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:iconipholio:
ipholio Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007  Professional Interface Designer
I find a few matters I take issue with, some more lightly and other very seriously.

Deadlines

There have been a number of promised deadlines not reached because of these speed issues (apparently). Either (a) deadlines should never be promised, unless it is 100% positive they'll be reached, or (b) bring on more paid staff to keep this site running to its full potential, and actually meet those deadlines. I know the recent funding from DivX is really going to help with the servers and increased loading times, however with the launch of deviantWEAR and more Prints features, is there not enough cash to employ the neceesary employees to actually run this site properly?

There has been a ton of progress on the AR end of things lately, with that huge wave of additional staff. Big props for that. However the other departments are seriously lacking necessarily employees, and this needs to be addressed.

"v5" (v4.5)

While on the topic of deadlines, when the current "v5" was released, it was not a full 5.0 release in the least bit. Although there were some site layout changes, and some additional features, half the site skin doesn't even match. Compare the message centre to the News page. Drastic differences. This is very poor design and should have been updated a year ago. Instead though we've tried introducing (pitching) new ideas such as the Portfolio system and the Party system. I agree with what was said in the article, that servers needs to be back to 100% before new features are introduced. I'll propose a similar idea though that has been brought up many times before -- don't try to introduce or pitch new concepts until you've finalized old concepts. Why would hundreds of hours be dedicated to a Party system or a Portfolio system if the message centre hasn't been updated from two years ago?

New Policies

I find this extremely troublesome. First the following is written:
i. Our policy prohibiting hate speech, racism, libel, and other similar serious behaviors remains one of Zero Tolerance.
...Then turn around and state this:
iv. We will no longer address issues involving personal journals; deviants are free to discuss other deviants in their personal journals (commonly termed “calling out” ). We will continue to address hate speech, etc in personal journals.
Does this make an ounce of sense? Isn't "calling out" deviants in your journal, and making remarks about them considered libel, something you've clearly also just stated remains an issue of Zero Tolerance? Make up you mind. But if you continue to go the route of allowing deviants to call out and defame other users via their journal, there will be NO good to come from this, simply more HD tickets and more headaches for administration. Correct me if I'm wrong though...what good do you believe will come from allowing deviants to say almost anything they wish in their journals about fellow deviants?

Screenshots

This section above starts with a reminder that movie and television screenshots will no be tolerated at all, then turns around to say that video game screenshots ARE allowed? Can you tell me how this makes any sense? It is also said that "In the future a special screenshots area may be created to house them away from the actual artworks on the site." Allow me to make a recommendation...let's make that "screenshots area" the place where all deleted images go. Unless I'm totally crazy though. What is the real difference between movie/TV screenshots as compared to video game screenshots? Keep in mind...I'm not looking for an answer from Patents, Copyrights & Trademarks for Dummies, I'm looking for an answer based on California or US Law.



P.S. I hope someone actually reads this comment in its entirety, and gives some helpful answers to my honest questions. And no...I'm probably not known for my brevity. :p
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Devious Comments

:icondoubtful-della:
Doubtful-Della Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007  Professional Photographer
I completely agree on having more paid members to work on the site. And I agree about the libel... and I agree that screenshots are stupid.

But $lolly did point out that TV screenshots are copyrighted while screenshots of games are something that the game industry wants people to take and get out there. It's like free advertising
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:iconlolly:
lolly Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007
"There have been a number of promised deadlines not reached because of these speed issues (apparently). Either (a) deadlines should never be promised, unless it is 100% positive they'll be reached, or (b) bring on more paid staff to keep this site running to its full potential, and actually meet those deadlines. I know the recent funding from DivX is really going to help with the servers and increased loading times, however with the launch of deviantWEAR and more Prints features, is there not enough cash to employ the neceesary employees to actually run this site properly?

There has been a ton of progress on the AR end of things lately, with that huge wave of additional staff. Big props for that. However the other departments are seriously lacking necessarily employees, and this needs to be addressed.
"

Part one, massive assumptions. If we had money we would have spent the money when we had it. When we have had it 90% goes into hardware and the rest goes to pay the staff here which figures in more than just the ones you see. Lawyers, accounting, insurance and so on.

Comparing recent changes within AR to anything else is an apples to oranges comparison. Of course you will see a dramatic effect when 30+ volunteers are brought on.
We do not have the liberty to bring on 30 volunteer coders nor would we want to bring on someone who would volunteer to be one. If you are as good as what we need you to do you should not be giving it away for free.

Your second paragraph is essentially a reiteration of the first, just from a different angle.

In case you didn't catch it this is us owning up to messing up and explaining why they haven't happened.

"New Policies

I find this extremely troublesome. First the following is written:

i. Our policy prohibiting hate speech, racism, libel, and other similar serious behaviors remains one of Zero Tolerance.

...Then turn around and state this:

iv. We will no longer address issues involving personal journals; deviants are free to discuss other deviants in their personal journals (commonly termed “calling out” ). We will continue to address hate speech, etc in personal journals.

