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Okay, so I'm more than a little frustrated right now. This has nothing to do with my sexuality, it actually has to do with a group on deviantart. I know I shouldn't let other people's words bother me, especially over the internet, but I feel like this person is just so RUDE.

So I submitted a picture that I was really proud of to a group that was all about pink haired girls. The picture was one of the avatars I drew that had pink hair. Got rejected. I was like "okay, okay. I won't ask. It's probably because it doesn't appear 'pink enough'." So I let it go. I submitted another picture (another avatar I did, the one for Hard Soda) and that also got rejected. I was a little more than upset so I figured I'd ask why. I mean, they wanted quality over quantity, which I totally understood. However they never gave any kind of guidelines or whatever of how they described 'quality'. Art is subjective and my idea of quality is obviously going to be different than yours. Plus, they had the group open to ANYONE and you didn't even have to be a member to submit pictures!

After not getting a reply for a while and feeling like it was pointless to stay in a group that won't accept my pictures I left, however I did not unwatch them. I then later got this message.

"Your work is not of high enough quality to be included in our galleries."

Um, okay. Wow. My first reaction was that it was kind of a kick in the face (I later told her this) and it just felt rude. My next response wasn't exactly...well crafted, but I just couldn't think of anything else to say. Pretty much all I said was this;
"Um...okay. :/
I left the group so it's whatever."
I guess that could be misinterpreted, however I just wanted to make it clear that I just didn't care about the question anymore or the reason as to why it was declined, as I had left the group. The reason why I asked in the first place was to get feedback, not to be told my art sucks.

Then, instead of just deleting my message from their feed like any other group, she decided to reply with this;
"It says on the group that we do not accept all submissions that have pink hair, and that we strive to have higher quality galleries than other groups with the same precedent."

Okay, I shouldn't have replied to this. I should have been the bigger person, but I don't like when people make assumptions about me. So I told her this;
"Yes, I understand that. I've read the rules. I submitted a picture before that I felt very proud of and worked hard on, yet it was also declined. I just don't see the need to stay in a group that will always reject my pictures. Sorry."

I apologized and gave the reason why I left. I mean, why would I stay in a group that doesn't accept my pictures? Seems pointless. If I wanted to just look at pictures I'd just simply watch the group, not join it. Again she replied. This is the post that really infuriated me.
""I just don't see the need to stay in a group that will always reject my pictures. Sorry."
The point of this group isn't to advertise your deviations, that's a strange reason to leave a group. Clearly you were not in the group to appreciate pink-haired deviations, only to promote your own work. Not a loss. Especially considering you could submit work without joining the group."

So yeah. Rude as all hell and making MORE assumptions about me. And HOW is that a strange reason for leaving a group?! HOW?! Ugh. Anyway, I replied with this;

"I'm not trying to argue here. I'm not really sure why you feel the need to. However, I feel the need to clear a few things up now that you've made these assumptions.

I did join the group to see pictures and help promote them, but the point of JOINING a group is to also SHARE my work. If I didn't want to submit my work and only wanted to "appreciate pink-haired deviations" I would just watch the group and not bother joining it. I realize your group allows people to submit work even if they're not [art of the group, but I like to join groups that I submit to. That way I can remember those are the groups I'm able to submit my art to. If I didn't I would probably forget that group in a heart-beat. It's nothing against that group, I just have a bad memory. I also don't see the point of dumping a piece in a group and running. THAT is doing it just to promote your own work. If all I wanted to do was promote my own work, that's what I would have done. I wouldn't have joined or watched.

Also, I said I left the group. I never once said I unwatched the group. Clearly you need to practice your people skills. You're being very rude and making assumptions about me for really no reason. I honestly don't care that you don't find my leaving the group 'not a loss' and even if I was still in the group I would immediately leave and unwatch after this discussion. I don't want to be apart of a group where the owner is so blatantly rude to people they don't even know. I was thinking about maybe joining again after I've had more practice, but I don't think that will happen now. I don't understand what your issue is with me, when all I asked was a simple questions and mentioned that I left the group so it didn't even matter to me anymore, but give it a rest.

Also, a little advice, if you're going to tell a person "Your work is not of high enough quality to be included in our galleries" it would be nice to know WHY you think that. I'm saying this for future people who ask, because people will ask. Being told that is kind of like a kick in the face. Like saying you're not good enough and your work is crap. Maybe that's what you are saying, I don't know you. What I'm trying to say is maybe also give them a few things that they should work on or whatever so that they know what is more likely to be accepted. I DID read the rules, however I still didn't know what was determined as YOUR view of "quality", as I saw a few pictures that I personally thought weren't that good. Art is subjective and everyone sees quality differently. If you're striving for higher quality maybe put more guidelines on your homepage. Also, on the front page all that is said is "quality". Not even "high quality". So some people might just interpret your wording it differently as well.

This is also just another suggestion. I don't care if you ignore them or not. I'm, for some reason, just trying to be helpful. However if what you are looking for is higher quality then I would suggest not leaving the group open to everyone and not having submission open to public. Instead have people submit a sample of their work before joining. I've seen many high end groups do this so they aren't bombarded with pictures they don't feel are a good enough quality when it comes to voting. It makes for a lot less time wasted and a lot less frustration to both parties."

Sorry. That was really long. Anyway, I wanted to explain things, especially because of her attitude towards me. Was I being to harsh? I don't even know and at the time of writing it I didn't care. I was so upset by her rudeness. I haven't gotten a reply back because I just recently replied to her comment, but what do you think? I don't know if I'll reply to their next reply, I have a big feeling I'll be getting a reply, but I just get too frustrated sometimes. It's like I HAVE to get the last word in. Ugh. /endrantfornow

When she told me my work wasn't high enough quality I was just in shock. It wasn't the reason why I left, I think she thinks it's why. I left because I didn't receive a response in almost a week (plus the whole not getting a single deviation in) and felt like the group just wasn't really worth it. There were tons out there just like it.

I think it's fine to quality check, but I obviously worked hard on that picture! Looking through the gallery I couldn't really find anything that showed me an example of what kind of 'quality' they were looking for. It's not like I could reference her art either, because she doesn't even have a single picture on her page. It also just bothers me that she thought I'd just be fine with 'oh your art sucks' instead of actually explaining what she didn't like about the picture to have it posted.

I was going to send the comment without the advice, then I figured I'd just delete it, then I realized 'no, let me just give her something to think about' and wound up writing that giant spiel of advice. I don't know if she'll actually take it into consideration, but I sure hope she does. I don't think I'll be replying back if she replies to that post. I've said what I've had to say and if she wants to keep trying to fuel the fire then too bad. I have more important things to focus on.

I've never seen Hetalia and even I know that it's based on countries during WWII. I'm sorry that happened to you. Was it on DA? I honestly wouldn't be surprised. People get so butt-hurt there so easily.

It was on FanFiction.net. One person was like, "This is not funny! This was a real tragedy that I lived through!"

I was so pissed, because first of all, the story was not meant to be funny. It was supposed to be a hurt/comfort fic, an everything gets better fic, a fic to show that there is always someone in a worse situation. And I lived through it, too.

I told him/her that. They never replied.

The other was an anonymous review calling me a "Heta-boo that thinks it's fun to make fun of other people's miseries."

Don't be hurt. She's a butt.

You're not a butt. C: