*HUGS* TOTAL!
give Glennoar more *HUGS*



Mood: In awe.
Listening to: Leave Like a Ghost- The Juliana Theory
Watching: Equilibrium



Just a simple rant from your resident angst artist.

Art Theft/Tracing

So, someone stole your hard work. Man, you just want to rip that fucker apart. And while you're at it, you'll tell your friends and everyone else about it. That'll teach the thief a lesson!

Whoa, whoa, WAIT! That's the worst thing you could do. Do not, do not, do NOT post your art theft issues in your journal, and/or send angry comments to the thief. That right there is a bannable offense! Instead, use the notes system and let the administration deal with the issue. The Help Desk is full of helpful staff. There's also a Livejournal community: [link] that deals with art theft. Post your problem there if you want to rally people to your cause.

If you see someone stealing art, don't post about it either! Don't even leave a comment on the thief’s image. This is a lesson that I've learned just recently. Don't even reply to unknowing people's comments on the stolen image. It's called flame baiting and spamming, which as you may have guessed, is yet another bannable offence.

There is really only one mature solution to art theft, and that is to let the staff deal with it.

Bans

Okay, you've been banned. Relax, take a deep breath. Think about why you've been banned. Think about your actions. If you are unsure, read through the Help AKA the FAQ. If that doesn't help answer your questions, send the help desk a note asking for them to further explain what happened.

Do not, do not, do not make a new account. That is ban evasion and it can lead to a permanent ban. Once you are un-banned, do not go into the forums and rant about how unfair it was. Just... Let it slide.

Bannenation

As you've noticed, there are a lot of people being banned over art theft and the like. Why you may ask? As I've stated in the Art Theft section, if someone steals your art DON'T COMMENT! Instead just click on Report Deviation. If you want to talk to the thief/ripper, use the notes system. You ask why artists are being banned when their work is stolen, I'll tell you why. It's because the original artist blatantly calls the theif out in public. Others take notice, and then you get an all out brawl. The original artist gets banned for public accusations and sending out a mob to the thief.

Other people have been banned for inquiring about someone else's ban. This has been labled as spamming the Help Desk. Face it, the reason they were banned is none of your business. There is nothing you can do to change the rule of the administration. If the person who has a ban has a homepage, a gallery on a different site, a journal, etc, read it. Or even e-mail the artist asking what happened, but don't note the Help Desk.

Categories

The categories are also extremely simple; if it's an animal with human features it goes in Anthro. Don't put your bipedal animals into the Animals category! The same goes for your pictures of Calvin and Hobbes, Spongebob, Sonic, Simba, etc. Those all belong under Fan Art, and only Fan Art. Your drawing of a wolf belongs in animals, not anthro. Even if it's an RP character. By now, I think you should know the differences between what a painting is and what isn't. Don't put MS Paint images under Digital Art-> Paintings. Just because MS Paint has a spray can tool doesn't make your images Graffiti either.

If you notice, whenever you select a category, you get a nice detailed subscription. Read it. Know that you're putting your image into the right category.

Critiques

~Evil-Weasel brought up a very good point. A lot of people don't buy or listen to critiques that are given by people who are say... Less talented. I've learned this from experience; mainly from a forum called All City for graffiti writers. Their mentality is that if you're not good, you have no right to critique.

My opinion? Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. It doesn't take an artistic genius to point out that the lighting is wrong, or the angle of the leg is awkward. Actually, probably the most brutal and helpful critiques I have ever received were from people who are just starting out in the art world or have little talent. You can be a photographer and give a traditional or digital artist a good critique. I find it horribly unnerving that so many people go around with this "If you're not good, shut up." mentality. It's wrong, and in my eyes, its the same as freaking out that people are trying to change your style.

Commenting/Comment Levels

What I find appalling is that a lot of people have no clue what 'critique' actually means. A critique is a critical review or comment. Usually it's to point out flaws and solutions to those flaws for improvement. If you can't take a critique, or it's an image that you don't want to be critiqued, then set the comment level to 'Critique Discouraged'. There's nothing I hate more than people complaining about how people keep trying to change their style when they can't be bothered to change the comment levels on their images. In the same sense, if someone has 'Critique Discouraged' on their image, don't leave a critique. It's plain and simple.

If you're neutral to critiques, as in you don't care whether people critique or not, then just leave the comment level on your image to "Critique Welcome". Just a note to commenters, this means that you can leave a critique if you see something wrong, or just your standard encouraging comment.

When you're really out to get some help on your work, put the comment setting on the image to "Advanced Critique Encouraged". This just means that you're into getting tips and pointers. This does not mean just want really good encouraging comments. Be prepared to get brutal and honest critiques. I really hate it when I leave a critique on an image with the ACE set on it, and they whine about how they just want in depth versions of "OMG KEWL!!". That is not a critique! The same goes to commenters. If someone has ACE on their deviation, don't leave stupid little "Cool!" comments, give them something more substantial.

Harassment/Spamming

Uh oh, someone's flaming and/or spamming you. What should you do? It's simple! Do not comment back! Do not make the issue public in your journal. The solution is the same for art theft. Report it to the admins.

Spamming and flaming the little bugger will only end up with you getting an equal punishment as that of your spammer.