Does this make an ounce of sense? Isn't "calling out" deviants in your journal, and making remarks about them considered libel, something you've clearly also just stated remains an issue of Zero Tolerance? Make up you mind. But if you continue to go the route of allowing deviants to call out and defame other users via their journal, there will be NO good to come from this, simply more HD tickets and more headaches for administration. Correct me if I'm wrong though...what good do you believe will come from allowing deviants to say almost anything they wish in their journals about fellow deviants?
"

If I had a dime for every person on this site who thinks they are a lawyer or how libel is truly enforced I would be buying a new server for the site every day.

The simple fact is, if it gets out of line we step in. In a community of artists it is actually shameful to tell them they cannot talk shit about a fellow artist. The real world art scene thrives on that.

The problem I think I am seeing repeated is that people approach changes to policy with a worst case scenario in mind rather than attempting to see a positive, like we sat down for months and then 10 days in person to come up with shit to make our jobs harder? I can assure you, our jobs are hard enough.
We also had a lawyer present and reviewing all our changes. Someone who actually knows and understands how libel and this sort of thing works, and who also comes from a background of setting up free legal defense funds for artists.

"This section above starts with a reminder that movie and television screenshots will no be tolerated at all, then turns around to say that video game screenshots ARE allowed? Can you tell me how this makes any sense? It is also said that "In the future a special screenshots area may be created to house them away from the actual artworks on the site." Allow me to make a recommendation...let's make that "screenshots area" the place where all deleted images go. Unless I'm totally crazy though. What is the real difference between movie/TV screenshots as compared to video game screenshots? Keep in mind...I'm not looking for an answer from Patents, Copyrights & Trademarks for Dummies, I'm looking for an answer based on California or US Law."

Game companies encourage it and more often than not have ready made keyboard shortcuts for them and a folder in the program directory where they get stored. Movies and TV Shows are more proprietorial about their products and demand money in exchange for showing them.
And again,lawyer present for this one as well.
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:iconipholio:
ipholio Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007  Professional Interface Designer
Part one, massive assumptions. If we had money we would have spent the money when we had it. When we have had it 90% goes into hardware and the rest goes to pay the staff here which figures in more than just the ones you see. Lawyers, accounting, insurance and so on.

What I had originally said was that if deadlines cannot be reached, either (a) don't promise them or (b) hire on more staff so deadlines can be promised. I think you misinterpreted that part, as I was not making any assumptions. If there aren't sufficient funds to bring on more development staff (as you've said), then go with option (a) as mentioned above. Again, I wasn't making any assumptions, just pointing out that one of two roads need to be taken. If more staff cannot be brought on then simply do not promise or even hint at deadlines; otherwise it will just give the community a reason to doubt administration.

Comparing recent changes within AR to anything else is an apples to oranges comparison.

I wasn't trying to compare here, sorry if it appeared that way. I was simply saying that you've done a fabulous job in bringing on a ton more AR staff. That's a huge step for the site and the artists themselves. That was a compliment, so take it in the manner I attempted to present it. ;) I was also trying to say that since some AR needs were met, I'm hoping some other departments can bring on more staff as well, that's all. :)

If I had a dime for every person on this site who thinks they are a lawyer or how libel is truly enforced I would be buying a new server for the site every day.

The simple fact is, if it gets out of line we step in.


If I had a dime for ever employee dA has that thinks he's a lawyer...well I'd have a whole ten cents. :lol: And no I'm not talking about you, I just couldn't help the reference (keep in mind it's ok to call people out now, even though I wasn't naming any names there). Back to the point though...:p As you said, if things get out of line, you take action. That sounds fair enough. However have you ever seen a single journal where one member attacks or calls out another and things didn't get out of hand? The only cases I can think of where it hasn't gotten out of hand is when one user links to another user who has ripped their art, and that ripper is a very inactive user. It just seems to me that allowing "calling out" is only asking for things to get out of hand.
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:iconsigurdhosenfeld:
SigurdHosenfeld Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007
I agree with most of your points, particularly the ones regarding the new policies.
Calling out other deviants in journals should be against policy, I don't know why they want to change that (not to mention that it contradicts the "hate speech" policy as you pointed out).

Now, the policy about Pixel dolls and screenshots doesn't sounds right; deviantART is a place that encourages (or should encourage) art creation. Doll-maker pixel dolls are not art creation, basically because it's a script that lets you paste different pre-made images into a new one.
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:iconlolly:
lolly Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007
Saying someones art sucks, or more hopefully truly critiquing someone else via your journal or griping about someone who stole your work is a whole lot different than hurling a racial, ethnic, religious etc slur at them, which is what hate speech is.
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:iconsigurdhosenfeld:
SigurdHosenfeld Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007
I hate to sound negative, but just take a look at the behaviour of the deviant masses across the website; I can only expect a lot of journal drama. :popcorn:
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:iconlolly:
lolly Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007
And your assessment is proof that it already exists, and the fact of the matter is we have only been enforcing policy on the worst ones for quite some time now. Instead of looking at some of these changes as "new" changes another way is to see them as us finally putting a stance in writing about it to reduce the amount of unnecessary workload created by something that was never there in the first place :faint:
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:iconsigurdhosenfeld:
SigurdHosenfeld Featured By Owner Jul 10, 2007
Well, your site, your rules. All that I can do is abide them and stop worrying about the scenarios that I mentioned; it's not like I browse the pixel or screenshot sections anyway. :paranoid:
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