Because we want answers.

Monday, 8/29 2:22 PM:
Well, we're back and re-energized! (Sort of?) Thanks to everyone who's continued to support °jark and this club, despite the temporary halt in activity. I apologize to everyone who's sent notes, faved, and sent in links and hasn't had them posted--I'm getting right on it! (See member update below ) Links coming! Soon! Promise!

(oh, and a silly sidenote--in a bizarre twist of fate, ~savejark won =MorningAfterHangover's 8k kiriban, which you can see here!)


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Thursday, 8/11

IMPORTANT UPDATE
10:31 AM:
`justthorne has just released his peaceful solution to the deviantART crisis. For those of you who haven't hidden your galleries or will reveal them in the next week, go read this; what he has to say is practical, peaceful, and most of all possible. Ask for an internal investigation; bring the administration back to its place as a supporter of the community, not a ruler of it.

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Wednesday, 8/10
8:52 AM:
Congratulations on a beautiful Yellow Day, all. I promise, more on that later.

To get business out of the way, both admins have taken the last few days to rest and recollect themselves. Right now I'm (~mei0023) still absolutely fried from last week, running this club at full-throttle for seven days. On Yellow Day, the club was quiet; it's been silent for a few days, and for that I'm sorry. The pressures of running such a large club with such an active member base (until Yellow Day I attempted--with some success--to read every journal of every member to keep up-to-date) has taken its toll on my work, sleep habits, and social time, and right now I'm trying to catch my breath and refocus on the long-term goal of this group.

On that note--an apology to all the deviants who have sent their notes and watches and have not yet been added to the member list. I know of at least 25 of you; you'll be added as soon as posisble.

Yellow Day's come and gone, but ~savejark still has a long road ahead of it. The updates may not come two or three times a day, but they will be there. As long as °jark is fighting, we're beside him.

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Sunday, 8/7

2:19 PM:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEVIANTART!

And of course...

Happy Yellow Day!

The day is here, and you all know what to do! Love your community, love your art, and most of all, love each other. Send some to the deviants who've made an impact on you. Send to the deviants you've watched grow.
Send to the deviants linked below, who've all put aside their differences to come together and fight for something bigger than themselves, bigger than all of us. Send to a random deviant and start something beautiful. Fav a work in a style you don't normally look at. Broaden your horizons. Reach out and shake a hand. See just how incredibly vast this community is.

Submit yellow. Submit normally. Submit nothing. The choice is yours.

Whatever you do, do it as an act of love, not of hate. Don't say "I'm going to support °jark to piss off so-and-so," or "I'm going to destroy this site because it's turned into crap." Focus on what you love. Support °jark because you want to support °jark. Participate in the community because you want to participate in the community. Say hello because you want to. Let the community-at-large know you appreciate it. Let your inner circle of close deviants know you appreciate them.

So to all of the members of this group who've been nothing but supportive and enthusiastic, and the wonderful =wowimsoemo and `onestar, who've both done so much to help behind-the-scenes:

Smile at the world. It'll do wonders.

--

Right down to business:

Take a gander at the Daily Deviations. I caught them right as they were going up last night--in a bright, sunny yellow.

The Yellow Day Chat seems to be down. I'm not sure if this is a server-wide issue or just in #YellowDay; any ideas?

°jark's journal: a birthday tribute, the birth of deviantART.

More to come later!

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Saturday, 8/6

12:21 PM: Added the link for DeviantNEWS, an independent, uncensored news forum for the deviantART community. Created by =vurtunetech, the man who started the petition, this site has the latest information on °jark's termination and the community's response. Sign up, keep up-to-date, share information, and comment--all without fear of post deletion.

Also added =jkiner's beautiful journal urging community unity and love of deviantART.

8/6, 12:08 PM: Split the journal in two. Everything from Friday, 8/4 onward will be in this second journal entry. Everything up until today will still be in the original as well. The original entry was getting too long to navigate and maintain in its original state. Now--streamlined! Content updates coming in the next hour.

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Friday, 8/5

4:11 PM: Holy , deviants! We've crossed the 200 member mark in only five days! The club doesn't show any signs of slowing; another 17 deviants joined so far today, and it's not even 5 PM! Go visit each other, say hello, and spread your .

