Creepy AND Annoying? You have GOT to be kidding me

Just when I thought that the dArama was over for me...I get this:



So yeah, I'm on dAmn one day, makin' a casual joke in #seniors about the Red Wings sucking (which of course, another deviant LOVES them to the point of obsession). I mean, it's all just a joke, ain't it? (I'm not that into sports, so what else would it be?)



Anyways, that's just the start. Thinking that nobody got the joke (which turned out to be true), I head in to #daZineHQ, and tell em' it's a joke, but to no avail, I get banned. Now, I was a little angry about this, but when I found out the real truth behind the ban, I was even more pissed, and here's why:



Apparently, some "friends" of Jessie's talked to her behind my back about how I was creepy/stalking her because they were "genuinely concerned". First off, there's two problems with this: 1.) I am NOT creepy, or a stalker and 2.) If they were concerned, they should've talked to me about it directly instead of letting it come down to me eventually confronting both Jessie/her "boyfriend", Max (which, incidentally, didn't really go anywhere in terms of getting to the root of the issue, which was talking about me behind my back, which I do NOT tolerate.




Jessie, if you're reading this, you need to grow the FUCK up, and stop trying to hide the real problem. I still remember that comment you had posted on "Hockett Spaceport Lobby" which, by the way, was almost 2 YEARS AGO. If anything, you are WAY too uptight, and your immaturity is fairly obvious, in how you always run to other people for help when there's something you can't handle. Are you ALWAYS going to be like this? What's going to happen when Mommy and Daddy aren't around anymore, huh? I used to think you were a cool person, but now that I've seen this, I think you SUCK, and unless you change your stinkin' attitude, my view of you will stay the same and, of course, you won't earn anyone else's respect

deviantART Ban Update

Or...Maybe I shouldn't really call this much of an update at all, since I've not really gotten anywhere, in terms of getting an explanation as to why I was banned.



My first (and last) Help Desk ticket since my ban didn't really yield anything in terms of acceptable answers (Just a measly link to a certain FAQ #212 regarding refunds if you're banned). On top of all of this, I found out that I was banned from the Help Desk, as I was trying to send a reply to my inquiry (Real smart for them to do that, so they don't have to deal with people they don't want to deal with).


So, I was talking with a friend of mine on MSN, and she advised sending an e-mail to help@deviantart.com, which I did (hoping that I'd finally get an answer to my questions).



Boy was I wrong.



The reply e-mail that I got stated the following:

For all Policy related matters, please direct your inquiry to our Policy Team via email @ violations@deviantart.com , so it may be seen by the correct parties.

or

If you already have a deviantART account that you can login to, please direct your inquiry to the community help desk on site via http://help.deviantart.com/contact . Be sure to select one of the contact categories handled by the Policy Team.

Thank you

Such awesome customer service, eh? I didn't think so. For starters, NONE of my questions were answered, which I'd grown to expect after my last Help Desk ticket. For two: The person who wrote that reply is obviously very stupid, as she doesn't seem to realize that I am banned from the Help Desk. Below is my original e-mail, with my questions:



Hello,


Firstly, I have a couple questions that need answering:



1. If someone can be banned for replying to a user who has Blocked them, why is it that the Block system is not extended beyond a person's userpage?


2. I would also like an explanation for both: the un-called for ban on my account, from deviantART, as well as my ban from the Help Desk.



Thank you for your time



As much as I don't like to think about it, deviantART is, pretty much, the epitome of horrid customer service (As long as they can keep the money coming in, that's all that matters). As far as I know, deviantART's security has always been a joke (and this is coming from the former PVA Staff member). It's not just her, though, someone else, who is still a member of deviantART said something about a zero-day dAmn exploit which, if taken advantage of, could DoS the chat servers. Would the admins really care to fix that? I don't think so.



UPDATE: My deviantART membership is still in the air (ban will be reviewed in at least a month, so maybe not all hope is lost. I'm not getting my hopes up too high just yet, though)

Harrassment of another user? What.The. FUCK?????

As I write this, I am banned from deviantART effected yesterday, for something as trivial as:


Reason: Continued efforts at contact after being blocked. This behavior is defined as harassment.



Was I angry when I saw this? You bet. Thing is, I had accidentally talked to `sodalicious ON SOMEONE ELSE'S userpage even though I was blocked. I will say this about it: The block system only covers an individual's userpage/shoutbox/personal forum, etc so basically, those are the prohibited commenting areas. The block system might seem perfect on the surface, but in all honesty, there's LOTS of holes.





1. As I said before, the block system only applies to a certain individual's userpage, so if I were to talk to someone on another person's userpage, there's really no grounds for harrassment at all

2. The block system is NOT a completely binding restraining order that prohibits someone from making comments towards another on someone else's userpage,



Basically, Staff had NO reason to ban me like they did, and quite frankly, I'm ready to stop supporting deviantART monetarily



From my experiences with `sodalicious, she is an EXTREMELY abusive individual who has a history of treating new deviants like crap (As other people have told me), and an incident in #help comes to my mind: I went in there, asked a question regarding posting my own WAV files on deviantART. I get my first question answered to my satisfaction, so I then ask where I can post my WAV files hoping I get an answer to that.



WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


`sodalicious did NOT answer said question the first time, so I asked it again, in bold font, hoping that she would see it. Instead, she kicked me out for supposed "harrassment"

So deviantART was never truly an art site?

Apparently not, according to a journal entry by the Director of Artist Relations.....




To quote a part of it,


"We were a social network before Myspace started, we're not becoming anything "different", we're still an art site. Just because you're just now noticing web cam shots and glorified self-portraits does not change the fact that they were here years ago as well."



The last part is enough evidence that she's COMPLETELY out of touch with reality, if you ask me. None of us members are noticing web cam shots, etc "just now", like she's claiming. This kind of thing has been a problem way before now, and it seems as if nothing is being done about it.



I'm seriously wondering if I should renew my subscription when it runs out, or not.

deviantART Policy Changes - A Thought

Recently, there were several key changes in dA policy as it relates to video game screenshots, doll-generators, character generators, etc. deviantART Staff have made quite a few bad decisions in the past, but what awaited me was shocking, to say the least, and to be honest, I felt that deviantART would surely die out in time (Say, 2010 or so).


This is the part of the news article that got me, as well as other deviants up in arms over the recent changes:



"iv. We will now allow images made from “doll generators” or “character creators” to be submitted; however these will only be allowed in Scraps due to the fact that they involve no artistic effort at all. In the future a special section may be added to segregate them from the actual artwork on the site.
v. Our prohibition against the use of screenshots of movies or television programs is unchanged.
vi. We will now allow the submission of video game screenshots providing they feature actual in-game play with the associated controls/HUD/lifebar/health/etc displayed. These particular screenshots will only be allowed in Scraps due to the fact that they are not actual artworks. In the future a special screenshots area may be created to house them away from the actual artworks on the site."



Move over PhotoBucket, deviantSTUFF is here. *sigh*


First the Help Forum closure, and now this? deviantART wasn't like this at all when I joined up back in November of 2004. Hell, I still remember seeing artwork from so many awesome artists whenever I browsed deviantART, and there wasn't the problem of having to sift through so much crap art in the first place like there is now. Sure, the idea of there being a submission limit has been suggested a few times (which I fully support), and it was shot down all those times. Both Eyefetch and Side 7 have a submission limit in place, so why not dA?. If deviantART wants to keep operating costs down, etc, then they WILL need to implement one. Otherwise, deviantART WILL die out, or become very obscure. Why do the admins not see it?


Honesfly, I think that the administrators are happy with the way things are now, and they don't really give a shit if dA's the new Myspace at all. The coming of video uploads, while a different issue, says pretty much the same thing, in my opinion.



Think about it for a minute: Would you WANT video on a site that is meant for art?


I can already predict that there will be Policy Violations/Myspace-style videos galore when the ability to upload videos is added, which won't be for some time until the speed issues are rectified (which is a good thing out of the many faults that deviantART has).


Just have to wait and see what transpires, I guess

Colorado vacation, etc

Wow,

I honestly never thought I would be able to experience life in Colorado like I did a while ago. My sister had wanted to get married in Colorado after she and her (now husband) had taken a vacation there, and honestly, she could not have picked a better place. The wedding location was at Sprague Lake, which is a VERY beautiful spot to be at (You have the Rocky Mountains right in front of you, and sometimes, you can see clouds in the sky, which makes Sprague Lake a spot worthy of a photo or two)

So anyways, on the day of the wedding, I had my digital Canon PowerShot, model A540 with me, which was a very good call since I got some pretty good pictures, as well as some video (although not a whole lot, since my camera batteries ran out right in the middle of the ceremony :( ).


In all honesty though, if there's anything I wish I would've had while I was in Colorado for a few days, it would have to be the wide-angle lens I now have for my camera (It would have been damn useful for then). Leastways, I got quite a few good shots (HDR photos included), such as the one above, that I have up in my online galleries over at deviantART, Storm-Artists.net and Eyefetch.


Speaking of deviantART, I've become rather dis-illusioned with the way some things are handled by the deviantART administration. Site time-outs have been occuring much too often for me to even be able to browse for artwork that might pique my interest, but that's a rather small issue compared to what I am about to discuss.


The real big issue I have with Staff there is honesty, integrity, and the fact that admins can pretty much get away with ToS/Etiquette Policy violations, while normal deviants are banned for these things. Not too long ago, a member of deviantART, who was a Senior Member for a long time, had his Seniorship taken away from him for calling the selection of Senior Members into question. I myself have seen the screenshots of the posts made in the Senior Members forum. OK, there may have been some "semi-personal, semi-attacks", and it may have been poorly worded, but as I see it, there was some validity as to what the guy said. Unfortunately, there is such a thing as taking things too personally/blowing things out of proportion, and that's what happened after this member posted that thread.


What REALLY got at me, though, is this: Apparently, even though he was no longer a Senior Member. he was still able to reply to comments to him in that forum, which he was later banned for a day for doing. IMO, that was way out of line, as I don't think that would even qualify as a site exploit (But you know those admins. They have their own way of thinking).



I don't see myself becoming a Senior Member anytime soon, or at all for that matter, and I could honestly care less about being one. Seems like it doesn't really mean anything to have the little ` beside your name anymore

Get With The Program

I mean, seriously


Who'd be so biased as to threaten me, while absolving `sodalicious of any wrong-doing? Ghouldaddy doesn't seem to get the fact that he actually DID threaten me in the note he sent which is below

I don't know what your issue is with soda, nor do I really care, because in all honesty, it's not worth my time. I will say this however, she is closer to me, than anyone will ever be in your life, and if you ever insult or bring up personal matters between 2 other deviants, (regardless of who they are), again in any dAmn chatroom, you can rest assured that your days on dAmn will be numbered. And don't think for a second that I am threatening you, I'm simply telling you what dA policy is. As well, I'd watch what you say in your journals, calling out other deviants etc is cause for a ban on your account. You want to make a name for yourself on devainart, fine, but you're going about it completely the wrong way.

Oh yeah, I do have an issue with Mandi - her constant attack of deviantART newbies who are just asking for help, her constant anger issues and get this - She even believes that people should be directed to just the dA FAQ page instead of a specific FAQ entry, which is not a good way to help anyone. But the fact that Ghouldaddy always protects her, is not a good sign for him.


If anything, Frank needs to realize that what he's doing is NOT ok in the least, and it could result in his removal from Staff. Hell, maybe he's actually involved with Mandi, and nobody really knows that.


The Ultimatum:


Ghouldaddy needs to do one of these two things:


1 Either STOP being such a damn favoritist in terms of how it is with Mandi, and start treating people with respect

2. Resign from Staff immediately. His actions have shown, and they WILL KEEP showing that he is only concerned with Mandi, and not other dA members.