How often do you stop...and do something for somebody else?

I'm talking mainly about life here on Deviantart, this online community that we claim to have and cherish. I've seen it a lot lately, complaints that there is no activity, stats are falling, favs are dropping, views are decreasing...Is that really all we are about?

Because in reality, we like to see results that mean something to us. People ask me... How do you get so much support? Or... How do you get so many people to follow your work? Whether it be here on Deviantart, or elsewhere on my personal blog - I don't Get people to do anything.  

Think about it. In real life, in the outside world away from the comforts and confines of virtual space, you don't get something for nothing. You can't put on an art exhibition without selling yourself first, and then maintaining that afterwards. So don't come to Deviantart, expecting immediate results, it doesn't work like that.

Give Something Back - For years people have worked tirelessly here to give you what you want. They run competitions, they promote and put together features, volunteers give Daily Deviations and educate about the galleries...Regardless of symbols besides names, whether you're a $, ^, ~, *, =, @, you're here and you can participate.  

I think the best way to illustrate what I mean through the mediums of Art is to use a song written by Lisa Hannigan... We don't know each other enough here. Let's change that.  

this article, share your thoughts in a comment - pick somebody who has commented or faved before you that you don't know, and introduce yourself, check out their art.

I don't know - Lisa Hannigan - www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSaPbV…

I don't know what you smoke,
Or what countries you've been to.
If you speak any other languages...
Other than your own,
I'd like to meet you...

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I don't know if you drive.
If you love the ground beneath you,
I don't know if you write letters or you panic on the phone
I'd like to call you...all the same,
If you want to - I am game.



I don't know if you can swim
If the sea has any draw for you
If you're better in the morning
or when the sun goes down...
I'd like to call you.




I don't know if you can dance
If the thought ever occurred to you.
If you eat what you've been given
or you push it around your plate...
I'd like to cook for you all the same.
I would want to,
I am game.



If you walk my way,
I could keep my head
We could creep away
In the dark...
Or maybe now,
We could shoot it down anyway.



I don't know if you read novels or the magazines
If you love the hand that feeds you
I assume that your heart's been bruised
I'd like to know you



You don't know if I can draw at all
Or what records I am into
If I sleep like a spoon or rarely at all
Or maybe you would do
Or maybe you would do

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If you walk my way, I will keep my head
We will feel our way through the dark
Though I don't know you
I think that I would do
I don't fall easy at all.

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If you walk my way,
I will keep my head
We will feel our way through the dark
Though I don't know you
I think that I would do
I don't fall easy.... at all.

Somebody recently commented on news of a deactivated account that it's a shame that we wait until somebody has gone to try and find out more about them, more about who they are and other ways of staying in touch.

Why wait?

  

Thanks to Chaldemone for suggesting most of the artwork to accompany this article