Imagine this. Its a glorious day, you wake up on time, you have a great time at work/school, you get home, sit down and think, "I think i'll check my dA inbox."

So you log on, thinking about how wonderful life is, when you recieve a note from your friend, notifying you that some idiot has taken a piece of you artwork that you spent hours toiling over, and is claiming it as their own.

Thats enough to boil even the calmest persons blood. and sadly, It seems to happen everyday here on deviantART

Art theft, flame wars, spamming, trolling...you name it, the list is ENDLESS. deviantART has had more that its fair share of all of the above. But it makes me wonder, do we, as the average deviant population, help it? In my opinion; not much.

I've simply lost all count of the amount of rant journals on the today section, whining because either themselves or their friends have had their art stolen, or a spammer has dropped by their page and left them a couple of nasty comments. There are other ways to deal with these problems than making journals, or trying to get your friends to go to the offenders page and flame them back - trust me, you're only making the problem worse.

Here are some Alternative ways of dealing with these unsavoury characters, and some tips on how to help your friends without delcaring an all out flame war:

Watermark your artwork - deviantART has an optional watermark system you can use to protect you artwork. It's there to be used - so use it! you can be even more creative and create yourown, but don't get too paranoid, and be tasteful with the amount you use - People often go O.T.T and plaster their work with them. Remember, too many can spoil your art. just one can easily protect your work from being stolen, without reducing its quality.

be creative with your signatures - ALWAYS sign your artwork. Its how people can tell its yours. But careful where you sign, Art thieves can easily cut out a signature if its too far away from the actual art, try putting your signature INSIDE your art, or at least overlapping, that way, no-one can sneakily chop it off in photoshop.

Make use of the 'Block user' section - If some random spammer decides to hound you with malicious crap, you dont have to take it! if you go to 'Edit profile' section, you can put the names of users you don't want on your profile. This stops them from interacting with you on all points, commenting on your work, your profile, sending you notes...Its definately something you should consider using if you get spammed.

Hide and Ignore - NEVER respond to spammers, its gives them the motivation to keep on doing it, because they're getting a reaction from you. Instead, If you recieve a bad comment, hide it and don't respond. Eventually, they will realise that their spamming is getting nowhere, and will move camp.

be on the lookout - Its in the best interests of everyone to look out for one another. If, for whatever reason, you find a piece of stolen artwork, REPORT THEM and calmly let the original artist know of the theft. Its up to them how they deal with it, but by reporting them, you can help put a stop to the the theif's stealing spree.

and the most important of all... report, report, REPORT! - If for whatever reason, you come under attack from any of the events mentioned, report the offenders. The reporting system on dA is very easy to follow, all you need to do is prove that it needs reporting (ie, a link to a malicious comment, or a theft..etc...) and dA shall take it from there. This is one of the best things you can do to help a friend should they be affected, as it can be calmly resolved instead of breaking out into anything nastier.

And that, it seems, brings me to conclude my article. Thank you for reading, I hope This helps any individuals who have had trouble dealing with the thieves and spammers that circulate dA.

please, let me know what you think of my article, any feedback is greatly apreciated!