~ Today's Blog is an Article byBitterBeanJuicer 
I had a project going on (for dA community), which for a while was really active; I didn't expect this many participants to be honest! I'm very happy, as this is for the community!
First of all, thank you kindly for the following amazing people, who noted me and answered my questions, shared their thoughts and suggestions:
Endorell-Taelos, Tahog, pixiepot, @zydaria, DMD-CT, Scarlett-Aimpyh, Astralseed, PizzaPotatoNBacon, rainylake, Suliri
khaotically, Windklang, Banjelerp, stuck-in-suburbia, nikkittie, WDWParksGal, dream-shadow, Minakie, iDJPanda, SavageFrog
a-kid-at-heart, Tajii-chan, Stygma, AshDayArt, nadyabogo, Krissi001, Nameda, Tigles1Artistry, TheGalleryOfEve, Branchewski
sheorun, jennystokes, MayEbony, philippeL and WintersRead
With your experiences in different areas of the deviantART community, all of you helped tremendiously! I tried to summarise what they all told me.
What is this about?
I have noticed - and after chatting with a few people about it, realised it's not only me - that many amazing and talented deviants decided to deactivate their accounts or abandon them. It's really sad to see them go, especially when thanks to them, the community spirit was flourishing. Obviously some cases were due to personal issues, having to focus on something way more important and the like, but the majority or them left because they have lost that spark which made the whole experience fun. Their activities became mandatory and stressful. All that lead up to burning out and it's hard to get over that. Some try to 'recharge their batteries' by going on hiatuses, but it doesn't work in all cases.
But it's not just people leaving - which in my opinion is a huge issue, as many of my friends left - it's the lack of feedback, support and many other things which were covered by this project's participants.
I had the following questions to every person, who noted me showing interest in helping me out finding answers to the problems. Which are indeed there, as all of them mentioned them in their answers.
How long have you been a member of deviantART?
The first question was only to see, how much time is needed to notice these problems. Apparently, not much as they are humongous.
Have you felt the need of a hiatus? If yes, then what caused it and how long you have been away?
I got only a few saying that they needed some time off because of dArama, feeling disconnected from the community or other issues. Most were personal reasons, which are understandable. I've been there as well!
Also, I was interested how people dealt with it. Doesn't matter how much time I took off, after returning, I still felt that nothing changed. Which is a sad thing. But some experienced the same as well.
Being devious is not so easy. Creating articles, features, being all over the place is time and energy consuming. Especially if you feel like all is for nothing. Obviously I don't mean here that you don't get Seniority the next day or Deviousness Award, DD or whatever. Watchers can be unresponsive or others might come across as if they don't care about your projects and ideas. It takes time. A lot of it and of course, patience. Some might feel that they don't want to spend months or years on something which doesn't seem to interest a lot of people or has any effect. But projects, features and everything can lift off unexpectedly. And you start to get amazing messages from people you featured that their deviations got tons of attention, they got a DD or you just made their day. You can never know how your efforts can effect others. So keep on doing it.
Once it starts to feel like a job, that is when you need to take it easy. The need of finding deviations to feature, deviants to interview and groups to discover, you get stressed. Stash Writer is acting up, your computer decided to commit a seppuku, you get sick and can't use a laptop or whatever reasons can make it hard or impossible to do your 'duties'. You have to schedule articles and share them on many platforms, so they get the deserved attention. You might start to feel that your stuff is falling behind. What about your deviations, when will you get featured and the like. A good balance is important in my opinion. But of course, if you are here to help others, fav a ton of artworks and just be happy to see how much your friends improved with their skills, then it's not that much of an issue.
My tips are the following:
- Reduce the amount of articles you are posting
- Find a more doable schedule
- Ask for help maybe, so it's not only you who is putting together the articles, also different perspectives can be interesting
- Take some time off, dA will still be here even if you are crushing on the couch, binge watching "Teen Wolf" or "Doctor Who", whatever you like!
- Don't take it so seriously! It is supposed to be a fun, caring and loving place
- Remember why you started it in the first place!
