Hey everyone,
As you may have heard, Art Fight is currently undergoing a change in leadership. Takaia, who has been the owner of Art Fight for the last nine years, has made the decision to step down from this role and take on a support role behind the scenes. In her place, former admins Axel and classicturtle, will be stepping up as co-owners, alongside a third co-owner who will be introduced later on in the newspost.
Due to the ownership shift, Art Fight will be undergoing a series of changes in the upcoming months. Art Fight will be filed as an LLC, and will no longer be operating as a sole proprietorship. We have always been an entity that requires money to operate, but we will expand into focusing on things such as merch, sponsorships, and more site perks, to relieve the pressure for individual users to contribute financially.
Additionally, any monetary support provided to the site has been labeled as a donation up to now, and we apologize for the confusion this previous wording has caused. Art Fight is neither a charity nor is it legally classified as a non-profit entity. From this point onwards, what we previously called “donations” will instead be referred to as “contributions” to clear up and avoid any further confusion. The current donation page will be updated to reflect this in the coming weeks.
We understand this change is a considerable one, and we’d like to address a few different aspects of the changes being made below.
Why did the administrators resign from staff during the fight?
On July 22nd, former admins Turtle and Axel resigned from the Art Fight team. Their reasons for doing so are as follows:
We would also like to thank and apologize to the staff, especially those who continued to work during the end of the fight after the admins resigned, as we recognize the difficult position they were put into. Additionally, we would like to reiterate that harassment towards any involved individual is unwarranted and will not be tolerated. This includes the previous admins who stepped up to their positions after the current co-owners resigned as admins. They did so with the intent to help keep the site running, and they just did their best in a complicated situation. Please be understanding and respectful to all involved parties.
Any further harassment towards any involved individual for any reason will result in a ban.
Third Co-Owner✨
Our first big step in ensuring Art Fight’s stability is re-introducing Rainy back onto the team as the third Co-Owner. She has been an invaluable member of the Art Fight staff since 2015 and previously held the role of head admin, so we hope the community is as excited as we are to bring her back! Together we will be overseeing the site, its finances, and ensuring Art Fight’s growth safely as an equal entity.
Financials
Going forwards, we want to make an active effort to ensure there is transparency regarding Art Fight’s finances. With this in mind, we want to address some concerns regarding the past and present financial states of Art Fight as a whole. First and foremost, we do want to reiterate that Art Fight was a sole proprietorship. Takaia, as the owner, worked under this sole proprietorship for approximately $12/hr, which is far below living wage. As confirmed after review by the current co-owners, taxes (which we are unable to share publicly due to security and privacy concerns) were paid and accounted for on all of Art Fight’s income. While Art Fight will no longer be a sole proprietorship, we will still operate as an official business under an LLC.
All staff, at the time of applying and at the time of hiring, were aware of and agreed to the fact that their position was as a volunteer, and that they were not going to be receiving monetary compensation for their work. As of now, this will still be the case for all site and chat moderators, though we are open to exploring paid positions (both for moderators and for site developers, such as coders) sometime in the future.
Budget 2023 - 2024
While we begin planning for the site’s future years, we are taking into account the expected budget for 2023 and 2024.
We hope to release a news post specifically about this sometime in the coming months. This news post will include more information about Art Fight’s past and future financials, and details on our goals for the rest of 2023 and 2024. In addition to this, the financial goal bar will also return!
In the past, Art Fight has functioned entirely off of the generosity of volunteer site developers. But volunteer developers obviously cannot devote all their energy to fixing and updating the site for us. We plan to rely less on volunteer developers in the future, and allocate as much of our budget as we can to lowering server-side costs, which we can use to re-invest into additional, paid developer contracts. On that note, please give a warm welcome to stokori! Originally a volunteer developer, Stokori has rejoined the team, and will be transitioning into a paid developer role.
Here are some of the things we want to implement this year and the coming year:
*This is by no means an exhaustive list, and is subject to change.
1. Hiring a paid developer, to help us do the following:
3. Preparing for a certain surprise to be released sometime during the winter season 👀
Feedback Forms
Like in the previous years, we want your feedback! There will be a general feedback form, as well as a UX feedback form. It isn’t required to fill these out, but we would definitely appreciate your input!
