DeviantArt Reviews 397

I've been on deviantArt for 15 years, and it used to be my favorite site on the web. Unfortunately, the new UI is a slapdash, barely-functioning mess of half-finished code. A number of key features have been removed, and those that remain are slow and riddled with glitches. Art thieves run amok, bullies harass with impunity, and bot accounts churn out mind-boggling amounts of spam.
Staff's decision to remove Categories consigned a decade's worth of stock images to the dustbin of history; free resources are now difficult, if not impossible, to find. It's an absolute clusterfvck, and site management is completely disinterested in user feedback — not even from longtime beta testers, senior members, and community volunteers. If my income wasn't tied to the site, I would've left months ago.

Second review:

After some time after forcing Eclipse, I can only say that it's getting worse every day!

Only Core users are even, slightly heard! The staff doesn't care about the other users!
And even worse! The senior members are beginning to act really weird! They are overprotective of the staff, so that when anyone criticizes the staff we are either accused of bullying or of being disrespectful, when it's not the case!
A user was banned after being flagged by a senior member, simply because the user didn't agree with them!

And yet, art thiefs, spam and sex bots and people who actually break the site's rules are left alone even after being reported! And if the "criminal" users are Core, forget it! The staff will protect them!

That happened with Nads6969! She stole and traced art for more than 10 years! And even if DA has a 3 strike DMCA policy, it took about 10, if not more, DMCA reports and campaigns outside of the website, to finally getting her banned!
Really?!

Terrible site! The thiefs are rewarded, while artists can't even retrieve their earnings from the site without being a Core member!

Go to a different website, please! Preferably one not own by Wix!

Been here for about ten months, and DeviantArt has been pretty supportive, and though i've heard a lot of criticism of this eclipse theme, I find it really nice! that's mostly because all the stars and the dark mode, and the stuff, was what got me into DeviantArt in the first place! Oh oh oh and they keep throwing about this little badges and stuff which kinda keeps me excited! (It's been much much more user friendly, and supportive than Fandom wiki, where I deleted my account after less than two weeks due to cyber bullying and terrible admins... Love ya DA!)

Categories are gone, limited amount of tags you can use, forum posts that expire so you can't comment, Eclipse's new weird boxy designs that is basically a rip-off of Artstation, but somehow even worse. DA, you've failed. Probably the time to just let your site die.

I would rate this negative stars if I could. It's a shame because I was one of those long-time users who stuck with it even through the worst of times, the lopsided enforcement of the Terms of Service and the way people have taken advantage of that, the admins never really listening to the users, and site changes that made the place more difficult to use and simply a lack of interest.

There are a few factors that made me leave DeviantArt, mostly that I have found other places that are more engaging, but Eclipse was a big part of why I ended up deactivating. This was the change that wound up making it impossible to use the site for the one thing that made it worthwhile even after the move of most of my favorite artists to Twitter and Tumblr. The search function is completely broken, making it impossible to find Photoshop resources (brushes, patterns, swatches, etc., which DeviantArt has a lot of and I got use out of it for that purpose). So I'd rate this site with negative stars if I could. I had a good time there and made some friends, but the bad far outweighs the good here.

0 Star actually.
Since eclipse launched, there are barely any people active who favorite art pieces, share art, hang out or watch people in general as the staff never listend to their userbase.
Artists even barely get commissioned anymore due to people just leaving and a lot of artists did rely on DeviantART for their businesses and work. It instantly dropped once eclipse launched and it just ruined a lot for artists. What a waste and shame.

DeviantArt doesn't value it's members. They only value your money. I had an issue where I had been gifted points instead of paid out through a commission widget, which means you cannot withdraw them to PayPal.

I emailed the team about this issue, and asked if they had any solutions for me as I desperately need that money (for my 18 year old feline friend who has stage three kidney failure). They basically told me 'better luck next time', and closed the ticket.

Horrible customer service. My point is proven when you realize more than half of the DeviantArt community asked for Eclipse to not be released, or at least for Eclipse's issues to be fixed; but they ignored us all.

