A few changes are being made around here.

I haven't said much of anything about the debate over the new photo-sharing tools because I didn't want to get involved until I really understood what was going on and because, in the words of another deviant, "I felt I wouldn't be adding to the debate as much as perpetuating it."
However, I must state that I am blatantly appalled at the manner in which this controversy has been handled.
People who want simply to have the option of disabling the share tools are being ridiculed for being illogical, unintelligent, and ignorant, and wanting some degree of privacy and choice in whether or not they want to use the new share features.

There are those on both sides who have expressed their opinions with some amount of respect and regard for others in this debate, and I commend those individuals.

For the last two years, I've kept a very strong boundary between my identity as a model and my identity as a regular, college-attending human being. While I understand that people will link my work where they feel like it, when they feel like it (which I have a problem with, but can't do much about), I have a serious problem with the fact that those linking tools connect to websites where my real name and personal information, professors and peers at college, and family members may have access to them. Paranoid, perhaps, but the reaction of graduate schools, colleges, and potential employers who all use Facebook to check up on people would have serious long-term consequences for my future. I don't want my work linked anywhere, but I especially don't want it linked using share tools that were added to my account without my consent or permission. I also have serious concerns regarding the fact that, when images are posted on many of those social networking sites they technically become property of those sites. Facebook has some lines of policy that concern me a lot.

Privacy is important, and I believe very strongly that the option for privacy should be given to those who want it. Not everyone on DeviantArt is here to become widely known, some people just want an opportunity to share their art with people in an appreciative environment. The general attitude of people who support link-sharing seems to be that if you don't want your images all over the internet, you shouldn't post them anywhere. The message seems to be that people who want some degree of privacy don't belong here or on any other photo/art site, and that alone makes me very, very sad.

I've loved being a part of this site, and I've met so many wonderfully talented artists and wonderful people here. I don't want to limit the works I post or leave, but like so many others, I'm tired of being misunderstood, insulted, and ridiculed because I want a choice. There are GMs who are starting "moron lists" and admins whose cruelty and lack of respect are completely reprehensible, and I don't think I want to be part of a site that treats its members in such a fashion for stating their opinions and making requests about things that are important to them.

It has been said in numerous places that if, and I quote, "the artist can't deal with (the) promotion, then perhaps they should re-think what they're uploading to DA."
and "Do not upload you art to the internet if you don't want it linked to. The end."

I can't deal with this kind of "promotion", and I don't want my art linked to.
I've thought long and hard about this, and I've started taking down images - half my gallery, to be exact. I won't be deleting my DD, non-nudes, and other nudes that don't show my face clearly, but everything else has to go.
I really don't want this to be the case because most of the images I love most by Perry, Michael, Shy, Froggy, and David fall into this category, but the simple fact of the matter is that:

a. I do not understand why DA is objecting so strongly to people who want an option or choice in this matter, and I do not appreciate the way people with this opinion have been treated, and the way people have been treating each other. It's ridiculous and unkind and the polar opposite of the sort of family-community feel/attitude that drew me to DA in the first place.

b. I only want my art to appear on those sites by my own choice, not by someone else's.
(see =kittiem's statement about this below, she put it much better than I could).

c. I'm concerned about what will happen to the community as a result of these share tools
(see *noughtagroos' statement below)

d. I care more about being a part of my family and keeping the general populace of my college from knowing about my modeling than I do about having my work posted here, and I cannot take the risk, however remote, of having them discover my work via a link on Facebook.

and given all these things, changes need to be made.
I'm so proud of the following I've gained here, and was very excited about seeing what the future might bring. I haven't received all the images, or any images at all, from no less than eight shoots to date, and I was looking forward to the response of my fellow artists and watchers to them.
I won't be leaving the site, and if policy changes or my circumstances change and I'm in a place where I feel comfortable with people on those sites knowing about my modeling, I'll re-post the images. Until that day, though, I'm afraid most of my work won't be appearing here.

