VICTORY

???

:0

A soul for a soul

grats

I'm curious how much it was

Too much. My financial status at the moment is a frowny face. XD

Missed out on GameStop, did ya?

Entirely.

Me also. Let us together celebrate our poverty!

Have you ever heard about our lord and savior Satoshi Nakamoto?

Gotta say that I have not.

Never late!

*HE DID THE THING*

Grats, dude! (Don't worry, i'll help out some with the FA+ stuff for as long as I can :P)

Why yes, you did.

I hope we can keep it stable, I wish I could pitch in to help ya, man.

It was a big goal for you and you did it. Congrats <3

And don't let the haters get you down.

I love that username. =3 My old AIM name was Kamaitachi Red.

The wind weasels appreciate you.

(Also I'm seeing a lot of backlash on that CoC update... I dunno why? It's a good thing... Again, don't let these idiots get to you or the moderators. You guys are doing the site a justice. Thank you)

I imagine some people imagine we'll be censoring speech. We're simply putting a foot down on blatant misinformation.

Exactly!

They don't want this 'freedom of speech' they use as a shield, they want freedom of consequences.

I've been fighting misinformation my whole life and trying my darnedest to pursue ways to prevent people from getting hurt by lies and conspiracy.
You're not censoring free speech. You're giving out consequences to their actions. Which if you lie and spread misinformation, you should either be educated or disciplined. These people will refuse both because they refuse to admit they were wrong. Many were raised with the mentality of "If I'm wrong, I lose, and I'm not a loser!" It's kind of sad because admitting you were wrong lets you grow as an individual and lets you spread actual facts.

The internet is a dangerous place right now. I'm happy FA is at least putting its foot down on this kind of behavior. I've seen what happens when you are too 'anti censorship'... People get harassed, you get illicit discussions, and you get lies and misinformation everywhere.

I think politics should be just banned off the platform all together, since right now it's super left-bias on FA. Miss me with this elitists bs, aka we only allow the "right" opinions here, everything else is "harmful" lmao. Reminds me of the stuff soviet union did, if you disagree with the party, you are "hurting" our society.
But yeah, I myself am also against all of these radical groups... but I am against ALL of them, not just right wing, as FA staff proposes. I am not even American, as many of the FA users. And we are fucking tired of seeing all these new "updates" to the policies, which target certain political groups (mostly American) in a hopes of chasing the political clout.
Like, does not FA staff realize that most people come here to jerk of to furry porn and not listen to some furfags saying what is morally wrong or right to say? smh

It's not even targeting political views, people are saying it is because they want to feel attacked.

It's targeting lies and misinformation that have been running rampant for a while now. It also doesn't target 'opinions'. You can say "I don't like masks" but you can't say "masks cause cancer" for example. It's the spread of misinformation that can harm others, or even kill them, that they're trying to fight against.

Things that should never have had a 'political leaning' but people keep trying to pin it as a political point of view... I don't know why.

You shouldn't yell at FA staff about it, yell at the dipshits who won't shut up about it and won't stop lying and bullshitting on the internet XD People put the wrong blame down.

Yeah, I agree with that.
But the problem with new rule is... who the fuck is going to judge if the source is credible or if the ideologies are harmful to public safety? Like, literally, how the fuck can you even measure that? It's all just an assumption and self evaluation. For example, BLM activists might look like danger to public safety to some, since they caused unrest in the cities around the world, broke lock-down restrictions, assaulted government workers... and I doubt they are gonna be put in the same line as QAnon by FA staff, which to me, is the same thing, just from another political side :D
Again, I am not American, it's just how the outsider views the shitfest American politics are rn and I am just afraid, that my favorite artists might start getting banned or migrating because of the (possible) toxic political environment within the platform.

They can start their own toxic clouds. I've seen artists I once treasured actually wish physical harm on others.

But why even push for separation and divide, don't you see the issue with that? This is literally a road to no good. Less artists, more toxicity, more drama, creation of echo-chambers. It will only work for you until you are going to be placed in the "wrong people" category. Super ignorant my dude :/

Mmm, I'm not seeing echo chambers, I'm seeing a fight against liars and misinformation. Something that the media has to start doing, because it's getting to the point people are getting hurt from it.

Guess what? I'm not the wrong people. :) Because I don't spread misinformation and lies. Your line of thinking is wrong, buddy.

