[DeviantART] Levelord got banned

[Malory Evolent]

No doubt! I was thinking the same thing.

[Dinogaby]

drakkenfan said:

Has anyone heard from Levelord since the banning? His blog site hasn't been updated in awhile. I hope he hasn't given up on his art.

As ABL said, Levelord is pretty much online on msn everyday. When I asked him about upcoming art, he said he was busy with college at the moment, so he won't be doing any updates related to his artwork anytime soon.

[erdrik]

I wanted to actualy delete my DA account after deleting my pics, but couldn't figure out how. anyone know how I can get this done?

[Ashley Benlove]

dinogaby said:

drakkenfan said:

Has anyone heard from Levelord since the banning? His blog site hasn't been updated in awhile. I hope he hasn't given up on his art.

As ABL said, Levelord is pretty much online on msn everyday. When I asked him about upcoming art, he said he was busy with college at the moment, so he won't be doing any updates related to his artwork anytime soon.

Yeah, he said he was studying for a test, I believe.

I believe he's in the medicine field, if I'm not mistaken.

[Commander Argus]

DA makes it painfully slow and tedious to remove artwork. Basically, you have to go through the process of deleting each and every deviation one at a time - an arduous task for members with large galleries.

[Captain Serge Stiles]

As well as tell them why, LOL.

[Tsaalyo Phoenix]

Well lmao, they deleted my ice cream picture. ^_^ PM me if you want to see it.

[Ezbok58a]

I'm not able to post for about a week or so (Too busy, didn't get banned or anything) and look at all I've missed!

Whatever you think of Levelords art (L7 and Sarah, I respect your opinions but don't agree with them) you have to admit he is very good at it.

DA has always had this retarted way of deleting artwork. I could do a Kim Possible search right now and come up with at least 5-6 blatantly p0rnographic pics in the first 2 pages. They pick and choose their battles, and handle them completely wrong. Part of the reason I don't go there very much anymore if ever.

I do see a bunch of you saying "DAs house, DAs rules" well yeah, but theres a difference between strick rules and rediculous rules. And their mod staff doesn't like any criticism whatsoever.

They delete this, they leave that with no real reason other than we haven't gotten to it yet. I can flag a bondage photo right now and 2 days from now it will still be there. They suck at mod'ing period.

I wish Levelord the best and hope his artwork moves somewhere we all can enjoy it.

And I hope there's some sort of epic mutiny over at the cult of a website known as DA. That won't happen so I hope they're attacked by Illinois Nazis... no that won't happen either...

[enigmawing]

captainkodak,

Thank you for the reply and for your own look into the rules at dA. With several of my older pieces I thought for sure I was falling within their rules, even did my best to be tasteful and non-sexual with what I did post (and believe me, I have several that I know would be inappropriate that have only been posted elsewhere).

I feel that the whole age thing is a bunch of bull but I guess it's their right to make up whatever rules they like. Sort of feels like saying that Tiffany or Debbie Gibson never should never have been allowed to pose for Playboy after they turned 18 because they were in the public eye at the age of 16.

* * *

I remember my initial frustration over the first round of deletions on my account; they couldn't bother explaining that they considered her an untouchable minor whose age could not be altered, instead only stating that the whole reason I was in violation was because of the "target audience?" If that was really the case they should have deleted most of my Shego pics along with the Kim ones (not to mention several other fanarts from other shows that were left untouched). Makes you wonder what the point of having the mature content filter is if your depictions are limited. I also understand that they'd like to keep porn off the site and I have no problem with that whatsoever, but the line is so fuzzy, especially when they state they don't welcome sexual art but carry a "fetish" category.

Anyway, I posted a piece in Levelord's honor, if any of you look please read through the description there. To each his own, but I find it sad (albeit understandable) that artists are pulling their own work in light of the circumstances.

[PG-13 WARNING!!!!!! Please do not click on this link if you have issues seeing a mature (yet hopefully tasteful) depiction of KP] enigmawing.deviantart.com/

EDIT: dracko19 - completely nude pics of KP (even tastefully done) are a proboards violation and we can't link directly to it...even with a warning. Hopefully, those that want to see it can find it by going to your gallery.

[danman007]

Love your piece there, enigmawing.
Fav and commented.

[Tsaalyo Phoenix]

You're immensely talented. o.o In addition, RAWR.

[Sarah]

I suppose the age thing comes into play in a few reasons;

1) The show is aimed at younger kids, ergo, dA will assume that younger children will be looking up Kim Possible art. My 8-year-old cousin (with her parent's permission and aid) joined the site to post her art, but her mother took her off. Why? Some of the pictures that weren't mature-contented that my cousin was asking about. So dA is hedging their bets, I guess...

2) Kim isn't said to age during the course of the show, even if she really should have/really did/it was implied. While this is an annoying factor, most of the speculations and 'canon' beliefs on Kim's age all come back to the producers, and not what was shown on the show. This means that, yes, she did age, but no, she hasn't in the eyes of those fans who aren't as embracing of the idea... Again, dA hedging their bets, not needing to be swept into the 'smut', regardless of how much supposed nudity and pr0n is shown there currently.

3) I hate to disagree to a certain point with EnigmaWing, Tsaalyo, and even to Levelord, (whom I all deeply respect, both as artists and people) but I never felt comfortable with his more resent work. I didn't make the conscious effort to look, or to go under the mature content rating, so I only saw what was posted around in favorites or thumbnails. I cannot post any legible arguments on this matter (unlike Loser and Sarah, whom I both agree with on this matter) so all I can say is, that, well... It was definitely a really sad loss of a talent, but that call out to the mods was just the cherry on top. After that, I sort of knew it was coming.

