Plenty of professionals still avoid DA. The dregs are a dime a dozen and professionals have other ways to share their art with the public. Ways that pay the bills.

That said, I love it when an illustrator that I like pops up on DA. Dave Allsop comes to mind.

Now, to get those few comments that are actually meaningful XD I would say that's probably my biggest problem with the community right now. When you require decent feedback, you get the "omg so cool" kind of replies. It's really hard to get a heart-felt comment out of people. On top of it, people oftentimes mistake attacking others as a form of critique. I just had this one happen again- I REALLY found this incident funny actually because everything the person had to say just made them look like a complete asshole in front of everyone. The term OH I'M A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST is tossed around like a ball. People think that adding the word "professional" to their tag line will help them out when they attack others. Unfortunately, a true professional would never attack another artist. They may clash in views, but they wouldn't outright bully another artist. When I hear people's egos bursting through screaming I'M A PROFESSIONAL and I see them pull stunts like that, it really raises concern as to what kind of stupidity people are supporting these days.
I also get those kinds of people all the time in real life. I'm offline more than I am on these days, which is another thing that really offends these "professional" artists. Well, as I tell them, some people do have real livest to attend to and it's fine that they don't, but it would be really nice if they didn't try to create more problems for people who do. Of course, they just take offense to that as well, which makes the situation even more hilarious than it was to start with.
I see it all the time OH MY GOD THE DRAMA ON THIS WEBSITE. <- This website? Hi people, have you experienced life recently? LMAO! I find more drama out in the real world than what I see people create on here or even on facebook. If a person feels the need to up and leave this website just because of a few oddballs out there, well I guess they really should go seek some help because it makes you wonder how they would handle the real world. Obviously, from a reaction like that, not very well. To make this part even better, I've seen people flock from this website to websites far worse off in terms of community and type of people who manage it. That's fine, though, they can leave, one less person for me to have to deal with.

A real professional keeps things going because it's what they do. It's what they want to do and love to do. They don't honestly care about little things like somebody called them a nasty name or other childish drama that occurs, they have bigger things to worry about like where their next paycheck is coming from. For some people, their art is their job. With most of the people who draw for a living, they're very reserved and mind their own business vs attacking other artists just to inflate some insecure ego of theirs. Why is it their problem if someone is having a war, right? That's for those two people to duke it out, not for everyone else to get involved in the matter.

The people who stick around and can honestly appreciate the little things in life are the real professionals, regardless of skill level. In addition to all of this, it saddens me to see so many nasty/rude remarks made toward artists when they post things for free use. A lot of us upload free resources to help OTHERS improve upon their skills, but some people just don't get the memo and choose to be inconsiderate pricks about it. Instead of appreciating that the artist has chosen to take the time out of their life to do something completely free of charge and honestly let other people use it free of charge, they would rather complain about things like OH WHY DO I HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR SIGNATURE/WATERMARK ON IT and so on. As the saying goes, give a little, take a lot. If you start to give them a little freedom, they'll take way more than what you're ever willing to give them. <- This is something that parents typically teach their children at a young age. It's called responsibility. Today's world significantly lacks it, especially in the younger generations.

So true and you learn so much on here either by all the tutorials or photo refrences or by crits them selves, also I love looking at journal features and I've been trying to do some more often

I agree with all your points!
Since I joined this site I have grown more confident in my abilities, I have met many interesting people, many of which I now call friends. And even though I am not a well known artist here it makes me puch my self to make each piece a bit more complex, and bit more challenging, and above all fun to tinker with. Plus I know many people who are always encouraging and give wonderful advice for improvement or even giving that small boost to get you through the next project. And I must admit every single time I see a note in my inbox my heart lifts knowing someone wanted to contact me to talk, respond to a question, or even to commission. And I love to find all those artists who are true diamonds in the rough. c:

Which reminds me, we need a sweet-ass art trade sometime! XDD