Many of my images include an element of nudity. Fortunately dA has a very liberal policy on nudity and sexually themed deviations. The problem arises when one of my artistic and carefully crafted images appears embedded in (for instance) a collection of crude self-shot close-ups of genitalia. Currently that collection and my image within it would be visible to all. I would like to have an element of control over my work being included in a collection I would rather not be associated with.
I feel so strongly about this issue that, if not resolved, I will have take the only course of action open to me, and remove all my pictures from deviantART. Here is my suggestion for a way to solve of this problem.
Can we please have a check box on submitting each deviation that, when checked makes the thumbnail visible to anyone when viewed on the artist's own gallery, but in another deviant's favourites or collection, only to the owner of the collection (and the owner of the devaition) can see it?
This 'private thumbnail' function would be to allow artists to control (allow / deny) the appearance of their work in other deviants 'collections' without interfering with the ability of collectors to collect, as the 'private' thumbnail of the fav WOULD be visible in the collection to the deviant who collected it, just not to anyone else. Of course, if the 'private' box is left clear, current normal dA functionality still applies.
For clarity, here is a table of who sees what.
'Public' Thumbnail in a collection.
Visible to - Owner of the collection + Owner of the deviation + Everyone else
'Private' Thumbnail in a collection
Visible to - Owner of the collection + Owner of the deviation
('Collection' in the context above refers to a collection not created by the original owner of the deviation)
What the 'private thumb' feature would do is allow collectors to collect and view their collection in it's entirety, but other deviants would not see the thumbnail of any deviations that have been marked as 'private' by the artist, just a place-holder icon.
An extension of this idea would be to allow your 'Friends' to publicly collect your 'private' deviations, as they are trusted not to put them alongside images you would not want to be associated with.
In that case the visibility matrix would look like this;
'Public' Thumbnail
Visible to - All deviants
'Private' Thumbnail in a gallery or collection of the owning artist, or in a collection created by a 'Friend' of the owning deviant
Visible to - All deviants
'Private' Thumbnail in a collection or a favourites list of a deviant who is not a 'Friend' of the owner.
Visible to - Only the creator of the collection and the owner of the deviation.
I know I'm not the only person to want such a simple element of control.
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