Hi sweet folks,

To make it short: Am I leaving deviantart? yes.
(If some people want to laugh at me, to accuse me to create a damn whole drama or to tell me that I'm childish, please do. It won't affect me much.)

Some of you are going to wonder why. So why?

In my previous journal, you'll have more informations [link]

First, I want to clarify that I'm not leaving because of the tracing issue. I'm leaving for the inconsistency of DeviantArt.

I am utterly disappointed by the administration of Deviantart, and the communication of their representative, although some of them are very sweet, and that I respect them lots (Olie, aka $spinegrinder for example). It's not about "tracing is a form of Art" or not (even if, to me, tracing is cheating), it's more that I can't believe how some of the admins managed to handle things the past days with people who don't agree with the etiquette and policies of the website. They are nothing but condescending to us in their replies. And are even somehow proud of it. I'd be curious to see how many members they'll loose because of this.

A girl wrote exactly what I have in mind, so instead of writing it in my poor english, I will quote her: "DeviantArt preaches that it is an artist community where everyone is supposed to contribute, but I think in their arrogance they have lost all respect towards the people who make up most of their site. They set up a facade where everyone is supposed to be equal, but really, it's just a dictatorship here. Not illegal, but certainly not moral." (by *Kameira in this comment). I couldn't have said it better.

I think DeviantArt is now so busy in trying to grow grow grow to become the most amazin online art community in the universe that they forgot the most important thing: Art. And I think their goal is partly achieved! Actually, some people are so addicted to DeviantArt (for the wrong reasons, mainly) that they forgot that DA is not the only place to be. Receiving faves, devwatches and being popular on this website do not mean that you will have success in your real artist life. Tons of other Art communities do exist, where artists are considered as human being with a brain and opinions, not only like statistics. Most of these communities have more fair and ethical values than here. But of course I respect people who choose to stay here.

All this is just lowering their credibility as an art site.
Yesterday I deactivated my prints, because I really don't want to financially support this site anymore. And then finally today I deleted all my gallery. Because I am a professional artist, I think it's also important for me not to support such "artistic communities" anymore nor affiliate myself with them.

That said, believe me when I registered back in 2005, I found the place magical. It was far different from now. Or maybe I was still a bit too naive. Deviantart helped me to grow in my Art, thanks to the feedbacks from other members and I will never claim the contrary. I had some good moments, I even met my fiancé here. Thank you DeviantArt, but goodbye.

I will miss tons of you, my followers, and friends from all over the world. But I'm sure we'll keep in touch here or there on the internet, I have Myspace, Facebook and Flickr accounts, but also a blog. The links are located on my userpage, in a box at the left of this journal. The new community I'm in is Art Limited.

If you took the time to read all this than thank you warmly.
Good luck to you all folks and see you soon!

Anne-Julie