The current situation...

After reading so many journal entries regarding the financial situation at deviantART, the site stands at 40 staff members, down from a peak of 100 due to layoffs in a attempt to cut costs.

What's worse is that so many of us has been abusing the ad blocking software/add-on to a point where it will prevent websites like deviantART from properly generating revenues from advertising. We all realise that that most of us can't afford CORE membership like we have been. Unfortunately, the loss of CORE subscribers (due to explorations, bans/de-activations) and members leaving this site has caused the site to drown in red ink for quite a while.

What's worse is that injecting malware and drive-by downloads in ads by cyber-criminals can do more damage and reduce profitability for companies like dA.

And with over 32 million registered members and over 300 million submissions, it is deemed the world's largest online art gallery and community. With that many members and submissions, it's difficult for the company to keep up. That's why dA is trying so hard to remind anyone who can't afford CORE membership to whitelist deviantART.

So far, deviantART has received two funding rounds. DivX invested $3.5 million on 21 June 2007 in Series A and recently on 26 September 2013 as much as $10.04 million by Anthony Saleh, Autodesk and Emagen Investiment Group, Inc.

If deviantART ever runs out of money and is most importantly unable to secure anymore venture capital (VC) funding, the site might not last forever. You know, no business is immune from failure and no company is too big to fail. Something can go horribly wrong and it will someday be the end of it. Other than completely running out of money, there can be financial fraud, lawsuits (Ouch!) that could cause a company to go under.

Here are some interesting articles about the biggest start-up failures of all time:

1. AllTopStartUps
2. CB Insights

Seriously, we all have to enjoy this site and the art...not spread financial drama. Here are some good information on how you can properly protect yourself from malware and virus embedded advertisements (aka malvertising):

1. Dealing with deviantART's Malware and Viruses
2. Reports of Malware and Virus Advertisements

Besides that, I haven't had CORE membership for a while. I was hoping if someone was nice enough to offer me CORE membership again.

By the way, I need to get some exercise. I ate too much.