However many changes deviantART goes through, pageview remain a constant. Though for some reason there seems to be a palpable animosity towards the idea of pageviews. Many feel pageviews make them a better artist, many look upon them as useless numbers, why is this?
Upon talks with many artists that fall into the "popular" category of artists, they predominantly share this opinion; pageviews arent important. Alternately, talking to many artists in the "rarely seen" category, they get excited by the smallest increase in pageviews per day. From personal experience and conversations with others, a rarely seen artist often feels some sort anguish when art they feel doesnt "deserve" it makes front page. It can hurt an artist's confidence to see what is "popular" on deviantART. One cant help but think that the "populars" have become somewhat desnsitized to pageviews and watchers alike after gaining so many. However, one should no fall into either of these mindsets.
It is from personal experience that I draw this ideal; deviantART is a game. It is not a real place for good art or aspiring young artists to get better, its is myspace for artists. This is not to say that deviantART is a bad thing, quite the contrary. DeviantART helps many artists get in touch with one another, where like minds can share their personal expressions.
In the argument over pageviews, both sides fall short of being right. If deviantART is a game, than pageviews are its currency or experience points. Watchers become level ups, Daily Deviations become class-ups, and so forth. One should not disregard pageviews as not important, because they are; evey pageview is one time that a person wished to see your self expression. However, one should not think that having more pageviews makes you any better than anyone else, they are numbers, not skill points.
It becomes sad when an artist loses touch with their community. Dont forget the people that come by your page to see you, oppositely, dont use pageviews as a reason to post naruto fanart. This is a place for artists to have fun, get your pageviews and watchers, and have fun doing it.