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Complaint Challenge Contest!

We got our complaints out in December 2012. Now, 2013 is about doing something productive with them. I am not going to sit and grumble about my pet peeves. Neither should you!
Anyone who knows me should have been suspicious from the start of Phase 1 because complaining is one of my own complaints. (And you saw this trick last year!) That's right. I complain about people complaining. Silly, yes? Well I decided to do something about it with this challenge.
I hope everyone enjoyed sharing their gripes in Phase 1 because it is time for Phase 2!

And Phase 2 is open to everyone, even if you didn't participate in Phase 1, or decided to change what complaint you'd like to address!
Complaint Challenge – Phase 2
The challenge in a nutshell: Pick one of your dA complaints and do something proactive about it. Work toward a solution or improvement in a positive way.
Now a few of you are probably thinking things like, "I

Complaint Challenge Results! [Phase 1]I received more than double the entries from last year to the Complaint Challenge! There are definite serious business complaints, but what always amazes me are the deviant conversations that spring up. You can even find a couple posts with replies for assistance. This makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Many of you know what Phase 2 is all about, so I expect if you've entered Phase 1, you'll at least try to enter Phase 2. If you can spare the effort to complain, you can spare the effort to do something about your complaint! There will be more on that tomorrow tonight so check back then!
For now, let's announce those random prize winners!

Prize Winners
Anyone who submitted an eligible entry had their name placed in a drawing and these were selected at random for prizes!

~WolfPawCreator won 200 points!

~SkysongMA won 100 points!

:devxl

Operation WFP: The Results!Cue Applause
Wow!
You guys did an awesome job. Lots of wonderful feedback. Doesn't it
feel good to give back to the dA Community once and awhile? I'm sure all those deviants that received feedback on their artwork were happy to get it, too. Keep up the good work!

$15 Print Winner
All participants were entered into the drawing (one time for each entry, max of three) and one lucky random deviant has won a print from the dA Print Shop up to a $15 value!
Congratulations to *Urus-28
Please select a print from your wishlist and note it to `thorns!
Points Prize Winners!
We entered participants' names into a drawing once per entry, and these lucky winners were selected at random.
100 Points
Congratulations to the following winners who will receive 100 dA points!

~pigiama

=SilverInkblot

Review Competition *CLOSED*Update 15/2/13: Competition has CLOSED for month one.
The Review Project, Competition... Thing
Hi guys! Well it's not so much a competition as it is a project in which you can win prizes... the idea came to me and I thought I'd share it with you all.
NB: There are copies of this blog post to take comments from here and here.
Your Mission (should you choose to accept it):
Is to go to the profile of a writer that you like on DeviantART and leave them a review. Not on a specific thing they've written but about them as a writer.
Over my years here on DA I have kind of collected these reviews, and when I self published my poetry collections I used them on the back of my book because some of them were just so sweet.
Perhaps the person you review will add your thoughts on them to their DA page, or to their writing website to help other people get an idea about who they are as a writer.
Revie

Saturnalia Contest + Chat Event

Contest deadline extended! You can submit it until the end of the chat event, so writing it during the Word Wars will be acceptable

We have entries, but it doesn't seem fair to let all those points go without a good fight.
Original post here. It has GIFs, so obviously you should click on it. A quick summary is below!
Contest Details:

Deadline has been extended to after the chat event, so you can write it during the Word Wars!
Write one awesome piece of satire in 250 words or less.If you need inspiration you may want to check out the Wikipedia entry on Saturnalia.
Note both =Cassildra and ^neurotype with your finished entry between 3 PM EST on December 25th and 3 PM EST on December 27th.This gives you 48 hours to upload and note your entry over to us. Do n

Operation WFP is coming! [Started!]Find the start article here: http://nicswaner.deviantart.com/journal/Operation-WFP-Start-344101940
You have around 12 hours remaining to submit your feedback comment and wishlists to win a prize! We've only had a few entries thus far so your chances of winning are good.
It's been nearly a year since Operation TYP. `GrimFace242 and I have plotted some terrible shenanigans, but this time it's even worse! We've flung poop at ^NicSwaner and ~~brainwashed~~ convinced him to join the dark side with us! Why? To remind you guys that giving is important.
What is Operation WFP?
It's 48 hours of fun for the entire community. At the start date you will be given a short list of simple tasks that can be done in as little as half an hour.
What is this task? It's so super secret we can't tell you until the start date!

