deviantART's situation deepens

In a leaked email from Scott "Jark" Jarkoff to one of deviantART's board of directors, it has become apparent to the community that Angelo "Spyed" Sotira has manipulated the site to his own ends; using it more like a source of income. Reading through the lengthy letter you feel as though slowly but surely Angelo has nudged his way to the top and working the system to his advantage.

The extract below is the objective of the letter from Scott. Remember, this is an issue which has been going on behind the scenes for quite some time now.

"Now that I have outlined my concerns let me address resolution. The following is a list of conditions that must be met no later than July 31, 2005 if Angelo is to avoid legal action:

1. The absolute first thing I want reconciled is a public statement regarding the *real* history of deviantART. Angelo must post it publicly as a Hot Topic that he was not, in fact, the "mastermind" of deviantART. He must also apologize for misleading the community and the media by claiming deviantART was his idea. After all, one of the major catalysts to this relationship going sour is his constant riding of coattails and taking all the credit for the hard work of others.

2. The full, complete and unedited corporate financials that I have been asking for since November 2004 must be provided to me.

3. The structure of the company must be realigned to that of the original setup. Angelo gets a 25% stake, you and Ian each have 15% and I have my full 45%. Original company documentation that I provided clearly outlines this structure, and it needs to be returned to that.

4. I must be reinstated in my position as President of deviantART, Inc. and also be placed on the company Board of Directors.

5. There must be a modification to the existing founder's agreements to reflect my status as a full-time employee and to depict my vested stock as such since August 16, 2004 when the agreement was executed. Furthermore, I expect back-pay dating to August 2004 for the extra hours worked.

7. Angelo will no longer have sole control. While he may hold the *title* of CEO his activities are to be restricted. *All* decisions which affect the direction of the company *and* the website are to be appointed to the Board as a whole. Furthermore, he may not have control over the finances in the company. Responsibility for all financial decisions will be appointed to the Board as a whole.

If these conditions are not met by July 31, 2005 then my attorney will proceed on the course that we have charted."

Read the full transcript here.

Four days before this deadline Scott, who founded and built the site from scratch alongside Matthew "Matteo" Stephens, was sacked by Angelo and the board of directors. The board of directors consists of Angelo himself and the person to whom this letter was sent, Andrew "McCann" McCann, who it would seem was appointed by Angelo.

Faced with legal action I'd like to think anyone with a modicum of common sense would have tried working things out. Sadly Angelo doesn't seem to be the sort to want to confront such issues. To illustrate this, he eventually posted a message to the community in which he retold the history of deviantART, emphasising his role and efforts while actually failing to mention Matthew's involvement whatsoever. His story was quickly pulled apart by the community and all the questions left unanswered were asked yet again.

Following the leak, he wrote a cryptic little message about community love. An upgrade to the message centre members of deviantART use to track activity of their friends and favourite artists which has been in beta testing was suddenly released. Many saw this as a diversionary tactic coming someone who openly makes it known he treats the site as a corporation. Despite his message of love for the community he's actually not said much at all for days. My response:

"We're looking to you as President and CEO of deviantART to give us some straight answers to straight questions. If you love the community so much then where are you? I see plenty of community right here but you're nowhere to be seen. If you'd rather treat this as a corporation and not the art community it strives to be, then it should be your professional duty to formally make statements on such situations as this; especially in light of the recent email that has leaked out into the public domain. What's your stand on this? Don't we as members deserve a response?"

As I said the other day, this has all been left too late for my liking and even now that Angelo has said something, he's coming over as being childish and in way over his head. I'm pleased to say that whilst the noise being made by members in support of Scott is getting louder and louder, it is the groups organising meaningful protests that are gaining popularity over those groups wishing to boycott the site in negative ways.

The story will continue to unfold I'm sure; and my hope is that Scott is reinstated. Only time will tell what effect this situation is having on the long term future of deviantART. In the meantime I guess we have to grin and bear it and as a community stick together and demand the truth from all parties. For what more can we ask?