Update: Please leave me a message on thisJournal Posting. I can answer questions much faster that way. -Thank You

As of right now the help desk is currently being delayed. Much of this is due to an increase in duplicate bug reports relating to version 6.

To help our Help Desk Staff please do the following before reporting a potential bug:

1. check the status forum to ensure it hasn't already been reported

2. Check your personal browser extensions! sometimes it's something completely unrelated that is causing deviantART to go haywire for you and has often been related to extensions you guys have plugged into your browser.  Disable them and ensure the bug can be reproduced.

3. If your bug still exists and to your knowledge has not been reported yet, send a report to the help desk that tells them succinctly what the bug is, how it's happening, what you are doing that is causing it to happen, what operating system and browser you are using and if applicable, attach links to screen shots (you can upload them to your scraps for this purpose)

4.  Then please be patient.  Sending a new query to the help desk every day doesn't make them work faster, it's demoralizing and time consuming and they deserve your respect and understanding, please give them time to do their job.


If we can work together on this, we will clean up this backlog and get our Help Desk team back to running at premium levels!

lolly help's explain Subscriber Features and Version 6. Please give it a read through. deviantART needs to hear from it's community in order to make an informed decision.

Also check out the Weekly Help Desk Updates - July 18th, 2008. V6 issues are known and have been taken care of. If for some reason you are still experiencing some mishap please contact the Help Desk. They will be able to get to you as soon as they humanly can.

Apparently this needs to have it's very own section. I can understand the confusion but please know that deviantART has not over looked it's actual paying members. You are in fact the people that helped pay for the upgrade. The powers that be have upgrades to these upgrades, and they will be subscriber only. I cannot say what these new features are or when these extra features will start to roll out (I'm assuming sometime after all deviants are migrated to the new system) However, if you thought thumbs in your inbox was the best it could get... Think Again.

Check out the video Tutorial

The Staff is asking if you have a suggestion that you would like to see implemented on the site that you leave a comment on the Orginal V6 Launch Article. This is not a guarantee that it will happen, but at least they can keep track of all the wishes you guys have.

`TheRyanFord has posted a journal explaining Why We Did Things in V6. It is a great read, please give it a go over

The Help desk is asking that you please hold off with your help desk tickets until Monday. The IT department is aware of most (if not all) issues plaguing users and are working hard though the weekend to rectify things. Please be patcient and if the issue still persists into the new week contact the Help Desk for further help.

Okay so if you haven't noticed V6 was launched late last night/early morning (depending on your time zone) to mixed reviews.

We as admins have had a little more time with it than the rest of the masses and as such I thought I would volunteer my knowledge with whomever is interested. Rather than complain that everything is different perhaps I can help show you how much more user friendly and easier the site is to navigate.

So... if you have a question concerning V6 please ask it. If you know of someone who is having troubles, please link them here. I will be updating this journal with your questions and hopefully answers to said questions.

• Q. Why is dA so Slow? (or another variation containing obscene language)
  A. deviantART is currently in the process of moving over Billions (yes that's right with a b) to the new message center. Please be patient, I know this is a lot to ask but if it is bugging you that much, trying blogging, reading some RSS poke your friends on face book or try stepping away from the computer for a bit. The fresh air is good for you and a walk around your block can help energize your creative juices


• Q. Is there an option to Switch back to V5?
  A. No there is not. Believe it or not dA isn't out to get you. The deviantART staff only has your best interest at hearts, and seeing everyone upset about this change is really not aura positive. Yes you are allowed your opinion, but please take a moment to look things over before you decide you hate it. This version has only been out a few hours, the least you could do is play around with it for a day or two.


• Q. What is the point of a paid subscription anymore? Every deviant has the same features!
  A. deviantART has not over looked it's actual paying members. You are in fact the people that helped pay for the upgrade. The powers that be have upgrades to these upgrades, and they will be subscriber only. I cannot say what these new features are or when these extra features will start to roll out (I'm assuming sometime after all deviants are migrated to the new system) However, if you thought thumbs in your inbox was the best it could get... Think Again.


• Q. Why is my message centre all grouped into one window  and only see a few messages at a time?
  A. dA has slimmed down the message centre, yes. But is it the end of the world?... I hardly think so. If you look to the left in your new centres there lies the snazzy new side bar. This sidebar gives you access to every different type of message you can receive though dA. You can choose to view just your deviations/news/polls etc. and now your inbox recognizes the difference between brand new
  comments and replies to previous comments you have left. And to top it all off... If the preset dA pages aren't enough, you can make your own folders and store your messages for all eternity! It's like collections for your inbox... can I getta w00t w00t?!


• Q. Why wasn't I warned that dA was updating it's look?
  A. This question baffles me... deviantART staff members have been pushing out journals and news articles and the head honcho himself had even started to post deviations showing off dA's sleek new look from way back in april. This update isn't something they just cooked up yesterday and threw at you today. It has been building for years.


• Q. Where are my channels?
  A. You are not able to set your channels as your homepage any longer unless you redo your browsers bookmark to the new channels page. That being said, your channels have not left you. They have just been moved to a new (sexy) location. If you are having trouble finding it, try exploring the new top bar navigations system. Click on the button labeled "More" (next to the search box) to get a nifty new drop down. Your channels should be located on the first window that shows. And best of all, if you don't like the links that are in the top nav, you can change them! Go ahead, drag and drop as many as you wish, in any order that you please.


