Malte279 talking: This is a little reaction of mine to the recent decision of making eclipse obligatory than a matter of choice for deviantart users.
 
The credit for this image is for the most part not mine. I am very slow when it comes to creating digital art and with this being a comment about a current event I for the most part merely arranged the art of artists more competent with digital art than I am.  
Thanks and credit for Celestia go to Mihaaaa iconmihaaaa  
Thanks and credit for Luna go to 90Sigma 90sigma  
Thanks and credit for most of the background go to smhungary
 
As for the matter this image is about I am not opposed to change and improvement in general, but I have tested eclipse, found it not to be an improvement but seriously infringing my enjoyment of deviantart and therefore had deliberately decided not to use it.  
Therefore I am very annoyed that the option of deliberate choice will no longer be granted from May 20th onward in favor of ramming eclipse down everyone’s throat whether they like it or not.  
I do not believe of it as any malicious intent on the part of the admins nor do I endorse abusing or attacking the people who have invested a lot of time, effort and money into creating what they feel to be an improvement.  
That being said, I do hope and and appeal to the admins of deviantart not to ignore the wide protests against the decision.  
I have been on Deviantart for more than 13 years now and especially in the last few years it has become one of the most important places on the internet for me. I will therefore readily admit that I do not wish to leave even in case this very questionable policy to eclipse what many like about Deviantart will be continued. I am however very concerned that this policy might result in many fellow artists, critics and friends leave Deviantart and that this, rather than the eclipse as such (however much I may personally dislike it) might take the motivation away to remain as active as I would like to be.  
My personal main points of criticisim are the clunky mobile device look (I use deviantart almost exclusively on the big screen), the less clear setup for the notifications (compared to the original version it seems to offer more information than I am actually looking for at the expense of a quick and easy overview), the abandoning of the option to give and receive detailed critiques, and the lacking option of including art older than a year in the stats (if in fact there is such an option which I have just failed to find so far I would be most obliged to anyone who might tell me where to find it).  
Of course that is just my opinion (albeit shared by many others) and I am not trying in any way to spoil eclipse to anyone who prefers it. I am happy for anyone who doesn’t feel any pains about the prospect of eclipse being the only option but hope that they too can relate to the pains of those who would love to stick with the original version.
 
If you feel that using the original or the eclipse version of Deviantart should remain a matter of choice rather than eclipse being made unavoidable you may want to consider signing this petition.  
While my hopes are slim that it may achieve much more than 12 300 signatures in little more than two days might be heard. Perhaps the admins may be encouraged to think of a less forced solution.