After a recent episode with another deviant (whom I won't mention name), I fear for the fate of this digital establishment we currently reside on. I am, by nature, very blunt, that I can't deny. I don't leave comments often but when I do I try to make them as meaningful as possible, and this entails leaving constructive criticisms. I don't merely list my grievances but I offer solutions as well, and I generally spend about 10~20 minutes on a well thought out comment. I make sure not to come across as cynical, but I won't kiss your ass either. I am not surprised, however, when one of my comments was returned to me with a less than favorable response. I won't include everything that was written but in short they made an excuse for every suggestions I pointed out, accused me of bashing other people's arts to gain self-worth, and pointing out that my art is not up to par with theirs so I have no right to critique them, yadda yadda, all that good stuff. I wasn't able to make my rebuttal because I was blocked from their page. I find it funny that my comment was the only one she replied to out of the sea of ass-kissings that she received, must have been a combo breaker.
I understand, as an artist, that we take a sense of pride in our creations. We dedicated time and effort into it and we want and expect people to embrace it fully. But how can you grow as an artist when all you get is a stream of compliments?
DA is getting overcrowded. It is getting harder to separate things of value from junk because we are searching through the black hole that is the DA browsing system. Nobody bother to leave constructive critiques anymore, even on a blatantly obvious mistake (believe me, I look through all the comments). What started out as a website designated for artists and art appreciators have given way to the general masses. Sure they can appreciate art and they have the right to but nothing they leave behind is of value to this website. Whatever is on the front page is instantly classified as a masterpiece, even though it contains no more depth to it than my old crush's personality. But since the mass declared it to be of value, then it must be?
I will continue to make constructive crits because it seems like no one else is. I appreciate DA and I owe a lot to this website. And if you are too butt hurt to take a meaningful comment then I suggest you use the 'disable comments' feature or make it clear in the artist comment so people like me don't have to waste our time.



And also I was told by the above deviant that DA has worked hard to protect artists from people like me that make it a 'hobby' to leave constructive crits. What do you think? Has DA really dissolved to a photo gallery or is there still hope? This is the longest journal entry I've written, so inb4 tl;dr.