deviantART about to hit 50 million submissions!

And its Alexa rank is nearing the top 50

Sunday, February 3, 2008 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News

In a few hours, our friends at deviantART will hit their 50 MILLIONTH submission (deviation).

But for me, the most amazing thing about deviantART is its popularity.  It is now in the top 50 most visited websites in the world. 

Let me put that in perspective. deviantART is more popular than MSNBC.com, CNET.COM, MTV.com, Gamespot, IGN, and many other extremely well known sites. 

In fact, more people go to deviantART.com on a typical day than CNN.com.  That's how popular the site has become.

What started out as a skinning site has become the world's dominant art site.  Obviously, customization isn't a focus these days, I think it's still amazing how the site has grown.  I'll be the first to say that for the life of me it's beyond my grasp. I've never (and continue not to) understood the desire of people wanting to submit random stuff.  I understand people wanting to share skins or icons or software and other such things, but not scans of sketches or random art.  And that's what makes deviantART so revolutionary. It's not an obvious concept (at least not to me).

Congratulations deviantART on your 50 millions submission!

 

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JayG
Reply #1 Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:09 PM
stardock and fb have always been such fanboys of deviantart. why? the da comparison shouldn't be with actual media sites. how does it compare to flickr and other free public image upload sites?

killajosh
Reply #2 Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:30 PM
woohoo...50 million. And about 10 million of those are rips. meh....

Jafo
Reply #3 Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:40 PM

stardock and fb have always been such fanboys of deviantart. why?

Both Deviantart and Wincustomize grew out of a common ancestry...in as much as both instigators of the two sites were 'prominent' on skinz.org.

When that site was undermined by eFront the writing was definitely on the proverbial wall for new skinning sites to replace it.  Most fled initially to Devart but they tended to switch focus /attention towards more mainstream 'graphic art' and thus skinning's permutations were less prominent.

Wincustomize was a logical solution...to provide a focal point for skinning specifically, particularly the 'mainstream' apps, eg OD and Windowblinds...

Comparing either to a simple online host site such as flikr is pointless...there's no comparable community...they're just an online url for image linking...


Jafo
Reply #4 Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:44 PM

woohoo...50 million. And about 10 million of those are rips. meh....

Several million will be of a dog called 'Fido'....


ALMonty
Reply #5 Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:48 PM
I miss Jark.

killajosh
Reply #6 Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:55 PM
Several million will be of a dog called 'Fido'....


  

AtlanticCanadianScot
Reply #7 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:06 PM
nice to see such gracious magnanimity, objectivity as well as genuine bon homie ......indeed both sites have their merits + are a treasure trove for truly personalizing the personal computing experience . . .the background histories are indeed facinating + revealing;congrats indeed DevArt !

MountainHawk
Reply #8 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:09 PM
50 million submissions does not detract from the fact that a lot are just plain rubbish and junk. It does not detract from the fact that Angelo and co trashed its good reputation when they backstabbed Jark. Nor does it hide the fact that it is jammed full of petty little ego squabbles,rippers and people of questionable sanity. Some of the self harming images they allow are exremely disturbing and it makes me wonder about the mentality of those needing to create such images,let alone download them. I guess it could easily win the award for the sickest site on the internet. That is why I no longer go there. Why support pirates!  

mike b1954
Reply #9 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:25 PM
.. and don't forget the Trojans and virii that abound by the shedload ... I wanted an IP from there a coupla years ago ... I ended up having to do a completely new reinstall ....

Nor does it hide the fact that it is jammed full of petty little ego squabbles,rippers


~ Not forgetting the blatant use of bad language .... Great family site ? ? NOT !

plain rubbish and junk.


Need one say more .. thought so ...






ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK ....

teddybearcholla
Reply #10 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:40 PM
Nor does it hide the fact that it is jammed full of petty little ego squabbles,rippers and people of questionable sanity. Some of the self harming images they allow are exremely disturbing and it makes me wonder about the mentality of those needing to create such images,let alone download them.


If that is what a person is looking for, they will find it. If you are looking for good art, it is there, lots of it. There are a lot of good people on DA, just as there are a lot of good people here and when it comes to rippers, egoists, argumentative types and so on, you have them here also, not just at DA. Actually if you think about it, every site has all those kinds of people...they just may not be as visible.
....Oh and about flickr , there are a lot of rippers there also...and at photobucket...and I'm sure many other sites.
Anyway,just my 2 cents worth.

teddybearcholla
Reply #11 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:43 PM
.. and don't forget the Trojans and virii that abound by the shedload ... I wanted an IP from there a coupla years ago ... I ended up having to do a completely new reinstall ....


...funny, I've been a member there since 2004, and I've never had a virus, trojan or anything.... oh well...guess I'm just lucky..

scorpNZ
Reply #12 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:43 PM
It is now in the top 50 most visited websites in the world.

deviantART is more popular than MSNBC.com, CNET.COM, MTV.com, Gamespot, IGN, and many other extremely well known sites.

Well that's what i'm reading & understanding especially the 2nd paragraph, either that or it's time: *scorp walks to cupboard & readies straight jacket*

ps: i did'nt miss this either
deviantART will hit their 50 MILLIONTH submission (deviation).

LightStar
Reply #13 Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:57 PM
deviantART is more popular than MSNBC.com, CNET.COM, MTV.com, Gamespot, IGN, and many other extremely well known sites.


