My latest journal is getting a bit old now, so I guess it's time for another entry / rant. Instead of a long one like the last, I will cover a few issues:

Art theft: While copyright infringement (a.k.a. art theft) is often an annoying thing, here on dA, it sometimes gets treated like it's the worst kind of crime. In comparison to some dA members, the RIAA seems to be outright forgiving and their mass suing of unemployed mums appear as a generous act.  

If you read journals, forum posts or news articles about „art thieves", commenters regularly go over the top. Some silly kid which used some manga drawings on his blog / dA account / whatever gets called „lowest form of live" which should „burn in hell" or be "dead, killed and gone".

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Delete your copied music and games and then write your flame, or you just could click and report the deviation like a proper adult. It's noticeable that, like with stock art, the best artists are in general more relaxed about the issue while the not so amazing ones often tend to freak out.

Homosexual discrimination complaints / Gay Pride Prudes: There barely goes a week without a news article complaining about dA's alleged double standards regarding the display of homo- and heterosexually-themed art. dA's admins are regularly called a homophobic, or at least heterosexually biased, bunch, which discriminates against homosexual art.

Strangely, dA still hosts millions of pieces of homosexually-themed art or pictures. And since a couple of months, you can even find the long banned erections as long as the deviant somehow manages to depict it less pornesque than artistic, whatever that means.

I recognize the importance of  "pride", especially if you are young and not in the most accepting / gay-friendly environment as it gives you the strength and self-confidence to accept yourself and make it to greener pastures. [link]

The problem arises when gay pride becomes a weapon to steamroll other people as kind of a retribution for being steamrolled by a heterosexual majority.

dA is going down the drain, has lost its direction and soul because of too much crappy art, porn, drama and kids and professional artists hate it: Well, I'm a member of this site for over 10 years now and there wasn't a year without this discussion. From the early days, when space art was swamping the site 'til the heated debate about Manga and Anime monopolizing the front page, from the debates about the worthiness of a DD to nudity and crappy camera phone pictures – there were always reasons to complain about the site and of course predictions of imminent doom, because someone was upset about some aspect of the experience.
dA is still alive and most probably growing, so it cannot be too far from what a lot of people like and want to use. It's even still privately owned and wasn't sold out to some social network giant which means, it burns less money than it brings in, which means, it apparently has a viable business model, which means, I still can see the images I submitted 10 years ago, something I wouldn't be so sure of on Myspace, Geocities and a lot of other sites.

dA isn't a portfolio site for elite artists, even though many are here, it's not a forum focused on empowering and teaching its members the arcane art of 3D, its not Polycount, Game Artisans, Behance or something else, it's a site for everyone with some interest in "art" with very relaxed rules regarding the content which they allow.

It's a huge site and with countless deviations submitted per minute, it's easy to understand that 99% of the stuff here is probably not stuff you generally like or want to look at. I dislike crappy crotch shots (male or female) as much as the next person, but I think having them on the site is a price worth paying. It's a bit like free speech, it can be obnoxious, but it's always better than restricting it. There are of course restrictions on this site, but I think, dA – both the admins and the community - does a good job ensuring artistic freedom while avoiding that the site becomes too filthy.

And don't forget that you have the means to adapt your dA experience. You have the mature filter, you have the watchlist, you can browse the favorites of people you like and trust to discover now art. You have groups, which aren't perfect, but can help to navigate the site. You can carve out your personal niche in this site and barely get to see stuff you don't want to see. You rarely have to interact with people you don't want to interact with. You can have your neat and tidy house here, but still have the possibility to stroll the dirty and noisy neighborhood where the bullies dwell - if you like.