Sorry dA, you're still under 18.
Not doing any credits or anything, just thought I'd make this for the fun and the badges bc I love to show my nationalism towards Deviantart. No matter what people say about 'the shitty copyright rules' or 'the shitty staff', overall aside from a few blips and blops the website's pretty fine, it's sense of community has gone down the drain because the Tumblr and SJW community has been eating away at it since 2013, I joined dA in 2010 and I was on here in 2009, yeah so maybe I was under the legal age to have a dA account when I started out, and now I'm 18, so I've spent the past 8 years of my life on this website and dedicating at least a half an hour to an hour every day to it, not counting the time I spend making art related to my activities on the website, then I'd probably spend around 90% of my free time on dA. That's commitment.
If there were a few things I'd want Angelo Sotira to do with dA, it would all cut down to the single idea of bringing the feeling of community back. There's so much competition and aggression among members because people like to 'troll' other members in places like the chats and the forums, or members who bring their depression and cloud the entire website with it because they have nowhere else to turn.
Y'know, Tumblr has a notification that comes up if you search the tag 'Sad', maybe if people put 'depression' in the title of journals there could be a bot that searches for these journals in the search with the 'newest' option and auto messages them help links? Tells them they're worth it? Or more heavier patrolling on the forums and the chats, because when I was a tween I would just go in the chats and talk on the forums without any issues but now there's no many assholes that communicating is nearly impossible.
I was butthurt about CORE at first more because I grew up with Premium, but after people complained about the prices I realized dA needs to hire more staff and go to more conventions and do more work (which their work has increased significantly since the initiation of CORE) because the website's growing to be HUGE which means dA needs to be able to support more people, when you send those letters to dA for there hospital-letter campaigns who do you think pays for the gas and vehicles to deliver those letters? So I realised CORE exists for a good reason, also, I can respect Mr Sotira for his knowledge in coffee, I still haven't had the chance to try French Roast but I still need to find a coffee shop that has it so I can understand why he used it in such a genuinely passionate metaphor for CORE membership prices.
Honestly his savagery in that journal was priceless and to this day I will still bow to that level of savage. You go Angelo, you run a fantastic fucking website, you be as savage as you need to be to get your point across!
If it weren't for dA I wouldn't be going for portfolio review to ACAD, if it weren't for dA I wouldn't have TFC, if it weren't for dA I wouldn't have started reading Warriors because of the fandom I found, if it wouldn't for dA I wouldn't be the person I am today. So to dA, thank you for 8 years of unforgettable memories and experiences, and teaching me that all you need is a Skype call and some good artist friends to have a great Friday night without alcohol!