Not at all like that. More like "Don't try what you're about to see at home. We're what you call experts."
Haha, yeah. Those were the good old days. =)
I just got into the most epic flame war of my entire e-life at Devaintart. I took all comers and even though I probably looked like a mean asshole I cooked those suckers (even a former member from here). I was on. I mean on. It was one of the most liberating, cathartic and hilarious experiences in recent memory. I finally got to say all the things I've wanted to say to a certain kind of artist for years.
I don't know what the fallout will be... if any. But at this moment in time. TOTALLY. WORTH. IT.
Er, if you're talking about that giant thread on dA that got locked because you posted it in the wrong place, I'm not sure that you were as 'on' as you thought you were. You'll probably take this the wrong way, or accuse me of attacking you, but on the (extremely) off chance that you'll do some self-examination and have a change of attitude, I'll risk saying it.
I do what I do because I love it. Do I want to make money off of it? Yep. But the reason I do it for free is because there is no one to pay me, and subsequently, no one to detract from my profit when I start making some. If I were doing pages for other people, I would absolutely want to be reasonably compensated for my time and effort, and would, at the very, very least, demand minimum wage (in my province, $10.25/hr). Does that make me, and other artists like me entitled? Whiny?
No, it means that I don't undersell myself. While I understand that it's easy to throw beans at a starving artist and have them bite, that doesn't mean that you should. I was downright appalled by some of the things you said in that thread, and just based on how you spoke to artists there, I can't imagine ever working with you, even for pay. To be very blunt, I have to wonder if you feel that people like me are to be used as steps whose backs you'll trod on up the stairway to success. It sure seems like it.
Regardless, I've seen you interact with other people on other websites in other situations before, and this always happens. You find yourself having to defend things you've said, people 'troll' you, and so on. The common denominator here is you, and how you present yourself, every single time. You'll catch more flies with honey, and you'll probably alienate waaaaay less people along the way if, when someone disagrees with you, you do the adult thing by saying 'I have no obligation to answer to you. All serious replies, please send me an email' and just leave it at that.
I say this now, because it is likely that I won't come back. I don't want to argue with you, but I do wish you'd see any other side of an argument before you declare yourself the winner and dismiss everyone else as retarded, you know?