I am not on any 'political side' either. If the artists leave because they feel alienated, that's their right. If they feel their political views will get them in trouble, then that's their opinion, it won't. If they spread LIES and MISINFORMATION and CONSPIRACY. That is when the line is crossed. This goes REGARDLESS of your side. I know people on both sides who spread lies and misinformation to harm the other side. FA wants to stop -all- of it.

"Super ignorant my dude" you're just not realizing the big picture. You're putting politics in a place where it doesn't exist. Those people who are freaking out? They're scared because they don't understand what it means. They want to be victims, they want to be oppressed, so they can speak up against something they don't agree with. But the ones who actually spread misinformation and lies, you want to back them up? Do you want people to get hurt? Super gross my dude.

>in response to Kamaitachi
Bruuuh, this is the most delusional thing I have read in a while. Not only you said that you believe that: "I'm not the wrong people", but also you support authoritarian censorship and thought policing ahaha (You would make an awesome CPSU member)
Why did you assume I want people to get hurt? Hurt from WHAT? From other peoples opinions? Don't villainize me to prove your point :P
Furthermore, you are not immune to propaganda or misinformation, neither am I, so it's all very subjective. Since different people evaluate information differently.
PS. Damn, you already banned me... it's just proves how fragile your points actually are and yet you advocate for your opinion to be the only correct one lmao
Ta ta

you support authoritarian censorship

FurAffinity can’t censor you. At best, it can tell you “we don’t do that here” and kick you out if you keep doing what got you warned. You would still have plenty of other places on the Internet to which you could go and whine about being booted from FA.

Moderation is a platform/service owner or operator saying “we don’t do that here”. Personal discretion is an individual telling themselves “I won’t do that here”. Editorial discretion is an editor saying “we won’t print that here”, either to themselves or to a writer. Censorship is someone saying “you won’t do that anywhere” alongside threats or actions meant to suppress speech. Unless ’Neer or an FA mod does anything to stop you from whining elsewhere, FA can’t censor you. It never could.

You are essentially “leasing” a spot on FA with permission from the owner. You don’t make their rules for them and you don’t get to keep your spot if they say “leave”. You’re not entitled to an FA account. Neither is anyone else. And that’s because nobody is entitled to a platform (or an audience) at the expense of someone else.

Don’t like the rules? Go somewhere that has rules you like. But don’t think whining about “censorship” will do anything for you. Nothing and nobody will give you the right to use FA.

*If private company does it, it's not censorship*
Damn, you sound like a corporate boot-licker to me lol
Sorry, but CENSORING and BANNING your art community members, who been there for years supporting your platform, because of their beliefs, while also advocating for "freedom of expression" is not a good look.
You sounds like a person who never experienced oppression of speech, because of your mainstream opinions, which is fine, but the reality of the world is simple: most of the time, there are no alternatives and, furthermore, they are ALL private businesses, which can all enforce their own rules. That's why it is so important for the owners of the platforms and moderators to be honest and un-biased, so the fragile freedom of the internet as a public platform for discussion will not be destroyed. This is especially important for FORUMS, where anyone can post anything and the platform is not responsible for the users actions (aka how FA, Twitter, FaceBook and etc. operates)
But for self-centered people like you, it does not matter. Since your narrow mind can only think no further than: "um uhhhh, if it fits my narrative- is good and not censorship uhhh" lmao

you sound like a corporate boot-licker to me

FA is a corporation? Last I checked, Dragoneer owns that shit. 😁

But to your point (such as it is): Yes, corporations have every right to determine what speech they will or will not host on the platforms run by said corporations. If Twitter wants to host Speech A but YouTube doesn’t, Twitter and Google have the right to say “you’re welcome here” or “GTFO” to anyone who posts Speech A.

(Speech A, by the way, can be any form of legally protected speech—and that includes “hate speech”. The U.S. ain’t got no law against that.)

But you know what else is nice? That same right applies to any site/service not owned by a corporation. FurAffinity has the right. So does the Mastodon instance I’m on. So does 4chan, Gab, Parler, and every other alt-right shitpit. The law doesn’t see a difference between corporate-owned and “person-owned” sites/services. It applies equally to all of them.

[moderating] and BANNING your art community members, who been there for years supporting your platform, because of their beliefs, while also advocating for "freedom of expression" is not a good look

Neither is letting alt-right chuds, neo-Nazi shitheads, and QAnon chucklefucks post their inane bullshit with impunity. If you don’t like the way FA moderates, go somewhere else. You don’t have a right to use this site and nobody is forcing you to use it.

