DeviantArt Sucks

[Simo]

I find it a very messy, annoying site to navigate. It could really do with a major redesign...so much clutter. It reminds me of this nightmare of late 1990s/early 2000's webdesign, that hasn't kept up with the times, nor adapted to allow itself to be easily used.

If anything, I avoid it simply for those reasons.

 

[ChapterAquila92]

THANK. YOU. I forgot to mention the fact it also allows itself to steal art. What dickheads.

It pays to read the fine print, even if only to cover your ass. Of course, few people have the stomach to bother reading legalese when they accept the terms and conditions of whatever it is they're registering for.

As a private business, DA reserves the right to use works you uploaded to their site for self-promotion. This much is made clear in its terms and conditions, which not only does every user agree to when registering their account but is also linked on every page on the site. Thus, you have no excuse to claim it to be "theft" on the grounds of ignorance, especially when you agreed to let them do it in the first place.

Don't like it? Do yourself a favour next time and read the terms and conditions before you hit "I accept". If that's too hard, get a lawyer to make sense of it for you or, failing that, don't bother trying to register.

 

[Benthehornyhyena]

I had read !
We all know it !
And that's precisely because we know this exist we all find it unfair !

 

[ChapterAquila92]

I had read !
We all know it !
And that's precisely because we know this exist we all find it unfair !

Sounds like you skimmed the damn thing instead of reading it in detail.

It's certainly unfair if you were expecting to get away with free service on DA's part. I'm actually surprised that you're not up in arms over, say, Facebook doing more or less the exact same thing, allowing you to use their "free" services in exchange for being able to provide third party advertisers with your personal information. This is a standard social network business practice, short and simple.

 

[Benthehornyhyena]

Sigh, I guess we have to live with it.

 

[LumeKat]

I don't think they exploit the self-promotion part. They have art blogs on social media, it has to be there.

Art theft however. You used to be able to report any sort of theft without being the copyright owner. After the layoffs they changed their report procedure, choosing the option of fanart theft leads you to a "sorry, talk to the thief, maybe you can work it out" and a link to a very ambigous and controversial journal about the legality of fanart.

This happened without any alert because they stopped releasing update logs after that rebranding crysis and mass criticism.

Another thing I remembered, once again there was no notification about the change of policy that made raffles forbidden, many users were banned without warning simply because they didn't know.

Anyone can read the rules, but who does it every day?

 

[Titanic-Wyvern]

Yeah, in my experience, dA does kind of suck massive ass. :V Drama, constant art theft, stupid admins, etc., it's a wonder that they are still afloat these days. I haven't encountered too many negative people either, except for when I call out tracers and/or art thieves for one fandom I'm in, but that's a whole 'nother ballpark. I honestly wouldn't use it but it's a big art site, and I know people on there that I don't want to fall out of contact with.

 

[FluffyShutterbug]

This is a total non-sequitur, but why do I think the title of this thread is hilarious? XD

 

[ShinyFloof]

Also, the adopts market is waaayy over saturated. Doesn't matter what your selling, or if your selling it for points or money, nobody wants it if your not "popular" or it's not a popular species. All the times I submitted adopts, people rarely bought, they just faved it and it got annoying after a while.

 

[Blight Hyaenodon]

That site has to me and a few friends really changed over the years.

 

[Benthehornyhyena]

That site has to me and a few friends really changed over the years.

How ? I am there only since 2014.

 

[KurtCobain]

Ok so I had a terrible experience on DA and it's really changed my view of the site and it's community. About a month ago, I drew a anthro rabbit with a unicorn horn and fluffy equine tail and, just because ONE trait just so happened to look like their species, another deviant come after me for having a similar character. Yep. I'm not talking about a minor disagreement either, I'm talking about I got 30+ hate comments and even got called a "butt hurt cyber bully" by someone I don't even ****ing know because my drawing looked like the one they drew. I got flamed to hell and back, and even a rant video done on me all because I pointed out that a rabbit raccoon hybrid isn't original enough to be a closed species. Keep in mind that's not even what I drew. Mine was a rabbit UNICORN hybrid. They really. tried to make me look like a horrible person. I hate this girl. She's a bitch. I even got threatened with suicide and forced to make a public apology, not to mention she called out my species in the ref for hers and still refuses to take that passive aggressive crap out of the ref. All. Because. I. Drew. Something. Similar.

I don't know what to do, I really wanna leave DA because of this, not so much because of stupid restrictions, but because of the light they painted me in, and half of DAs community is naive enough to believe it. Don't attack this person please, it's just I don't think I should be treated like a bully and art thief for making a similar character.