Complaint Challenge Contest Results!You guys are amazing! The quality of the entries was nothing short of impressive. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of deviants who took a serious and productive approach to tackling their complaints! Quite a few entries were teams working together to make deviantART a better place.
I had a bunch of really great entries, and I had a difficult time not featuring more like six of these. After some serious thought, I narrowed it down to two that I believe stood out from all the awesome (which is tough to do when everything is already wonderful).
Spotlight Winners!
Both of these entries tackle community complaints in a big way and are already smashing success stories. In alphabetical order:

#Expose-Lit
Finally, it's a group that takes you on a guided tour through the literature community! Follow the yellow dot through knowledgeable articles to help you discover the community and give you a starting point for the exposure you'v

January's Solution Sanctuary: Results (Part III)About
On January 1st, I challenged everyone in the deviantART community to suggest a lot of Daily Deviations. I did this for two main reasons: A) `thorns told people to put up or shut up and I decided to listen; B) I was tired of hearing people complain about supposed favoritism surrounding whose DD suggestions are accepted by the CVs.
Well, you all rose to the challenge beautifully. Over 200 suggestions were sent into the CVs by the people that participated in my little challenge. The first featured work pieces that received DDs, the second featured one half of the rest of the suggestions and this

Be A Critic Volume 5*TheTerrorOfTheDeep

The Challenge

Pick at least one of the thumbs above*

Read it

Comment or Critique it**

Leave a comment on THIS journal with the following:

A link to your comment on the deviation you chose***

A link to one of your deviations you'd like to have feedback on

Wait for the results to come out!
Start Date: NOW!
End Date: January 8, 2013 @ 11:59PM EST
The Prizes

One random winner will receive a comment/critique from me.

A second random winner will receive 50

Winners from Volume 4
[Bullet; Black] =CassieCros13 won a comment/critique from me.
[Bullet; Black] *MistressofQuills won 50[Points]

Epilepsy Awareness Day March 26th 2013The Purple Truth

March 26, known to the epileptic community as Purple Day, is a day to promote understanding and teach others the signs of epilepsy and seizures. As one of the most common neurological conditions in the world, directly affecting 65 million people globally, and with 1 out of 10 people having suffered a seizure in their lifetime, this condition has a real presence in our lives. What is epilepsy though?
Epilepsy is defined as a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. Normal brain function is made possible by millions of tiny electrical charges passing between nerve cells in the brain and to all parts of the body. When someone has epilepsy, this normal pattern may be interrupted by intermittent bursts of electrical energy that are much more intense than usual.
A seizure, a symptom of epilepsy, occurs when a brief, strong sur

Love dA Lit: Issue 115Welcome to the one-hundred fifteenth issue of Love dA Lit!

Every Sunday this article will aim to promote volunteer opportunities, various resources, prompts, challenges, and workshops, as well as highlighting various contests, and spotlighting a specific group every week. This is by no means a complete list of all the literature going-ons, merely a tool to help you get involved and stay informed.
Note: Due to a number of reasons [I am terrible at interviews, responding, finding groups, and I would like to give these groups more exposure, etc] the weekly group spotlight will become bi-weekly instead.

#Glory-Be-Project is the spotlighted group!