You sounds like a person who never experienced [su]ppression of speech

You’re right. I haven’t.

And that’s because if I’m ever banned from one site, I can go to another site and say what got me banned from the first site. Maybe the people who run that second site will like what I have to say. But the first site didn’t suppress my speech at all.

You’re playing by someone else’s rules when you’re on property you don’t own. That applies to both meat- and cyberspace. A homeowner can toss you out for criticizing their decorative skills. A site owner can toss you out for saying “QAnon is real”. Neither one is against the law. Neither one is censorship.

> most of the time, there are no alternatives

Let’s say you get kicked off FA. Where can you go?

Well, off the top of my head, you could go to Twitter, Gab, Parler, any given Mastodon instance, LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, 4chan, 420chan, 8kun, u18chan, TGFB (is that still even around?!), Discord, Twitch, YouTube, DailyMotion, Wordpress, Neocities, Blogger, Tumblr, Pillowfort, or any number of other sites/services that allow third party speech. You can even buy hosting, start your own site/service, and use that. Your options aren’t “limited” here in cyberspace, fam. And even in meatspace, it’s not like getting kicked out of someone’s home is stopping you from standing on a public street corner and yelling about the unfairness of it all.

> it is so important for the owners of the platforms and moderators to be honest and un-biased

A gay user talks about how they feel about being gay during Pride Month. A straight user promotes the physical and psychological torture that is “conversion ‘therapy’ ”. Under your stance, FA would have to either ban both or allow both.

Yes or no: Does anti-queer speech deserve a place on a service with a significant number of queer users?

the internet as a public platform for discussion

The Internet is not a public forum. If it ever was, it hasn’t been for a long damn time. And even the Supreme Court has said that sites like Twitter aren’t “public squares”, so the law can’t force them to host all legal speech.

> This is especially important for FORUMS, where anyone can post anything and the platform is not responsible for the users actions

Neither the First Amendment nor 47 U.S.C. § 230 (a.k.a. “Section 230”) have a “neutrality” provision. FA has a legal right to kick someone off for posting racist bullshit; Parler has the same right to let people keep posting racist bullshit.

FurAffinity has no legal, moral, or ethical obligation to host all legally protected speech. If you don’t like the rules in that regard, you can leave FA and find a site that welcomes all legal speech. Last I checked, 4chan and 8kun are active right now.

This is the best argument. Show that dude the difference between “censorship” and “terms and conditions”.

To be fair terms and conditions simply set out guidelines as to what speech is censored on the said platform but it is still an abridgement of free speech.. aka censorship.

Censorship would be Dragoneer kicking you off FA, then trying to shut you up everywhere else through either legal action, persistent harassment, threats of violence, or actual physical violence. Censorship requires the suppression of speech/the violation of civil rights. FA giving an asshole the boot isn’t censorship — it’s moderation. The asshole can still go to any other site that’ll have them and say the same thing that got them banned from FA.

You don’t have a right to make a soapbox out of property you don’t own. You either play by the rules set by whoever does own that property or you get kicked out. That isn’t censorship when it happens in meatspace. It doesn’t magically become censorship when it happens in cyberspace.

I ain't reading all of this shit, get a life lmao
But you do you, keep defending censorship as it is something good, that's definitely NEVER going to backfire for you :P

Yet you took the time to send a thought and read the rest prior.

I’m happy to see you acknowledge your ignorance. Your further contributions will be read accordingly.

So you think that FA should be compelled to give a platform for speech that the owner finds objectionable?

So much for defending freedom of speech.

Internet culture must make sacrifices only 4 preservation ex;ob integrity.
You should not assume free speech matters m04r d4n fr33 r4d1c4L 7|-|07 ...

Always remember. |= |2 3 3 \\/\\/ 1 L L !1!1! <- `/ 3 5 4 dubble layer sandwhich wit u inside:3

<3
fuck politics

(he says with an awkward and cringey username from way back, haha)

Pretty much this. Don't think I could have said it better myself. The problem today is "misinformation" is the new ad hominem argument. Personally I believe given the biases here political discussions outside of the scope of art/creative works should be prohibited especially since free speech is not actually in practice here. Sure they'll argue the legal argument for it but I'm referring to the actual spirit of it. Something even academia once respected and has shifted away from out of some moral superiority complex not unlike the far-right who has used religion for similar purposes.

