Contests and raffles violates the ToS on DA?

Yet again, we have another issue with Deviant Art. First it was art thieves, then it was the Core memberships and changes to their report system. Now raffles and contests?! I mean, I can understand the "pay to enter" lotteries as those can be scams. But contests and raffles?! What is going on, DA?

As I type this, as of 4 hours and 45 minutes ago, a DA user by the name of milovanf, whom, in turn, made a journal about a ticket submitted by another user named Meeshi back on September 8th about their contest being removed without explanation.

Meeshi was holding a raffle for their watchers. A lot of people joined in. Sadly, DA saw it as a threat and had it removed. Below is the image, from Meeshi's own DA page, of their conversation in Meeshi's ticket to them.

Ticket screenshot provided by Meeshi. (Click to enlarge)

Before we move on, let's explore what is seen in the link provided by Meeshi in their ticket to the help desk regarding their raffle: http://communityops.deviantart.com/blog/33173318/

It says, exactly, "There has been a small number of lottery-type opportunities opening up as groups recently and also on user accounts. These games of chance have attracted attention within the community because they offer a gambling type venture where deviants may win additional prizes, or receive their points back with an additional increase, should they be the lucky deviant to be selected.

Some deviants have expressed concerns over these groups, not knowing whether or not these lotteries are legitimate, or even allowed within our community.  We are aware that there are some concerns over the legalities of such lotteries, and would obviously not wish for any deviants to put themselves in a potential situation which may result in legal intervention. Before starting any lottery activity, deviants should consider obtaining legal advice in their local territory.  Criminal prosecutions can occur.

We've gave this a lot of thought in terms of the community’s interests, and considered the possible outcomes. In order to protect our community from any potential harm, we've decided to close any lotteries or points banking systems which give concerns, and will encourage any group founders or individuals involved in the administration of such accounts to return back to the original donator any points that were solicited for such purposes.  

Our principal concerns are to avoid the exploitation of members of deviantART, prevent unfair treatment of deviants who are solicited to participate and avoid the appearance of impropriety from offers which are wide open to abuse.  We encourage gift giving.  We encourage trading points for art or art services. We encourage the solicitation of points as donations.  Games of chance, however, solicit with a promise of potential reward and we have no adequate means to confirm that the “game” is conducted fairly or within the requirements of applicable law.

I hope this provides clarity on the matter, thank you for all your concerns."

That was made back in 2010. However, despite being made back in 2010, the rule was never enforced until about a week or so ago after more changes were made to the DA website.

Now back to Meeshi's ticket. Seen in their journal, Raffle Removed UPDATE, Meeshi explains that their raffle is removed and expresses distaste toward this action as other raffles and lotteries are still up. I don't blame them for being upset by this at all, really. If you go to Meeshi's DA page, you can see that they have held raffles and contests before with no problems. Personally, I think it was removed because an unsatisfied user didn't win one of the contests/raffles and reported the recent raffle. But that's only my theory on the matter. Though I feel that now that one was reported (possibly), more will soon follow.

That isn't the main issue, though. There are some sketchy contests, lotteries, and raffles. Especially ones that require you to pay to enter or provide your information that you would, normally, never share with a stranger. That is understandable of course. But for contests and raffles that don't require personal information or payment to enter, that's a bit on the ridiculous side. Especially if the person holding such things is offering DA points or a membership to the winner. Real life money? We got websites and Facebook for that.

Moving on. It is best that I leave the rest up to you to decipher, so here is the link to milovanf's journal that caught my interest. If you know anything else about this, please comment.

http://www.deviantart.com/journal/Well-Shit-560968225

UPDATE
It would seem there is more than just the removal of the contests and raffles. The staff are not doing their job properly. Oh sure, they get rid of the cyber bullies and all. Good. But comments, made public, that are completely inappropriate, as in WAY over child safe. having banned others in the past and now giving them the option to hide it? That's not okay. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. There are websites out there specifically made for this kind of thing. We don't need to be using Deviant Art, a website made for artists to share their work, for something so childish.

But that's not all. These are kids who are doing this! Sexually explicit roleplaying among kids. And I am betting most of them aren't even kids at all, but pretending to be to get off. Someone I follow on Deviant Art has pointed this out quite clearly about the kids being on Deviant Art. "What is the point of having COPPA if these dumbasses still lie about their age?" Sorry to say, Deviant Art, but you're going WAY downhill.

http://commander-dominic.deviantart.com/journal/This-site-just-keeps-getting-worse-561099234

http://www.deviantart.com/journal/Every-child-I-ve-ever-encountered-on-here-561223526