MP3s/Music Videos

Face it, DA will never allow these to be put on the site. This leaves too much room for copyright infringement, and really goes into an area that the administration would not like to go. So please, stop asking the staff to add these categories. It's never going to happen.

Nudity/Porn

No matter how censored it is, porn is just not allowed here. And what they mean by porn is sex. No sexual images on this site. This includes sex, masturbation, oral sex, and foreplay. You can't just put a preview image on the piece and say that it should be allowed. The staff members have clearly said that they don't want to even be associated by it.

Nudity on the other hand, which includes cuddling while naked, walking around while naked, etc is allowed as long as it's tasteful. Which basically means no wet vaginas or erections. You don't even need to censor nudity on this site, so don't be worried about the image being removed if the character(s) are tastefully nude.

Page views

I find that a lot of people value others on their page views, as if page views mean talent. Page views mean shit all. Page views mean popularity. I've seen artists with no talent have a lot of page views. Why? Because they are active in the community, they comment, they post art, they talk in the forums, and they’re friendly. Yes, artists who are extremely talented get a lot of viewers, but the reason you come to this site should never be about popularity, it should be about posting your artwork for some constructive feedback, it should be about interacting with the community. It should be something you never have to stress out about.

You don't know how many times I've seen people pack up and leave this site because they can't get enough comments or page views, you don't know how many times I've seen people freak out into hysterics if someone with 20k+ page views talks/watches/agrees with them. Is that how you'll behave in real life? If you can't be instantaneously popular where you work, you're just going to leave? That's ridiculous! You have to realize that you are indeed one small fish in a giant ocean of fish. Some make it big while the majority works at what they know and contribute to a greater society.

If you're fretting about popularity, then you shouldn't even be here. If popularity is all that matters to you, then you don't even belong in the art world. Be here because you want to show people your artwork/writing/photography.

Projecting Oneself into the Community

The best way to get yourself known is to comment. Make lots of cheerful supportive comments on people's images, journals, user pages. The Random Deviant link is a god send. But, don't just stop there, go into the forums, participate in the topics, share your ideas and opinions on the various topics. Go into that dAmn chat rooms and the Shout Box.

When I tell you to do this, in no way am I condoning that you simply type stupid phrases like "Hi! Come visit my stuff! [link]” People despise such things, and that is a bannable offense.

In essence, I'm telling you to make yourself known in the community.

The Collective Rectum

Scroll to the very bottom of this page, or really any page on this site. You'll find the Collective Rectum. It's the nickname of the servers where all of the information of this site is stored.

The Corporation

For those who don't know, this is the abridged story of "The Corporation". As many of you may or may not know, °jark and °matteo are the founders of this site. $spyed is the current CEO, and wants to be considered as a co-founder aswell. It was late this July that Jark was fired from his position as an administrator. This action sent a majority of this site into an uproar. As of now, the two are in a legal battle. Jark doesn't want his job back, he wants compensation. Kids, Jark isn't coming back. So stop spamming Spyed's userpage. This legal battle isn't about where DA is headed, it's about Jark fired for asking why Spyed was doing things behind his back.

A lot of people think that leaving DA and emptying their galleries is the right idea. But that's really going over the top. The legal battle has nothing to do with you and your art. DA doesn't own your art, you own your art. Read it in the Ettiquette Policy.

The Forums

I've heard a lot of rumors concerning the forums. Things like they're full of raving forum whores who attack you for posting something wrong, or how the moderators will lock your topic without warning and ban you for posting a stupid/bad topic. All of which are not true.

The best word of advice I can give you, is to READ all of the forum descriptions before posting your topic. Also, type what you want to type in a word processor that way you can remove any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors you might have. Be wary of what you type as well. Topics offending other races or beliefs will be closed. Don't forget to read the other topics in the forum you're posting in. The forum goers HATE repeat topics.

Another word of advice, don't post a topic that you have little or no knowledge about. The same goes for comments; don't debate with someone on a topic that you're fairly ignorant about. You'll come off as a retard.

The Submission Agreement

Don't be afraid of it. It's safe, it's legal, the only rights you are giving to DA are the rights to resize your images into thumbnails and display it on the site. This site is viewed not only on computers but on TV interviews. You're simply giving DA the right to be on TV if one of your images has been submitted at the time the front-page is shown.


If you have any questions, ask away, and I'll add them to the list.

Updates
Another category has been added.

Why don't you show your support for this journal and link it in your signature/journal footers like this:
Link's Guide to DA

AIIIEEEENONO! *Stab*

-Link

Congrats to for getting my 23,000th pageview.


MSN- riseofthepineapples@hotmail.com
YIM- glennoar
AIM- glennoar
Livejournal- [link]
Homepage- [link]
Comic- [link]
RP forums- [link]
Sketchbook Exchange- [link]
Contestus- [link]
Malathion Sacrifice- [link]
Art Status- [link]

Clubs


If you see someone claiming my art as theirs, tell me. If they're just posting it without permission i.e. to decorate a website, journal, etc, then leave them be.

I'm starting a club called the Glennoar Fan Club. Anyone want to join?

Thats what I thought.

Members of the Glennoar fan club: