Disabling and You--An open letter. Now with WIN!

<a href='hq.deviantart.com/blog/2724826…"> The New HQ Blog where you can find details about our new SEARCH DISABLE OPTIONS!!

EDIT: via SparrowSong "people who want protection should wait until the bugs are fixed [...] People losing FP rights in the excitement of testing a new feature = bad."

She's right, so if you've already got your work up--go ahead and change your sharing settings but if you haven't submitted a piece yet you might want to hold off for a bit (however, this doesn't mean panic! just breathe )

Right now there are still bugs and a few things that need to be pointed out and fixed but hey--that's true of every new feature.
SO! go read it, digest, edit your deviations (or wait until the mass option is available) and give your feedback!



Plus, I've said it before but I'll say it again: go thank a $taffie for getting this out and quickly!

There is still a bit of groaning that 'oh the dArama queens won' but we, the lit community, know that our victory here was the result of strong, impassioned, but polite and articulate petitioning.




Dear people who would lump lit in with the art theft people,

We're not in anyway associated with fear of art theft. Plain and simple. It is not the purpose of this letter to support or fight the art theft arguments or concerns. To be honest, it's immaterial to the lit community.

As some of the comments on this journal already testify to, lit's desire for search disabling/google protection is born out of our function here on dA.

For years, large parts of this community have not used dA for a showcase but a workshop. We have found dA and the experienced and skilled people within and decided we could benefit from their wisdom and in turn have helped other younger writers and together we have all grown.

But then we realized that dA could be detrimental to our careers. Which for some was heart breaking. This is our home, we like it here even with it's flaws and dArama.
But for some it was the last straw and so: diaspora. You see, very few people post here without intention of one day publishing.

Unfortunately google and other search engines that have made our lives easier in so many ways have made the dAWriter's life impossible.
You see, many publishers view dA as a vanity publishing of sorts. Our work is easily assessable, searchable, and widely distributed. The sum of that means that many publications do not want our work regardless of quality because it's not new. It's been seen already.

So why not just store the deviation
Good question. The answer is that even if you do, if a publisher searches for the text, they will get a hit on dA because once google sees something, it never forgets.

The answer for most people so far has been to simply delete their galleries and leave. Unfortunately, so many of those people were top quality writers, critics, and participants. Brain Drain.

But this is our home. We've met people we love and people who have changed our lives and we don't want to be driven off by our own desire to improve our career.
So we've asked for Search protection.

Other workshop sites have it and it works quite well in protecting your work from being searched via google or yahoo or god forbid Bing so we think: why not dA?

Now, with search disable we have the chance to take a step in the right direction for lit. We have the chance to get a sliver of the protection we need and perhaps, just perhaps, bring back those members who discovered the hard way that dA had been a detriment.

So, if you're against the option to disable that's fine but please consider that the reason that some people want this option is because they don't use deviantArt the way you do. Some of us have different needs.

Popularity is great on dA, it means more comments, more critique, more encouragement. We love the idea of sharing our work and others sharing because it exposes us to new influences, it gives us something to critique and critique is one of the best ways to improve your own work.

A lot of us don't care if you link to our work on facebook. We don't care if you tweet about it. We only care that you have to be one of us to see it. We only mind that publishers are turned off by a place we love.

Is that reasonable? Can you accept that? Could you even support us? We need it.

Thanks,
The Lit Community



*If you run across someone who doesn't understand why and what we want, feel free to direct them here. Effective change and understanding comes from sharing of perspectives.
*If you would like to share this in your own journal, I would much appreciate it as well.
*Some people have expressed desire for me to make this into a news article. I'm not sure if I should. I'd prefer you just show your support with comments, questions, and testimony here.
Thanks guys

I'm aware a great many of you have concerns, questions, or comments about This Journal discussing search disabling.

I expect many of you litters to be very excited. I'd ask that you breathe, smile, and relax for a moment. While this is a step in the right direction, it's currently lacking specifics for lit. moonbeam13 is helping me fill these in and so:
I'd like your questions about this so that they can be communicated in one place and we can figure out where we stand and what we need to work on.
Sound good?

Thank you all in advanced. I'm very proud of you people, you crazy crazy crazy crazy people.


PS there has been some negativity from people who don't understand why so many in the lit community want to be protected from search. Don't let it ruffle you. I'll be explaining soon in detail why you have asked and waited so patiently for it



*Edit:
Please continue to ask your questions They are much appreciated.

I, however, do not yet have full information so I'm going to have to hold off a little on sharing answers with you
But as soon as I have it, I will. Promise.



Guys! This is your last chance to get your entries in for the birthday tribute contest and the Scripts to Flicks contest! DO IT NOW! Don't wait or else BeccaJS will killlllllllllll yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Also:
The Lit List #39 THIRTY NINE! can you believe it? ATrue is a machine
Sounding your way through literature Great read!
:#getlit: poll Should we rename the WelcomeWagon?
Writers-Workshop is the first lit group that is...well a GROUP! Neato!


I've dropped Plate Tectonics and substituted Geomorph. I've also applied for graduation. Set up a GRE review session and am about to shell out $150 to take the GRE.
I've also taken on a  LOT of reading including Voegelin for Poli Theory. He was randomly assigned to be my good buddy this semester. Let's hope he doesn't piss me off.
By the end of this semester I estimate that I'll read about 3k pages worth of text.
Fun!
Can I do it? Yes I can.


I'm getting new eye glasses and Rx today! Nervous very nervous.

PS zanenkim is part of the Team in Training to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. If you could help him out in any way that'd be amazing.

I mean...how can you not support that!


pps--Please keep all those in California in your thoughts as they fight wild fires. Having lost a house and family to fire, I can tell you that what they are going through is devastating.