A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Over the years, we've been proud to offer the opportunity to volunteer with deviantART. We believe that our volunteers play a crucial role in helping our community develop and grow in positive ways.  

The Gallery Moderator (previously known as Gallery Director) and Message Network Admin (MN@) teams have become a much loved and appreciated role, with many volunteers proudly detailing their experience in applications to enter into successful careers with companies who all recognise the value of volunteering in such a vibrant and eclectic community. Did you know that some of our now full time Staff were once volunteers? fourteenthstar, Moonbeam13, pachunka, aunjuli, y2jenn, damphyr, Tachy-on, dxd and Ikue all volunteered in various roles -- and we are all very proud of that fact!

Over the past few months, we've been taking a close look at the volunteer experience -- what's worked, what hasn't worked and how we can improve things in order to enhance the experience for future generations of volunteers. There's been a number of things that have confused the community over the years regarding what volunteers can -- and can't do -- and we feel that it's time to put the past behind us with a smile on our face and move into a new era with enthusiasm.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

It's time to say goodbye to the two different teams of volunteers. Yes, that's right -- no more Gallery Moderators, and no more Message Network Admins! Whatever will we do!?

We've unified the teams under Community Relations (communityrelations) to provide one brand spanking new team of Community Volunteers. No more confusion about who does what, because everyone who is a Community Volunteer will have access to the same tools in order to help out within the community. Obviously, some volunteers will focus in specific areas so continue to check  FAQ #18: Who selects Daily Deviations and how are they chosen? , as well as the team roster to properly direct your questions or daily deviation suggestions

SO WHAT WILL COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS DO?

Community Volunteers will help the community out by providing you -- the community -- with a specific contact point in relation to galleries, chat and forums. You'll find them doing the following;

Helping run community challenges and educational projects
Supporting community events
Helping moderate featured chats
Helping moderate forums
Being part of the #help team
Being part of the team that moderate #devart and other official chatrooms
Liaising with Moonbeam13, fourteenthstar and Tachy-on on community matters
Bringing rockstar deviants to your attention via features, articles and Daily Deviations

BUT WHO WILL MODERATE THE GALLERIES?

We knew you'd ask! So don't worry. The task of moderating the galleries is not something that a volunteer should be doing -- it's something that we ALL should be doing by reporting inappropriate deviations to the attention of the CEA team, who are full time employees dedicated to working in this area.

This has been one area in particular that people seem to have misunderstood and had differing expectations. In our formative years, we had a team of volunteers who actively browsed categories and moved deviations around, but that was back when so little deviations were uploaded every day that it was actually possible to view -- and comment -- on everything that was uploaded over a 24 hour period! It's simply not possible to provide this anymore, and Community Volunteers can help out with gallery moderation by bringing problematic galleries to the attention of full time Staff, and will have access to some tools that permit the moving of deviations that are in glaringly obviously incorrect galleries. For example, a traditional art piece that has been uploaded into the Digital Art gallery, or a photograph that has been uploaded to sculpture.

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS ARE GOING TO GET POWER HUNGRY AND BAN EVERYONE

Community Volunteers won't be involved in making any policy decisions regarding your artwork, nor will they be able to ban anyone from our main deviantART site, however if you troll too hard in #devart or any of the other chatrooms, you may very well find yourself receiving a swift /kick from one of them, or even the dreaded dAmn ban for a few days. Oh noes!

YOU GUYS SUCK, BRING BACK MN@ AND GMS!! WAAHHH

u mad? They are still here!! See those Community Volunteers over there...

THIS SOUNDS AWESOME, HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

If you are interested in becoming a Community Volunteer, you can find our application form here and FAQ #85: Can I be a volunteer on DeviantArt? will give you more information

IS THERE A NEW SYMBOL FOR COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS?

No. All Community Volunteers will be easily identified by the use of the ^ symbol. It's an upside down V, for volunteer. Get it?

SO WHEN IS ALL THIS HAPPENING?

Now! You'll start to notice the changes rolling out today, and we'll take a few days to transition over all the areas. We'd like to thank you in advance for all your patience whilst this happens.



Moonbeam13 & fourteenthstar