Well, Deviantart got people to attack me aggressively (I deserved it though, because I acted like a dick for a while on Deviantart), but here are the things that specifically pissed me off about the community back in the day (I'm better than a lot of this, including how bad I was then as of now):

-I got a callout journal for basically doing these things:
commissioning 'controversial' art of somebody's character THAT WAS POPULAR AND NOT REALLY PERSONAL CONSIDERING IT WAS IN MANY ANIMATIONS AND ALREADY HAD A TON OF FANART, making a "proxies" joke on a livestream (I'm not on a proxy right now fyi), trolling ONE person (not even that badly, I mean all I said was "We are friends now!"), being aggressive after all these aggressive comments were made (I learned better now), but here's the thing: they said do not attack me, but there were a ton of hateful and manipulative comments they didn't remove, and they used their 'smart talk' to sound right because they wanted to ruin me. What they called me out for was ironically not even close to the worst stuff I was doing on Deviantart.

-I had several people bite my head off for trying to be their friend because I "was too creepy" (even though I was not that creepy in all honesty, just socially awkward, and although I was a bit creepy, they were still far too aggressive about it and not willing to work with me or teach me better.)

-I had several people make false pedophile allegations and other bullshit against me because I sexually harassed a 17 year old's FURSONA barely when I was younger, not even 18 myself yet (regrettable, but it still doesn't make me a pedophile wtf)

-Have people harass me in a thread where I was trying to get advice on helping a friend out of suicide, as well as on some other threads I made on the Help With Life forum.

-Take year-old drama into the modern world and still try to ruin me because I did regrettable shit in the past.

-Get blocked, slandered, upon other things by various Deviants.

All-in-all:
Deviantart hasn't ruined my life, but I don't think I would really want to go back to the community it has.
It's a cess-pool full of gullible teenagers, extremely thirsty drama queens, complainheads, attention whores, fake friends, antisocial people who give others no fair chances, bullies, victims, 'victims', womanchildren, extremely oversensitive people, overly-harsh critics, manipulative cuntbags, horrible artists, narcissists, angry hipsters, upon other things.
Deviantart had destroyed my personality for a long time and always made me stressed out when I used it. I only use it now for art, commissions, requests, occasional blogging, and media discussion.

I'll just say this: Deviantart's community is worse than fucking 4chan's community. It's meaner too. 4chan just has a meaner tone, while Deviantart is meaner in a more nice-sounding way.

 

[Blight Hyaenodon]

How ? I am there only since 2014.

I was looking on there since before 2012. I think the kinds of art on there have changed or at least what the people who go there are looking for has.

 

[LadyFromEast]

How ? I am there only since 2014.

I'm a DeviantART user since 2007 and will celebrate a round decade on that site quite soon. From my point of view this place has changed drastically over all these years, even though there's also a whole 4 year period of rapid changes that ommitted me due to me not registering earlier. Back co the point though.
Around 2007 DeviantART has been a lot more difficult to browse, having less categories and browsing filters. The inboxes were a huge pain too, as only subscribed members [now called core] had the ability to turn on image previews in the inbox. It made browsing through your messages a lot longer and more tedious. There were also no previews of the journal content and so on whatsoever. You also weren't able to drag and drop anything, and the page customization features were terribly limited.
The main page looked a lot different, and was divided into different sections - like today, where you could find most popular journals that were highlighted, people with the most pageviews during lat 24 hours, most lately joined members and most importantly, daily deviations. Those were available to view from any given place on the site, and thus were the most magnificent feature for showcasing wonderful and underappreciated art.
While the "today" page was a huge source of and bait for drama [me myself browsing it quite often just for the lulz] it made the community seem much more alive. The color scheme of the site was different as well, the logo included, and the little marks next to people's usernames.
There was no tool for posting film on deviantart either. It was introduced a few years later.
There were no badges, and the premium membership cost 50% less [the discount was still active back then and continuously, it was discountinued only now]. There were no points either, no commission widgets, nor any widgets for that matter.
Art theft was popular, but was being taken care of really, really fast, and you didn't have to be the copyright owner to fly a report.
Journal skins were only available to premium members, and they [and the senior members, and the administrator team and volunteers] were also the only ones able to put art thumbs into their journals. Features were a precious thing back then.
Even though the community was much smaller, it was much more warm and wemcoming. You didn't need to be encouraged into welcoming others like it is being done now. People simply did it because they wanted to. The community age [or perhaps maturity?] was much better as well. Sure, you were bound to bump into dramas and such, but there were also tons of reasonable people too, along with amazing artists that have until now abandoned their accounts in search for a better place as the site degraded.
It was easier to find quality art and commission it, and it was [from my point of view] easier to find a commissioner as well.
People would organize tons of contests with prizes in art, money and premium memberships, sometimes deviantart merchandise. Those were done and funded not only by the staff, but by "normal" members as well.

