The Save the alien campaign
In my last article, Rewriting DeviantArt history Link I talked about how Scott Jarkoff, the main founder of the art site, DeviantArt, was unceremoniously terminated.
After my article, somebody else posted a link to a leaked email http://probingthetruth.blogspot.com/2005/08/subject-truth-about-deviantart.html that gives rise to some serious questions as to the motivation of why Jarkoff was fired. Scott was asking some tough questions and even though he's a stock holder, he didn't seem to be receiving the company financials. There was also some dispute over the percentages of ownership.
As an outsider, I know there's two sides to every story. But every indication seems to be that this is a text book case of one group trying to push out another. DeviantArt is a very popular website today. It is worth a lot of money. In the leaked email contained this passage:
During a conversation between you, Angelo and myself in August 2004, I
expressed extreme dissatisfaction with my vesting schedule and part-time
status. My signature on the founder's agreement was based on a promise
between you, Angelo and myself that if I were to work full-time hours
then the agreement would be amended as such. |
Vesting schedule. This is where we, at outsiders, move into pure speculation. But if Scott Jarkoff (Jark) was on a stock vesting schedule, what happens to that schedule when he was fired? Would his shares suddenly be all vested? Or, more likely, would those shares cease vesting? Looked at in another way, was Scott Jarkoff fired in order to prevent his shares from vesting? If so, then Scott being fired isn't just a matter of principle. It is also a matter of money. A lot of money.
Late last week, Frogboy made an announcement that Angelo Sotira (Spyed) had made some statements that seemed to imply that they were trying to give Jark the respect he had earned http://spyed.deviantart.com/journal/6378620/. But does that mean that this respect translates into anything beyond nice words?
The answer to that seems to come from Jark's new "Save the Alien Campaign". The campaign gives so-called deviants an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is. Users can donate money to Jark's legal defense fund. Since Spyed says that Jark was instrumental to DeviantArt's founding, then he should also share, in an instrumental way, in any financial windfall that DeviantArt receives if it were ever to go public or be purchased by another company. But, if they fired Jark and that just so happens to mean his stock vesting ends and he receives no new shares of stock, that could mean that the guy who actually founded the site could be left out in the cold. I don't know, I am just speculating but if Jark is preparing a legal case, then it is probably safe to assume that there is a lot more than just pride at stake here.
I for one will be very interested and watching to see how much support Jark really gets. The undying devotion that people claim to have towards Jark will now be put to the ultimate test.