I'm brand new here on Artician.com.
I wanted to congratulate all the talented artists, web designers and developers involved in this fantastic project (mainly: Eric Zhivalyuk, Henry Paradiz, Brandon Lis, Chris Alfano and Daniel Gallegos). FINALLY, a site that represents a serious competitor to DeviantArt!
I'm a Belgian political artist (www.benheine.com). I used to be very active at DA untill some admins recently banned one of my political work: "God is Love - Use Condoms". I explain the whole story HERE. We argued somehow and I got permanently banned, which is a disgrace for me...
This wasn't a democratic decision from DeviantArt. This is a big loss for me, especially concerning the "human network" that I had built there (more than 4 thousands personal contacts, lots of personal and professional messages...) and all the personal and professional datas and high resolution files/illustrations that still remain on the Californian server but that I can't manage and control anymore...
ANYWAY, I'm now here, on Artician and this is a tremendous pleasure and honor for me.
See you around for more powerful and clever stuff...
POSTSCRIPT: because I find it a 'must read', I'm adding below the content of a blog post submitted by Akujin (Co-Founder of Artician.com) explaining Artician's policy towards "Free Speech" and "Censorship:
"Started as a comment reply to this blog post by Ben Heine.
Artician's job is to provide creative individuals a way to present their work. It is not to police the Internet. We only remove content in any form for being spam, illegal in the USA (hey, our servers are here), or for Copyright Infringement.
We take the approach that we are more of a host rather then a police of content so we will not remove anything for simply being offense to a single person. If you have multiple Admins who can be the judge, jury, and executioner of kicks/bans you will see a situation in which the various volunteers (and/or paid staff) of a website begin to develop their own moral compass on whether or not something must be removed or not.
I believe that if there's simply a solid, rigid rule that no content is removed except for complete, defined, reasons (like above) then you will see less of this type of thing happening.
Then again, why should you believe what I say?
The answer is simple: because I am a student of history. I know what Free Speech is. I know what Censorship is. I know the exact definitions of capitalism, communism, socialism, fascism, and I definitely know what a police state is. I also would like to think that I have a pretty decent grasp of how human nature works. With that being said, as long as I am part of the development team: I will continue to promote an atmosphere of intelligent debate, equal rights, and the freedom to say what you want without retribution on the part of the staff.
On top of this my world view is shaped not only by my knowledge of history but also from my background. I was born in Ukraine in 1987 under the former Soviet Union. Today, I'm an American citizen with extended family members in Germany and Israel as well as the United States. Even today though, despite having all my education in the US (school to college), I still speak to my grandparents in Russian. I can honestly say that because I know history, despite having been only 4 years old when the USSR collapsed, I am eternally grateful for that fact. And because I know all of this, I am tolerant of views that are contrary to my own, even if I disagree.
Having said all of this, it might be a good time to end this blog entry but there's still something I need to point out.
Artician has areas that are considered "public" and there's also that which is considered "private". For this reason while we may not delete an artwork submitted, we might decide to unlist it from Browse, Explore, or any other public listing. Likewise we might remove a forum post or thread if it offends specific people. This is because these areas are public and also because in public we need to show some restraint in provoking random visitors. On your own subdomain, however, you represent yourself and as such should be responsible for the content. So as long as it's not Spam, Illegal, or Copyright Infringing we will continue to tolerate it even if we disagree with it's content. Because removing your digital voice is like denying you to your digital habeas corpus."
Comments
Michael Kofman || Game Developer
http://www.straystudios.com/
My blog: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.com/
As a sour reduction sauce of logic ...the only thing you were banned for was being in direct oppostion to the Pope...lol
I am from DA too... of course it's so big i didnt know you existed but had i, i would have stuck an eyeball on your page.
I have watched people get banned on DA for years there for simple acts of free speech...and had i not invested all my visual eggs in one basket there ...i might have left as a result....
The major players behind the digital wall there really act like uninitiated, corporate, power-drunk twerps at times ...which is certainly in direct violation of actually "being" an artist.
Dude !.Youre like a martyr now too !..You died on DA for our sins of free speech !...lol
I guess the real question everyone wants to know but is afraid to ask is...Do you use condoms yourself?...lol
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If the Catholic church can manage to put 16,000 people past a dead pope in an hour ....they need to be given control of all fast food places worldwide~ Fangfingers~The Viable Prophet
I wonder about the censorship issue though and whether, perhaps, DA is worried about being boycotted or harrassed by their Christians members, who I have noticed are very vocally strong. Indeed if it was an image of Mohammed likewise, the opposition to it would also be fierce. I guess it may come down to how far they (DA) as an organisation are prepared to go in order to prevent harrassment/boycotting/villification, and they may feel it is not worth the aggravation. Whatever their reasons they should not be censoring your material but rather have it masked and containing a warning that people may find it offensive and cannot be held responsible for the content. This squarely puts the onus on the viewer as to whether they wish to proceed or not. If they proceed, and object to it, then they have had sufficient warning. They can respond to the article if they wish as is their right to do so but they should never be allowed to dictate what can and cannot be seen.
Oh and welcome to the site
RE: Artician's policy towards "Free Speech" and "Censorship" & Myself
Artician Senior Web Development
http://akujin.artician.com
My blog: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.com/
You've got a fan in me.
Your work, though I don't agree with all of the messages
Bummer on the dA issue.
Anyway... was just doing my rounds and stumbled across this. Keep em coming!
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audio/visual artist - Artician Staff - old school.
My blog: http://www.benjaminheine.blogspot.com/