They got rid of categories, I think....couldn't find anything either. New DA is..uhhh, not so great ;__;

They redid the site and it's been horrible ever since

This was a fairly recent event ( a few months back) with the forced design change (they use to allow you to use the classic design but put a stop to that). I think the majority of the users hate it, myself included. It's very obvious the person(s) who designed it do not browse the site itself.

It’s horrible, I’ve thought about going back to it but that’s the main reason I haven’t. I can’t figure out where anything is xD or it’s like pulling teeth to do so. I want a gallery view not a social media site.

I know, right?? Way to be a Deviant, DA. By following the social media crowd?? :/ It isn't intuitive at all. Maybe because all my DA intuitions demand I be able to browse a specific category??

I'm not a dentist, I'm not getting paid to pull teeth. XD I'm so glad FA hasn't forced the switch. I still am in classic mode and I'm happy with my retro browsing aesthetic!

i yearn for those days ;.;

but i do agree with DA becoming a massive mess. i dont even know how to use it anymore to promote my work :|

I am strongly tempted to go on semi-strike and form some sort of manifesto that outlines how i will and won't interface with the www in some small grass-roots effort to reclaim some of that dial-up nostalgia. XD No like buttons and comments must be at least 3 sentences. No SEO, only word-of-mouth and weblinks. XD

Probably not a successful online business model, but is sounds like it would make a fun secret internet club.

I mean... you might be onto something!

They've been overhauling the site for YEARS and many hate it, but no one hardly likes change even when it's needed. It's still a million miles better than this site! I've also seen a lot of people land IRL work and jobs "in the industry tm" because DA works hand in hand with... well scouts essentially. Some of my longest standing watches now sit on the same studio currently making Cyber punk and DA had a hand in bumping their art to the right people!

It's still popular to hate on though, some things never change.

TBF, it's not as shyte as it seems, just takes getting used to, like anything else XD!

I appreciate your perspective, thank you.

I've seen plenty of artists on DA grow-up to be professionals. How much of that was DA and how much was just their hard work, I cannot say. I do know the community experience isn't what it was 15 uears ago, but the same could be said of every platform I used to involve myself with.

I have poked around a bit more and it seems there are round-about ways to find categories, but I think what really frustrates me is that I cannot define these parameters in the search function, and adding keywords doesn't solve anything. It is basically the least useful search engine I've ever seen. But given how much I miss my old-school web, perhaps I should take the opportunity to enjoy the new DA as-is. XD

You have encouraged me to give it another go. <3

Sadly I can't even blame staff sometimes for really bad upper end decisions! The new ways search engines in general are changing are suppose to be... essentially dumming it down :"D. Google has done this as well technically, and so has Window's 10! The latter being the best "worst" example XD <3.
Worth mentioning also, I do know that there IS 10 times more people/art/art styles there so it's also a bit harder to make your mark out there, which puts so many people down. My DA and FA have been in tandem the whole time and my FA here has 10k followers almost and my DA just surpassed one thousand :"D. So there's also that.

IF you can stomach it though, the various utilities are really heckin nice! The widgets are well worth their salt and really can help! They also have various template settings, one of which looks like old DA!
I get you on the changes though and I do agree! Just be sure to openly bitch about the site! Sounds so mean, but the more you use tools and TALK about it, the easier it is for staff to go to the decision makers and be like, "see they don't want this" and stuff improves! :D

Thanks for always having conversations though. I really really appreciate you for that <3. I always have a heckin good chat in your neck of the woods!

As for the art stuff, I'v seen doubly or triply as good people on places like this, or twitter, but they hardly land IRL work like I've seen so many do just through DA. I mean there's an infamous "Off-White" comic, and those creators are the ones on Project CDREd's team now! Also a pony artist who now works for... I wanna say cartoon network... Just to name the two off top of my head! They surely busted their ass, not saying DA did it FOR them, it's just got better connections. I mean Tom Bancroft (the guy who animated OG mushu from mulan) frequently does work with deviants there... free of charge. :"D There's sooo much there. I've been here AND there for 10 solid years~! Just get to watch a lot of life pass by and have lots of comparisons!