The other day, I was speaking to Five, and I was bribed into creating a miniature social commentary on our synthetic art realm. Hence, with the promise of many lascivious newborn goats , it was written...

The second of two articles written on the state of deviantART; a synopsis of sorts concerning community--and in particular, online community-- interaction, why dissonance occurs, and why the established system exists--if not perfectly.

When I think of the state of deviantART as a community, it is impossible to not consider the philosophy of communities in general. At its very core, the purpose of a community is for all its members to perform some task within the residential blanket, developing a mass symbiotic relationship. At deviantART, this participation may occur on many levels--in the simple submission of artwork, in the feedback submitted towards artists, and miscellanious support and role-taking within the community. Obviously, members take different levels of responsibility, and that is entirely understandable. After all, if an artist stops by on occassion to submit artwork, it is seen on two plains--either the artist is looking for feedback, or is "sharing" his or her work with a host of viewers. Often, it tends to converge. We should not necessarily expect every person to submit artwork, analyze the work of others and provide feedback, and so on. Some wish to appear and share their work, work they have indeed worked hard on, but do not have time for much else. Regardless, they are assets to the community, and we support them--such is the purpose of deviantART.

Though we often quibble on the somewhat trivial matter of how much a person comments and so on, we easily understand the idea that every artist who uploads deserves a certain amount of attention for simply existing, a consideration if nothing else. I have provided you with this example to illustrate a point we already know--we understand a single thing: cohesion. Community is a set of ties. Community is cooperation. The very base of community is a set of people with some commonality working together towards a common goal.

At times, communities drift apart. This does not necessarily create failure for the individuals who represent the community--but it can mean certain failure for the fundamental cohesion of the collective community itself, as the members individually must innovate in order to acqure the goals originally set by the community. Often, communities must make decisions on an issue over which its citizens will be divided. This is a somewhat impossible difficulty to avoid; however, it does not have to destroy a community. deviantART has been structured so that a set of individuals finalizes--and often, solitarily considers--issues at hand. Generally, these decisions are made for the benefit of the community, and so far as deviantART is concerned, I have no reason to believe that this group--our admins--ever make decisions for any truly deep personal interest. There are no real hidden assets within deviantART aside from what we all wish to protect. This is not to say, however, that administrators do not make mistakes. I, personally, disagree with a number of decisions that have been made in the past and/or are being made. I believe that discussing these decisions, the issue which spawned them, and so forth, is a healthy process. However, it becomes immensely malignant to the community's existence when, despite any resolution whatsoever, a constant grudge and dissonance permeates the community's interaction.

This has occurred of late over several issues. There is no decent reason to draw attention to them here; but I do disagree, personally, with several decisions which have been made. When the issue is unfolding, I will reason, and at times seemingly ruthlessly to portray my perceptions. However, when the issue is finalized, all decisions made, it is of utter importance to drop every aspect of the issue until or unless a similar issue surfaces which demands the recall of precedents. Unfortunately, democracy is a limited thing in the cyberworld due to the awkwardness of the format, and matters concerning deviantART are, it would seem, best considered by a set panel--unless we wish to set shady qualifications for a dense "voting" system; however, even an entirely democratic system will not necessarily grant the decision you want made. Thus, to hold grudges against individual members, administrators, and artists is a threat to the same community which your opinion, hopefully, wished to protect.