Allowing only one side to speak and parrot only their accepted sources is practically being a publisher, not a platform and section 203 in our telecommunications law doesn't cover publishers. But time will tell on that front as we are possibly going to be giving that law an overhaul in the future.

But yeah the virtue signalling/clout chasing has become more annoying than anything. Not to mention the slippery slopes I've observed come to pass since the political bias in site policy became more of a thing. We'll see how administration actually applies this policy in practice but given the political biases I can't say I'm confident this isn't going to be used to simply silence opposing perspectives by calling them lies/misinformation.

Allowing only one side to speak and parrot only their accepted sources is practically being a publisher, not a platform and section [230] in our telecommunications law doesn't cover publishers

Yeah, about that…

Under section 230, interactive computer service providers have broad immunity from liability for traditional editorial functions undertaken by publishers—such as decisions whether to publish, withdraw, postpone or alter content created by third parties. Because each of Murphy’s causes of action seek to hold Twitter liable for its editorial decisions to block content she and others created from appearing on its platform, we conclude Murphy’s suit is barred by the broad immunity conferred by the CDA.

Source: https://assets.documentcloud.org/do.....ls-twitter.pdf

I will double check this myself later on but either way I don't believe with the current scrutiny of section 203 that protection won't last much longer. Exemptions to it have already been carved out and between broad definitions of what far left Progressives consider "hate speech" and Biden himself criticizing the law as places like Twitter and Facebook allowing "fake news" to spread I think either way that law will change.

Either way, I'm against the notion of letting one side speak freely without consequences while actively silencing another on that same. Doesn't matter if the receiving end of the platform-level censorship are people I share the same opinions with or my opposition. Comes off too much as an attempt at social engineering by shielding people from one side of an argument while painting yours in nothing but a positive light...not unlike how the Chinese, North Koreans and Russians with their state controlled media operate.

When you pick a side as to what information is allowed and what doles out punishment for another you are no longer a proponent of free speech. This is especially true with social media's gross exaggeration of what counts as hate speech, abuse, harassment. Its just ironic the ones usurping that very principle and coming up with these absurd excuses or restorting to the legal definition are of the same party that started that movement at Berkeley which was not based on the 1st Amendment argument only the government cannot abridge free speech.

Either way thank you for the info. I will go look it up and revise my figure arguments on 203 if needed.

I think either way that law will change.

If it does, you watch what happens in the immediate aftermath. Sites like this one will either overmoderate, undermoderate, or refuse to accept third party speech — because anything else would result in legal liability for all third party speech. Not everyone will have the resources to fight off lawsuits designed to bleed the defendant dry. They’ll do whatever it takes to avoid those lawsuits. That means turning their site into a Disney forum, 8kun, or a “Under Construction” GIF. No other alternatives exist that will mitigate legal liability in the wake of repealing/changing the protections offered by Section 230.

I'm against the notion of letting one side speak freely without consequences while actively silencing another on that same.

I’ll pose to you a similar question I’ve already asked others.

A gay user posts a pro-queer image during Pride Month. A straight user posts an image promoting the widely discredited practice of “conversion ‘therapy’ ” image at around the same time. Yes or no: Are both sides equal, despite one side literally promoting something that promises to all but erase queer people?

Therein lies the problem with the mythical version of “neutrality” being played up elsewhere in this comments section: Nobody can stay “neutral” all the time. At some point, a site allowing racial slurs and anti-queer screeds to stay up because “we need to hear both sides” will make people think the site is on the side of the racists and queerphobes.

We can have conversations where we can be truly neutral on a subject. That isn’t possible when we’re talking about civil rights, basic human dignity, and whether a certain group of people deserve to live. Anyone who thinks that stance is “too political” needs to ask themselves what wouldn’t be.

Comes off too much as an attempt at social engineering by shielding people from one side of an argument while painting yours in nothing but a positive light

For what reason, other than fealty to a form of “neutrality” that doesn’t exist, should I give arguments such as “conversion ‘therapy’ is a good thing, actually” any form of credibility by listening to them?

Some arguments don’t deserve the air/energy/time used to express them. Nobody should ever be required to give them any thought. Nobody should ever be entitled to a platform (or an audience) for those arguments at the expense of someone else.

