Lots of people complain about dA. That's not anything new. I'm generally not one of them, although I've had things to complain about in the past.

I've rejected this place a lot lately. I currently have 2,404 Deviations and 16,445 Messages sitting at the top of this page, which is absurd, I know. I really don't want to delete all of them, so I'm telling myself that I *will* dedicate some time to go through them. After all, I always said I read every comment, but well, I haven't. Yet.

What with Facebook and Twitter and Flickr and all the other countless 'social networking' sites out there, it's easy to forget your roots. That might sound ridiculous, I mean, internet roots?

However, dA is where I started out with photography. The moment ~jimeh linked me here a few years ago, I signed up. I started taking quite awfully edited pictures like this - [link] - which I cringe looking at now. I'd like to think I've improved a hell of a lot since then!

This place inspired me to learn, and I've met some fantastic people 'in real life' through here, too. I've been able to get some brilliant advice, as well as lovely encouraging comments, which I am grateful for.

People often dismiss DDs as though they don't really matter. Well, I've had 6 of them so far, and I've appreciated every comment and favourite that has come with them. They haven't gone unnoticed, even the ones among those 16,445 Messages, honest.

People can complain as much as they want to, but those same people are probably still logging in here every day. People really don't seem to like to admit their appreciation for this site anymore. I might not be active on here much, but for me, this is where my passion for photography really began.

I hope that didn't sound too soppy - I just think I owe some of my watchers something once in a while so thank you!