With that said, I cannot say that I am totally against censorship, deletions and otherwise mindless rules that dA cannot possibly regulate, so please don't take it as such. I adore pin-ups like this and this this because there is a certain classy nature to them, and not an elicit sexual nature.

And since I am a failure at debates and writing, I really hope people don't misconstrue this as flaming, 'dissing' or otherwise. I really love Levelord's style, and like him as a person, and I hope he keeps drawing, seeing as it makes him happy.

[SFToon]

I think the best thing to do is to continue posting KP fanart on this very site, it's a smaller audience than DA, but it'll be appreciated by true fans

[Ezbok58a]

sftoon said:

I think the best thing to do is to continue posting KP fanart on this very site, it's a smaller audience than DA, but it'll be appreciated by true fans

Gotta agree there.

At least here the rules on what to post and what not to post are set in stone and are enforced equally.

DA just picks and chooses what they want to get rid of and what they want to stay. Only reason I still have a account there is to view others artwork, now that option is diminishing I'll probably close my account out within' the next few days anyway.

[cloudmonet]

Although I think Kim is sexy, I don't think she's the same kind of sexy as a lot of the recent pinups at Deviant Art. But Kim isn't allowed to be any kind of sexy at Deviant Art. Unless she's substantially aged. Given that it's not real easy to tell a 16 year old girl from a 25 year old woman, especially in cartoon form, and they won't accept statements of age, what can you do? Their rules are lame and stupid, and banning people for protesting being censored, in a country based on Freedom of Speech, is even more lame and stupid, but fighting webmasters to victory is almost impossible.

The biggest drag is not being able to see new Levelord art at DA. And Enigmawing, I love your new pic, it's probably doomed by DA rules, but please don't cop a ban yourself over this. I'd miss your new stuff too.

[NewSkool101]

Why is it that people seem to think that DA is the end-all, be-all of internet fan art?

There are other art sites - Hell, there are better art sites out there. So what DA is big? My theory is that the bigger a website gets, the bigger pain in the @ss it becomes to deal with, for everyone associated with it.

There will be other Levelord art, because I'm pretty sure he's not giving up on it forever just because some people he doesn't even know banned him from a site that isn't worth the trouble anyway.

[enigmawing]

dracko19- I understand how I was in a grey area with my link and I apologize for unknowingly crossing the line, it won't happen again. Thank you for being cool about it.

danman007 and Tsaalyo Phoenix- thank you for commenting.

Sarah- I understand how people have different comfort levels and I can respect that. I also believe that's why a site like that does and should have mature content filters. Every account has the filter switched on when opened, and must be manually switched off for the filtered art to show up. Those that do not wish to see need not do anything to change their settings.

You are free to make the argument that children visit the site, but once again, there's that filter. With the current settings you must be logged in to see anything tagged as mature content, and if you are a member under 18 (as specified when you register) you cannot switch your filter off or view the "strict" deviations (ones with a "warning" can be clicked to view however, a new choice made available to the artists). Hmm. I should probably go back and refilter some of mine to "strict" now that their settings have changed.

Anyway, I'll agree that some of the art that isn't filtered crosses the line, but those that actually use the filter like they're supposed to should not be punished by those that don't bother. And yes, even filtered content still has to follow the basic rules of the site, but I feel those still need to be clarified and show some consistency with their enforcement of them.

Please keep in mind that I'm not trying to make an argument with you here, once again I understand everyone's comfort level is different. All I'm really trying to do is point out the fact that there seems to be a solution to this if people follow the rules and tag like they're supposed to. To be honest you'll find actual porn much more quickly with an image search of "kim possible" on google than you will at dA, even with "safe search" turned on.

Anyway, thank you for the kind words on some of my work.

cloudmonet- I've always had a lot of respect for you and your work and I appreciate your words here. Thank you for the comment, and yes, I realize that a couple of my current pieces are likely to go down. Despite the somewhat bitter words in my first post of this thread, I'm not actively looking to get banned. I could be wrong but I doubt that will happen unless I go over the top in some way (which I'm not currently planning on).

Once again, I am saddened by people pulling artwork and planning to pull entire accounts because of all this. I will really miss seeing Levelord there, and for better or for worse my latest KP art is my way of showing support for him and what I believe in.

NewSkool101- I wouldn't say that dA is the be-all end-all when it comes to fan art, but people do get attached to certain online communities. It can be hard to just "give a place up" because of the friends and peers.

And yes, there will be new Levelord art even if it won't be at dA. He posted his latest at a couple of different places yesterday.

[Ezbok58a]

Good to hear he's still posting art...

Um...

Any Idea where he did post it?

[DanMat6288]

I'm not going to go pulling all my artwork off and abandoning dA just because of some disagreements over dA's rules and how they enforce them. That just seems a little too extreme for me; besides, I don't see anything in my gallery that I feel would get removed.

[Commander Argus]

DA may not be the only place to display art, but it's the only one most people seem to know about. I've never been impressed enough with Sheezyart to bother with that site, and when it comes to more risque works, I do have my own hosting for that, but that usually means a direct link, which is a no-no here.

It all comes back to the spotty enforcement on their site. If they were uniform (again, I think they need to go to moderated posting) then there would never be a question.