The Story So Far

The Comment Revolution has been thoroughly written about in 3 journal items. Please read all 3 before making a comment.

The Comment Revolution
The Comment Revolution: Part 2
The Comment Revolution Progress: Slow And Steady

With quite a huge response to the first part of this movement, I've decided it's time to move along with Part 2.

What the Comment Revolution Is

After many comments on the first part of this movement, most people understood what we wanted to accomplish through this plan. Some people didn't however, and I'd like to clear up a few things.

Deviation comments on deviantART are mostly short, undetailed and not very useful to the artist. This needs to change.

The Comment Revolution is about bringing that change. It's about educating deviants about the usefulness of leaving well thought out and relevant comments on art here at deviantART. It's about the learning process for both the artist and the critic. It's about respect, recognition, and knowledge. And it's about weeding out the comments that don't fit the above description.

You'll notice I specified deviation comments thus far. This is not to say that journal comments, user page comments, news comments, and forum posts are not in the same category. In fact, I think we would all like to see more thoughtful comments on news items and in the forums. As far as journal and user page comments go, I doubt we need to worry about the length or usefulness of such comments. These are places for leaving praise, humor, personal thoughts, and other community oriented comments. I would assume if these sort of comments are not rude and do not attack deviants, they are fine the way they are.

It is also about the Rating System. Many of you don't know anything about the system or what it is used for, nor the reason you should be using it. This needs to change. It's there to help you, me, and everyone else here at deviantART. But how can it help us if no one is using it?

What the Comment Revolution Isn't

The Comment Revolution isn't about denying everyone who doesn't comment well a place here at deviantART. It's not about ripping apart an artist with negative criticism. It's not about removing deviants who are here just to browse the site. It's not about the English language. It doesn't involve abusing the rating system. It's not about removing comments that don't fit the criteria.

We in no way wish to alter deviantART in a way that would make those people who are here just to browse obsolete. We aren't trying to eliminate all comments that aren't "good enough." This is about education really. Educating deviants about how and why good comments effect the person you leave them with. Educating deviants on the art of critique. Educating them on the rating system and why they should use it.

Don't be fooled. Even the shortest comments are useful to artists. 200 comments of "great work, I love it" show that the piece is at least well liked and that the artist did something right. Those comments build a bit of a relationship. But leave a comment that is insightful, interesting, and gives the artist your point of view, and you can increase that relationship tenfold.


The Next Step

Here's what I propose, and this of course is up for debate, as this isn't just my personal project.

We need to:

Continue Spreading The Idea

142 comments and counting, all because of those of you who've decided to try and get this message to others. Thank you, all of you. This won't work if I'm the only one preaching it. All those links in signatures and journal entries are really paying off. The more support and ideas, the better.

The Plan

I have my own little plan in my head, but I'm sure many of you have ideas on how to go about doing this the right way. We must try not to offend people or scare them into thinking deviantART is turning into an "elitist-only" site.

User Guides and Education

In my last entry, *ivyc mentioned her interest in coming up with a "critique guide" for users here. I applaud this idea and want to get a group together to form this guide. If you are interested, please let me (and *ivyc) know ASAP. I have seen a few unofficial deviantART critique guides here and there, but I can't remember where any of them are or who they were done by. If you know or can find out, contact those deviants so that we may get their help on this part of the project.

There is much to put in this guide, so we'll need a lot of people for this part. Those of you who comment purely on the design side (photographers, designers, etc.) and those of you who base your comments on past experiences or the emotional aspect of the piece.

Also, we have the Rating System. As some of you know, this system is not fully finished. However, it's potential use is what is important, and we need to educate deviants on using it now for future results. I will contact a few staff members for more on this system and what we can tell deviants, since the FAQ doesn't go into much depth.

Recognition

At this time I would like to recognize the following two deviants who have shown extraordinary talent in leaving comments here at deviantART. These deviants have displayed exactly the kind of forward thinking that The Comment Revolution is all about.



*inziladun has been with us only 6 months and has shown that he is the type of member we are looking for. His comments are not only lengthy and easily noticeable, they also go into wonderful detail about why he does or doesn't like something in the piece he comments on. He has also shown great interest in helping along the progress of educating community members on the importance of good feedback.



`coshdaddy is, in simpler terms, a ShoutBox veteran. But the "short and fun commenting" that happens there doesn't apply when it comes to his comments on art. They are some of the best deviantART has seen thus far. Not only does he analyze things from a design and technical point of view, he also includes some of his personal feelings or experiences as well.

These two deviants have recieved a 3 month subscription to deviantART from yours truly. I hope this helps them with their commenting (browsing ad-free and with all the extra features). They truly deserve it.

Recommendations

I appreciate all the recommendations people left me for outstanding commenting deviant recognition in my last entry. I viewed all of them and chose the above two deviants for now. I've got others in mind as well.

Please feel free to let all of us know if you run across someone who continually leaves great comments. These people are real assets to this community and should be recognized as so.

Linking To The Comment Revolution

Those of you who had been linking to the previous entry, you can update your links to this entry or leave those links be. I will be updating that entry to let users know of this newer journal. That way everyone should be able to find things.

Thank you again to all of you who have been helping this thing spread. Feel free to put the link to this journal in your signature or journal if you haven't done so already. Help support this movement in commenting at deviantART!

___________
*splat
Patrick Haney
splat@deviantart.com
http://splat.deviantart.com