deactivateda0841fe
It's an archive but it's not the purist definition of an archive and never has been. Very low quality edits, obligatory pony, attack art , bait, and of course abiding to dnp has always (or nearly always for some) been in the rules.
However, coming from e621, derpi keeps overwhelmingly way more sketches, beginner art, memes, screencaps, crappy edits, and a lot of other (fandom-related) non-art garbage people feel like uploading. So I personally think it's still primarily an archive, even when it may or may not meet your own definition of an archive.
That being said, this is just splitting hairs and pedantics at this point and doesn't actually mean much to the site at large.
However, coming from e621, derpi keeps overwhelmingly way more sketches, beginner art, memes, screencaps, crappy edits, and a lot of other (fandom-related) non-art garbage people feel like uploading. So I personally think it's still primarily an archive, even when it may or may not meet your own definition of an archive.
That being said, this is just splitting hairs and pedantics at this point and doesn't actually mean much to the site at large.