just as I had predicted, deviantART has made a change and many deviants are furious about it.
I'm pretty open to change since change brings growth to communities, but I admit, I was slightly put off by this at first. My main complaint is that these changes came with little or no warning, which is probably the main reason why so many people had reacted so negatively to begin with. I'm fine with the colors, even though orange isn't my favorite color to say the least. I'm fine with the term "core" since we members make up the very core of deviantART and without us contributing to the community then the site wouldn't be where it is today. Then there's the larger complaint, the price increase. I understand why people are upset about it but really the prices haven't gone up that much. I guess they did it to cover the rising server costs due to inflation, which is completely understandable.
Look at the difference 10 years made on these common items.
DeviantART has become a huge business, just like many others. They have offices, headquarters, massive servers, and staff members. I don't know if every staff member gets paid or not, but they still need to cover the costs of their business like I mentioned before. If they can't make money somehow, then we don't have a website to display our art. Any artist, especially the ones who don't have the knowledge to build and code websites would know this so deviantART still has value to its members, change or no change.
As always, deviantART accounts are free and always will be free, just like facebook. There's no invite code like on deadjournal or some other required method of entry. You can upload whatever the site allows with the exception of extremely violent and pornographic images. There is no limits on bandwith. You get 2gb of stash where you can store or hide your deviations. you get free access to prints where you can earn money that way and it doesn't cost you a penny. you can even customize your page to an extent and many art sites don't allow that. You can also use deviantART's stamps in your biography section like I have in my front page. And you also have access to chat rooms and forums where you can meet other deviants and communicate with them.
Yes, paid membership does come with better perks in the customizing department, which can help you sell your art better, but free accounts are still completely usable and I've been using the free accounts for the past... 10 years or so. And if you use DA as a large source of your income, is it really that bad to pay a few dollars extra to help support a service? If not then there's still many other options like Weasyl. I have an account there too. I love the features in that community like the blocking feature and the ability to make your work friends only but for some reason I don't use that community like I should and still prefer deviantART. It's what I've known for the past 12 years and met so many wonderful people on here so it will take more than a few changes to make me leave.
Of course, no community is perfect and there's always someone complaining about something. For me, DeviantART is fine for the most part but my only complaint is that they need to improve their blocking system and make it more like facebook, especially when deviantART is becoming more like facebook anyway. On facebook, neither party can see what they post, which means there's no drama, abuse or harassment. On deviantART, a blocked person may not be able to comment on anything in your profile or send you private messages, but they can still stalk you (which is illegal) and see everything you post and use it against you in their journals, which causes humiliating journal wars and painful smear campaigns that can ruin your life, your health, your friendships and your reputation. You can ignore the stalking and abuse all you want but the abuser usually doesn't know when to quit and will keep provoking you until you finally snap. Once you do, the abuser will use that against you and suddenly you're the bad guy. Worse yet,the abuser will make fake apologies and promises to you, only to betray you and use you again and again. They will lie about it to others then eventually accuse you of character theft or other things they've done to you when they know damn well that you created the character. You desperately want to tell your side of the story as well as the truth to others, but you're expected to stay silent and act as though nothing is wrong. If you do speak up, then you'll get yelled at in their journals, putting you through even more drama and smear campaigns. In the end, you feel devastated, like you're numb and broken. You lost your credibility as an artist because of the drama you were subjected to against your will. You lost several friendships and you end up feeling alone. You don't know who you are as a person anymore after the abuser tried to change you to become a mirror image or twin of themselves and you have nothing left to call your own anymore. It can take up to five years or more for the victim to heal mentally, emotionally and physically, but even if you do heal, you'll never be the same again. I know how victims feel and I understand their pain because I've been a victim too, dealing with this ongoing problem since 2009. This is why stalking, harassment and defamation need to be addressed appropriately, rather than ignored. I know that deviantART will have a hard time recoding the system from the ground up, but I really hope that this is something that they will consider in the future for the sake of every deviant who wants freedom, privacy and peace.
Regardless of my complaint, deviantART is still my home and I am here to stay. I'll be looking forward to the growth and changes this community will have in the near future...