If there’s one thing I can say about myself it’s this: I am fiercely loyal. I have my weaknesses, for sure. I’m terrible at saying goodbye. I am terrible when it comes to emergencies. I don’t like to attend parties, large social outings, or public events. And I can be pretty lazy as well. If it’s not laziness that beats me down, I have some mental hurdles I struggle with, which means sometimes I say I’m going to be somewhere and then something happens inside of my head and I simply cannot go. I’m also not one for making large convictions because I find I’m easily swayed and sometimes standing by said convictions proves difficult. A gal can change her mind sometimes, right? (There are some exceptions to this, of course. Some convictions make up who I am.) Anyway, I do have my issues; I have my many, many, issues.
But I am fiercely loyal. So much so, sometimes I get into trouble because of it. I have no regrets for harboring such a trait. I stick with and by my friends no matter what. If they have been wronged, I too feel wronged. If they feel jilted by someone, I too feel jilted. If I need to stand up for them, I do so, even if I haven’t been asked to do so. I can’t say much positive about myself and actually mean it, but I can say all of that. I’m loyal. (It’s pretty easy when you keep so few friends.)
Now I’ll get to the point.
I first heard about JPG Magazine through Heather Champ back in 2004. She and Derek wanted to create a photography magazine run by its members. I bought the first issue, sent in my own contributions (via email) and did whatever I could to get the word out there. In September of 2006, I signed up for JPG 2.0 where members were given the ability to upload their pictures to a crisp new Web site. The community grew to mammoth-sized proportions. It was awesome to see both Heather and Derek’s dream come true. I could not have been happier for them.
Truthfully, I love what JPG Magazine set out to accomplish. But that goal runs secondary to my loyalty to both Heather and Derek especially since that goal was conceived by the two of them. They have been nothing but gracious and kind to both Tobyjoe and me over the years and have worked doubly hard for the Internet community. So it came as a huge surprise when I received Derek’s email yesterday letting us both know that both he and Heather would no longer be a part of JPG Magazine.
I won’t go into details about what happened on here. You may read about it in Derek’s own words and Heather’s as well. There’s even a discussion surrounding said events taking place over on Metafilter. I will say that I’m terribly sad for the both of them because they have done nothing but awesome things on and for the Internet. I wrote Derek personally letting him know my thoughts about the whole situation, but I feel compelled to write about it on here as well. After all, I wrote about how awesome it was last October. I feel that it’s equally as important to let people know that JPG Magazine is now without its original, two founders.
I don’t say much with conviction (see that first paragraph again) because I have been known to fail and absolutes scare the shit out of me. But when the two traits collide – the negative bit about me being flip-floppy with the loyalty I have for my friends – that fierce loyalty always seems to win.
All that said, I will not be taking part in JPG Magazine any longer. I’m not asking that others follow suit, that would just be silly. JPG is, after all, a pretty awesome resource. But I want people to know what has taken place and how I feel about it. I want people to know why I deleted my account. I want people to know that what 8020 Publishing did to both Heather and Derek is just not right.
Mihow 
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