Hey guys,

Obviously some concerns regarding v7's release. We're here for you, and I'm working diligently today to prepare a response with the team to the main concerns regarding version 7. So await that on the #hq blog.

We are reading your praise and we appreciate it greatly, we are reading your concerns and complaints and discussing how to address them quickly. Mostly I think you needed to hear that.

Getting back to the job, but please keep it peaceful. We've learned that v7 does need some adjustments, but they are not major, so don't stress. We'll explain the reasoning behind the changes, why we're waiting out re-introducing the search box and share some thoughts regarding the message counter up top and propose a solution. Plus, we are now aware deviation pages are having some issues in Firefox, also aware of some slow downs due to drop shadows and rendering issues. We're in the thick of it and working hard so keep screaming if it helps, we'll know it's all better when you calm down.

A release of this size is a massive under taking at deviantART's traffic scale. I would have liked it to have been a bit smoother, but some of this is to be expected.

We'll be tip top again in no time.



-- A

Every single day that I do what I do leads to another peak for my love of this place.

I won't lie. As with everything, there are days that really, really compound suckage. Where everything is in disarray and I could strangle the nearest llama plushie. Err if there was such a thing. Which there isn't.

But then something happens, be it a community event or an interaction, or a journal I read or a deviation that I see and it makes me so unbelievably proud of the role this community plays in the lives of the people it affects. It brings out every sappy feeling imaginable and it just feels like an injection of fuel that makes me want to work the whole weekend away drafting the hows of making this place even better.

And the incredible thing is, whenever I need it, all I have to do is ask and I see it in abundance. All of you, going about your lives, being creative, emotional, beautiful people. Even when you're flipping out, I guess as I got older running deviantART (for those who don't know, when we started, I was 19... I'm now 29) I've realized the underlining motivations of the people who make up deviantART. And then meeting about 2500 deviants on the 10 stop world tour last year, as you can imagine, helped in a really profound way to piece together the faces and the names and the intentions behind where everyone might be coming from, what the perspective is... know what I mean?

And I've learned that the perspective shared here isn't just from a good place. It isn't a coincidence. It isn't to be taken for granted.

I see people online and offline describe deviantART with the fleeting thought here and there that, 'hey you know, that place really has a strong community.' "Boy you know, that place sure does have passionate members." "Oh, gee golly, that deviantART sure does have some pretty creative people on there."

I don't want you to think of it that way. I want you to have confidence about it and I want you to know it. I want you to lean on it, and let it in as a part of your life. Give back to your fellow community members in the way that they give to you whenever they give to you. And there is a darn good reason to do this.

I've met SO MANY of YOU. I just wish you all realized that, for example, if you've figured out how end up on this journal reading these words, you're so much like the other people reading. You have so much in common. It's a perfectly distilled connection.

You're smart, you're often technical, you're sensitive, you're emotional, you're open to good ideas, you're looking to be inspired, you're inspiring yourself..... you're really about the most beautiful large group of people I've ever seen in one place. In all, deviantART is perhaps the purest greatest injection of human goodness that you can find in aggregate. And how on earth can you take that for granted?

Give to it. Give in to it.

Creativity itself represents the purest and finest characteristic of the human race. And here we are together, sharing in that beauty. Distilled for a decade so that the folks whose names you see who you find to be synonymous with deviantART, and the folks that gather around them, and the folks that gather around them are in fact surrounding legends, are legends themselves, or are legends in the making. Not necessarily me, or our awesome staff here at dA. But I especially mean the folks running Groups successfully, the folks who make the art that inspires you the most... and then the folks who are learning from them, and contributing their own mix, and then those who readily appreciate this process.

Distilled human beauty.

Enjoy deviantART. Don't take it for granted. Give to it. It deserves it. You deserve it.

Have an awesome weekend.

First of all can I just say.. it's never been more insane around here. deviantART is back on this insane growth clip, and I couldn't be more amped or more in need of sleep.. in no particular order. LOL


And, as a warning shot... Llamas are gettin' updated with more llama goodness. They needed more levels, so we've enhanced the whole system. I still can't believe how crazy the response has been.. as of this writing, 5.2 million llamas in 6 days, 19 hours. That's about 700,000 llamas per day folks! Plus, 628,000 *unique deviants* have given at least one llama!

Way to show community spirit folks... big pat on the llama fur for you. Oooooh. sofftt....

On a more serious note, a couple of nuclear awesomesauces are being concocted for you. You'll be dipping chips in to it and eating the whole thing right up, I promise! Bahhhhh I wish I could tell you all about it but you're just going to have to wait and see. Any guesses?

Want to earn some Points? Give me llamas.

Want to get some Llamas? Offer Points!

Let's Play Llama Trading Game!

Perhaps the single most unpolished bit of published code in the past number of years by deviantART... but don't worry we'll be updating it to look pretty soon!

-- A

Seriously. Go to the top right of my user page, and GIVE ME A LLAMA BADGE.

The insanity around here is going to get ridiculously intense for a day or two... enjoy!

llamadrama.

-- A