When you pick a side as to what information is allowed and what doles out punishment for another you are no longer a proponent of free speech.

The primary principle of free speech is that the government can’t stop you from speaking your mind. Free speech is you standing on a street corner yelling about whatever pisses you off. It isn’t using property that belongs to someone else as a soapbox for views they don’t want you using their property to express and nobody else wants to hear.

I support the right of every person to speak their mind. I support their right to express offensive opinions, such as “Black lives don’t matter”, “gay people are scum”, and “The Room is actually a cinematic masterpiece”. No one should be able to stop them from expressing those ideas. But the law shouldn’t get to make people listen to, provide an audience for, or host that speech. No one has yet convinced me otherwise.

Feel free to swing for the fences in that regard. But don’t be surprised when you end up less of a Hank Aaron and more of a Mighty Casey.

To hell with that. I'm GLAD there are fewer Nazis. Good job!

Really? Noice dude

Why did you buy it back?

Because it was the right thing to do!

Dude, shut up with that bullshit.

You just demonstrated that Ty_Hanson hope below ("Now, let's try to make this a neutral place and stop pandering to one side or the other.") is futile and that the reason isn't the moderation - it's certain parts of the community.

What happened here?

Someone complaining about a certain policy change, nothing more.

Was it dinofun? :D

Nah, different person this time.

But I see you've experienced them too, oh no...

I am actually subbed to him, I mean, his literally THE BEST artist on the platform :P
And his journals are pretty funni

I have been name dropped. :3

Haha, hope that wasn't too rude >w<'

Unsure if I even understand the context given that the previous messages were removed. *shrugs*

Shut. Up.

Is nazism your fetish or something? Because you scream it with no context non-stop.

How can anyone even compromise with Nazis? What, we'll only let them kill HALF the nonwhites?

A redeeming quality. Now, let's try to make this a neutral place and stop pandering to one side or the other.

What sides are you speaking of, my good fellow fur?

Take your pick. XD

I wish that would be the case

let's try to make this a neutral place

FA is good without giving alt-right chuds and conspiracy theory–spouting assholes a platform for their ignorance. Let’s keep it that way.

And the far left is better? Again, neutral. No sides. Leave politics and societal issues at the door. People should be able to come here to escape, not be told how to think and what to say.

Okay, cool, let’s stay neutral on politics, then.

By the way, FA has a significant amount of queer users. Would they no longer be able to talk about issues that affect them as queer people? After all, that would be politics… 🤔

You can cherry pick issues all day, but regardless of what it is, it will cause division in some form. Have 4 people in a room, get 6 different opinions.

FA has the right to say “you two with the shitty opinions, GTFO” and follow through on that. Nobody is legally entitled to use FA, regardless of how long they’ve been on the site or how much money they donate to the site/Dragoneer. And FA is legally entitled to decide what speech it will or will not host. Don’t like it? Find a site that doesn’t give a shit about what you say. I wonder if Parler is up and running again yet… 🤔

Incidentally, all this neutrality bullshit comes off as wanting to silencing opinions you don’t like but FA does. You wouldn’t be talking about “neutrality” and “keep politics out” otherwise. Yes or no: If FA hadn’t chosen to ban the speech it now bans, would you still be calling for “neutrality”?

Depends on what is actually banned and if it serves one side over the other.

The owner of FA has the absolute legal right to decide whether it dip into a political topic, and if it does, whether it will stand for or against one “side” or the other. You’re free to complain or leave if you don’t like the decision.

Again, yes or no: If FA hadn’t chosen to ban the speech it now bans, would you still be calling for “neutrality”?

You're asking for a specific answer on a broad question. But yes, I would always prefer "the powers that be" to remain neutral. Censorship is a dark age tactic. Do they have the right to do as they wish? Absolutely, but the legality of it was never in question. So my answer is yes.

Any other baiting questions you'd like to ask?

Hypothetical: FA decides to remain “neutral” on, let’s say, issues of race. (That is political, is it not~?) To follow that stance to its logical conclusion, FA would need to either leave up all posts that have a racist intent or delete all posts that have an anti-racist intent, as allowing one instead of the other would not be “neutral”.

Under that stance, a Black user could neither report racist speech (e.g., an image that praises the Confederacy) nor post anti-racist speech (e.g., an image that contains the phrase “Black lives matter”), depending on which path FA chose to take. FA would soon receive a reputation as racist, even when it tried to remain “neutral” on matters of race, because it either allowed racists to run rampant or disallowed anti-racists from saying their piece.