Don't use DeviantArt, look into ArtRise instead.

they are working more on things that people HATE then restoring things people what. and they've done mod to fix the app over the site. that pay to see art is the worst thing they done tied with chat

if i could give it lower than one star i could.

got a note that i was using a hateful/racial slur after i got banned from the forum, when i click on the link where the supposed hateful/racial slur is used, i not only can't see the comment because i'm banned from the forums and i guess its done intentionally because they didn't think i possess enough braincells to think about checking the comment from a logged out account, but the comment doesnt even contain a slur let alone a hateful or racist one.

comment in question that i got banned over:

deviantart. com/comments/18/2628572/4905681212

and special FU to their stupid mod @pakaku who uses his position to solve personal issues they have with users.

as everyone says, and may I add they don't care about who you are, as long as they profit off you, they're happy
they don't even let people cash out their money unless they buy core

The site is a mess and unusable since the new layout launched. There is so much unnecessary empty space especially on a deviation page (with mobile version at least). I wanted to start over with a new account back in early 2019 and I was getting noticed until the Eclipse update came and ruined my opportunity. Barely anybody views my works now and it’s honestly disheartening. It’s why I quit this site. I lost hope it will ever improve when they give us useless updates like fragments.

MAYBE something forced them to launch it too early??? The groups aren’t touched for crying out loud. But aside from the update, it’s very easy to get caught up in drama, harassment, trolling, stalking, and sex bots yet staff does little to nothing to fix it. Controversial topics will get you banned for "hate speech" or at the very least, censored: they are biased against centrists and conservatives with the censorship and banning those who did nothing wrong. The other part is total lack of exposure if your art isn’t fanart or doesn’t fit the majority’s standards.

Besides that, extensive customization and ease of navigation were the best aspects of the website. There’s no longer a reason for coding and the HTML community to exist on that site because it’s been ridden of. It’s obvious that team doesn’t care about its user base. It’s been several months now and the site is still a huge bundle of mess as it is. DA was dying and Eclipse killed it. The site should be renamed to Eclipse as it is because it purged our sunshine. Screw this website.

I no longer recognize the website. Since Wix bought them, everything has gone downhill. Trolls, spammers, bullies, thieves, and drama queens are on every corner. The update they launched last year was a disaster. Nothing worked; they destroyed everything. The new layout consumes so much memory that it causes my browser to experience lag and crash. This issue has been around for months, but the staff did not address it. Reporting notable problems can be a nightmare. They don't respond for days or always give the same answer, which indicates their disregard.

I reported a user using an alternative account to circumvent the obstruction, and their administrator told me it was a personal conflict. They used to be serious about cases like this, but now they don't care. They affiliated with cryptocurrency several months ago. It's a well-known technology designed to destroy the planet. I find it amusing that they require you to purchase a crappy subscription to safeguard your work from NFT thieves, yet they have no issues with the cryptocurrency linked to NFTs. I cannot express how wrong this is.

Nobody will do anything to stop people from bullying, belittling, and calling you names. Eclipse supporters are aggressive and biased. They'll harass and raid you because you don't like their shoddy updates. Scaly Flower is the worst of the worst. She is always seeking arguments and ways to brawl with you. She is the most toxic and aggressive Eclipse supporter on DeviantArt. The staff is defending her. Their incompetent team issued two warnings to me for my criticism. Individuals are facing censorship for making political jokes. One of them received a warning because he made jokes about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 elections. Therefore, not only are they biased, but they are also behaving like communists.

They should move to China along with their regimes. The website we once knew has long since ceased to exist in its former glory. It has transformed into something unrecognizable. They have even permitted abhorrent content, such as cannibal pornography, child cannibalism, and other despicable material. I reported all of them, yet a disabled staff member granted them a pass. This is utterly appalling! Discord festers among us as we are bombarded with their messages, endorsing the Ukrainian Nazis. 

A small update on my review: 
Five days ago, I reported a clear instance of block circumvention, and the manager, Nick, responded with a generic reply before closing the ticket. Stay away from them.

Another update 2/12/2024: In 2023, the team attempted to hitch AI stunts and began promoting AI-generated content and money laundering. Despite numerous complaints, protests, and revolts from the user base, the staff became unhinged and started censoring, removing comments, and suspending users for opposing AI. To make matters worse, the team updated their terms of service three times without our knowledge to establish a justification for punishing us. Be cautious, or you will be busted.

