On deviantART's latest decline.
Deena, I wonder if you'll be reading this.
deviantART's latest release is version 7.
Individual works occupy only a portion of the page that they were prominent in before. For the sake of what? A square ad to the right.
That says everything.
There are many complaints to be made about the latest version - I certainly have a particularly strong one - but that one says enough. And it is enough.
deviantART has little competition in the general art site field. It holds a monopoly. Its history is less than stellar anyway, but now it views itself as little more than another social networking site, competing with Facebook and Myspace. The shift in its developmental focus evidences this.
Ads beside our art? Ads placed so obnoxiously in any site's design are intended to draw attention away from the main content, which in this case is our art.
We the artists have provided the content that made dA rich and famous in the first place. And now they're ejaculating all over us.
Artists all around dA, including many I have talked with, are minimally borderline disgusted by the site's utter loss of focus. The common refrain is that dA is pretty much a Facebook clone at this point. dA's too cozy to care about art anymore; it'll just sell Points and have people send each other Badges, which have no apparent function other than to say to Facebook, "Hey, we can do pointless bullshit too." They'll be content to be yet another degenerated networking site exploiting tweens with credit cards. Our art is tertiary, an appendage to a social networking site rather than the beating heart of an art site.
dA has no competition. This is what has ignited my passion in just the past couple days since version 7 was launched.
I want to change this.
The wild socialist in me is seeing the drivers of culture nickel-and-dimed to absolutely no benefit, a once at least tolerable community reduced to pandering to the lowest common denominators. A social networking site older than Facebook, yet hoping to emulate it to the fullest.
The wild socialist in me doesn't want this to happen.
That's why, in the past 48 hours or so, I've been writing down my ideas for a new site, a place for artists of all kinds to congregate and share, a place that reassures artists that their ideals and passions can be respected and nurtured. In our very online-centric world, this is necessary.
Focus: it’s about the art
The most fundamental philosophy can be be summed up like this: it’s about the art. In my concept, art is emphasized while social networking elements are de-emphasized in a stripped-down design for a more holistic experience. The keyword is parsimony, which you may understand better as the principle of Occam’s razor: maintain what is needed, and eliminate what is not. If a feature does not complement the art experience - or, worse yet, if it distracts from the art - then it shall not be included.
This is only a glimpse of my vision so far. The document I'm using to develop my concepts will outline my ideas for renewing and democratizing the online art experience.
I have quite a bit so far, and there is much more to come in this initial creative stage alone. Many of dA's members are feeling alienated - even betrayed. There has been a very polar reaction, with dA's fangirls and fanboys once again blindly tooting dA's horns on their behalf without any fair-minded consideration of why the rest of us are angry. My site concept seeks to avoid the pitfalls by being fundamentally different - dare I say, fundamentally better - in the first place.
Just because you're the original and the lone doesn't mean that another can't do it better. In fact, once you've abandoned your vision and your integrity for your cynical avarice, you are no longer doing it at all.
dA is writing its fate on the wall. Someone just has to read it and take it seriously.
If I can get a workable concept off the ground, no matter how simplistic, I am in fact confident that I can offer the desirable alternative that the alienated seek. Angelo Sotira might sound his technical skills and founder status like a bugle, but I don't believe my humble abilities will deter artists. They will be patient as I learn what I need to give them what they need. They will be patient because at least I am offering them a conceptually and functionally preferable alternative. Writers in particular should be eager, since dA has pretty well insinuated at this point that they don't give two shits about writers.
And in the end, even if they don't flock to my site, it would hopefully open a door. It'll tell others, We can do this. We can fight back. Hopefully new sites will be founded with their own distinct but still art-centric ideas. Artists will have choices. And each site will have to be the best at what it does. This is the positive aspect of competition that we lose sight of all too easily in this world when dollars and cents are involved.
Now, to be realistic: I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high. My abilities are humble, and many artists' abilities are more so. This is one reason why dA has not had competition. It may turn out for technical, financial or other reasons that this concept is not feasible.
But at this point, I want to try. If I don't, then that might be it. Nothing will change.
I am a socialist. And it might be time for me to assert that. This world doesn't work the way I want it to. But meanwhile deviantART doesn't work the way artists want it to. And if I believe I can do something about it within the world's cynical capitalist constraints, then I'll sure as hell try.