Ain’t no such thing as a “neutral” act. If someone refuses to denounce evil, they go along with it — which is why people who call for “neutrality” are a special breed of assholes. They don’t want actual “neutrality”. They want someone to shut up.

What specific part of the new CoC offends you such that you’d take to sounding like one of those “neutrality” assholes?

Now now, there is no need for the name calling, especially to a man just expressing his opinions.

You have fucked up priorities if you’re more annoyed about me calling you a mean name than you are pissed off about how your precious “neutrality” idea could still lead to accusations of bias. But I assumed you would end up ignoring that point anyway. Deadling with that dissonance likely would’ve melted your brain.

You're a funny one. :3

Freehaven has strong political views. He is not interested in a discussion, he is interested in pushing his narrative.
Just let him be, he can not be reasoned with :P

Heh, its all good. Just let the kids enjoy the flavor of the day, soon they will be bored with it.

Freehaven has strong political views.

So what? I bet you do, too.

He is not interested in a discussion

I’m trying to have a discussion about “neutrality”, speech, and how remaining neutral towards speech of certain kinds is itself a form of bias. Don’t blame me because Ty is unable to keep up their end of the discussion.

he can not be reasoned with

I can be reasoned with; I’m not a fuckin’ Terminator. But whining about “politics in furry” and making emotional appeals by referring to moderation as “censorship” won’t go far with me. I’ve spent years forming my opinions on moderation, discretion, and censorship. What you or Ty have offered so far has done nothing to convince me I should rethink them, let alone change them.

Hey shitheel. You make it blatantly clear in your screeds all over this comment section that you want any opinion that doesn’t directly line up with yours silenced. Makes you the scumbag in my view. :)

freehaven the 1984 jerk

You make it blatantly clear in your screeds all over this comment section that you want any opinion that doesn’t directly line up with yours silenced

No, I don’t. I don’t want to hear shitty opinions and political beliefs — that much is true. (I shouldn’t have to hear them if I don’t want to, either.) But silencing them is out of the question, both legally and morally.

What you’re actually upset about is my support for the idea of “owners of private property have the right to decide what speech they will and won’t allow on their property”. The decision to boot someone from FA for being an asshole could damn well apply to me, if ’Neer felt that way. (Maybe he already does.) Wanna know what I could do about it? Pound sand, that’s what.

The First Amendment protects your rights to speak freely and associate with whomever you want. It doesn’t give you the right to make others listen. It doesn’t give you the right to make others give you access to an audience. And it doesn’t give you the right to make a personal soapbox out of private property you don’t own. Nobody is entitled to a platform or an audience at the expense of someone else. And I will hold onto those ideas until and unless someone convinces me to think otherwise. Calling me a shitheel, a scumbag, and a “1984 jerk” for holding those ideas won’t make me let them go.

I was worried the whole time IMVU owned FA that they might just come in and shut it down if it didn't bring in enough users or ad revenue. Glad that threat is over.

Uh oh, exciting times for sure.
Hope it all works out! :)

Thank you for all the work you put into this site for so long!

You Smart dragon you did it!!

Well this was unexpected. Hopefully it doesn't cause another mass migration in the fandom.

Mass migration in 3...2...1...

Heck, someone on FA sneezes and people freak out lol

Well, congrats man. And I wish you the very best.

Hey congrats! It's cool to hear news about the administrative side of FA, since admittedly I think for most it ends up being an afterthought. But again congratulations, it'll be exciting to see what you'll add to the scene now that you're at the helm again! ^w^

This is fantastical news Neer! I'm super curious how things will go now, but I'm glad this year is going right. What's the next super big step?

Congrats!

Yay!

I'm glad that you guys took my suggestion of using Ruffle, I just stumbled upon it when I had to look for a flash replacement for a client at work. It'll be great if we can preserve all the flash content we have here.

I hope you'll recover financially, as I know buying back FA must be extraordinarily expensive.

Ruffle's a bit rough around the edges but I look forward to seeing what future builds do.

I am so glad to see Ruffle being considered. You get a big thumbs up for that.

I am really pissed about that kill switch Adobe implemented. I'm also really pissed how few geeks seem to be upset about it, just because Flash is the Internet's favorite punching bag. It's just... not right.