• Q. Why can't I view more than 4 deviations?
  A. The new message centres are just that... New. New things take some time to get all the bugs out. The help desk is aware of the issue so rest assured it will be taken care of.


• Q. Why am I missing messages?
  A.The new system is migrating billions of messages over to the new system. It is asked of you to give them some time over the weekend to sift through all the stragglers. Your patience is greatly appreciated.


• Q. Why is the new theme so hard to read?
  A.deviantART has always had a green color scheme. Nothing new there. What is new however is that a few colorblind users are experiencing troubles reading the text through out the site. unfortunately there is no readily available fix for this issue. If you are having an issue try adjusting your monitors contrast. The only other information I can give you is that you must wait until the skinners and themes get their hands on the base code and can write a theme that can help rectify the situation.


• Q. Why am I sporadically being logged out?
  A.There was an outbreak of this happening before V6. However there have been reports about people being signed out unexpectedly since the migration. The help desk is now aware so no need to bug them again unless the problem persists over a few days. I understand it can be very annoying but your patience in this matter would be greatly appreciated.


• Q. Which existing features are still "Subscribed Users Only"?
  A. The current paying member features are:
       
  * Get up to 120 Deviations per page when browsing
       * Browse with No Ads
       * Browse Way Back all the way to 2000
       * Customize 20 slots on your channels page
       * Download art to your Mobile Phone with deviantMOBILE
  
       * Make journals with Polls, Forum, Shoutbox, and CSS


• Q. What happened to the "Update Message Center" button?
  A. The update messages button has become obsolete. The only reason for it was to refresh the page so that older messages would show on the same page. Currently the new centre automatically pushes your older messages forward ever time you delete one until there are no more.


• Q. Why am I unable to purchase/renew a subscription?
  A. There are more and more instances of this popping up. It is a known issue and the IT team is working hard to fix it. If the problem persists into the the new week then you are asked to contact the help desk.


• Q. How do I manage my friends list?
  A. On the nav bar (up top), if you go into "more" and then "account tools" you'll see the manage friends button. You can customize your top bar with the things you use the most! So feel free to drag and drop.


• Q. When I click the view as thumbs or list in the message centre it changes to the default every time I come to the new centre... why?
  A. Again, the new message centre is one of the biggest deals of this migration. Things will eventually be able to save as you last saw them. Time is all we ask for.


• Q. How can I search under a specific gallery?
  A. If you type in a what you are looking for in the search box and hit search then use the side bar on the left to navigate into the gallery of your choosing you will be able to search just that gallery. You can also switch the gallery at any time. In order to cancel the search you will see a blue [x] up top under the gallery description. Clicking that will return you to normal viewing mode. The new search engine is really intuitive. But you first must give it all the information it needs to search correctly.


• Q. Where are all of my messages?
  A. There have been some issues with the migration and some deviants are experiencing phantom messages. Do not worry about your Message Center messages being lost! Even if something goes wrong, all Message Center messages have been backed up for you on multiple redundant clusters of servers. So once bugs are dealt with you will be sure to get everything.


• Q. Why am I unable to submit a deviation/print?
  A. The deviant art gallery has had a face lift. Some people are unable to post new deviations/prints. We apologize greatly for this inconvenience and will try to have things sorted out as soon as possible. The IT depart is aware of this issue and is working hard to rectify the situation. Please hold off on contacting the help desk unless the problem continues into the new week.


• Q. What happened to right clicking in my inbox?
  A. The right click feature has not been disabled. However, there are a few deviants experiencing this problem. If you are unable to right click and "open in a new tab" try ctrl+click ing (mac = command+click) to open it in a new tab? If this doesn't work then give it a few hours. I'm sure it will be worked through


• Q. Why can't I view past the first page of thumbs in any gallery (including users)?
  A. This has started to pop up for a few users now. The problem is being looked at I'm sure, and will be rectified as soon as possible. You are still able to browse though a users gallery using the "back" and "forward" button above every deviation. It does take a while longer but it is a way around the issue for the moment.


• Q. Why does my browser crash when I try to delete from my inbox?
  A. There are gremlins in the code o.O  no really... there are. They are small though so you can't see them... Not to worry, we just recently acquired a large shipment from Guatemala of Code Monkey's that are genetically engineered to only eat the code gremlins. But what about when they have eaten all the gremlins you say? Will they turn on us? Fear not good citizens once the Monkey's have depleted their food source they are programmed to turn cannibalistic so no messy clean up... well no cleanup at least.


• Q. Why can't I check my inbox from my mobile phone?
  A. There is an issue with the new message center and Windows Mobile Browser. There has been a request put into the Help Desk regarding this situation and as soon as something is known I will put it up here. I do know that there were talks of upgrading the iPhone version of dA so that users will be able to check their messages, so if this comes into effect I see no reason a fix for other mobile browsers wouldn't be on the horizon.

That's all I could muster for now. Please also see the Journal Posting. Also please, please,Please if you have a question about where a feature is "hidden" or are just lost in general, please ask away. I'll be happy to help in any way I can, and who knows... maybe you're asking something someone else needs the answer too. You'll be doing the community a great service. Also if you found something you think is helpful I'll be happy to post it. The best weapon against confusion is information. Help me Help you.

Valid questions only please. I do not need to be spammed with "OMG I hate it! turnz it backorz plz!" If you need to vent you are most certainly welcome to do so. However there are special venues dedicated to this. Your opinions are all valid and very much respected, we just ask that you take all of your complaints to either your personal journals or to the Dedicated Forum

~Chris