a) We can re-encode your images, to whatever format
we need to make the website work.
b) We are allowed to display the pictures online.
If something happens and the internet stops existing,
we'll still be allowed to show people pictures where
we go after the web. We are also allowed to display
pictures not only by themselves but also as part of
a gallery. E.g. in search results.
c) We're allowed to resize, convert to grayscale, etc
so that galleries, search results, etc, all work
the way a modern website is expected to.
You need all those rights to be able to operate DeviantArt. You really don't want the licence to become the limiting factor when you implement a new feature on the website, so you need to be quite broad.
Sure, but you those very same terms could also be used to operate something entirely different from deviantart. Was the parent post accusingly pointing fingers or was it just dusting facts?
That Wix scenario doesn't look all that terrible by the way: imagine deviantart pivoting into some kind of racket machine publishing connections between cringeworthy "early works" and the current employers of meanwhile professional graphics artists, now that would be an evil use of the repository.
