After some of the dust has settled from the JPG Magazine “situation”, I am left to wonder, did it really affect the magazine at all?If you are not aware of JPG it is quite a wonderful collective of creativity.  Readers are encouraged to submit their photography, stories, how-to’s, interviews, and the like for other readers to vote on.  The best are then selected by the editors to be included in the final printed issue.  If your work is included you not only receive $100 but you also get a free subscription for a year.  Not a bad deal at all for something that is free to submit to.  The only requirement is a hassle free user registration form.

Derek Powazek released his version of “The Real Story of JPG Magazine” which was an account of how the community project came to be.  Included in the post were some frightening realities (or accusations according to some) that the co-founders of such a wonderful project were somehow forced out of the project.  He later added some additional information via another post further explaining his motivations behind the original post.  The other co-founder, Heather Champ, made mention of her findings as well and while Derek disallowed comments on his blog, there was quite an uproar at MetaFilter.  Much like any organization with support from the people, when they sense that their favorite leaders have been wronged, action is taken, and action in this online world is typically swift without any delay.  This was evidenced by Flickr members who were removing their JPG accounts left and right in protest.

There was a backlash against the owner Paul Cloutier, who runs 8020 Publishing.  While he tried to explain, granted the response should have been better thought out, he was not well received.  Paul’s wife even felt the need to blog her frustrations out.

So now that the dust has settled, where are we?  Are we any further along the path to rightousness or closer to the truth?  I doubt that we are.  More times than not, I feel as if we just witnessed a high school fight and after talking about what each side did to the other, we are back in the classroom.  Mind you, I am not necessarily saying that the parties involved were acting like children.

Has all of that had any effect on the magazine?  I have to wonder.  Has the drop in subscriptions and visitor interest due to the Heather & Derek fall-out caused the increase in advertising that is now ever-prevalent on the site?  Or has the readership increased to the point where 8020 is capitalizing on the traffic with the ads?  Are those that have removed their accounts still logging back in to see what is happening or is it said and done with?  Some have even recreated their accounts after deleting them in the first place.  Still, some offered more of a memoriam to the co-founders,  expressing their sadness about the situation.  While others finally understood that “Deleting accounts and cancelling subscriptions runs counter to the financial interests that Derek still maintains in the company. Folks should be hoping for it to succeed.”

In Derek’s blog, which I have now subscribed to since this incident (and enjoyed reading) he asks the question “What other projects are there like JPG?”  I pondered on this and had all but planned to give him an answer but cannot for the life of me find anything similar.  JPG is very unique.  I could not another example of a community driven site where the final product is sold.

It is sad now that there will always seem to be this blemish on the JPG record, but I for one am glad that it appears to have weathered the storm.  The fact that it is still there is almost a tribute to those who poured their souls into making it work.