RIP Dragoneer, long live FA
a year ago
The passing of Dragoneer is terribly sad, even more so because of how it happened. I hope that his legacy will be recognized by the community as much as it deserves and brought forward.
I've always been interested in analyzing the furry community and how it changed since the 90s, and the founding of FA was a huge turning point. It marked the beginning of the transformation from a niche fandom into the huge, impactful community we know today. FA itself is the kind of crazy project made by geeks for geeks that nobody would attempt now that anything that looks vaguely like a social has huge upfront costs and expectations. Comparing the history of FA to that of sites like DeviantArt, ArtStation, ConceptArt.org etc. shows that Dragoneer and his team, in spite of any shortcomings, were/are actually very principled admins who never made personal gains a priority nor resorted to the exploitative practices that ruined so many art sites. I never interacted with him as far as I can remember, but I feel he's the kind of person whose positive impact will only become obvious now that he’s gone. Me and thousands of others owe to his vision the blossoming of friendships, relationships, careers. Too many things to list.
RIP, and long live Furaffinity.
I've always been interested in analyzing the furry community and how it changed since the 90s, and the founding of FA was a huge turning point. It marked the beginning of the transformation from a niche fandom into the huge, impactful community we know today. FA itself is the kind of crazy project made by geeks for geeks that nobody would attempt now that anything that looks vaguely like a social has huge upfront costs and expectations. Comparing the history of FA to that of sites like DeviantArt, ArtStation, ConceptArt.org etc. shows that Dragoneer and his team, in spite of any shortcomings, were/are actually very principled admins who never made personal gains a priority nor resorted to the exploitative practices that ruined so many art sites. I never interacted with him as far as I can remember, but I feel he's the kind of person whose positive impact will only become obvious now that he’s gone. Me and thousands of others owe to his vision the blossoming of friendships, relationships, careers. Too many things to list.
RIP, and long live Furaffinity.
I didn’t really know much about Dragoneer himself but I have heard a bit about what happened and it’s very sad. Our country’s healthcare system has failed yet again.
RIP Dragoneer
Life must and will go on, with or without them. Peace!