Strange indeed.

Does seem strange. The few I've seen usually claim life stuff getting hectic, or are just tired of furry drama. everyone has a reason i guess

Both are fair tbh.

Poilitics, social issues, financial issues, and just growing out of the fandom

Can't hate on that.. I know I'm less active now that I'm working way more hours and got a family.

I have theories. The fandom is not all it's cracked up to be anymore in my opinion. Even I've been contemplating leaving it sans the connections I currently do have though ;) I think a big driver though is the furry drama especially as it pertains to one side of the political isle that makes mountains out of molehills on a daily basis.

It does get tiresome. Then there's the flood of ads from artists and even commissioners who are casually turning viewing art and even access to commissions into some sort of subscription-based opportunity. Ironic considering these same people gave Adobe a lot of grief about them going subscription-only.

All and all though there's too much drama and now you have artists who are pushing subscriptions so hard that much of my more recent inbox subs here are censored versions of what's only on Patreon/Subscribestar and of curse the usual YCH and I'm Streaming Now! ads.

Yeah, the adverts by artists themselves is getting way outta hand.

Most of the "I quit" stuff I've seen lately seems to be tied to normie-level-bullshit-drama and harassment on the "mainstream" social media sites or not being satisfied by the amount of "likes/comments/and subscribes" they get.

I've seen a lot of people come into the fandom thinking they are going to be a "pop-u-fur" or big artist and then just leave.

I also think "quit the fandom" might be more of a " becoming a lurker" because they have too much IRL stuff to deal with or they want to "re-brand" as artists often do when there might be certain controversy attached to them.

I've seen tons of people just give up on being "part" of the fandom and kind of distance themselves from the IRL fandom stuff... Like, I stopped going to cons and furry parties because they were too young, too sensitive, and once I hit my mid-30s its just not the same fandom I was part of... but I still love the art and online aspects.

Pretty much the reasons I became more of a lurker.

That resonates with me 100% to be honest. It's not the fun place it used to be anymore. To many nassassists and political ideologues in it for my taste. I still like the art, and got a small circle of friends I stick with, but it feels anytime someone wants to join that inner circle a bunch of drama and baggage is in both arms and frankly, I just don't have the time or energy to deal with it anymore. :(

Yeah, I get ya, man! ^_^

I grew up in the much more "unfiltered" and "you can't control me" and "don't label me, bro!" 1980s and 1990s, and there is just way too much butt-hurt over literally everything said or done with a lot of younger people now.

The fun and openness of the fandom to actual diversity is seemingly gone now in a lot of circles where it went from "Be yourself" to "only be yourself if you fit into this specifically defined set of rules and thoughts that have been deemed acceptable".

Fuuuuuuck dude, I miss the 90s furry fandom. All fun, no politics, no tribalism (outside of small circles of people's preferred species of course). The "I hate labels" was the best era. No collectivism practically. We had the best music too imo. Damnit, now I wanna go listen to some Korn or NIN or something lol.

If folks wanna "quit" that is on them. I enjoy the art, creativity, and in general the positives of it being here far too much to leave. There is a Choice people can make when it comes to the drama. You can sink into it and participate or you can ignore it and keep moving on. Not every percieved crusade and wrong needs involvement but, some fancy themselves crusaders and fall for it. Curious as to who was quitting though.

I can't recall who specifically, it was just 3 people I was watching. :(

good question :/

I hadn't noticed it myself ... but the fandom is for bouts of "I quit, see ya next week" sorta stuff.

I have at least once just told a group "I'm quitting forever but will review this decision in the morning" because I knew damn well I wasn't in my best emotional state at 2 AM

Getting a bout of sleep can sometimes really put some clarity into a situation :)

it's funny when I realize even at 2 AM that, although the situation seems dire or awful now, it probably won't in the morning!

now if only I could learn the corresponding rules about jokes that seem funny and correspondence chess moves that seem strong at 2 in the morning...

and I am, ironically, posting this reply at 2:30 in the morning!

Good time to do stuff. Less people on to bug ya :p

yeah but for chess I need to be awake! and I never notice people trying to bother me anyway, only my cat, who is usually hungry at such times

Lol, yeah, it does seem like that sort of attitude is rather common in humanity lately.

It may seem strange but there are many factors that cause people to abandon this ship:
The drama, harassment, ugly experiences on site. Economic stress.
It may also be due to the anxiety of growing quickly, having X number of watchers in a short time, having many favorites, comments.

Those make sense *nods*

No idea, I decided to clean up my watchlist and a fair few were just abandoned, gone, (some were dead), banned etc.

Nothing wrong with that, either :)

It took a few days, there was a lot to go through