Art Fight 2023 Feedback Form
UX Feedback Form
* The Art Fight 2024 Theme Poll will be released at a later date.
Before we conclude our news post however, we wanted to give you all a message from Art Fight’s former owner and founder:
- classicturtle, Rainy, Axel
Edit (10/06/23): Hello! We noticed there were some questions about Takaia's future involvement with Art Fight, so we wanted to provide some clarification:
As you may have heard, Art Fight is currently undergoing a change in leadership. Takaia, who has been the owner of Art Fight for the last nine years, has made the decision to step down from this role and take on a support role behind the scenes. In her place, former admins Axel and classicturtle, will be stepping up as co-owners, alongside a third co-owner who will be introduced later on in the newspost.
Due to the ownership shift, Art Fight will be undergoing a series of changes in the upcoming months. Art Fight will be filed as an LLC, and will no longer be operating as a sole proprietorship. We have always been an entity that requires money to operate, but we will expand into focusing on things such as merch, sponsorships, and more site perks, to relieve the pressure for individual users to contribute financially.
Additionally, any monetary support provided to the site has been labeled as a donation up to now, and we apologize for the confusion this previous wording has caused. Art Fight is neither a charity nor is it legally classified as a non-profit entity. From this point onwards, what we previously called “donations” will instead be referred to as “contributions” to clear up and avoid any further confusion. The current donation page will be updated to reflect this in the coming weeks.
We understand this change is a considerable one, and we’d like to address a few different aspects of the changes being made below.
Why did the administrators resign from staff during the fight?
On July 22nd, former admins Turtle and Axel resigned from the Art Fight team. Their reasons for doing so are as follows:
The site remained stagnant for years, and we were frustrated with the lack of paid, forward development. Although some smaller changes were made, we did not feel these changes were enough.As stated at the start, Takaia will be stepping back from her role as owner and will take on a support role for the site behind the scenes. We will all continue to work together to support Art Fight and let it grow to its fullest potential.
Financial transparency had broken down over the years. The lack of communication to the staff team regarding financials attributed to this - even if it wasn’t done intentionally or maliciously.
As a result of this, we wanted to help the owner make the finances more transparent, oversee further expenses, and make sure that more of the money went into developing the site, rather than allowing the site to continue to stagnate. We weren’t given this opportunity, and this combined with the previous issues in communication led to feelings of frustration. Because of this, we no longer felt that we could continue working as volunteers with Art Fight unless there were considerable changes made, and we made the difficult decision to leave the team.
As admins, we did NOT have an issue with Takaia paying themself as the owner of Art Fight, and we sincerely believe people should be fairly compensated for the work that they do. While we understand there wasn’t ill intent behind anyone’s actions, the lack of transparency regarding financial issues and a lack of site development made us feel disjointed as a team and made it hard to perform our admin duties.
After multiple conversations about Art Fight and the future of the site, we have rejoined Art Fight staff upon reaching an agreement with Takaia to become two of the three new co-owners. We are excited for this opportunity to move forwards together and help Art Fight thrive!
We would also like to thank and apologize to the staff, especially those who continued to work during the end of the fight after the admins resigned, as we recognize the difficult position they were put into. Additionally, we would like to reiterate that harassment towards any involved individual is unwarranted and will not be tolerated. This includes the previous admins who stepped up to their positions after the current co-owners resigned as admins. They did so with the intent to help keep the site running, and they just did their best in a complicated situation. Please be understanding and respectful to all involved parties.
Any further harassment towards any involved individual for any reason will result in a ban.
Third Co-Owner✨
Our first big step in ensuring Art Fight’s stability is re-introducing Rainy back onto the team as the third Co-Owner. She has been an invaluable member of the Art Fight staff since 2015 and previously held the role of head admin, so we hope the community is as excited as we are to bring her back! Together we will be overseeing the site, its finances, and ensuring Art Fight’s growth safely as an equal entity.
Financials
Going forwards, we want to make an active effort to ensure there is transparency regarding Art Fight’s finances. With this in mind, we want to address some concerns regarding the past and present financial states of Art Fight as a whole. First and foremost, we do want to reiterate that Art Fight was a sole proprietorship. Takaia, as the owner, worked under this sole proprietorship for approximately $12/hr, which is far below living wage. As confirmed after review by the current co-owners, taxes (which we are unable to share publicly due to security and privacy concerns) were paid and accounted for on all of Art Fight’s income. While Art Fight will no longer be a sole proprietorship, we will still operate as an official business under an LLC.
