Sadly that is the case. I had luck during my first participation in Art Fight this past July, the community on there and the AF discord is very uplifting and fun. There's minigames running now and art trades. It feels like DA has been around too long as part of its problem.

Aw man that's rough! I had so many artist friends back in college when I was active on Deviantart, but I've fallen out of touch with all but like three of them. Trying to find new artist friends as an old is pretty tough but the few gems I've discovered are a delight and reignited my art fire.