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What Even Is the Point of FA Journals, Anyway?
2 months ago
General
Okay, serious question, gang: what is the actual point of the Journal feature on FurAffinity? Because from where I’m sitting (and yes, I am currently sitting, thank you for asking), it looks like it exists exclusively so people can yell into the void about their YCH auctions, post adoptables like they’re black-market Pokémon dealers, and remind us they have a Twitch stream they would really like you to watch.
And look, no shade — get that bread, my furry capitalist comrades — but are we seriously pretending that this was ever meant to be, I dunno, a journal? Like, where you post thoughts? Feelings? Funny anecdotes about the dog chewing on your Wacom pen? Because hoo boy, if that was the intent, the experiment failed harder than Twitter’s attempt at having a decent user interface.
I just have this mental image of the FA dev team back in 2007, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (literally), going: “We’ll give people a place to connect, to share their lives, to have conversations.” And then 15 years later it’s like:
“HEY GUYS I’M STREAMING!!! COME GIVE ME BITS AND VALIDATION!!! YCH SLOT OPEN!!! PAYPAL READY!!!”
And don’t get me wrong, I love supporting artists. But we have turned the whole concept of “talking to each other online” into an endless cycle of monetization pitches. It’s like trying to have a heartfelt conversation with someone at a bar, except every five seconds they pause to remind you that their Ko-Fi link is in their bio.
And you know the second you actually post something that isn’t just a thinly-veiled sales pitch — something heartfelt, vulnerable, or even just dumb and funny — half your watchers will scroll right past it because there’s no transaction to complete. We’re so trained by The Internet™ to see each other as content dispensers that we forget you can just… chat. Like a person. For free.
So yeah, unless the point of FA Journals was “create a secondary, slightly jankier marketplace for your adoptables and commissions,” I’m pretty sure nobody remembers why this feature exists. And that’s kind of tragic. Or maybe just hilariously on brand for 2025, where every online space eventually gets turned into a storefront.
Anyway. This is your reminder that you are allowed — ALLOWED!!! — to post something in your journal that doesn’t ask for money, doesn’t link to a stream, doesn’t hawk your adoptable of the week. Post a weird thought you had at 3am. Post about the cursed thing your cat just did. Post a meme. Hell, post about how nobody talks anymore. Just… talk.
Because otherwise? We might as well just rename the feature “Ads” and call it a day.
And look, no shade — get that bread, my furry capitalist comrades — but are we seriously pretending that this was ever meant to be, I dunno, a journal? Like, where you post thoughts? Feelings? Funny anecdotes about the dog chewing on your Wacom pen? Because hoo boy, if that was the intent, the experiment failed harder than Twitter’s attempt at having a decent user interface.
I just have this mental image of the FA dev team back in 2007, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (literally), going: “We’ll give people a place to connect, to share their lives, to have conversations.” And then 15 years later it’s like:
“HEY GUYS I’M STREAMING!!! COME GIVE ME BITS AND VALIDATION!!! YCH SLOT OPEN!!! PAYPAL READY!!!”
And don’t get me wrong, I love supporting artists. But we have turned the whole concept of “talking to each other online” into an endless cycle of monetization pitches. It’s like trying to have a heartfelt conversation with someone at a bar, except every five seconds they pause to remind you that their Ko-Fi link is in their bio.
And you know the second you actually post something that isn’t just a thinly-veiled sales pitch — something heartfelt, vulnerable, or even just dumb and funny — half your watchers will scroll right past it because there’s no transaction to complete. We’re so trained by The Internet™ to see each other as content dispensers that we forget you can just… chat. Like a person. For free.
So yeah, unless the point of FA Journals was “create a secondary, slightly jankier marketplace for your adoptables and commissions,” I’m pretty sure nobody remembers why this feature exists. And that’s kind of tragic. Or maybe just hilariously on brand for 2025, where every online space eventually gets turned into a storefront.
Anyway. This is your reminder that you are allowed — ALLOWED!!! — to post something in your journal that doesn’t ask for money, doesn’t link to a stream, doesn’t hawk your adoptable of the week. Post a weird thought you had at 3am. Post about the cursed thing your cat just did. Post a meme. Hell, post about how nobody talks anymore. Just… talk.
Because otherwise? We might as well just rename the feature “Ads” and call it a day.
Almost inclined to include some long rambles I have about my worldbuilding projects and stupid ideas.