Today I see much more features, half of them useless or not needed at all and being only fancy add-ons, much lesser interest into the copyright affairs of the community - 90% of the reports I have flied have either been left with no reply or with a suggestion to notify the original author instead and make them fly the report. The daily deviations no more have their impact they used to have. The today page is no more. The community is much colder, there are less contests, and people are much more oriented toward selling their stuff and less about its quality. It's becoming dull. While I still love dA and won't probably leave it, not permanently, I have the feeling that it has lost its spirit until now.

 

[Simo]

DeviantART has been a lot more difficult to browse, having less categories and browsing filters. The inboxes were a huge pain too, as only subscribed members [now called core] had the ability to turn on image previews in the inbox. It made browsing through your messages a lot longer and more tedious. There were also no previews of the journal content and so on whatsoever. You also weren't able to drag and drop anything, and the page customization features were terribly limited.

Just as somebody who likes art, the one thing that comes to mind about that site is that its so hard to navigate, and such a hideously designed web page. I seldom even try to find anything on it, even...I can only imagine the horrors of actually using it to post!

Well, guess it has its positives, but geez, could use a little makeover in the design department. Looks like it was made in the late 90s. I'm almost surprised they don't have pop ups

 

[LadyFromEast]

Just as somebody who likes art, the one thing that comes to mind about that site is that its so hard to navigate, and such a hideously designed web page. I seldom even try to find anything on it, even...I can only imagine the horrors of actually using it to post!

Well, gues it has its positives, but geez, could use a little makeover in the design department. Looks like it was made in the late 90s. I'm almost surprised they don't have pop ups

As a matter of fact, being now a core / premium user, you can get the option of having pop-up messages in your browser whenever someone interacts with you or your art.

 

[Simo]

As a matter of fact, being now a core / premium user, you can get the option of having pop-up messages in your browser whenever someone interacts with you or your art.

Ha! I knew it! I hope the new window is all sparkly, around the edges, too!

 

[Benthehornyhyena]

Just as somebody who likes art, the one thing that comes to mind about that site is that its so hard to navigate, and such a hideously designed web page. I seldom even try to find anything on it, even...I can only imagine the horrors of actually using it to post!

Well, guess it has its positives, but geez, could use a little makeover in the design department. Looks like it was made in the late 90s. I'm almost surprised they don't have pop ups

You think ? I think it's pretty. Even prettier than FA to me !

 

[Deleted member 82554]

DA sucks.
FA sucks.
Weasyl sucks.
Here sucks.

Pitter-patter-it-don't-matter, just pick the lesser of the evils and be happy with what you've got...

 

[Simo]

Deviantart hasn't ruined my life, but I don't think I would really want to go back to the community it has.
It's a cess-pool full of gullible teenagers, extremely thirsty drama queens, complainheads, attention whores, fake friends, antisocial people who give others no fair chances, bullies, victims, 'victims', womanchildren, extremely oversensitive people, overly-harsh critics, manipulative cuntbags, horrible artists, narcissists, angry hipsters, upon other things.
Deviantart had destroyed my personality for a long time and always made me stressed out when I used it. I only use it now for art, commissions, requests, occasional blogging, and media discussion.

I'll just say this: Deviantart's community is worse than fucking 4chan's community. It's meaner too. 4chan just has a meaner tone, while Deviantart is meaner in a more nice-sounding way.

Huh. Now I wanna make T-shirts that say, "Deviantart Ruined My Life"...and sell 'em on DA

 

[DarkShadow777]

So I gotta assume is normal that people complains about Renamon porn and spanking stuff on DA?

Wooow... In my times, people used to accept porn without complaining... where is humanity going? :V

 

[ChapterAquila92]

5 pages in and all I can think of is the comic mini-series that akreon made a few years ago on the subject.

Spoiler: DeviantArt Loves You, 1/6

Spoiler: DeviantArt Loves You, 2/6

Spoiler: DeviantArt Loves You, 3/6 (NSFW)

Spoiler: DeviantArt Loves You, 4/6

Spoiler: DeviantArt Loves You, 5/6

Spoiler: DeviantArt Loves You, 6/6

The punchline at the end is just magnificent however, and serves quite well to highlight what this entire discussion amounts to in the end.

 

[LumeKat]

Before anyone says "get a life and be kewl" I still believe people should complain about things that don't work anywhere they wish, especially when copyrights are involved. Keeping your mouth shut about everything results in... poland.

 

[modfox]

KOOL!

 

[lupi900]

DA sucks.
FA sucks.
Weasyl sucks.
Here sucks.

Pitter-patter-it-don't-matter, just pick the lesser of the evils and be happy with what you've got...

Oh so your the bitter kind that think there are no good websites?. Sofurry is trash no matter what i did, /r/Furry is full immature assholes where discussion is a joke while weasyl/here have been great.

You must be fun at parties...