Okay, here's the beginning of a running list of things I'd like to see change on deviantART:

•Scrolling text thumbs for literature thumbshare: If you have ever tried featuring lit or tried sifting through features, you know how annoying it is that Everything Looks the Same. Lit is naturally treated as second class on dA, and I don't think enough is being done to offset the obvious drawbacks of lit vs. visual art, mainly that it's a hell of a lot harder to know if you like lit than a picture. You usually know instantly with a picture; with lit, you really have to seek it out. I really like the scrolling text thumbs they implemented a few upgrades back. I've branched out a ton more in my lit-reading because a first sentence or line is all that is really needed to suck a person in. Sometimes it takes a few lines, so I know I'm missing some great stuff, but I'm not missing all of it anymore.

So, dA, please help us with making the scrolling text thumbs universal.

•A friendship category for poetry: This is the biggest problem I run in to for submitting poetry. A lot of what I write is based in a deep, substantial love between friends. I'm often forced to either cheapen it and put it in romantic poetry or shove it in human nature, which I think defeats the purpose of having categories at all.

We really need a category revamp in general, but I know the friendship category is a common request.

•Speaking of categories, what about Creative Non-Fiction?: I've been putting all of my creative non-fiction into Fiction>Life Stories because it fits best.

People make entire careers on creative non-fiction. We could use a category for it.

•A "You Cannot Favorite Without Commenting First" block: I love favorites as much as the next person, but it means nothing to me without the words of the reader. Even a "Wow, this was great!" is better than a simple . I encourage critique. I have a premium account halfway so I can use the critique feature. But that's not the point. I joined this community because it was a community. I want to interact with other artists and readers. When I joined that wasn't a problem. Now I have to troll the forums to get some kind of human interaction here.

Give us the option to deny favorites without accompanying comments.

•Allow "/" and "()" in deviation titles: More than just "/" and "()" but also ñ and é, etc. I'm guessing its a URL thing. You guys are genius coders and you can't figure out a system to automatically convert "/" to "-" and "ñ" to "n" in the URL? Not only is this limited, but it's extremely unfair to people who write in languages other than English. I wrote a Spanish haiku (odd choice, I know) and the title is "El verbo extrañar," but dA wouldn't let me have that title because of the unaccepted character. I was forced to title it "El verbo extranar," which is not the title.

Titles are extremely important and say a lot about the piece. Don't cheapen it. Give us the option to be true to the art.



This is what I've got for now. Once I find the right people to make suggestions to, suggest I will.

If you have anything to add, please comment! I'll add to the list as suggestions come in.


Suggested by ~Ailoura-aithe:
"how about a preview for poetry/lit before submission, like the preview author's comments? atm you have to submit and then edit the deviation until the lay-out's right (which can obviously be quite crucial to a poem). it's annoying and time-consuming. (also, this means that people can see it before it's sorted out)"