All staff, at the time of applying and at the time of hiring, were aware of and agreed to the fact that their position was as a volunteer, and that they were not going to be receiving monetary compensation for their work. As of now, this will still be the case for all site and chat moderators, though we are open to exploring paid positions (both for moderators and for site developers, such as coders) sometime in the future.
Budget 2023 - 2024
While we begin planning for the site’s future years, we are taking into account the expected budget for 2023 and 2024.
We hope to release a news post specifically about this sometime in the coming months. This news post will include more information about Art Fight’s past and future financials, and details on our goals for the rest of 2023 and 2024. In addition to this, the financial goal bar will also return!
In the past, Art Fight has functioned entirely off of the generosity of volunteer site developers. But volunteer developers obviously cannot devote all their energy to fixing and updating the site for us. We plan to rely less on volunteer developers in the future, and allocate as much of our budget as we can to lowering server-side costs, which we can use to re-invest into additional, paid developer contracts. On that note, please give a warm welcome to stokori! Originally a volunteer developer, Stokori has rejoined the team, and will be transitioning into a paid developer role.
Here are some of the things we want to implement this year and the coming year:
*This is by no means an exhaustive list, and is subject to change.
1. Hiring a paid developer, to help us do the following:
- Improving overall site performance
- Overhaul/improve current moderation tools
- Implement new features for users and staff alike
3. Preparing for a certain surprise to be released sometime during the winter season 👀
Feedback Forms
Like in the previous years, we want your feedback! There will be a general feedback form, as well as a UX feedback form. It isn’t required to fill these out, but we would definitely appreciate your input!
Art Fight 2023 Feedback Form
UX Feedback Form
* The Art Fight 2024 Theme Poll will be released at a later date.
Before we conclude our news post however, we wanted to give you all a message from Art Fight’s former owner and founder:
I wanted to take a quick moment to apologize for communication deteriorating within the team towards the end of my time as owner of Art Fight. I never intended to let it break down like that, but good intentions don’t really excuse the fact that I let the team down. I also wanted to sincerely thank the staff who stayed behind to hold down the fort while things were sorted out at the end of the 2023 fight. You kept Art Fight alive, and I’m very grateful for that. I am, however, deeply sorry I put you in that position because I know how hard it was and I wish I hadn't put you through that.With that, we also wanted to thank you all for being patient with us as big changes happen behind the scenes. We’re confident that Art Fight will continue to grow and we’re excited to see where things will go!
As I’m stepping back and passing the helm to Rainy, Axel, and Turtle, I’m glad to be here to support them as they carry Art Fight into the future. I am endlessly grateful to ALL of the staff and users who supported myself and Art Fight through my time here. Thank you, everyone, for going on this adventure with me these past 9 years!
- classicturtle, Rainy, Axel
Edit (10/06/23): Hello! We noticed there were some questions about Takaia's future involvement with Art Fight, so we wanted to provide some clarification:
- Takaia's role as a staff member will exclusively be as a developer/coder for site features.
- She is no longer involved in financials, staff decisions, or moderator actions.
- As mentioned in the original newspost, we as now co-owners have access to Artfight's funds and can verify that the money from Art Fight's donations were not embezzled. More information regarding Art Fight's budget/financial situation will be provided in our upcoming budget newspost.
Comments (369)
V01D
I agree, I think it might be a case of a very drawn out legal mess that is really beyond anyone's hands, and it might be the best they can do is just to wait. Which it seems like it might be the case, based off of some of the wording in this post, at the very least. They absolutely should make anything new she does public. I know I said it in my first comment but I'm going to re-iterate: the best thing they can do going forth is be completely transparent about anything Tak does involving the site. The public / mass majority of members are skeptic at best, and distrusting at worse, and if they really want to gain any favor or trust back they have to be very careful. If Tak is being paid to do stuff, say what changes they made, and that goes to any funds here on out-- knowing where it goes either through charts or a break down of costs. Hell, even bringing back the dono bar would do wonderfully as a 'first step' in the right direction.
