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A meloncholic nostalgic trip through FA
5 days ago
General
Puppy has been here since 2006. She got bleary eyed for the memories of what a tight-knit community Furaffinity was before the rise of social media, and the normification of the furry fandom itself - so she decided to go hunt down all the old names she used to hob-nob with back in the day.
This is what she found.
Most of them are flat gone. Just vanished. Deactivated, abandoned, or simply stagnate accounts. The most recent posts sometimes reaching 2021, but most ending as far back as 2010-2012.
A distressing amount of them are dead...
A handfull are Magat psychopaths now, and several of them are suspended (good). Fortunately, this is a relatively small number of folks.
And uhm... more than I expected were outed for molesting kids or having csam and have poofed away as well. :/
I was surprised to see so many big late-90's and 2000's furry artists just gone, now. Having not updated in years. Like Gnaw, for example. Old fandom celebs just kinda retired, I spose. What happened to [Koh], anybody know?
Is that puppy's fate? Just kinda giving up?
Well, anyway, did find several people still active who I haven't poked in a long time! So I dropped lines. :3
Puppy misses that vibe.
This is what she found.
Most of them are flat gone. Just vanished. Deactivated, abandoned, or simply stagnate accounts. The most recent posts sometimes reaching 2021, but most ending as far back as 2010-2012.
A distressing amount of them are dead...
A handfull are Magat psychopaths now, and several of them are suspended (good). Fortunately, this is a relatively small number of folks.
And uhm... more than I expected were outed for molesting kids or having csam and have poofed away as well. :/
I was surprised to see so many big late-90's and 2000's furry artists just gone, now. Having not updated in years. Like Gnaw, for example. Old fandom celebs just kinda retired, I spose. What happened to [Koh], anybody know?
Is that puppy's fate? Just kinda giving up?
Well, anyway, did find several people still active who I haven't poked in a long time! So I dropped lines. :3
Puppy misses that vibe.
These days it's particularly dire if people just want to socialize. Everyone goes to social media for that, and comments on gallery sites like this have pretty much dived off a cliff in the last decade (even though views seem to be steadily go up).
Yeah, the community is very different than it used to be (as is the entire Internet), but I still enjoy being here.
I'm not a great artist and I really struggle with art, and I can go for months at a time without producing anything, but I can't imagine quitting for good. I don't understand that.
I'm blessed that a lot of the ones that I first started interacting with when I became social in the fandom are still around (like
But as far as the OGs, the ones who I followed and admitted before I really integrated into the community, the only ones I know who remain (and I still love dearly) are
I also get nostalgic for those days. The internet at large has changed a lot. I hate the conglomeration of basically everyone onto a handful of mainstream megasites. It's so annoying. Especially when said sites are just... the worst. Ugh.
But yeah, on the flipside it's also nice to see the peeps that ARE still active (and haven't turned into alt-reich crazies) here. And I'm glad you're one of them. =3
I don't think I really would want that, personally. I could make and have made "normie" friends, normie work etc, but there's something about furries that is just too comforting to not come back to. Furries are inherently weirdos in the good sense of the word. Almost all are some form of LGBT, have weird interests, have strange clothing patterns or ways of speaking. Some are thereotypes. Some just like to dress up. Normie stuff feels far too stifling, too obsessed with pretenses.
I wonder if you feel the same way. We could "grow out" of being a furry, but I just don't think I want to like so many "have." There being plenty of older furries and a cohort of many who are happy here while also being older, that reassures me a bit, at least.
What do you think?
Furry is an identity, and I'll always be in it. :3
That and... I'm trans, don't want kids, and and too disabled to work in the normie world. I am pretty sure there's no lure to the average life for puppy anyway. lol
The whole vibe of FA has changed a ton too, not to mention othe4 frequent furry hub DeviantArt which I've seen go from my main hub of online socialization to the 9 circles of Hell thanks to AI slop, horrible design decisions, etc.
I officially deleted my DA when it embraced AI, though.
I plan to still be here for as long as the site stays around :3