An Analysis of Deviant Art's Asshattery 2

After discussing a multitude of ideas with people and generally spending more time on Deviant Art, I have either noticed or have been made aware of other issues that pertain to the site.  This list is composed of three items, and like before, will also contain solutions.  My numbering will pick up from last time.

PROBLEM #5: PEOPLE CAN CREATE MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

After looking into the way Deviant Art accounts are created, I learned that their creation is determined by email address.  To an extent, IP addresses come into play, but they only seem to come into play if someone gets banned.  To create an account, one simply provides an email address, personal information, and some other credentials; they also indicate that they supposedly read the terms of service.  To my knowledge, Deviant Art doesn't really use a computer's IP address for standard account creation.

For those of you who don't know what an IP address is, it's a series of numbers separated by periods, and is unique to each computer connected to the internet.  It's basically your computer's identification code.  The internet locates and saves your IP address when you browse, make accounts on sites, etc.  If the Deviant Art staff decides to ban someone, they ban their IP address so the computer itself can't access the site.  Any and all accounts tied to that IP address become unusable, and the person is unable to create new accounts from that particular computer.

There is one fundamental problem with this system: the absence of IP address in the creation of accounts (not including those trying to be created from a banned machine).  The site logs the IP address; otherwise, banned computers could make new accounts.  However, the site doesn't have a one-account-per-computer policy.  What this means, then, is that a single person can theoretically create an unlimited number of accounts, provided they have a valid email address for each of them, and as long as they don't get banned, they can use whichever account they want.  Why is this a problem?  Simple: harassment and block evasion.  The purpose of the blocking system is to keep people from talking to you, regardless of reason, but it's rendered totally useless if the person you're blocking can continue harassing you through other accounts.  It's not exactly rocket science.

Another issue I've been hearing about lately is the hijacking of dormant accounts.  People have been telling me that people block them for no reason, without having ever even seen them; I myself have been blocked by random people I'd never seen before.  What seems to be happening, from what I've been told, is that dormant accounts are being hacked and their watchers are being blocked so no one can do anything about it.  Perhaps this is happening because a given person can create upwards of five different accounts from the same computer and these accounts just sit and rot?  Hmmmm…

Yes, it's possible a given person could potentially own several computers.  Maybe a person's family has a few laptops and a desktop, but the multiple-account problem would be easier to monitor if the site used IP address in addition to email address for account creation.  After all, who would really want to be forced to change computers just to log into a different account?

Solution: Use IP addresses to limit the number of accounts a person can create; employ this system for EVERYONE, not just for people who have been banned.  This will reduce the number of inactive accounts and will limit people's creation of accounts.  The site could be more easily managed and the number of hacked accounts would decrease to an extent.  I would think the staff would be chomping at the bit to incorporate this, since their job would be easier.  

PROBLEM #6: PEOPLE TREAT DEVIANT ART LIKE PHOTOBUCKET

This basic issue pertains to the fact that people upload things they didn't make themselves.  They may not have plagiarized it or stolen it per se, but they at least share it even though it isn't theirs.  They treat the site like Photobucket, uploading whatever they want.  It's surprisingly common to see this kind of thing going on, and some people have told me that they see many of these pieces frequently.  I personally don't see them very often, mainly because I don't care to browse art, but of course, that's not to say it doesn't happen.  

Art thievery and uploading stuff the person didn't make themselves is a pretty prolific issue on Deviant Art, and I'm pretty surprised that these people aren't dealt with more readily.  I don't know how this particular thing works behind the scenes, but it doesn't seem like the staff has a very efficient method of dealing with thieves and the rest of their ilk.  The solution provided may be somewhat annoying and cumbersome to institute, but if it would make the staff's job easier and would monitor thieves, I'd say it's worth a shot.

Solution: If someone has proven to be an art thief, they should either be banned immediately or placed on some sort of watch list that monitors what they upload, as the situation warrants.  I've been told this happens frequently, so maybe a particular group of staff members could handle thievery specifically.  Employing such a system would hopefully discourage people from uploading stuff that isn't theirs, and would lighten the load of the staff.  Sadly, this means the staff would be more able to do their jobs, and as we've established many times before, they don't like doing their job.

Solution proposed by StrawberryR

PROBLEM #7: DEVIANT ART MEMBERS ARE NOT TREATED EQUALLY

This is another issue that I personally haven't witnessed but have heard about from others.  From what I've been told, premium members aren't really bound by the same rules as standard-issue, non-paying members.  In other words, premium members and popular members get away with things regular members don't.  While I wasn't given specific examples, I can imagine it would mainly have something to do with art submissions or inappropriate behavior.  

I understand that premium members are literally paying for more privileges and features, but the site quality shouldn't suffer for everyone else, especially for everyone else, since the majority of members have a free account.  I understand the desire to keep these people's money coming in, but the rules are no different for them.  They shouldn't be permitted to do things for which non-paying members would be punished.  Non-paying members may not be paying for their accounts, but they're not oblivious to the goings-on of the site.  They see the kind of hypocrisy that's coming out of this "premium member" status and if this doesn't change, they're apt to deactivate their account and you, Deviant Art, have just lost a potential customer.  Shame on you for your lack of business savvy.

Solution: Treat all members equally.  Don't discriminate against someone for being a free member, and don't permit premium members to get away with things for which everyone else would be punished.  I've seen many premium members' galleries, and some of them are worse and less tasteful than those of free members.  Don't pigeon-hole people and sacrifice potential customers for the sake of powdering paid members' asses.  That isn't smart, DA, it isn't smart at all.  But since this would require the staff to do their jobs, this one won't be incorporated.

Solution proposed by Hallowedlady

And that's all she wrote.  Hopefully this covers the major issues of Deviant Art's basic list of dysfunction.  If not, the saga will continue.