#LITplease's Community Portal
A Smattering of Lit News

Lit Fortnightly - 14 March 2012What you'll find in this article: There's that intro again... | Current Lit Going-Ons | General info on the Lit Community | The past week's lit DDs
What is this business?!
This is a small update on what's going on around the literature community, that's what this business is. The idea is to try and make the community more readily accessible for everyone, whether you're new or have been here for a while.
Please note: these updates will not be all-encompassing in terms of community happenings, as the community is quite frankly rather large. Instead, this article will focus specifically on things that are currently ongoing, or happened within the past fortnight. If you're looking for something more general and comprehensive, why not give `IrrevocableFate's Love dA Lit a read?
If there is something that is not included in an update that you would like

Love dA Lit: Issue 102Welcome to the one-hundred second issue of Love dA Lit!

Every Sunday this article will aim to promote volunteer opportunities, various resources, prompts, challenges, and workshops, as well as highlighting various contests, and spotlighting a specific group every week. This is by no means a complete list of all the literature going-ons, merely a tool to help you get involved and stay informed.
#LITplease's Community Portal

Navigation
Literature Links | Group Spotlight | Workshops, Prompts and Challenges
Literature Contests | Resources | Open Admin Positions

Operation WFP: StartEvery artist enjoys getting feedback and what better time of the year to give than now. It doesn't matter if it's a few simple sentences of praise or a full blown critique, we all love checking our message center and finding that we have a comment waiting. So, we've plotted a deviously simple contest. And of course, for participating, you'll be put into a drawing for some awesome prizes!
We want you guys to setup your wishlist! If you've already done that, we want you to double check it. Then we want you to add items to it. Easy, yes? But wait! There's a twist! You can't just buy art and not leave feedback for the artist.

If you think a piece is wonderful enough to buy, you should let the artist know. So, in addition to creating your wishlist, we want you to comment on a piece you've added to your list.
That can't be just any old 'This is awesome!' comment either. We want at least three meaningful sentences about why you think the piece is awesome and worth buying. To make

A Call to Conversation (2)--:devazizriandaoxrak:Welcome to the second article focusing on getting to know the deviants behind the artwork! This series will be posted every Wednesday. If you have a deviant you'd like to see included, please send =TwilightPoetess a note with the subject "Call to Conversation"--make sure to include the deviant's name as well as a reason you think they'd make a good interview subject! Also, feel free to send along a question or two you'd like to have answered by them!
This week's featured deviant is =AzizrianDaoXrak, who was kind enough to send me a short bio for an introduction!
Though raised in Boston and Washington, DC, Azi has come to call North Carolina, especially the Triangle area, home. At 22, she is a recent graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill and, this past fall, joined the PhD program in history at Duke University. She made her first attempts at writing poetry as she began high school in 2004, and has spent the last eight years refining her skills with the help of friends, me

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[CLOSED!] - Complain and Win a Prize!

Journal Entry: Sat Dec 29, 2012, 2:10 PM

EDIT: Come back tomorrow for the results! Phase Two begins on the 2nd!

That's right, crazy old thorny coconut is giving out prizes for complaining, and quite a few of you know this trick already. Yes, the Complaint Challenge has returned and this time `GrimFace242 is going to help me run it!

And we cannot wait to see all the gripes and Phase 2 entries after last year's awesome submissions!

What could be more fun than winning points by complaining? Well, what happens after the complaining will be more fun, in my thorny opinion, but I'll save that until this portion is complete. Psst, next phase will have loads more prizes.

The Complaint Challenge! - Phase 1

It's the end of the year and a perfect time to unload your gripes. Put them out in the open and prepare for a new year that will be filled with plenty more complaint worthy stuff.

I don't want just any complaints though. I want your dA complaints! Tell me what bugs you about deviantart the site or the deviantart community. I'm serious business about my prizes too and expect you to put some thought and effort into this.

We don't need super crazy rants (please don't!), and it can be issues that have been brought up before. Anything dA related is fair game including features and the community itself. Maybe you're frustrated with premium content, remembering where the period is in stash, or maybe you just hate the deviant green color scheme. Share your thoughts!

Requirements

Comment on this journal with your complaint(s).

Complaints must be about deviantART (site, community, etc)!

Use 2-6* sentences per complaint to describe your gripe.

Be courteous.

