NDA Art Critique Message Boards

I feel the time has finally come for me to move on. I've been floating around the site for probably around...well, quite a few years now, and have seen it go through many changes with it many ups and downs. One thing has always been an issue, and that is the bots. Becoming a Mod did change that for me, for a time.

The bots have gotten crazy recently and increasingly pornographic and completely suck what little enjoyment I usually get from the site (and seeing as most of the new members seem to be between the age of 12 and 13 and really enjoy hyperactive smilies and chatspeak, the community isn't really my thing anymore anyways...)

I've never gotten too much help from this forum (probably because I never really asked for it), but I have enjoyed seeing all the new projects and the progress of the artists here. So keep it up guys, don't give up, and HAVE FUN!

-Conundrum

I will still be on my DevArt occasionally as Valthecon so if you, for some reason want to check up on me you can find me there. ^^ Just send me a note, don't be shy!

This is all extremely understandable, I've been seeing the same reaction of late on the NDA oekaki that I mod. But it doesn't help that the user base is going for the younger crowd, so that's all that's going to come in for the most part. Which is going to drive away the older crowd, which I have seen going on. I wish you well on the next step of your life.

NO!

I am young, and I really, really try not to be irritating, but I do agree. The constant " LOLZ!"-ish type thing with most younger users gets on my nerves. I wish you well Conundrum, I will definitely miss your art and helpful input.

Oh, I just made it worse! Well, bye-bye but I will miss you very much!

Not to be offending, but I find an unhappy medium in the userbase that this site shoots towards. Which is good and all, but I think that since it now has a solid one it needs to branch out more and try to encourage others to come in. Only way it's going to mature and grow, I think.

There are some young people that are quite easy to get along with and not irritating. But there are also quite a few that don't know how to conduct themselves. Their impact is the most noticeable.

Just poking in to I had resigned prior to this thread for a very similar reason.
I think it's important to have art sites that cater to a younger group, but on that token, I think it's equally important to ensure you have admins who are comfortable in dealing with that younger group. Especially with art, I find it extremely difficult not to hold a young userbase to the same expectations I hold to myself. It's hard not to feel insulted when I make a statement that's backed with over five years of experience and education, only to be met with a somewhat stubborn "well you don't know what you're talking about". I get that often enough on this forum that I begin to wonder if I'm actually crazy. And for that reason, I've gravitated more towards forums with an older user base with a higher percentage of working professionals, where I don't really run into that kind of kerfuffle at all.

Art it something I'm absolutely passionate about, it's something I'm very serious with. Perhaps the only thing I'm serious with. It's difficult to be on an "art critiquing" site, being met with people who don't take art seriously at all--many of whom think they take it seriously. I understand it, I was there once too (and I feel badly for my step father who was in the same boat then with me, as I am now with the userbase *not all, mind you* of NDA)--but at this point, it's just not a mentality I can properly relate to. Thus I really cannot properly communicate on the topic with such folks.

It almost takes a high school art teacher mentality to successfully moderate a forum like this, which makes sense seeing as the majority of users are probably high school students. Unfortunately, many of us have absolutely zero interest in becoming high school art teachers (it takes a very special kind of person to be a high school art teacher hahaha!)
But yes, that said, I will be permanently absent from this forum as well :9 Ha ha I doubt anyone will miss me <3
Cheers, guys!

I feel I must resign too.

I totally agree with you there Mana and I shall miss your arts, though I watch you on devart. I barely have patience with some of the people I have to deal with at work, let alone the ones that just don't take some things seriously. It gets frustrating.

I'm glad that this site caters towards the young artists, but that's all it caters to. It doesn't help out some of the older more experienced artists that also are on here. And frankly I feel that it's slowly dissipating from what it used to be, a nice helpful place that helped a person grow in their art. I don't seem to receive any help here or on the oekaki that I wish to have. It's frustrating.

Thank you for the fond farewells and comments everyone And don't worry Gingerleaf, I was only talking about the kind of users who do it incessasently, despite warnings.