| What is Groups and how do I make one? Groups is deviantART's latest technological creation. With Groups, every deviant can make or join a group of deviants that are bonded by a common interest or passion.
Whether you want to start your own group, or simply join a group, Groups will surely enhance your deviantART experience. When you make a group, you get the perks that a manager of any organization would have: you establish the group's mission and lead its charge by recruiting an administrative class and setting member privileges. When you join a group, you build friends and better your art with deviants that hold the same interests and passions as you.
Make a group now by visiting makeagroup. |
| Are Groups free? Groups are free to make, administrate and join. As with our Premium Membership program, we do offer a premium group called Super Group. |
| How many groups can I make at one time? You can only have one group creation or club conversion request in the queue at a time. |
| Why is there a limit on how many groups I can be an administrator of? Administrating a group is fun, but it requires a commitment. A group relies heavily on the function of the administrators to approve deviations, post blogs, invite and vote on new members, etc. and keep a group from going into decay. The community told us that given the large responsibility of administration, administrators will appreciate having a three-group limit so they don't over commit themselves. For those admins who have enough time and resources admin more than three groups, they have the option to admin up to ten groups if they have a Premium Membership. |
| What happens after I submit my application? First, check your Message Centre to make sure that your application has been received. When your group is live and ready for use, we will send another notification to your Message Centre. |
| What happens when my Premium Membership expires and and I am an administrator of more than three (3) groups? We’re sticking to the legacy rule on this one. If you are an administrator of, say, 10 groups when your Premium Membership expires, you get to keep all of 10. However, if you wish to be an Administrator of another group, you will be asked to unjoin eight of the 10 groups so that you can add the last one, which gives you a total of three.
Tricky tricky. |
| What is the "Admin Area"? Unlike anything you have ever seen on deviantART, all group administrators have their own area to post news, share conversation, and review group activity. It's the central management hub for Admins of your Group that is not viewable by anyone else on dA (other than the appropriate dA staffers that moderate all dA pages). |
| How will others know that I’m part of a group? Your group associations will be proudly displayed on your Profile Page and on the pages of deviations that you have submitted to the group. In addition, there are widgets and other tools that will allow visitors to know which groups you belong to. |
| What’s the difference between a group administrator and a non-administrator? By design, each Group has administrative and non administrative levels.
A group administrator is part of the executive team that runs the group. Administrators are responsible for setting up the group, assigning member privileges, general management, and reviewing submitted content. The Administrators rule the roost, so to speak. Some of the additional Admin perks include accessing the Admin Area and receiving Groups activity within NEW Admin Message Centre folders. Within the administrator level, there are three sub-levels:
- 1. Founder: is in charge of the group. Each group has only one Founder.
- 2. Co-Founders: are the Founder's executive team.
- 3. Contributors: are the deviants that help run the group and contribute content like blogs, forum threads, gallery deviations, and faves.
- 4. (Moderators – Super Groups only)
A non-administrator can either be a Member or Watcher of that group. Groups can have unlimited Members and Watchers. A Member is a deviant that has the ability to contribute content, yet does not participate in the management of a group. A Watcher, identical to a deviant watcher, is a fan of the group and passively watches the activity of a group. A group can have an unlimited number of Members and Watchers. |
| How will I be notified when changes are made to my group? All group activities and updates will be sent to your Message Centre alongside your personal user account activity. |
| How do Founders or other administrators promote, or demote, their members? Click on the Manage Members button, located in both the "About Us" and "Admin Area" applications, to change member classes and privileges. If you want to demote an Administrator to a Member, or allow Members to contribute deviations and blogs, you do it here. |
| How many groups can I join? It depends on whether you join as a Member or Administrator. Every deviant can be a Member of an unlimited number of groups, but can be an administrator of only three of these groups. Premium Members can be an administrator of up to 10 groups.
But, keep in mind that making a group is considered the same as joining one as an administrator. (When you make a group, you join the group as a Founder, the highest administrator level). So, if you're already an admin of another group that you can make up to two more to reach you three limit. Got it? |
| Can any member of the group submit deviations to the group's gallery? This functionality can easily be enabled. We've given all Administrators the ability to give out specific privileges to each membership level. Privileges can be adjusted in the "Manage Members" button on the "About Us" and "Admin Area" applications. |
| Can a group sell prints? If so, where do the profits go? Since a group is nothing more than a collection of deviants, deviations are still owned and submitted by group members, not the group, itself. Of course, groups can still display prints in its gallery and faves, but the group will not receive any royalty of its sale. The royalty still belongs to the original artist that submitted the work to the dA site. |
| Where will my Groups activity go in my Message Centre? Unless you are an administrator of a group, your Message Centre will look the same. All of your group communication will enter into your Message Centre in the same way your user profile currently receives communication.
If you are an administrator of a Group, you will get new group Admin folders underneath the current Message Centre folder to receive Administration-related messages like notices asking you to approve new members, accept new deviations into the faves or gallery, etc. All other non-admin related messages – deviation submissions, comments, critique requests, etc. – will be routed through your Message Centre Inbox. |