Dear DeviantArt

May 22, 20158 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: May 22, 2015

2.9K Views

Dear DeviantArt,

DeviantArt is my favorite website of all where I can spend 10 to 30 hours a week. It’s the place where I can meet other artists and where I can get help, find tutorials and resources and feature other people. This is by far the easiest site to use lately. You don’t have to answer 50 questions or create your own thumbnail to submit art. You can check your friend’s art without scrolling endlessly through pages and pages of everything; kitchen sink included.

I like good changes. They are un-boring. I am always eager to see the next step. You did great things in the past, and others not in my liking. It’s normal, we cannot please everyone. I still miss the page footer. But every time you announce a change, I’m anxious about losing an important tool for my daily activities here. I’m afraid DeviantArt will become like other websites I lost interest in. I’m worried to lose something I love so much.

Because I’m an old fashioned user! A phone is useful to call a taxi or check the weather. A tablet is handy on the plane. But for me, nothing can replace a gaming laptop or desktop with two screens, real keyboard and mouse, and surround sound. I’m a busy woman; I like one click tools. I hate navigating and I loathe feeds. It’s like candies; I like those I can crunch or chew. I don’t want anything I have to let melt. My DeviantArt is a spaceship console where I can find all my favourites things in the messages centre. Most of my dA time is split between the message center and Sta.sh writer.

“THIS IS MY DEVIANTART, THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT BUT THIS ONE IS MINE. MY DEVIANTART IS MY BEST FRIEND. IT IS MY LIFE. I MUST MASTER IT AS I MASTER MY LIFE. WITHOUT ME IT IS USELESS, WITHOUT MY DEVIANTART I AM USELESS.” –Full Metal DeviantArt Jacket with the old logo since there’s no shop anymore.

Today’s subject is SIMPLIFICATION.

I say yes to SIMPLIFICATION but no to STUPIDIFICATION.

I agree that if Miscellaneous means Commissions, just call it commissions. And one name for one thing (like favourites and collections) is a good call. But like many said, a visitor is not a deviant. Deviants are more committed than that! Deviants are part of the family; not by passers who only browse here to steal our art! Go ahead and rename things, just as long as I still have a link or a button to click on.

Moving bars and buttons again? Have fun if you want to. If the tool is still there, I will be happy. Please indulge my clicking addiction. Let me stay away from the dreadful scroll wheel.

Be careful with my friends list. I am not talking about the watch list of 18 pages of the-name-changing-is-so-confusing, but those I select as friends to be easily accessible in one click from my ~~friends~~ people icon even when they are not really friends. I don’t want to have to search among the 1, 721 deviants and groups I watch through a list. And I don’t want to remember how to spell UszatyArbuz either. I already have to set up a custom widget to list my favourite groups since I cannot put them in my “friends” list. *Dream mode on* What if this list was renamed “watch shortcuts” and would allow groups as well? *Dream mode off*

DeviantArt is about art and artists! It would be nice to still be able to easily access art and artists!

Splitting art notifications and journals/polls/forum/etc notifications in separate pages would be perfect for the mobile site since I have a small data plan and I don’t use my phone to check art. But for the regular website I use at home, it is a step away from my spaceship console. I will have to see and experiment, given that such a big change will most likely not be customizable. I might even like it!

But, try not to make the same mistake as Microsoft when they tried to turn our computers into phones with Windows 8. The mobile site is great for phones and tablets. Changing the desktop site to make it look more like the mobile site seems a mistake to me. It’s like saying you don’t like old school users anymore!

And finally, the Notes! Remember, simplification not STUPIDIFICATION!

I have learned how to makes sentences with more than three words. I have learned to properly write, even in the second language which is English for me. How I am supposed to explain someone how to fix their CSS in a chat-like system? How will I answer an interview and still be meaningful? Do you expect me to convince someone not to commit suicide with chat bubbles? What about Daily Deviation suggestions? Note is a way to send important long private info. It’s not a place to say “Wanna eat pizza 2nite?”

But Stygma, why don’t you use your personal e-mail for important info? Because my personal e-mail is like Walmart on the Black Friday and I like to keep my DeviantArt affairs inside DeviantArt. So many people I know don't like those SMS-like chat notes in Facebook. It's a trend imposed by the industries, not necessary something we want!

Notes need to be revamped but they don’t need to be turned into a kiddy-talk system. Give us the ability to filter by senders, to send notes “as a Group” and offer us a better search engine. For meaningless messages, we already have comments and shouts.

Changes in the Notes system will have a big impact on deviants’ activities. Please don’t change this important tool to a point we will stop using it!

EDIT: Read the answer danlev gave about our fear of a too simple note system: comments.deviantart.com/1/5343…