It was a surprise to us all, to lose a well known pillar of the community like this, truly one of the OGs. I didn't get to interact with him, but I came to know about him from the sidelines. Managing this website for this many years must not have been easy.

It may not be the best place but it still works well enough, and has kept working even after the AI apocalypse that brought ruin to many other art sites. I do remember, 13 years ago when I started uploading my art on the internet, posting to the void on deviant art, but the fist batch I posted here got me a lot of people to talk to on comments and dms, I found a welcoming community and kept on drawing to this day. I cannot thank Dragoneer and his staff enough for giving me a place to nest, make friends and develop my craft.

I got really happy when I saw he liked some of my things, to imagine someone as busy as that got to see something I did and interact with the community! We never talked but it is that big of a presence that is not here anymore, a piece of history to our very... diverse community.

It is great seeing the positive messages about him, each sharing a bit of their interactions and telling many stories, the dedicated guy behind the purple dragon. But it is a shame getting to know more about someone like this.

My condolences to his friends and family.