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A passing
a year ago
Fur affinity means a lot to me. I've been really struggling to contemplate life without this place. It's a relic from a time when the internet was more free and a sort of symbol for how these sorts of websites should operate. Yes it's a touch clunky, yes it's a touch dated, and yes it's understaffed by wonderful people who deserve a lot more love but compare it to any contemporary.
Deviant art comes to mind and that's a nightmare hellscape of AI images, advertisements, people doing skeevy shit, and is so bloated it's unusable. Tumblr got bought out and is another nightmare. We've all seen what Elon has done to Twitter. There are smaller places, sofurry, transfur, and more but they're underdeveloped and cater to a specific niche. Then we have image re-upload boards where it's the wild west and there's little artistic control...
What I'm saying is this site is special. This community is special. We are growing as a culture and becoming something far bigger and relevant than any of us thought was possible and... It sucks that one of the key catalysts for this won't be around to see it's continued growth. They will not be forgotten.
As far as my prose goes? Download what you like. Maybe leave a comment. Anything older is from a time I hardly recall but I'm very proud of my recent works. My comms? Again, if you like them download them. Same with others work. Try to source the creator, something I did a bad job of with some old comms and I feel horrible about. Record keeping is REALLY important guys.
That said word on the street through my sources say that it's looking like FA is going to go to auction to recoup some medical debt. I have no idea what the starting bid would be. I have no idea what person or people who desire profit would do with this site because I don't see anyone outside of our community advertising here. Maybe some grifters will try to take all the art here and turn it into an image bot (as if that hasn't been done already) or a competitor will buy it to shut it down.
That said... Us furries? We got deep pockets. We got connections. Some of us, somehow, are actually important people Invovled with business and politics. Who knows, maybe some folks will empower the staff here to aquire the website and keep it as it is, maybe as some sort of LLC (as it is) or an artist co-op.
But there's more to this community than a website.
There's more to us than this website.
We have developed our own identity and collective culture. One that's pretty accepting of most folks out there and one that cares deeply about respecting creative ownership. I've been seeing a push in a lot of spaces for more consent based stuff which is awesome and... Look, I know there's strong feelings about the recent rules concerning sizes and ages but it's a step in the right direction even if it was mishandled and done sloppily.
We could, if we wanted become an actual bloc of people with some political power which is scary. It requires us to give up certain things so we can all achieve some level of comfort together and so that other communities who are allied with us can be more accepting of us. Queer communities, bdsm ones, alternative identity movements, alternative philosophical thought, and transhumanist come to mind. I'd like for us to emulate inclusive punk movements who let everyone through the door but the skin heads and the nationalists. For us to be a safe place for everyone who thinks that there are countless correct ways to live and for us to ally with other groups that do the same under one big fuzzy umbrella.
We need to decide our core values.
And that brings me back to this site. And one thing I adore about furaffinity is how it advertised. How artists bought ads. How members with the means to support the site did so. How we see artists in need and reach out before shouting their socials. How if someone passes we remember them, paying homage and keeping them alive. How we make random raffles and gifts for one another. To me, This community feels more like a family than my biological one ever did.
So... I guess what I saying is... Even if furaffinity goes away as a website? We can keep that spirit going and let it inspire us to be better. <3
Deviant art comes to mind and that's a nightmare hellscape of AI images, advertisements, people doing skeevy shit, and is so bloated it's unusable. Tumblr got bought out and is another nightmare. We've all seen what Elon has done to Twitter. There are smaller places, sofurry, transfur, and more but they're underdeveloped and cater to a specific niche. Then we have image re-upload boards where it's the wild west and there's little artistic control...
What I'm saying is this site is special. This community is special. We are growing as a culture and becoming something far bigger and relevant than any of us thought was possible and... It sucks that one of the key catalysts for this won't be around to see it's continued growth. They will not be forgotten.
As far as my prose goes? Download what you like. Maybe leave a comment. Anything older is from a time I hardly recall but I'm very proud of my recent works. My comms? Again, if you like them download them. Same with others work. Try to source the creator, something I did a bad job of with some old comms and I feel horrible about. Record keeping is REALLY important guys.
That said word on the street through my sources say that it's looking like FA is going to go to auction to recoup some medical debt. I have no idea what the starting bid would be. I have no idea what person or people who desire profit would do with this site because I don't see anyone outside of our community advertising here. Maybe some grifters will try to take all the art here and turn it into an image bot (as if that hasn't been done already) or a competitor will buy it to shut it down.
That said... Us furries? We got deep pockets. We got connections. Some of us, somehow, are actually important people Invovled with business and politics. Who knows, maybe some folks will empower the staff here to aquire the website and keep it as it is, maybe as some sort of LLC (as it is) or an artist co-op.
But there's more to this community than a website.
There's more to us than this website.
We have developed our own identity and collective culture. One that's pretty accepting of most folks out there and one that cares deeply about respecting creative ownership. I've been seeing a push in a lot of spaces for more consent based stuff which is awesome and... Look, I know there's strong feelings about the recent rules concerning sizes and ages but it's a step in the right direction even if it was mishandled and done sloppily.
We could, if we wanted become an actual bloc of people with some political power which is scary. It requires us to give up certain things so we can all achieve some level of comfort together and so that other communities who are allied with us can be more accepting of us. Queer communities, bdsm ones, alternative identity movements, alternative philosophical thought, and transhumanist come to mind. I'd like for us to emulate inclusive punk movements who let everyone through the door but the skin heads and the nationalists. For us to be a safe place for everyone who thinks that there are countless correct ways to live and for us to ally with other groups that do the same under one big fuzzy umbrella.
We need to decide our core values.
And that brings me back to this site. And one thing I adore about furaffinity is how it advertised. How artists bought ads. How members with the means to support the site did so. How we see artists in need and reach out before shouting their socials. How if someone passes we remember them, paying homage and keeping them alive. How we make random raffles and gifts for one another. To me, This community feels more like a family than my biological one ever did.
So... I guess what I saying is... Even if furaffinity goes away as a website? We can keep that spirit going and let it inspire us to be better. <3
Ronyo the Windfox
~ronyo-windfox
Hear hear!