Maybe in the least I'll finally make a few bucks to get an apartment.
deviantART's latest release is version 7.
Individual works occupy only a portion of the page that they were prominent in before. For the sake of what? A square ad to the right.
That says everything.
There are many complaints to be made about the latest version - I certainly have a particularly strong one - but that one says enough. And it is enough.
deviantART has little competition in the general art site field. It holds a monopoly. Its history is less than stellar anyway, but now it views itself as little more than another social networking site, competing with Facebook and Myspace. The shift in its developmental focus evidences this.
Ads beside our art? Ads placed so obnoxiously in any site's design are intended to draw attention away from the main content, which in this case is our art.
We the artists have provided the content that made dA rich and famous in the first place. And now they're ejaculating all over us.
Artists all around dA, including many I have talked with, are minimally borderline disgusted by the site's utter loss of focus. The common refrain is that dA is pretty much a Facebook clone at this point. dA's too cozy to care about art anymore; it'll just sell Points and have people send each other Badges, which have no apparent function other than to say to Facebook, "Hey, we can do pointless bullshit too." They'll be content to be yet another degenerated networking site exploiting tweens with credit cards. Our art is tertiary, an appendage to a social networking site rather than the beating heart of an art site.
dA has no competition. This is what has ignited my passion in just the past couple days since version 7 was launched.
I want to change this.
The wild socialist in me is seeing the drivers of culture nickel-and-dimed to absolutely no benefit, a once at least tolerable community reduced to pandering to the lowest common denominators. A social networking site older than Facebook, yet hoping to emulate it to the fullest.
The wild socialist in me doesn't want this to happen.
That's why, in the past 48 hours or so, I've been writing down my ideas for a new site, a place for artists of all kinds to congregate and share, a place that reassures artists that their ideals and passions can be respected and nurtured. In our very online-centric world, this is necessary.
Focus: it’s about the art
The most fundamental philosophy can be be summed up like this: it’s about the art. In my concept, art is emphasized while social networking elements are de-emphasized in a stripped-down design for a more holistic experience. The keyword is parsimony, which you may understand better as the principle of Occam’s razor: maintain what is needed, and eliminate what is not. If a feature does not complement the art experience - or, worse yet, if it distracts from the art - then it shall not be included.
This is only a glimpse of my vision so far. The document I'm using to develop my concepts will outline my ideas for renewing and democratizing the online art experience.
I have quite a bit so far, and there is much more to come in this initial creative stage alone. Many of dA's members are feeling alienated - even betrayed. There has been a very polar reaction, with dA's fangirls and fanboys once again blindly tooting dA's horns on their behalf without any fair-minded consideration of why the rest of us are angry. My site concept seeks to avoid the pitfalls by being fundamentally different - dare I say, fundamentally better - in the first place.
Just because you're the original and the lone doesn't mean that another can't do it better. In fact, once you've abandoned your vision and your integrity for your cynical avarice, you are no longer doing it at all.
dA is writing its fate on the wall. Someone just has to read it and take it seriously.
If I can get a workable concept off the ground, no matter how simplistic, I am in fact confident that I can offer the desirable alternative that the alienated seek. Angelo Sotira might sound his technical skills and founder status like a bugle, but I don't believe my humble abilities will deter artists. They will be patient as I learn what I need to give them what they need. They will be patient because at least I am offering them a conceptually and functionally preferable alternative. Writers in particular should be eager, since dA has pretty well insinuated at this point that they don't give two shits about writers.
And in the end, even if they don't flock to my site, it would hopefully open a door. It'll tell others, We can do this. We can fight back. Hopefully new sites will be founded with their own distinct but still art-centric ideas. Artists will have choices. And each site will have to be the best at what it does. This is the positive aspect of competition that we lose sight of all too easily in this world when dollars and cents are involved.
Now, to be realistic: I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high. My abilities are humble, and many artists' abilities are more so. This is one reason why dA has not had competition. It may turn out for technical, financial or other reasons that this concept is not feasible.
But at this point, I want to try. If I don't, then that might be it. Nothing will change.
I am a socialist. And it might be time for me to assert that. This world doesn't work the way I want it to. But meanwhile deviantART doesn't work the way artists want it to. And if I believe I can do something about it within the world's cynical capitalist constraints, then I'll sure as hell try.
Maybe in the least I'll finally make a few bucks to get an apartment.