Recently on March 15th, deviantArt implemented a spam blocking system. According to the Weekly Help Desk Update:
“This spam blocking system looks for several types of behaviors or situations which are common to spam bots and other scripts that are used for spamming. These behaviors trigger the spam block and deny you from commenting.”

Ok, that’s no problem for me. But apparently it became a problem for a few popular deviants who I once admired for being “grass-roots” since:
“For nonbot deviants the most common behavior causing the spam block to be triggered is repeating the same type of comment over and over at a fast pace, which the spam block system views as spamming. A good example of this is thanking all of the deviants who faved a particular deviation.”

I always did wonder how some popular deviant managed to thank more than 1,000 different deviants who fav their work every time they submitted a deviation. I mean, I gave up when I reached 50. Eeesh. I used to think these popular deviants were just really grass roots - dedicated to their supporters and managed to have the willpower to sit at the computer for 3 hours and visit every supporter’s page, thanking them earnestly with personalized messages. But apparently that’s way too good to be true.

As it turns out, some of these popular deviants that I once admired used spam bots or scripts or copy and paste or other spam-ish techniques, revealed through their comment:
“Because of the spam filter dA put,
I can't thank you all on your homepages.”

Which asks me to question, when did it become a part of deviantArt culture to thank people on their homepages when they fav your work?

I assume that this act originated out of politeness. When someone favs your work, you’re grateful enough to visit their page, add to their precious pageview count, and leave proof of your contribution and gratitude. Ok, perhaps it’s a little less cynical than that, but you get the gist.

So when did spam bots come in to the picture? Every time someone favs your work, instead of you visiting your supporter’s homepage, the spam bot does it for you, leaving a or or some other unpersonalized comment. More advanced robots can read your username and appear more personalized. But aren’t spam bots contradictory towards the very purpose they’re suppose to accomplish? Spam bots don’t contribute to the pageview count or signify gratitude. Spam bots just spam.

But I suppose it’s impossible for a popular deviant to thank every supporter who fav their work on the supporter’s homepage. So they resort to using spam bots. But is this justified? Why can’t they just stop thanking every one on their home page? Would that be ungrateful? Is using spam bots deceptive? Would you rather have a spam “thank you” than no “thank you” at all?

What’s your opinion?



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