starting with this very interesting new article compiled by ^sphilr.

TMD: 10 X 1010 X 10: A History of deviantART
Proud to be a deviant? This history belongs to you. Is it long? You bet it's long-- ten years in the making long, told by ten of the deviants who built deviantART and kept it alive. So brew up a fresh pot, print up some pages, and sit down to the story of the decade
matteo (co-founder, deviantART): I was eighteen when deviantART first opened its doors. I was so young and naive. I had this idealistic vision of an online community of artists, coming together to promote creativity and the freedom of expression. We had no idea that it would actually succeed beyond our wildest dreams.
jark (co-founder, dev
