Three years ago, when I was in my freshmen year of high school, I stumbled across an on-line artist community that promised me honesty, support, free expression, and community. In the three years both the community and deviantART itself have changed.

When I first heard about the termination of °jark I was outraged. The very inventor of deviantART had been usurped by a should-be subordinate. This was the straw that broke the camels back.

deviantART has been going down a steep incline for the past two years. I have seen the personal biases of administrators dictate what is and "isn't" art; I have seen voices of reason, and words of concern *msteriously* deleted; I have seen advertisements appear in full force on every part of the site; and now I have seen the last of the promises that were made to me all those years ago broken: honesty.

°jark was removed from his position seemingly because he dared get in $spyed's way. $spyed has not provided any proof, or anectdotal evidence to say otherwise. Every reaction he has made to this event is that much more convincing that he is in error, and that new agenda of deviantART is his agenda.

I don't want blood. I want the truth. I want to know what happened. I want to know why. I want ANSWERS! The deviantART community wants ANSWERS! We don't need canned sugar-coded phrases assuring us that the future is bright. We need the truth.

The community is torn. Free expression on deviantART has become a joke. The staff is more often in conflict than support of the deviants; and now honesty is going to become meaningless too?

Aside from the °jark/$spyed conflict, there are other major problems with deviantART, Inc. The staff's relations with the deviants are more often than not uncarring and somewhat detached. Great works of art are being deleted, and users banned, because the administrators personal opinions clash with the deviation's content (for example: nudity of males as opposed to females). Censorship in a community claiming to promote free expression is also very common. Entire threads are deleted and forum topics are locked, again because or personal issues with the staff.

I came here, seeing deviantART as a virtual eden, only to see this season long harsh winters destroy my garden. Unless deviantART, Inc. seriously re-examines itself, the future of deviantART is anything but bright.

deviantARTist for 3 years now: