I'm done with deviantART!

I hate to announce that after 12 years I am ending my relationship with deviantART. This has been a while coming, but the last straws have come recently.

I have a stock account under my old username THE-PIT-MONSTERstock, it’s an account I haven’t loaded to in years as I quit producing stock imagery. Recently as June 29, 2016 it was banned for reason of Spammer. I was not aware of this until August. Strange because I hadn’t logged in the account for nearly a year, so I don’t know how this account could be a spammer account. However the ban had also been lifted sometime between, I’m guessing and investigation found it was wrongly banned, however all my stock images have been PURGED! While I was planning on deactivating the stock account that brings up another disturbing fact, of what would happen if this were my main account. I would lose 12 years of my archives, only to be unbanned after acquittal, however, all my images would be deleted. If you are going to delete all my images just ban the account to. None of the contents in that gallery violated any policy. In my 12 years on deviantART, I only had one policy violation and that was a wrong catagory violation from 2010. If they can do this to a small stock account they can sure as hell do it to a main account. While my important assets weren’t deleted, I’m lead to wonder what if, so I spent the last few days gathering my archive and uploading it to shutterfly just in case, dA decides this is legitimate grounds to delete my main archive. Hence why it took me a while to write a journal so I can secure my archive. It’s important to note that even the notorious troll Poodude, still has existing work here on dA despite a permanent ban. Talk about administrative failure.

I kept on the down-low the past few months about this, because I want the process of saving all my images to go smoothly, that way if deviantART decides to respond to this blog with a ban, I still saved my work. I can't trust that they won't decide to respond to criticism with a ban, because look at what they did to my stock account without assessing facts.

There is no denying that deviantART made me the professional photographer I am today. However the deviantART I joined 12 years ago is not the same as it is now. As deviantART devotes themselves to becoming the next Facebook and failing pretty badly at that to, while leaving their roots, my morale has steadily decreased. Creating many new useless features to imitate Facebook, rather than improving what they already had.

I have won many accolades as photographer and many other honors, and new friends and it all started here. I won’t forget any of you and you can always contact me on Facebook. I will continue the career I built on this very page as just a 15 year old boy with a point and shoot camera has turned into, a 27 year old with equipment I never dreamed of and doing many awesome things I never dreamed I would do. My tenure at deviantART has mostly been great. The ending is all that’s bitter.

Leaving will not cause me to weep sentimentally anymore as much as I previously thought it would. I had been babbling about leaving dA for a while just because they seem to want to copy Facebook, and this may seal my fate. Over the years deviantART administration has been a joke, I have hand fed them some pretty idiotic art–thieves, as long as 6 years ago and the same people still prowl the site. This has caused me to lose more and more faith in the administration of this site. I have subscribed in the past and stuck by this site much longer than most people. I even stuck around during Jark-Gate which was very long-ago, a lot of people left then. As they remodeled the site I rarely got upset until they started copying Facebook. A lot of you youngsters watching me on this site were ether in diapers or early elementary school when I started on this site at age 15. The photo uploader has been slow as molasses for years, I can upload 10 shots on shutter fly at full res in the time it takes to load one here. The site’s popularity seems to be on the down turn. It seems that getting 22 views on anything you submit on this site is an accomplishment which is really pathetic. Trolls, art-thieves, and other trouble makers come on this site and just do as they please. I look at images where somebody CGIed in a My Little Pony into an obviously stolen train photo and it gets over 400 faves, or puts Thomas the tank engine faces on it, and when I see the  work I andv others busted our butts to get is not measuring up to this it also demotivates me to stay on this site.

So, my stock account was banned, then the ban was lifted, don’t this mean you determined I was innocent? Why did that account still get purged then? Why should I trust this site to manage any further of my photographic affairs from here out?

I’m simply too busy to be worried about this. Photo-sharing sites can be replaced, my archives can’t! If deviantART wants to play like this, fine two or more can play this game. I got a career ahead of me and if dumping the site that made me a photographer is what it takes to bring me into the future I will do it.

If it can happen to me it can happen to you to, mass departures will probably be what it takes to teach this website a lesson. I don’t have time to post any anti-deviantART rants or start any dumb clubs or sites, because if they want to administrate this site like this the only thing they are going to hurt in the long run is their own website. I am simply too mature to go on a cussword laced rant about the site or personally attack admins.

I am forever grateful for what this site has done for me, and sorely miss the old days when deviantART was deviantART and not a rejected version of Facebook. This use to be a place for ambition and creativity. If dA ever wants me to change my mind there better be dramatic changes!

What remains of my gallery is going into storage and all my most popular pieces are firmly secured. I will not deactivate this account, maybe in the future I will return but that's highly unlikely, because I don't know if I can ever trust a site that deletes first and ask questions later. I have been a productive and proud member of this site for years, but there are some irreconcilable differences that are probably not overcome-able. 

Also, I do not plan to sever contact with friendships I established here on deviantART. Find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jjohns5182 when you send your friends request please inbox me your username so I'll know you are who you say you are. I would love to maintain contact with all of you.