- Do not expect anything in return. So you will be surprised when you get any kind of recognition and will feel so much better!
A great way to feel connected or at home in the community is to help out in Groups. Or even create your own. You can interact with others, work together as a team and do wonderful things.
There are the Forums, the Chat Network. Endless possibilities!
What are your thoughts on people seemingly burning out and then leaving despite how long they have been on dA?
Many left or are leaving deviantARt sadly because the don't see the point in continuing doing what they did for months or years. It's really sad especially if it was a really active deviant, but really, it's sad to see anyone go.
You might know or not, but I left deviantART once. Deactivated my first account because I didn't really understand how the site works, my drawings didn't get any attention and I would write rant Journals. It was really bad, but then I started to miss the site and I wanted to keep checking what my classmates are drawing, painting and doing in general. So I came back, started to learn a lot about the site with the help of Staffers and Community Volunteers who are indeed lovely people and totally reachable! However, keep that in mind that they might be slightly busy as they are working/volunteering and also have their own lives. I would be so lost without the guidance of Anoya and danlev who are the sweetest people on Earth.
If you are experiencing the feeling that what you do has became mandatory, or you feel like it's pointless, then sit down a little, have a nice coffee/tee or some chocolate and think.
Again, this should be a fun place, to share and appreciate artworks, help out people in many ways and interact with them. After all, every one of us has one thing in common, the love of ART. So there you go, you can start from that. I can only point to the second questions, I wrote down some tips!
I got many answers from the party people - as I referred to them in the Journal I posted - that people leave because they don't get any feedback on their works. And that is an important thing!
There are other places like Tumblr, Facebook and all kinds of blogs sites, art sharing portals which are great, but totally not like deviantART.
You might get a lot more 'likes', 'reblogs" or whatever on your stuff but then what? dA is a very unique site and has an awesome comunnity, Staff and Volunteer Team. You can find what you love and passionate about much easier than on any other sites.
Also, there are the 'wannabe' deviants - God bless them - who are leaving because after a month or year(s) of hard work, they get nothing in return. I believe it is sad that some only do kind and supportive things just so they get a medal or a green crown. It shouldn't be about that. Yes, I've been there as well, I am guilty of it, and I feel ashamed that I threw a tantrum because I didn't get a tick back in a few years.
In time, you realize that while it is an awesome feeling that you are being recognized, it is not that important. What is though, is that you love what you do. Keep that in mind that it is about others, not you.
Can you find your place in the community?
It was a silly question really. As I never felt like I have my place here. I'm a photographer, but doesn't feel like I'm part of that sub-community. I am a Senior Member, a Former Community Volunteer and Deviousness Award recipient. So I should be very happy - and of course I am - with where I am now, but that is not the case sadly. I feel like an outsider, but this is only my problem to get to the bottom of.
The need of being part of something is natural. Being left out is not fun. But some might don't want to be part of anything. And that is totally okay as well. We are all different.
Like I mentioned, there is dAmn, the Forums and Groups you can be part of! Endless possibilities you just have to be open for them.
Do you have any suggestions what could be done to keep up the community spirit? Or do you think there is nothing wrong?
I got various suggestions, many good ones as well.
To avoid pr0n or total nonsense, deviation tags should be moderated, some said. Which is indeed a good idea, but would be time consuming I guess. Nothing is worse than when you would like to browse through a few photos to get inspiration or to find people who could use some attention, and you have to dig through pr0n to even find one decent deviation.
A bit of facelift of notes and the Group system would be lovely as well.
There are many more, which I might share in the future, as I am not used to summarizing answers; this was my first. Also, I never really had a Project like this, I have learned a lot whilst going through my notes, replying to you and it was heart warming to see how many of you care about this community, so passionate and willing to fix things.
Thank you kindly for being part of it, we might be able to find solutions to the mentioned problems, find new ones and sit down, have another round of converstation and brainstorming about them.
Stay Devious,
BitterBeanJuicer
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