I joined DeviantArt long ago; initially I just wanted to find an Artist who could deliver cover art for my ebooks, and meanwhile I would just enjoy the pictures.

Easier said than done.  Before long, I was criticizing the daily panoply of new art being uploaded by the members, and I soon began to appreciate the difficulties that serious critics face.  A big step in the right direction would be not to see the artwork, which is pretty women 9/10 ths of the time, and I just could not be objective about them.  I would see an image that was not very artistically done, but where the model was close to my personal ideal, and I would go gaga over it!  The right thing to do would have been to just skip it, but I just couldn't do that!  I just had to make some response. 

And that was before AI reared its goofy head.   Now practically all the images submitted are created by AI, and I don't even know exactly whom I'm reviewing: the Software, or the software jockey?  I think I take myself far too seriously as a reviewer.  (Some of the other reviewers analyze the images at length; I certainly don't have the training for that.)  At this point, clearly, all I can do is to say: I like the image, or I don't like the image, and all they do with the information is sort of rank the image, so that they throw high-ranking images at people for longer than low- ranking ones.  That's all. 

In addition, some of those who upload images to DA promote their work so hard, it's offputting.  A true artist never says "Look at my absolutely fantastic image of this beautiful, sexy, cute girl!"  That these young artists feel they have to say things like that says something about the setup, and not a good thing. 

Kay H. B