*noughtagroos, =kittiem, and *Doublecrash articulated their thoughts on this far better than I could.
I'll let them speak for me on this issue in more detail.

*Doublecrash's journal:
[link]

*noughtagroos :
"Everyone I've talked to who is against the sharing feature understands that the purpose is to provide a controlled way of sharing it. Though the revenue benefit to DA is obvious (increased eyeballs = increased ad revenue), most of these people also believe that this feature was developed with good intentions.

The problem is that (1) the feature doesn't take into account the potential for quite real negative consequences, however unintended these might be. (2) It also assumes that concerns about piracy are more important than concerns about the nature of the community, when the truth is that there are many different ways DA members look at this issue. (3) It assumes everyone's view on sharing art is the same, and (3) last but not least it makes the arrogant assumption that DA knows what is best for all of its members without entering into a real dialogue with them first.

At the heart of these four issues is the fact that for many, what brought them to DA was the idea of sharing their work within a community of artists. Yes, there will be instances of people pirating your copyrighted work, and yes, some in the DA community might hardly qualify as artists, but the preponderant experience for many has been a positive environment of artists sharing their work with their peers and for the most part finding intelligent discussions about their work and others. Many, many of the people here on DA create their work not for an audience of the masses, but for the appreciation they can get from intelligent artists who are truly able to appreciate their work for what it is.

For artists like this, promoting broader sharing of their work to communities like Facebook detracts from the DA experience, as it loosens the bonds of the community of artists. Yes, I understand all about the "intertextuality" that ~LinaThanatos refers to above (I studied with Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, in grad school), and I've spent the last 15 years working for Internet companies. So I, and all the DA members complaining about this issue, completely understand that it's already technically quite easy to share art on DA with Facebook or anywhere else on the WWW. That's not the point. That it's technically possible means that some amount of it happens. Most DA artists dislike that but can live with it. But once you start drawing attention to it and making it very easy to do it, you are going to increase the amount of it happening dramatically. That immediately dilutes/taints the community for those who are here because they want to be in a community of artists.

Some of the best ones I know have already pulled their galleries and left. At least on DA member has been fired by a client for belonging to a community that has this sharing feature. I know of 2 who have been harassed viscously by new members who are not artists but are here to oggle."

"With all due respect... stealing is not the concern for many of the artists who are pulling their galleries. It's what will happen to the nature of the community here as a result of the sharing feature. dA could easily become something very much at odds with what has made this community so attractive to so many talented artists thus far. If dA no longer offers the same "community of artists" experience, and even increases the risk of highly negative experiences with people who have no genuine interest in art, then it will drive many talented artists away." - noughtagroos

=kittiem :
"people like being given choices. People like being able to decide for themselves. People like being warned about features like this before they are put in place. Those are things dA ignored totally. We were NOT given a choice to remove the feature, nor were we even informed about it before it happened.

The people who dislike it are being treated like idiots, they are being misunderstood by members who cannot think for themselves because they are too busy listening to the crap that the staff and admin are spouting. Just because the staff and admin pointed out that you can share links "The Old Fashioned Way" (a very overused term at this point) doesn't mean that is a valid argument for not giving artists the choice. Each and every member, including those who like the feature, have been stripped of their right to choose how their work is visibly represented.

Just because anyone can link work the old fashioned way doesn't mean the artist has to support this new feature. It is more asinine for you to say "I don't understand why you are all getting so upset, people can link your work the old fashioned way" than it is for them to say "I just want to be able to choose". Those buttons appearing under their work is almost like saying they support those sites and they support the sharing that goes on. They might not support it. Just because people can link to your work without your permission doesn't mean you have to support it.

If someone doesn't support link sharing the old fashioned way, and they don't support it this way either, why should they be forced to deal with it. They cannot prevent it from happening the old fashioned way...but they should be allowed to prevent it the permissible way, because they didn't give their permission."