. I'm not leaving DeviantArt anytime soon, but I've always been on the lookout for another community where there's a little more respect for the people inside.

The artist who wrote what is quoted above has left DeviantArt, and left a while ago. I must say that I'm sorry that she left under the conditions she did, and wish her the best on finding her happiness another way. I, on the other hand, am not leaving, but hoping that one day the people of DeviantArt will hold the rules in a higher priority than they do now.

--Ch-ILD.