This article is a follow-up and continuation to the information mentioned in my last News piece, "Three Cheers for the Miscat Squad."

First of all, for everyone who is cheering on the "cleanup" of Artistic Nudes, I want to reiterate that the process has begun. The task is, dare I say, monumental, but it is under way. For all of the non-nude, cellphone/webcam shots, and pornographic images still to be found in the gallery, others have been moved, scrapped, or deleted. Thank you to all for the support, and for bringing some really extreme cases to my attention in the past several days for immediate action.

Just to reiterate certain basic information about miscats and policy violations:

1. When a miscat is reported through the link in the deviation, the report goes to the Help Desk, not to the GM's. So I (and ^arachnid15) do not see that report nor make the call on what action to take for that deviation.

2. Policy violations such as pornographic material are handled by the CEA team, not by the GM's. If I see one, I use the reporting form to report it, same as any other deviant. I have seen very quick action taken in removal of pornographic violations in the past days. Cheers to $realitysquared and the CEA team for this!

3. If you see me in chat and have come upon a gallery full of miscats or dAter images (more on this below), mention it to me and I will put it in my list of miscats to address. Sometimes I can take action right then and there; sometimes the gallery needs to be reviewed for what is the most appropriate action to take; sometimes I just file it for later because even GM's want to just hang out and chat some of the time!

Now, on to a couple of types of miscats that I think need further mention: Digital Art works containing nudity, and dAter galleries.

It might be obvious to some people and not to others, that the Photography gallery is not the only place on dA where artworks containing nudity might be found! Nude artworks can also be Traditional art or Digital art, and they have their proper categorizations within these sections just as photographic works do within the Photography area.

For the most part, Traditional artworks such as figure drawings and paintings do not often show up in the Artistic Nude photography gallery. However, digital works very often do. Because we are in the age of digital photography, there are lines that have to be drawn between when a digital photograph should be categorized as a photograph vs a digital art piece.

In general, works belonging in the photography section are defined on dA as:

"Photographs taken with a film or a digital camera featuring a minimal amount of colour and exposure adjustment."

Of course the definition of "minimal" is somewhat subjective, but as with many kinds of miscats, the number of "borderline" cases is really much fewer than the number of clear cut cases of the piece belonging in one area or the other.

So, the bottom line is this: Even if your deviation has as its base an Artistic Nude photograph, it does not always belong in Artistic Nudes or even in Photography. If you have used digital texturing, filtering effects, digital painting, or have digitally composited two or more photographic elements, then your deviation almost certainly belongs in one of the Digital Art categories. Anyone working in these techniques should get to know the Digital Art GM's: ^cosmosue, ^JunkbyJen, and also ^WilderWein77 in Photomanipulation. These are the very best people to give you the lowdown on all of the distinctions between the various Digital Art categories! Get to know them and you might suddenly find yourself a part of yet another entire area of the wonderful dA community!

There is also another place where some digitally processed photographs appropriately reside, and this is in the Photography->Darkroom->Digital gallery. If you are considering submitting to this gallery, I would still recommend familiarizing yourself with both the Digital Art categories and the Darkroom guidelines. Then you can give thoughtful consideration to where your deviation best belongs, depending upon the elements utilized in its creation. And of course, wherever your deviation containing nudity is submitted, please remember to use the Mature Content tag!

From Digital Art, we move on to dAters. Some people may have heard this term, which I believe was originated by ^arachnid15 (or at least he's the first one I heard using it)! While I know it's hard to believe, there are people who come to deviantART solely for the purpose of using dA as a free singles site. This is not a proper or artistic use of dA's galleries, and it often entails and encourages inappropriate and sexually explicit comments.

dAters are usually not very tough to identify. They often have a gallery full of low-quality nude images, usually self-portraits. Their deviations are often titled suggestively ("Come Take Me" or the like), and their descriptions often contain further "inviting" comments or even outright personal ads. They may scatter their images across many inappropriate galleries, in order to get as much "exposure" as possible. Some dAters have higher quality images in their galleries, but their titles, descriptions, and comments, still show that their goal and intent is to seek sexual comments and solicitations.

dAters are subject to having their galleries scrapped, since dA is an art site, not a singles site, and these individuals clearly show their utter lack of artistic intent.

Finally, a brief word on how to react to objectionable material found on dA. Even when you come upon a blatant miscat, policy violation, or dAter gallery, it is not productive to leave angry or insulting comments toward the deviant or the deviation. While these situations are frustrating, the best action is simply to report the deviation. And for AN, as I've stated, I appreciate having some of the extreme cases mentioned to me so that I am at least aware of them even if I can't take immediate action. Respect for art and artists is part of dA's Core Values statement, so let's maintain it on our parts even when it is not demonstrated by others, and deal with improper submissions through the appropriate channels!