Why move Watch out of Notifications?

In my last journal, What's going on with DeviantArt, there was a lot of great conversation back and forth and over 400 comments. I read every single one, and my responses started to become repetitive so I stopped.

One of my favorite questions was, "Why do you even want to move Watch out of Notifications? I don't understand why this is so important." So I wanted to address that head on:


Answer: Moar Power. Easier to Use.

The real project here is that we're switching to a Watch that is powered by the same/similar systems Browse is powered by, making it possible to see your Watch as Newest, Undiscovered, Popular, filter by Category, search by keyword, filter by Shop items, Commission items, etc. MUCH MOAR POWERFUL. 

Here's the disconnect:

1. The experience of Browse needs improvement, too.

Browse needs functionality that reinforces why we're all here; To engage with the DeviantArt community, grow in our standing, and otherwise facilitate our creative needs together. The Browse environment is capable of much more and we need to invest resources in improving it so that we can do all kinds of powerful stuff, like:

- See First Deviation Posts easily in any Category.
- Help drive each of you towards Deviants that need Feedback, attention, etc. 
- Help identify deviants who recently posted a deviation and aren't getting attention.
- Help identify deviants who are posting their First Deviation to DeviantArt, which is a big deal. 
- Allow Deviants who post in a category they have never posted in, to connect with other deviants who can welcome them to that category and help them get going.

Once browse is doing these things, imagine how powerful those functions would be for your Watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


2. The Watch beta didn't take advantage of the Browse back-end before we went to beta. 

There's more work here to demonstrate the power of Watch when powered by Browse/Search instead of Notifications. Literally, we didn't expose those features on the interface of New Watch Beta. We exposed basic functionality for this environment.

What DeviantArt needs to do is shut the heck up, go back and produce a Watch that seriously takes advantage of the Search backend, and then relaunch the Beta so you guys see why we're doing all this stuff. After that, we'll talk again.


Please support us by reading updates like this one, and giving us your feedback and letting us know if you think we're getting it.

Cheers,
-- Spyed

p.s. My spyed account still has value in discussing issues like this. My angelo account continues to be where I put all of my real attention, my art, my points of view on life. But I think keeping spyed for official company stuff is still the right way. I'm definitely having some sort of DeviantArt identity crisis.. LOL