And to all the current members:

Added a link to ^firelite-photo's journal. His stance on °jark's termination and the reaction of the administration is passionate, collected, and well-thought. Also linked to `hempingway, whose succinct list of key deviations, e-mails, and journal entries puts other journals' efficiency to shame. His journal is a great place to quickly access all the important information which is available at this point.

11:38 AM: °jark takes a moment to remind us all about morality in protest in his latest journal entry. Here's some of what he has to say:

As I stated in my very first journal entry after these horrific events commenced, we must remain civil. I have witnessed far too much personal destruction over the course of the past few days.

Rioting solves nothing.

Diplomacy is necessary.

Whether you submit art or write comments, it must remain well-mannered. Trust me when I say that; the administration favors, and listens, to those who can frame their arguments in an intelligent and courteous manner. People who lash out are summarily dismissed by the staff.

Please do not go to $Mr. Sotira’s or $Mr. McCann’s user page and comment in an inflammatory manner. Regardless of their actions, it is not fair to leave derogatory, childish or irrational comments on their pages.

Please do not go to $lolly's user page and torment him; $lolly had nothing to do with this; the powers-that-be decided he was the most qualified person left on staff to run Community Development and therefore was “promoted” to that position.

Doing so will only serve to undermine this crusade.

Above all, take the moral high-ground and remain mature, civil and speak your mind intelligently.


The deadline for participating in *redness's photo project is August 6. You heard right, folks, tomorrow--crack out the °jark (and flex a bit of your own narcissism if you can ) and a digital camera and click!--show your love "in person."

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Thursday, 8/4

4:11 PM: An imporant note from `onestar

"In the last couple days, we've been seeing "You've been painted yellow" messages being posted on various user's pages. Please be careful: This can be considered "Chain Letter Spam".

Here's what the FAQ (entry #263) says on Chain Letter Spam:

...

A relatively new type of spam message is the "Chain Letter" type of message;
These spam messages usually consist of a Title and a paragraph containing a brief decription of the act and rules encouraging the recipient to spread the spam in a particular manner.

The titles associated with these messages may include subjects such as;

You Have Been Glomped
You Have Been Kissed
You Have Been Hugged
etc

This particular form of spam is viewed as harmless interaction when it is not carried to any great extreme. Users who find them annoying nonetheless should ignore them, and may continue to assign a low rating by using the Comment Rating System when the system comes back online. Users may also wish to enlist the services of a friend or two to help push the offending comments out of view, using more meaningful dialog. As with other types of spam any deviant who creates these comments in large amounts risks receiving administrative action

It should be noted however that certain subjects are prohibited from these 'Chain Letters'. Unacceptable subjects may include, but are not limited to;

You Have Been Raped
You Have Been Gayed
You Have Been Sexed
etc

These spam comments are considered a violation of policy due to their subject matter and those participating in the spread of these unacceptable communications will be immediately subjected to administrative action when it is brought to our attention.

...

The Policy Violation Team is in their right to enforce this policy. Please do not harass, curse, or generally bug anyone for doing their jobs!

If you know of anyone who has been posting message like this, while we do appreciate their show of support, please advise them against it. The bans only seem to be for 24 hours, but we don't want to see ANY users banned for supporting °jark and the community.

Thank you."

3:17 PM: Whoa. It seems just a few hours ago this email from Scott($jark) to Angelo(!spyed), Andrew($mccann), and various others went public. Read up.

Oh, and a few hours before that leaked (but more than a month after the e-mail was actually sent), °jark posted this in his journal.

PS, Angelo-
[link]
Exploits, Vulnerabilities, and Site Abuse
deviantART will not tolerate attempts to exploit or disrupt the layout, navigability, or general use of the site.

---------

If you have been DevWatched by SaveJark/If you want to join:
Let us know if you want to be a part of the group! We will not "automatically" add people as members. Send a note or devWatch us back. Please don't leave a comment to join--comments on the front page may be overlooked, and we want you here! We can keep the community spirit going!


Members (254 strong and growing!):


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Links for more information:
[link] - °jark's 2002 news post, "Who Runs this Crackhouse?" and the real role every administrator played in maintaining deviantART, in their own words.

[link] - °matteo's e-mail, which sheds light on the situation.

[link] - deviantNEWS, an independently-run news source covering °jark's terminat