Broken/DeviantART/guide

Hello friends, if you are thinking about writing an article on something related to deviantART? Then this is the guide for you. The main issue of the deviantART Portal is that most of the articles are just complaining about the user tracing. Another concern is that the articles are poorly written, used as a personal attack or just lacks drama in general. ED is here to make the reader laugh as it explains the drama and e-significance of the subject; it is not used as your personal army.

Questions you should ask yourself

* Is this person and his/her actions known and recognized by a number of people on deviantART besides you and your friends?
* Is the main concern of the subject more than tracing?
* Do you have enough screen caps? Screen caps are key!
* Anything controversial about the subject?

Good Examples

.]]
Nobody wants to read about some guy that offended you and you only. Nobody wants to read about someone who just traces. Take the following articles below as examples. They are concerned with far more than tracing bullshit.

;Articles about deviants that are really well known and usually gets front paged art
* [[Amuria]]
* [[Teruchan]]

;Well known among communities like the complaints forum
* [[ChadSyphrett]]

;Known among a large group
* [[Branca]]
* [[DisneyFan01]]
* [[TGcomix]]

Think your article is good enough now?

Awesome! So you have a good subject at hand, huh? Now you must consider the structure of your article.

Sections

Now here’s something to remember; think smart not hard. Too much content is not a good thing. It’s not keeping it small, it’s keeping it simple. Compare [[Teruchan]] with [[Chasethehedgehog]]. Look at their Table of Contents. Notice anything? Chase’s TOC is huge; those sections should be merged into something simpler for the reader. Teruchan’s article has fewer sections, yet they have just as much information.

{|style="margin: .5em auto; width: 80%; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid black;"
!style="border: 1px solid black; width: 50%;"|Bad Example
!style="border: 1px solid black; width: 50%;"|Good Example
|-
|style="border: 1px solid black; padding: .5em; vertical-align: top;"|
* A long introduction with more than three paragraphs
* A million sections and subsections. There's no better explanation that that.
* See Also, usually this is okay
* External Links with too many links; most of them being links to screenshots
|style="border: 1px solid black; padding: .5em; vertical-align: top;"|
* Basic Introduction, a simple outline of the subject’s retardation and actions
* Background, explaining the personality and art style. Throw in some fandom in there as well.
* The main chunk of the article. Usually contains multiple sections
* Quotes, a collection of their ramblings
* Gallery, screen caps are KEY
* See Also, just related articles
* External links, in case the reader wants to talk to/troll the subject
|}

Snarking

No, your article shouldn’t follow the exact structure. Basically, you shouldn’t abuse memes when you’re writing. They’re funny sometimes, but overusing them will just make your article unreadable. Moreover, stating facts is funnier than you trying too hard to make a joke using memes.

Templates

*

is very effective in keeping your article clean.
* is used for collections of quotes.
* is for galleries with ten or more images.
* is used to link to the deviantART portal.

Other Notes

*Don't put too many thumbnails. Users with different screen resolutions will see shit differently.
*Make a draft of your article on your userspace. Create it as User:YOURNAME/ARTICLE NAME, then ask for tips on how to fix it and a sysop will approve it

Further Reading

There are more guides on making good articles albeit tl;dr. Despite that, giving these guides a quick glance will be worthwhile.

* [[Encyclopedia Dramatica:How 2 EDit for Dummies]]
* [[A User's Guide to Article Building]]
* [[Encyclopedia Dramatica:Style Guide]]

Thanks, your deviantART portal caretaker, [[User:Halcy|Halcy]].

[[Category:DeviantART]]