Chat & Forum Week
Many people are not aware the forum exists on DeviantART, so this article aims to introduce those who are new and are not as familiar with the forum as others.
Within the forum, there are many forums that you can post in, either by creating your own threads for discussion or by posting in other people's threads. In this sense, one of the best things about the forum is the ease of communication between your fellow deviant comrades! The forum presents an opportunity for you to meet more people, get seen more and participate a variety of discussions that you find interesting. By creating a thread in the forum, you encourage other people to make posts in response to your original post. Likewise, other people who post threads encourage you to post your own thoughts, creating an awesome environment full of sharing opinions.
If you scroll down the forum page, there are many Forums that focus on a specific topic so that all threads within that forum must relate to the specific topic of the Forum itself. For example, if you stumble across the 'Gaming Forum', the specific topic is 'Gaming', so all threads within the 'Gaming Forum' must relate to 'Gaming'. This is important because if your thread does not relate to Gaming, it will be moved or locked.
After clicking the forum, for example, the Deviants Forum, you will be presented with 'Sticky Threads' which are significant threads that ideally should be read before you start posting or creating threads. Then, below that section, you will be presented with all the threads that other members have created for you to take part in. If you scroll to the bottom, you have the option to create your own thread too.
It's pretty straight-forward, so let's get cracking into what these forums are!
If you are new, it would be best to post in the Welcome Centre to get to know a few other deviants, to introduce yourself, find friends and get a feel for the forums and how they work. Next, you may want to step into either Deviants or General Art where there is a huge variety of threads. The Deviants Forum includes discussing general topics that do not belong to any of the other forums, while General Art discusses general topics specifically related to art.
However, please bear in mind that there may be forums already for your threads! For example, we have the art related forums such as the Photography Forum, the Digital Art Forum and the Literature Forum to discuss your art-related needs. These forums are for discussion only, so if you would like to share your art or ask for feedback, you would be better off posting in the Deviation Thumbshare Forum. If you would like to promote your :devgroups:, chat room or external events, then the Groups, Chatrooms & Events Forum is the one for you, and if you are feeling artistic and would like to draw something, then there are plenty of drawing opportunities in our DrawPLZ Forum.
We have forums for Politics and Philosophy & Religion, as well as entertainment forums such as Books & Comics, Gaming, Movies & TV and Music. If you would like to seek advice or talk about generally nerdy things, software and OS or hardware, we have the Technology Forums.
Our Projects Forum is for promoting
commissions, requests, art trades, onsite contests, giveaways, contributions to DeviantART, offsite projects and other DeviantART related happenings! This is opposed to Job Services where you promote a job service for a fee. This would involve money commissions, not commissions which goes into the Projects Forum. If you have a job that you are willing to pay someone to do, you can post a thread about it in the Job Offers Forum.We also have Praise if you would like to praise something, or Help with Life if you would like to seek serious advice for real life concerns. Other more 'specialised' forums include Deviant Meets for organising meet-ups with members of DeviantART offline. Premium Members have their own forum here and senior members here.
This is just a brief description of what the forum entails. There is a breakdown to some of these forums in Artistic Uses in the Forum if you would like to use the forum for artistic use. Otherwise, please feel free to read our Ten Tips and Tricks of the Forum as well as read the forum rules: FAQ #801: Are there any rules for the Forums?
We strongly suggest you read the forum rules before posting or creating a thread, otherwise your thread may be locked or moved! These rules are posted at the top of every forum and are established for you to understand so that your experience with the forum is as good as it can be. All in all, going in slowly is the key! The forum is its own community, so it would be best to get a feel for it first before jumping right in.
If you are confused, then please don't hesitate to file a ticket to the help desk where staff will be able to assist you - there is a specific section for Chatroom/Forum Inquiries. Or, you could refer to our Need HELP with deviantART? Read this! thread which covers a few things that could help. Lastly, you are welcome to approach any chat/forum community volunteers as found here towards the bottom.
Hopefully this has been a good introduction to the forum. If you have any questions, please ask them here!
Thank you for reading.
