The last article which prefaces what a Furcadia portrait is and why they should be recognized as an art: [link]

=Pixel-Spotlight's wonderful journal entry about dA policy: [link]

So many people have been vocal about dA's policies concerning Furcadia portraits. However, many need to remember this is a two way road and an established website like deviantArt isn't going to sway for an art style that makes up less than 1% of all the art collected on the site.

Portrait artists on Furcadia are searching for validation in the art world, that the work we put into these mini masterpieces is just as legitimate as work put into any other kind of pixel work. In fact, for those using just .FSH Editor, it's harder! We receive the greatest restrictions and work with the greatest risks. In order to attract attention, we upload a protected image onto deviantArt because in Furcadia, people tend to steal portraits not intended for them.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if everyone was nice and sweet and honest, but the world doesn't function like that.

However, for deviantArt, to have these jpeg'd and watermarked pixel works in a pixel gallery is completely unappealing. It's like taking the sharp, colorful look of pixels and watering them down with milky water. For display purposes, having portraits in the Pixel Art category really doesn't work out.

The avatars category doesn't quite seem right either, because avatars are those stupid flashy icons people use on Livejournal to show people their exact emotions at that exact time.

Wrong.

Avatars themselves are their own art. They can be displayed in jpeg, png, gif, anything you can think of. They are similar to the size of a port, and many of them are pixeled themselves.

What I'm trying to say is, it's our responsibility as Furcadian artists to represent ourselves well in the community. Fighting and bickering just makes us look whiney and bratty. We need to consolidate our efforts and upload our ports in the proper place. As soon as I finish writing this article, I'm putting all my ports in the following category:

Desktop & Customization > Icons > Avatars > Miscellaneous

By doing this, we are solidifying our efforts to promote our work to the community. And maybe, just maybe if we get them all in one place, dA will see what a great portion of the community we are and that we deserve proper recognition. Please don't let the awesome efforts of =Pixel-Spotlight go in vain!