A lot has already been said.
Many good ideas have been suggested.
Some to improve the forum interface, some the community, some perception.
The feature ideas are good.
But they will obviously take time to implement.
Pixelation works well because people give crits naturally.
They want to give them, therefore they take the time to make them good.
As a community we can try a little harder to help new users more often.
But anyone who does not enjoy doing that should not and will not force themselves.
As others have stated, there just cannot be any promise that each thread will get equal attention.
Perception is the only thing you have control of.
I recommend you go back to some of the posts that you think are really negative and targeted at you, and realize why they are actually useful pieces of advice and not very targeted either.
I paid for an art education.
And it was nothing close to perfect.
Saw students cry in the hallways.
Students get red in the face and run out of classrooms.
Teachers told us we sucked to our faces.
That we were wrong.
That we didn't understand.
That our ideas were bad.
We were told to get the fuck out of the classroom if we could not put in serious effort.
Students dropped out of school and went elsewhere because they couldn't take pressure.
Or they just didn't enjoy the process.
Numerous teachers were fired based on student reviews.
New teachers came and went every semester for other jobs.
You had to fight for 1 on 1 time with a teacher.
If you didn't book early their schedule would be all filled up except for 5-10 mins.
Students formed groups or went solo.
Some got along.
Some hated each other.
Some would step on you to get ahead, to get a job, and never look back.
Some would gladly help you with whatever, whenever.
Even in a school, a place of education, people are still people.
And they will do what they do in any environment.
A community may have a similar set of goals, but a community is not a unity.
It is a dynamic band of unique individuals.
All of us here have an interest in pixel art.
But we are all very different, in experience, in thought, in taste, in style, etc.
Conflict is a normal part of social interaction.
Art is often social.
Games are often social.
This community is social.
As such there will be conflict.
Learning to deal with it is important.
You will never find a naturally perfect learning experience built for just you.
It takes a lot of effort on your part to figure out how you learn best, and it is your job to tune your perception and environment to accommodate that.
You are going about the wrong way of getting what you want.
So you need to adjust how you go about attaining your art goals.
A positive interaction will always get you further than a negative interaction.
People will generally give you back whatever energy you direct at them.
You don't have to lie or sugar coat.
Just choose your words to be productive, even if you are frustrated.
Be clear and communicate.
Be humble.
Not knowing, being stuck, wanting help, not ending up with what you expect, all lead to frustration.
But these things also lead to learning.
You can be frustrated and redirect that energy into a question.
One of the bigger mistakes that I've seen people do when accepting crit here:
They just say "Oh thanks that's amazing! I'll go do something like that!" and then end the thread.
Come back with thoughts, come back with questions, come back with drawings.
Usually when given the time, I am quite thorough in what I write and draw.
But when I need to gain time, I do an edit, and I keep my text very brief.
The edit I provide may have many underlying techniques and thoughts that go unspoken.
I will not always return to a thread to completely flesh out my thoughts unless asked to do so.
There's no discrimination.
I just forget and move on to other things.
As far as what others say about writing a large crit for a new user and then that user never returning, it's true, it happens.
Here's an old example from my past posts.
http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=13844.msg131268#msg131268This took me about 3-6 hours to type up.
Livsgladje's never posted again.
And his last login time: November 18, 2012, 10:37:35 am.
I answered his question to the best of my ability.
Was it overkill?
Not useful?
Incorrect?
Were my examples bad?
Did I misinterpret his question?
Or did it solve his question?
Perhaps he had no need to come back because he had the exact answer he needed?
We can never know.
And it's not important.
I had the time to write the post.
And I'm glad I did.
It helped me to put it into words.
And I hope that it helped others as well.
However not every post I write can be this detailed.
A single blanket post to a new user can be very useful.
But it can also go unused by the person it is written for.
It is hard to judge that random chance.
Some days I am happy to do it.
Others I am not.
And maybe you are already doing the right things in your thread.
Great.
Then persevere.
Be productive.
Ask for help.
Be patient.
I'd say it takes about 200+ posts here to really hit your stride.
That takes time.
I have 400 posts.
And I've been registered 4 years.
No one here has implied or said directly that you should go away.
You say you want to be a part of this community.
Then do so.
Read more.
Post more.
Draw more.
Crit more.
so I double posted which is when PDD stepped in to correct me and apologized for a lack of hits on the topic.
I'm not sure what you mean by this.
I have a terrible memory and I don't keep all my pms.
But I think you are saying that I pmed you saying not to double post?