Well, I submit to devArt, but only XP themes, nothing else. But personally if it were to disappear, I would not even shed one tear. What's is really funny is I have never visited MSNBC.com, CNET.COM, MTV.com, Gamespot, or IGN (whatever that is) in my life. Talk about illegal drug related art too! Must be my age I guess.

A lot of the stuff on devArt is just plain junk. and as far as the comments about virus files and RIP's, I find that too often to be true. As a matter of fact, I had to report two Copyright Violations just tonight. Some one actually had the nerve to put their name on a wallpaper that was made in 2004 (and on my site) and submit it to devArt in 2007, and then had the nerve to make an avatar out of it for a devArt competition too! In looking at this persons work, I would bet a lot of it is not of their creation. I hate people like that! Enough said...

scorpNZ
Reply #14 Monday, February 4, 2008 1:11 AM
I would assume there would be content moderation when submitting,that makes me wonder how a virus would get into any catagory,hell it's an automated virus scan on anything i download or upload so one would assume their servers would do the same as my lowley desktop,as for rips & even items i would consider junk,they get put up here & when one is found to be a copy or rip it's taken down, i'd assume once the dev team get advised it happens there too eventually,my undstanding it's not a commercially operated site like WC but done by peoples spare time ???,my main point is i'm still not gett'n it & what the corralation is between rips & what this topic is about unless there is a humungus amount of uploaded rips which would make the count far off 50mill,however the topic is'nt just about uploads & to be bigger than cnet alone is unbelievable,jeez don't cnet have their own tv channel ?? as well as a huge website which also includes subsidiaries zdnet & techrepublic . *straight jacket is on & men in white coats have pulled into driveway*

NightTrainthedark
Reply #15 Monday, February 4, 2008 6:59 AM
and don't forget the Trojans and virii that abound by the shedload


I despise DA but that's simply not true.

MountainHawk
Reply #16 Monday, February 4, 2008 7:22 AM
DA is a commercial site. It just isn't too vocal about it. The print section generates a lot of money as does the mobile phone images. It has been an issue ever since Angelo pirated the site from Jark et al. At one point if you uploaded a wallpaper it automatically was duplicated in the mobile phone image section and sold without knowledge of the author and the author recieved no royalties. It was stopped and made a visible choice upon uploading thereafter. Since Angelo took over there have been several heated debates regarding exploitation of members works and protection of members copyright ownership. Sure there are rippers etc here but they do not last as long as they do over there. Look how long it took Jafo to get a response from them a little while back. Then the fact that Angelo did what he did to gain ownership...for me that was the biggest most blatant rip that the community netwide has ever seen and he has never fully explained himself instead he spreads distorted facts about DevArt history. I have been a member there since 2001 and in those days he was unheard of and unseen. He made his entrance when he spammed everyones pages with the blue pill red pill speil and got his butt kicked for spamming. He has never been tactful or diplomatic and his treachery muddied DA's respected standing. This site is one of the few if not only stable,consistent,well run and tasteful sites left.Renderosity is well run too and art wise would challenge DA in size and quality. Renderosity has no skins or scraps or sketches. The resource section though would leave DA for dead.  

cavalierex
Reply #17 Monday, February 4, 2008 7:31 AM
I understand people wanting to share skins or icons or software and other such things, but not scans of sketches or random art. And that's what makes deviantART so revolutionary. It's not an obvious concept (at least not to me).


Oh, I don't think it's such an obscure desire, to share artwork. Many artists keep sketchbooks that they not only use for archival purposes, but also to share with others (whether that be as a portfolio for a potential employer, or as a plain-old sketchbook to show to friends and family). The digital age just makes it easier to do so.

DeviantArt is interesting because it is so well-designed as a site. It's so easy to browse and to use. Contrast that with, for example, sites like conceptart.org. ConceptArt is a great site for artists, but the organization is atrocious. It's hard enough to see what's new on that site, let alone search for something you saw last week. Photo.net, arguably the largest photography-sharing/critiquing site, is better, but still not that great.

What DeviantArt did right was to combine the best elements of static pages, personal galleries, forums, wikis, and "social computing."

Zoomba
Reply #18 Monday, February 4, 2008 7:38 AM

I know people like to bag on DA a lot, but 50 million submissions is an impressive feat that can't be scoffed at, I don't care who you are. 

Like others have said, DA has its roots in skinning, still has a fairly active skinning section and has been generally supportive of community events in the past.  They were a key sponsor and contributor to the 2006 GUI Champs for example.  For all of that, they should be celebrated.  Sure there are some ugly elements in their community, but with one so large you're bound to have some bad apples.  For every ripper you see, there are literally hundreds of artists who do quality, original work.

And remember, when one skinning/customization site does well, we all benefit.  So I tip my hat to the folks over at DA for turning a small site that grew from the ashes of Skinz.org into something massive and truely special.


Mordalo
Reply #19 Monday, February 4, 2008 11:07 AM
My feelings on DeviantArt are well known. I don't need to go into them again. I left there some time ago. I used to drop in to visit with old friends I made there, and I made more than a few, but today? I don't go back.

It's listed at 50 Million, but I'm wondering if they are including items that have been deleted (in as much as anything's ever truly deleted from their servers).

I'd rather just congratulate Jark and Matteo for having the vision to create DA. I'm just sorry they can't be there to see how well their "child" has done for itself.

ZubaZ
Reply #20 Monday, February 4, 2008 11:20 AM
A rising tide lifts all ships. 
dA's success is good for the community.

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