deviantART, we have a problem. (part 1)

About a month ago, I posted two polls: What is most important to you? and What is the main reason you use the groups platform?
With the help of several deviants and groups, I gathered almost 4,000 votes. The high number of participants gave me a close look into the priorities of the deviantART community – one that I would like to share.

Without further ado, here is what I discovered by asking, "What is most important to you?

The majority of deviants – about 60% – prefer comments over s or page views. There are two main reasons for this:

1. It means that another artist took the time to look at their artwork in detail, and
2. it gives them the opportunity to develop their skills by learning what worked and what didn't.

They weren't talking about just any comments. Almost all of the deviants who commented on the polls said they preferred detailed comments and critique more than anything. As tursiops33 lightly put it, "Good, long, constructive comments are the best!"¹ antauris-shadow wrote that she prefers, "what actually helps me as an artist."²

For a lot of deviants, such as falakalak, getting critique is one of the main reasons they joined deviantART in the first place.³ This website is unique in that it offers the chance to interact with other artists who can provide constructive feedback. We could get recognition in a lot of different places, but what other website boasts such a large and diverse community of artists? As alltheoriginalnames said, "a little feedback does go along way for an aspiring artist."⁴

There is a very large population of deviants out there who want to to become better, and rely on detailed comments to improve their abilities.

As a quick anecdote, only 20% of the voters chose s.

And this is where's where things start to fall apart. Through your own experience and browsing around deviantART, I assume you've noticed that the ratio between comments and s does not reflect these statistics. One of my recent deviations had only received five comments when it reached 100 s. As an artist, I found that frustrating. That I could appear to gain so much recognition, but actually benefit so little from the community.

Itti made a good point when she said, "I believe that favs are something done for the benefit of the person making the favourite and comments are done for the benefit of the artist."⁵ A lot of deviants said they valued their own collections, hence the "fave and run" mentality. But the majority of the community would prefer a comment. As OtisBee wrote, "comments by all means. pageviews and favs are just generated by clicks and don't really tell much about anything. but it's the comment that can really make me smile or get upset or make me think, make me improve and see things from another perspective."⁶ Why, then, are s so much more common?

We all want to show appreciation - but we don't always feel we have the time, or the words, to write a comment.

And, for some deviants, recognition is important. s and page views got almost 30% of the vote, which is not insignificant.

alltheoriginalnames commented, "So many people get caught up in the numbers that they lose sight of why they are really here, the art."⁷ That is a real shame, in my opinion. And almost exactly the opposite of deviantART's purpose as a website.

Art is what this website is about. kamioto-furin said deviants should, "share their skills with other artists."⁸ deviantART shouldn't be about numbers or becoming the most popular, it should be about developing our talents and sharing our passion for art.

I've heard beautiful stories about the way deviantART used to be, back when it was a smaller community of only thousands of members. It's grown to become a network of over 13 million artists. Becoming known is hard, and all too often that becomes the priority. I'm not any better than the rest: I understand the desire to gain attention. But I am continually drawn to bdwfh's comment: it's all about the art.⁹

In my opinion, our priorities have begun to shift away from our commonality – art – and focused on the divisive competition of gaining popularity, and Houston, we have a problem.

We're on the brink of a new year. I'm asking you to join me in re-focusing the deviantART experience. Make it about giving critique and supporting the artists themselves. Make it the community you want it to be.

I'd like to close with another quote from alltheoriginalnames. "I do believe strongly in helping others gain more exposure, as it does help certain people. But for me in regards to my own artwork recognition is not important, just the creative process. And if someone else enjoys the end result of it, that's cool man. If not, oh well. It was still a great journey."¹⁰

deviantART is not perfect, but it has so much potential.

We are a unique community, united by art. Let's recognize that.