Just yesterday, I went to submit a piece of fanfiction. It was nothing special, but submitting it brought to my attention a new "feature" of our wondrous deviantART.

Previously, on dA, there was a selection of how to ask for comments. You could allow regular comments, disable comments, discourage criticism, or request advanced critique.

This system worked fairly well. If your art was a doodle and you couldn't care less how people commented, you simply chose "Allow Comments." If you had spent countless hours on something and you had truly given it your best, you could ask for advanced critique, and those with some common sense might actually give it.

However, when I went to submit my latest deviation, I noticed that something was different.

There are now two selections for comments. You can either allow comments, or disable them. There's also a new critique feature that is locked to all but subscribers.

Investigating further, I read the new FAQ that went with this new feature:

FAQ #95: What is the Critique Feature and how do I use it?

The critique system is a new feature that requires a minimum of 100 words. As well, critiquers must rate the art in several areas on a 1-5 star rating.

I was outraged. Any member, subscriber or not, should be. This lovely system, which looks like a great way to receive advanced feedback for aspiring or new artists, is only available and usable by deviantART subscribers

How is this encouraging to the deviantART community? One of our biggest problems on this site is that users do not provide detailed and meaningful comments. This system restricts real critique, which we could all use, to subscribers only.

Are the subscribers the only ones that care if they get advanced feedback? Or are the deviantART admins willing to sacrifice what's left of the dA spirit for money?

Limiting a basic right of artists to those who can pay is ridiculous. What about those young artists without credit cards or paypal accounts? How can we be supporting the development of artists if we demand money for it?

I hope that this feature is soon changed to allow all members to give and receive critique. If not, what will be next? Will us poorer artist be forced to hand in our tildes (~) and leave dA because we cannot pay for a membership?

~Astral S. Kepeire