Limit it to two* complaints.

Deadline: December 31st at 11:59 PM EST (USA)

Fine Print
You will express your opinion and complaints with maturity and grace. You will NOT single out individuals, call people names, or otherwise make a fool of yourself in my journal. Any inflammatory comments will be hidden without response and you will be disqualified from this contest and any other contest I run. Ever.

*I'm not going to disqualify you if it's not exact, but please do not leave me a page long rant.

Prizes

These will be distributed at random. Anyone who meets the requirements will be entered into a drawing for prizes.

200 dA points
100 dA points
50 dA points x 4

Phase 2 - Coming January 2nd!

On January 1st, 2013 I will post the winners and everyone's complaints. Then the not so super secret next phase of The Complaint Challenge will begin!

I hope you're all having happy holidays so far!

thorns

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[CLOSED!] - Complain and Win a Prize!by `thorns

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~DragonScar13 Dec 31, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

I think one of my biggest and moat noticeable qualms is how ignored or pushed under the rug both the community and the site treat the artforms outside of visual art. Though this is a site that promotes creativity, it often gets ignored by the more 'refined' visual art. And while the argument could and had been made that deviantart is for visual, are we only to say those are the expressions if art? And its not only the site staff, but the community that does nothing but allow such a thing to thrive.

On an extended note, I have always disdained how easy it is to ignore people because their expressions of are still need work. And to make matters worse, its almost customary to give a thumbs up or down without a critique. I am no saint in this area, since I have done this myself, but it only serves as a reminder of the disjointed unity that is the community. Which is the lifeblood of the site and what makes and cultivates the great art creators of tomorrow.

Just my two cents.

`thorns Jan 1, 2013 Writer

Thanks for your entry! Keep an eye out for the results and phase 2!

~StaryuManiac Dec 31, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

My biggest problem is something that is shared with a lot of users: The new submit screen! I find it very counter-intuitive, simply because the old dA submit screen was so simple and easy to follow. The new one makes it easier to find a few features, but I had to submit something quite a few times only to find it disappeared! Later, I found them all in my sta.sh.

Another thing that bothers me is that since group messages are seen by all admins, sometimes we end up replying twice. "Gee awesome group" and then a storm of "Thanks!" It gets a little out of hand.

_{_{condom ads are also uncool but I don't think that's dA's fault}}

`thorns Dec 31, 2012 Writer

Thank you for your deviantART gripe!

Your name is now entered into the drawing for prizes. Winners will be announced on January 1st and Phase Two will be announced on the 2nd! Keep an eye out for it.

*AeternusVotum Dec 31, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

What I just noticed recently is the fact that the "is online" feature by deviantART ist not reliable

At least not really ...
It's completely alright to show people as idle after a while and after fifteen minutes as offline, that's normal - but not if you log out! I have checked it a few times and after logging out, you are still shown as online, then idle and after fifteen minutes offline! That's not really what I want because I can totally understand the first one but not the second one because I wish to be shown as offline when I sign out to not mislead my friends who use the Friends widget to see whether someone is online or not.

Anyway, enough complaining, it's a nice day so ... happy new year everyone

`thorns Dec 31, 2012 Writer

=Missing-ninSasuke Dec 31, 2012

1. Gifs that are "too large" to be an icon, the 15kb limit needs to be increased to allow longer animations as icons.

2. Less repeat groups do we really need bazillion of groups that all do that same things or dead groups should at least be deleted to clean up the large numbers of groups on here.

`thorns Dec 31, 2012 Writer

`dreamsinstatic Dec 31, 2012 Professional Writer

My biggest problem with deviantART is the comment spam system. When I'm posting features or thanking people for favorites I constantly have to pause because deviantART thinks my numerous comments could be spam. Other websites and systems use Captcha in order to overcome this and I'd be a lot happier if I could just enter the silly captcha code every once in a while rather than having to wait hours just to thank someone or to tell them that they've been featured. This drives me crazy!

`thorns Dec 31, 2012 Writer

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