The Site if full of toxic R3tard's, if you try to Aid them and Give them a 1 up on there art on how to try to Make it better, just a Minor Touch up !

Aid them in the Text or Tell to Lighten 1 hue here or there. BOOM ! ... BAM ! COMMENT WAR !!!! AND THE ARTIST N YOU GET INTO A UCK'N FIGHT !
HUGE FIGHT ! n You Get Blocked on a Minor Aid, on a Bit of Work you Simple Try'd to Make Better !
And you and end up fighting every one in the Comment Section 😡
and then you get Called a Man Child and kinda want to Go Postal !

1 Kind act turned into a war Zone .... 🔥_🔥
and you Could of Let it go, but thay Wouldn't Stop Spamming your Inbox.

and you Wonder why So Many people are Schizotypal !

DeviantArt was the go-to website for photo reference. Now, it's almost impossible to find what you're looking for and you're bombarded with everything you don't want. The redesign of this website has all but ruined it. The search functions and sidebar are awful.

Deviantart used to be such a good website for artists, that listened to their creators and worked together to make an absolutely amazing community. Ive been on it for 13 years. but recently, they just stopped caring and subsequently, so have I. The new layout is practically unusable and everything is now a "core" feature. making you pay for a site that is slowly dying due to their terrible mismanagement. Users have been very vocal about their dislike of the new site but it seems that DA no longer care about artists and only care about money. it makes me very sad to see it and now its only a matter of time before the site completely goes under and many artists, including myself, are leaving the platform.

Really bad, which is a shame. The whole reason I made my account is so I could post this review. I used to frequent the website back in 2016 and now it's completely unusable with my primary computer. All of my art, all of my folders, and all of my profile things are completely gone/un-navigable. It's really unfortunate they decide to push forward with this new "Deviantart Eclipse".

Bloody awful now after they replaced the site with "Eclipse" - the perfect example of terrible UX crap that seems to be the fad among social sites nowadays. DeviantArt went from being an art site to being an impossible, unnavigable mess. So messy they actually have a tutorial on how to use the site. Dudes, if you need to EXPLAIN to people how to make simple searches, chances are your UX is garbage!

I've used DeviantArt since 2003 at least and I'm done with it. I can't be bothered posting stuff I know no one will see now, and I can't be bothered to use it for looking up artwork, because searching anything on Eclipse will give you a billion results that have zero to do with your search.

It's useless junk. What a goddamn shame that is too. DeviantArt was great once.

I finally left the company after being a member for eleven years. The web redesign called eclipse was a steaming pile of stink. I worked nineteen years in the Silicon Valley in many world class companies including NASA, USCG, Netscape, Harman, Excelan/Novell and Adobe.

The eclipse project is an outstanding example of how to completely screwup a web community with a horrible User Interface, freaking awful 1990s graphics, HUGE nav buttons, infinity scrolling pages, massive broken features that worked in the older design, and spending time and effort create a something way too late after working on the project for more than a year. The DEV team is the worse I have ever seen in my forty years of work experience.

Used to love it but Eclipse made it impossible for me to continue using as my main art platform. It's so glitchy as I can't scroll down without the top bar moving to the middle of my page. Also can't keep up with deleting all the notifications I get from artist by hand as they deleted the ability to select all and delete. Was hoping by now maybe eclipse would've gotten better but no it's still crappy and as unappealing as an uncooked noodle

DeviantArt has been absolutely tarnished beyond repair by the recent Eclipse overhaul to the point where it is virtually impossible to enjoy using now. What was once a smartly-designed and varied art and literature website and creative community has been transformed into a bleak, stripped-down, non-intuitive dumpster fire of atrocious design decisions. So many functions, features (including basic ones such as art categories) and options have been removed making it far more difficult to locate specific art, navigate the website and immerse oneself in content that one might enjoy. It's now also a visual eyesore, consisting of a miserable ultra-dark grey background, mundane sans serif fonts, over-sized thumbnails and cluttered search results. The overhaul was supposed to bring DeviantArt into the new 2020s decade, but it now looks and operates like a free template website from 2005. The entire website is a gigantic downgrade in every possible way. That's right, not one aspect of it has been improved. The new design far too frustrating to adapt to and is no longer worth the time of any artist, casual, student or professional.