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Hey my watchers and folks of dA!

(this is a really important issue for me, please read till the end! Thank you! )

I am really really sad and disappointed of dA lately.
First of all, let me start by saying, that dA is a gorgeus opportunity and that I am thankful about having so much exposure and so many great fans. But while dA started as a hobby, it has become my full time job, I earn my money with dA. You could say I am dependant on how many people look at my art, because it has a massive effect on my art sales (prints and originals).

But as I have stated several times lately, someone or even many people are reporting my pictures for miscategorization. I am not the only artist affected by this, my brother =sanguisGelidus and also *sakimichan `yuumei and many other popular deviants have this problem.

You all probably know about the new frontpage ranking system called "fair exposure". It is a algorythm, that favours non-competitive categories (like artisan crafts, literature, designs/interfaces etc.) over competitive and more popular categories (fanart, digital art etc.) to have a wider variety on the frontpage. This new system has led to many artists putting their deviations in not so competitive categories to increase their chance of reaching the frontpage. To prevent these miscategorized pictures to get to the frontpage (because it would be unfair) dA programmed their system in that way, that an art piece, that gets reported by a single deviant because of miscategorization, is immediately taken off the frontpage. While this seems legit, it also has many disadvantages.

And now it comes to the point, that makes me think about leaving dA... You need to know, that this is no spontanous reaction. I have encountered the problem I am going to explain more than 30 times now and every time it is just really unfair and sad for me. Because the problem about the reporting issue is, that if ONE SINGLE deviant disagrees with my choice of category, he could just report my picture and I dont have the chance to reach the frontpage anymore. But it is impossible for me to please everyones opinion about the category, for me my picture may belong to the abstract category, while another deviant would rather put it into miscellaneuos. And you should know, that there are also a lot of haters (especially when you are popular), so if ONE SINGLE hater finds out about the effect a mindless report has on my picture, he could just report every single image by me and thus I would always be taken off the frontpage without any reason.. I never put my pictures into wrong categories on purpose..

I really hope you understand what I am trying to write.. It is not, that I am obsessed with popularity or that I am unthankful about the exposure I already have. It is just really really unfair, that about every second picture of mine gets reported and therefore gets dropped off the frontpage without any reason. I even had two pictures on the alltime popular page and I was so happy about it, because it was the biggest honor for me. But even these got reported...

I wrote to the dA staff several times. They didnt seem to understand my appeal to them! All I want them to change, is, that a member of the staff needs to have a look over the report and have to judge, if it is appropriate or not, before the picture is mindlessly taken off the frontpage. It just gives too much power to the individual deviants. One deviant has the power to control the whole frontpage by simply reporting all the pictures. I even know about deviants, who cheat their way to the frontpage, by simply reporting all the deviations infront of them..

So please, my watchers, I am so disappointed and dont know what to do anymore. One mindless click and *poof* - the exposure I worked hard for and fairly deserve is taken away. I really rely on the frontpage (as attention greedy as it may sound), because dA is my job and art is my passion. Probably this journal will cause a lot of discussion, but I cant stay quiet anymore. If you dont understand,what I am trying to say, I am sorry.. You really need to experience something like this to understand how unfair and disappointing it is...

So, what I am asking you to do is the following:

PLEASE, for the sake of fair treatment, write to the dA staff about this problem. (Here is a link to the help desk: [link] ) The reports need to be checked, before it leads to a mindless deop off the frontpage. Or you even have a better idea about how to solve the problem? They wont listen if only a few people complain. But if many do, they will have to listen (you could also just send them a link to this journal or write some short sentences, every single one really helps)! I need the money I earn with dA, I have a little daughter, that I have to care for. So please help me! It would make me really really happy!

AND JUST AS IMPORTANT!:

PLEASE repost this journal and tell your watchers/friends about it! You could write notes or journals or whatever to make this public. Ad jt would be tremendously helpful if you wrote notes to all the popular deviants, because they can help a lot to make this public!

If the whole thing wont change, I will have to calm things down on dA.. Its just too much disappointment and unfair treatment, that one mindless click actually could damage one's carreer. I dont want these negative feelings all the time... I will then have to rely on my facebook fanpage only, if the reporting doesnt stop.

Still love you my watchers! Thank you for your support, you really arent responsible for all that! But you would help me a lot with doing what I stated above! Thank you!