I know outside of ArtFight there is a very extensive ToyHouse thread about the current situation, and recently someone posted a link to a doc about the past breakdown of finances, but I honestly don't remember much of it and I daren't post a link in case staff believe it to be in ill will. Which is fair, not everything posted there is equal, and some have taken it upon themselves to say some truly nasty stuff I don't personally agree with.
Anyways, tl;dr, most likely if they 'might have' contacted any legal advisor about the subject, being hush-hush about it (whilst a double edged sword in this case) is legally probably the safest route and I don't really blame the staff for it. I just wish we would hear more of their thoughts and opinions on where they want to take the new leadership and direction of the site. Just something, even if it isn't about the finances, so we as the consumers can get a better understanding in what direction things will be going in, is better than nothing.
-TheShadowSquid9-
Jewel67
Good luck to all of the new co-owners!
nightharishly
As many others have stated, if she'd just said at ANY POINT that the funds were ALSO going to herself, no one would have had a problem with it. She should have been getting paid for this, running this site should be a paid position. It's the fact that many of us were lied to for several years and there's no apology to be had? That stings.
I want to hope with my whole heart that things will resolve well, but this doesn't give me any faith in the slightest. Artfight was very important to me, this year was absolutely ruined by what happened, and as it is I have my doubts that it will get better.
We're all just asking for some answers, some transparency, and an apology.
JCorrachComics
There's a lot of generous souls out there, and they've got every right to be livid if they thought they were donating to one thing and it turned out to be partly or completely something else. Honesty is key
goats-teeth
From what I’ve heard from ex staff personally, Tak is not involved in the coding of the site, at least, not currently.
My personal best guess is that if ArtFight is registered as nonprofit/has any form of registration including through website domain hosting, it was probably under Tak’s real name/all of that goes through them right now, and changing hands might be a pain in the ass. She may be “kept on” just for legal transparency that she owns the website and everything, but everything she does needs to be open to the public knowledge and she shouldn’t have any roles or provide help outside of what the public is aware of.
I’d personally be curious to see what everyone else thinks as well/pool of opinions and knowledge on the situation, but it kinda sucks that we as the site user base have to brainstorm and figure this out.
The most likely reason staff can’t be entirely upfront about what’s going on is probably legality related.
That being said, (not directed at you, V01D, dw) don’t harass staff or blame staff for Tak’s misdeeds. It’s totally fair to criticize the mod team for their own behavior but what Tak did is out of their control. A lot of the mods are really doing their best. I’ve personally spoken with current AND former staff and I don’t think any of the staff mentioned in this thread really knew the full extent of things.
EPSILONDELFINI
V01D
Not really a hot take, I do actually agree with at least half of what you said. People can curate their experience in any way they want. I feel like what I've said has been taken the wrong way.
goats-teeth Exactly my point. If they want to curate their experience, or stop the conversation, that's on them to do, not me. Not my account so I can't do anything about it. Like eating a food you hate, complaining that you hate it, only to keep eating it.
I think a previous commenter brought it up best when they said they might be keeping her around for technical help. Since it does make sense you'd want the person most familiar with the internal mechanism of a site, to stick around to help fix it. But they really need to be transparent on 'what' she does, if anything. And if she is or isn't being paid for the work. People don't want her to be involved, and I agree with the sentiment, though it depends on how deeply entrenched her roots are into the project and how much only she knows for certain things. Knowing how badly communication has been, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a good chunk of stuff involving site management and back-end mechanisms that hasn't been told to others until now.
RocketTheRat
wwithering
goats-teeth
You aren’t free from being responded to but you’re also not entitled to listen to it.
I guess to add on my own opinions to all of this, skepticism is completely warranted and other ArtFight users shouldn’t be upset if someone is angry with Tak or wants her off the team. Especially considering her shady behavior doesn’t just end at (for legal reasons) potential embezzlement, but also extends to the people she surrounds herself with being gross.
It’s just not right for her to stay on the team in many people’s opinions
Ender_Chan
-Ender_Chan 2023
Ocelein
But in regards to the matter at hand, I'm hopeful that ArtFight will be able to move forward and try to rebuild any trust that's been broken in the community. There are certainly a lot more improvements that can be made in communication and site oversight, but I don't think the current steps being taken are bad ones either. Transitions and restructuring of this nature take time, and I'm interested to see how things progress in future.
V01D
But that's my guess, at the very least.
V01D
EDIT: They blocked me, how rude.