Pixish is for spec work on pictures but not design?

Derek Powazek has probably been quite busy today reading all the commentary on his new endeavor Pixish. He already posted one response earlier today which I critiqued in a post of my own. Also, he has just recently posted another statement.

In his latest response, he states:

Pixish will no longer accept assignments for design work. That means no logos, no blog headers, no templates…. Pixish was always supposed to be about pictures – photographs and illustrations – not design work. So we’re focusing more explicitly on that goal.

This is getting ridiculous. Come on Derek! How is this any better? Sure so now there’s no design spec work.

But if you’re looking for design work, please do hire a designer.

Why is it that designers deserve a special pass, but plebeian illustrators and photographers still get the joy of battling it out like gladiators in the Pixish Spec Work Colosseum?

There are other and possibly better ways to fix this.