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Reflections on 'Neer
a year ago
I'm a bit late posting about this, partially because I really was never sure what to say, and partially because I never directly met the guy myself.
But one thing that really struck me as I saw journal after journal being posted here on FA was just how many people have met him, known him, had a lot to say far and above him simply being the guy who ran the world's biggest furry site.
And lord knows it is *The* Furry Site. Say what you will about Xitter or Telegram or Discord or SoFurry or InkBunny or Weasyl (or laugh about e621), but it's incredibly, incredibly difficult to "be a furry" without having staked a profile on FA. It feels to me like FA is almost the furry version of the SSA - like, "check my FA activity/notes" is always the way I see people say when fighting impersonation in the furryverse. Even with SoFurry being older, even with the wave of sites like Weasyl that popped up in the mid-teens, nothing eclipses FA. It isn't perfect, but it's where everyone checks in with who they are as a member of the furry fandom, even if they only ever just make a profile to show who they are and then leave it to go exist on other sites (like me over on SoFurry, though I still regularly use FA for buying YCHs/comms/etc.). Not to mention that FA is one of the few sites these days that simply isn't subject to an algorithm - it's a proper gallery site with enough interactivity to give artists what they need for their business and such.
That's a massive system to manage, and 'Neer did that for almost two decades. Do you know how many sites have come and gone in that time? I think it's clear from that, as well as from how many people he directly touched, just how much 'Neer cared about the fandom overall. The closest I ever got to meeting him was being in the same FurTheMore charity auction where he ended up going super-high on one particular item (that, IIRC, admittedly deserved more than what the crowd was giving at the time, either being a fandom history thing or a mostly-no-longer-active artist - IIRC) and it's clear that most people actually do have a direct convention story with him, or at least having him pop in on one of the art streams or similar. It's honestly quite impressive.
He certainly wasn't perfect - there was that extracted episode with how he handled then-friends Zaush and JasonFX(sp?) on FA before everntually banning (and unfriending?) them - but no one is perfect. I don't think there's any argument that he was a massive pillar of the fandom. Furry wouldn't have grown from the IRC days to where it is now without his work maintaining FA.
Even though I didn't directly know him, his passing got me more emotional than I thought it would. Part of it was that overwhelming response of everyone sharing stories of interacting with him, seeing just how many people he directly touched in addition to keeping FA running. Another part was that, even though I never actually met him, I have been following him on FA for years (he did a fair amount of vore as well, so that was always fun to see) and on BlueSky since I moved there. As such, I've followed his declining health for months, and that extracted process was just brutal to watch. What hurts the most is that he finally got the surgery to get biopsies done last week, and was expecting a diagnosis within a week from that... And hoping to begin recovery in a month or two. Having everything ripped out from under that is cruel beyond belief - and that's to say nothing of being strung along for months and slapped with massive bills on top of it all.
My heart goes out to FelisRandomis - someone I've also followed for ages and currently incredibly close to 'Neer. I don't want to think of what exactly happened with his passing. I hope the necessary grieving and recovery isn't harmed by the excessive hospital bills and/or social media pressure. It's a bit scary even for me right now as I'm still currently between jobs and right health insurance...
This is just a reminder to reach out to your friends often, and do your best to make the fandom the best place it can be. You're here. That's what matters.
But one thing that really struck me as I saw journal after journal being posted here on FA was just how many people have met him, known him, had a lot to say far and above him simply being the guy who ran the world's biggest furry site.
And lord knows it is *The* Furry Site. Say what you will about Xitter or Telegram or Discord or SoFurry or InkBunny or Weasyl (or laugh about e621), but it's incredibly, incredibly difficult to "be a furry" without having staked a profile on FA. It feels to me like FA is almost the furry version of the SSA - like, "check my FA activity/notes" is always the way I see people say when fighting impersonation in the furryverse. Even with SoFurry being older, even with the wave of sites like Weasyl that popped up in the mid-teens, nothing eclipses FA. It isn't perfect, but it's where everyone checks in with who they are as a member of the furry fandom, even if they only ever just make a profile to show who they are and then leave it to go exist on other sites (like me over on SoFurry, though I still regularly use FA for buying YCHs/comms/etc.). Not to mention that FA is one of the few sites these days that simply isn't subject to an algorithm - it's a proper gallery site with enough interactivity to give artists what they need for their business and such.
That's a massive system to manage, and 'Neer did that for almost two decades. Do you know how many sites have come and gone in that time? I think it's clear from that, as well as from how many people he directly touched, just how much 'Neer cared about the fandom overall. The closest I ever got to meeting him was being in the same FurTheMore charity auction where he ended up going super-high on one particular item (that, IIRC, admittedly deserved more than what the crowd was giving at the time, either being a fandom history thing or a mostly-no-longer-active artist - IIRC) and it's clear that most people actually do have a direct convention story with him, or at least having him pop in on one of the art streams or similar. It's honestly quite impressive.
He certainly wasn't perfect - there was that extracted episode with how he handled then-friends Zaush and JasonFX(sp?) on FA before everntually banning (and unfriending?) them - but no one is perfect. I don't think there's any argument that he was a massive pillar of the fandom. Furry wouldn't have grown from the IRC days to where it is now without his work maintaining FA.
Even though I didn't directly know him, his passing got me more emotional than I thought it would. Part of it was that overwhelming response of everyone sharing stories of interacting with him, seeing just how many people he directly touched in addition to keeping FA running. Another part was that, even though I never actually met him, I have been following him on FA for years (he did a fair amount of vore as well, so that was always fun to see) and on BlueSky since I moved there. As such, I've followed his declining health for months, and that extracted process was just brutal to watch. What hurts the most is that he finally got the surgery to get biopsies done last week, and was expecting a diagnosis within a week from that... And hoping to begin recovery in a month or two. Having everything ripped out from under that is cruel beyond belief - and that's to say nothing of being strung along for months and slapped with massive bills on top of it all.
My heart goes out to FelisRandomis - someone I've also followed for ages and currently incredibly close to 'Neer. I don't want to think of what exactly happened with his passing. I hope the necessary grieving and recovery isn't harmed by the excessive hospital bills and/or social media pressure. It's a bit scary even for me right now as I'm still currently between jobs and right health insurance...
This is just a reminder to reach out to your friends often, and do your best to make the fandom the best place it can be. You're here. That's what matters.
