I've been following the ups-and-downs here at deviantArt over the recent changes. I'm not caught up in one person's removal nor am I up in arms about a site that wants to monetize itself. DA isn't that significant in my daily, adult world.

What I'm bothered by is a series of events that are sufficient, for me, to suggest I've now seen the "true colors" of deviantArt's people in charge. I'm bothered because I've seen the disgusting attitudes several DA staff have toward community members in general (an "us versus them" attitude), the deplorable conduct of DA's top-level people in dealing with issues.

I'm not on a mission or following a cause. I'm bothered by seeing bad conduct and behaviour no matter what current issues are afoot.

If the playground-for-rippoffs wasn't enough, or the abhorent behavior of some of the mini-community leaders here wasn't enough - the recent events have shown enough "true colors" to be sufficient.

Like I said - it's not about the things that many people are up in arms about lately - I regard those as symptoms of the bigger problem and not my battles to fight because I'll never know enough about the truth of the matter to take up sides.

A careful read through [link] and its referenced links made many things clearer to me that I'd already been concerned with. These things I can make a judgement on because of how I feel about my relationship with deviantArt.

I'm not sure the suggested "shut down for a week" protest is quite my style although the author makes some good points. I'm more the type of person that figures "if something is that bad - get out."

So, I'm not sure about toppling the wall, rebuilding it, or letting it crumble. What I do know is deviantArt's premise is something very different than its practices.

I'm hopping a plane back to my undisclosed location, which is visible to all of you via my link. My deviations and resources are almost packed in resealable ziplock baggies (the large, freezer kind).

I'm leaving the beer in the fridge if you want it. But, I'm not worried because the vast majority of my friends here are always welcome to pop over to my compound away from DA anyway. So, we're still going to stay in touch.

I'm not sure when/if I'll be back. So, I'm leaving my account up. It's a free account as I won't let DA take another. large membership fee from me and "lose" it again.

...here's lookin' at you, kid.