I agree with deviantart on this one. There's really nothing wrong with tracing art as far as I can see - its one way of learning, and it can also be a way of perfecting a picture that you are struggling with, or even paying homage to a work you especially like. However I believe that people who trace should reference the originals they used clearly and I think it is extremely bad form and rude to trace art and claim it as your own original work. Sadly, some people do that. But those people are not really deviantart's problem as they're not breaking any rules. They're just one example of jerks exploiting the system for their own selfish means.

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Don't thank me.

I can understand your view on this. What I and many others do not like is the lack of clarity in the new rules, and the lack of a separate tracing section. Right now, all deviations show the deviant who uploaded them as the sole copyright owner, and a section for tracing and derivative works would fix at least some of that.

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Open for commissions! Info here -> [link]

It is very sad that it has come to this, yes.....
I for one-----I'm just one of those people who doesn't tolerate tracing one bit. It is not art and should never, ever be. If people wish to trace--do so at home.
What I don't get is lots of admins are trying to say that this new rule is "ok!" and, "Nothing is going to change, it's all the same." Also, lots of people with a subscription are saying the same thing, one lady even said, "Tracing is still not aloud. Besides, if they copied your original characters or pictures anyway, what would they be gaining? Are you making anything off of it? If you aren't, so what?"
O_O That last remark tared it.
It doesn't matter if you are not making money from your pictures or characters---they are YOURS. NOT THEIRS! People need to wake up.
Also, another lady said this, "The admins and stuff aren't magic, they can't handle everything. You have to do more yourself"
True, true, they are human. HOWEVER! Reporting stollin works is already difficult on here---it takes very long to remove the idiot who traced or copied. Also.....many of them aren't banned after.
Plus, many people don't help.
In the past, I've seen Deviants who have seen someone copying or tracing anothers work, and they never ever told the artist or staff.
With people like that around here, it only makes tracers and copiers have an easier time.

DA also has to remember out RedBubble--they are awesome. If you want to make prints, you don't have to pay the site! Plus, unlike DA, you can disable right clicking on there.

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Where am I? Who am I? WHAT am I? Why am I here? This place that could be a place, is a place, might a place, is a place, might be, just, is, is not, is, could, should, would, be....WHERE? A territory?....
a base? WHERE? THE LAND OF THE UNKNOWN?

I think that if people trace a picture, then they should admit that they did that. When painting a picture from a photograph I had eyeballed, I also cite my source because it was the inspiration for the picture.

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Open for commissions! Info here -> [link]

To be quite fair, even if an artwork is traced, the person who put their pen on the paper and did the work really IS the sole copyright owner - legally speaking. No one can copyright a pose, a landscape or an arrangement of objects - so if a pose or whatever is traced, the person who drew the original can hardly claim that they own that pose.

Tracing is a good way to learn and expand one's skills (as I already said), and there is nothing wrong with tracing. I think part of the problem is that some artist, particularly young or inexperienced ones, simply don't KNOW that to trace someone's work without crediting them can be seen as rude or upsetting. (After all, the original artist worked hard to produce a picture off their own back - why should someone ELSE get the credit for their work? when it happens, it can be very upsetting.) But a lot of inexperienced artists simply don't realise that people may feel this way. Of course you also get the selfish pricks who will do the exact same thing for their own selfish means, when they should know better.

But either way, I don't think that changing the rules would help much. Most people don't even read the rules. Maybe they should, but they don't. Banning an artist for breaking the rules might be a good short term solution but it wouldn't solve the long term the problem - the inexperienced artist would probably not understand what they have done wrong, and the selfish ones wouldn't care and would continue to break rules and evade their ban.

What's the difference between a 5 year old tracing a pose from a Disney picture book and changing the colours of the character so that it looks like their own character.. and an adult tracing a picture they found on the internet and changing the colours in the same way? Not a lot - except that on the internet community, the original artist will quite likely be upset (whereas Disney would never know, and they have enough money that they wouldn't care if they did).

Its quite a tough question really because as far as I can see, there IS no difference, aside from the way people feel, and if deviantart were to change the rules simply because some people feel a bit ticked off, they would become a very wishy washy company indeed. If they were to change the rules about tracing art simply because some people don't like it, then they might also consider banning people who make critiques or who produce art with any content which might be seen as offensive, and create a new deviant art hays code. That to me is unacceptable. DA must stand by its policies even when those policies annoy people - because they are as likely to please as many people as they upset. (making acceptions of course for outrageous policies that cause mass hatred and upset just about everyone, but that doesn't happen often)

I personally would prefer a comprimise solution. Assuming they are not going to alter the rules or add a section just for tracings, then we have to assume that people are, for whatever reasons, going to continue to trace. What I would like to see is a new box on the individual deviation page - a new box to fill in on the upload screen. In this box, the deviant would have a chance to link any particular works that have inspired them to produce a particular art. This could be art they traced, referenced, or simply art that inspired them in some other way. We can all do this anyway in the main description box, but adding a seperate box would call attention to it, and perhaps people would fill it in where before it wouldn't have occurred to them to do so. I doubt this will ever be made a feature but if it was to be I would welcome it.

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Don't thank me.

All That you said is very true.
The odd thing is....for some reason, people can't seem to see how easy and releaving it is. Instead, they take the twisty, turny, hard path, thus, ticking people off and in the process, only holding themselves back.

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Where am I? Who am I? WHAT am I? Why am I here? This place that could be a place, is a place, might a place, is a place, might be, just, is, is not, is, could, should, would, be....WHERE? A territory?....
a base? WHERE? THE LAND OF THE UNKNOWN?

What I'm looking for is a compromise as well. The link box you mentioned in fact would be a great addition to traced deviations. As for poses, it's true that you cannot copyright them, and an eyeballed pose, to me, seems different than a direct trace/copy which reproduces an entire scene or character almost line-for-line.

You have made some good points, and hopefully they can fix this new rule to avoid any confusion.

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Open for commissions! Info here -> [link]

If DA isn't careful,they'll wind up just like elfwood-no one has any respect for Elfwood anymore,and it looks like DA is choosing to go down the very same foolish path that Elfwood went down.

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Haruka and Michiru fan!