What do you mean "preserve"? The content is still there, you just have to download it and use the offline flash player.

We wouldn't have to delete anything from FA if Flash no longer works, and it wouldn't be the same if you downloaded it and used an offline player.

Congrats! Hopefully wont be impossible to maintain the bills. I know running and hosting and maintaining the equipment for it all is far from cheap.

It's going to be rough, especially to start, but we're working on making the site better! And hopefully, as people see we improve, they consider supporting us via FA+.

I hope the site is able to manage financially.

If you want to help us out consider supporting us via FA+. =3 It goes to pay server costs ($5K+ a month alone) and fund site development.

Well I have been thinking on it for a while

Zhu Li, he did the things!

Awesome!

WOOT

SUPER excited about the name change option you're working on. Omg. Congrats on buying it back!

So the name change thing is actually planned on being implemented?

according to the post on the fender account yes :)

Congratz on re owning it!

yay that must have been a lot

Why the change from Ferrox Art LLC to Frost Dragon Art LLC?

New start, new name.

"Ferrox" was kind of cursed from some previous projects that fell through, and I wanted to start off fresh.

the ferrox update...

*inserts FFVII Victory Theme*

Integrity is expensive, aye?

I'm glad I bought all that ramen a year ago when Covid first hit. I'm going to be eating that shit for months. XD

You might need this.

Congrats on buying back the site but why didn't you set up a gofundme for it, I'm sure everyone would have pitched in :)

Honestly, I kind of wish I had... because I am officially devastatingly broke at this point. LOL. But at the same time, I dunno?

Well set one up now, I'd be happy to chip in to replenish your funds. We all use this site, we all do for free so it would be nice to say we helped get the site back.

If people like what we're doing and want to support us they can do so by signing up to FA+ or, if they really want to, they can send Shinies or Ko-Fi my way. But I'm not asking for people to do that. I mean, I wouldn't say no all the same, but... we're trying to do this the right way, not start by asking for donations or funding.

Done :) Thank you for getting FA back into furry hands once more :)

*Looks at the smoldering hole in the pocket* My....God.

I was so happy to see that update! love to see it! :D "frost dragon art" sounds really cool, too (ovo)b

Good luck. I hope it will not backfire at all! No seriously. I hope all goes well.

This is... actually good news. Cheers! Thank you for doing this, I imagine it must have been hard at least in some ways.

I don't assume this will mean any... positive change in the site rules, will it? Like some types of art no longer being banned based over... social reasons: That would be a new level of too good to be true.

I hope Dragoneer does engage my response 2u~! Internet esoteric movement has a near and deer spot on my heart, I rather die than experience what deprivation ex;ob Terran dignity one such as myself might ever suffer to deny internet culture. That said, I prepared mySelf 4 reminder ex;ob the Golden Rule even considering the Golden Flaw in the Golden Rule, still no other rule nearly expresses a most difficult perspicacity in the most ethically deep develope-ment, maturation, or curation ex;ob ethical empathy or like 1 might express in a creative coinage like "soc-empathy". I will leave that to you to solve, if u so care. I received became a most honorable discharge from the body ob the empire of the united states ex;ob America. Specifically I wore a Navy uniform with only ever a national defense ribbon. My presence was unnatural and had a potently unnatural affect which every wise person recognized to be unnatural. An E-8 named Stitch advised me, my Kekistan flag likely contributed to my discharge. A civilian employed there who submitted the legal memorandum officially recommending my separation, stated to me in confidence how my immersion in internet culture made me "as-if I came from a different country", that civilian's words, not my own. I reacted by comparing this to the Jewish diaspora, for which sailors in the same department posted a large diaspora demonstrating great vanity there-ob.

I digress from the most vital msg in my story. Depend on no axiom or merit. Depend only on Common Sense to find your Common People, or Our Common People..
The Common Wealth within the Creative Commons should subvertize the implanted confusion in such terms, we must distinguish ourselves but we must also L34rn.

Dank'on 4 dat.

But i always honour, our Afineco however i mite only support dis website wen u reject non-libre propriety or Propreco.

I shud naught n33d 2 comprehend the systems i depend on when the aesthetics draw from my very deepest ego so.
FAsites such shud run fully featured without any code. Ppl must authentically Choose what code runs very Cognizantly~!1!

More-over duh social system of Internet Culture MUST RE:EMBRACE scavenger hunt propriety, akin 2 Our Hero'es 3301.

Wen I tink about corruptible rules, I tink about wizchan .. truly a plight to maintain asexual ideals. Laziness there has caused a great deal of damage..
We cannot let our own rules abuse us. We must give great arbitrary efforts or trials to endure to Our Selves so we KN0 we gave "Propra" atendeco..!

"Block"-ing indefinitely serves an interpersonally anti-social "anti-growth, anti-shrinking" effect. Terrifyingly 3\\/1𝕷~
~JL+ZD+AM8434337

Internet culture changed different people in different ways I think. In my case I was shaped more by self-isolation, something I'm only now beginning to fully understand. My problem is how much more hateful and paranoid and prone to outrage people have become over the last years, I'm sick of seeing only stress and fighting and weird expectations from others everywhere.

FA as any site runs its own code: It would be nice if we had a platform people could program and run themselves. Sorry if I didn't understand everything you wrote very well.

I see u without needing to expect of you. I will expect ob you quite fine, if you ask me
Nvrmind i coin'd dat wurd witout any public ref 4 u 2 find or learn except dat most implausible..

I AGR33~ Wikipedia serves as a bastion ex;ob that sorta thing, actually
Friends with Aaron Swartz, Jimmy Wales did a lot very nicely, tho without Aaron...
nothing turns out quite enough 4 poor ole Jimmy. i f33l sry dat pressure must b immense.

ppl will always have weird expectations. dats the way we build our selves. u explained it in ur msg well enough.
stress only exists for the early creators ex;ob culture, for dat dey decide sumtings, or moar liek which way the inevitable errors fall.
Sum exploit dat ... i can not honour ppl dat way ... sum only go where wanted personalities ... i try 2 live a dignified life going only where wanted.

I still hope Dragoneer will engage wit us. Dank''on 4 ur contribution 2 our chat ĥeĥe much affinity of you i experience i hope u welcome my presence in ur memory : 3
i will evermore try not 2 go where unwanted u romping redhead, so you have to invite me in fur hot water if we will make this troll disease known as friendship *squ33k*

Nice! Figured this is as good a time as any to go FA+.

Looking forward to seeing FA improve more. Twitter is garbo and I don't want this site to go away.

Nice!

Also, nice to see account renaming is in development. I so wanna change this name i don't use anymore. lol
Until then, i'm using the "User Title" for my current username. :)

Who was the previous owner?

FA Ownership history:
Alkora > Me > IMVU > Me

You beat me to the full line lol

Want the full line or just the last one? 'cause IMVU owned it prior.

I would like to hear what you had to say too.

Literally just what dragoneer said above lol

Alkora -> Neer -> IMVU -> Neer

Yeah, there won't be any tacos for me in the near future. XD

Welcome home 💙

Welcome back my friend to the smut that never ends~

So glad you could attend, cum inside, cum inside~

And I thought I was the only one here who liked "Karn Evil 9" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer...

Not gonna lie, I have no hopes for this.

The CoC is sloppy as fuck. Like, actually pathetic, going from very specific to can basically can mean EVERYTHING. Not to mention you make a new CoC based on political events. Dude, if it wasn't obvious enough, keep politics out of community. It's like you never been any sort of supervisor or manager in your life. Do you need help with rules? Because it seems like you do.

I've reaching my 10 year anniversary on FA, Dragoneer your track record is bad. From terrible CoC to not actually keeping promises. These are features that have been wanted for many, many years. Stated before that they will come, but, never do.

Why do you think I (or anyone) should believe you?

I'll openly recognize as much as anyone my extremely imperfect track record, but I've been running the site for 15 years and I'd love to hope we continue on. No, it's not perfect, and it never will be, but improving the site, our features, and how we handle things is our goal.

Do you actually have a schedule for improvements?
A web team to implement them?
Do you have a roadmap made?
Or are you just saying nice things? Again.


Once again, how things are handled is not the issue, the way your CoC is written is garbage.
2.5 is a perfect example, "Do not give other users medical or veterinary advice that could result in harm-" this is why I said you seem to have 0 management experience, if you did, that last part would have never been written. NEVER give medical or veterinary advice. Ever. Because in the real world, if you give your employee or customer medical advice, even if right, you become accountable.
If users wish to give advice pertaining to anything medical or veterinary, it must be stated as a non-professional suggestion.

There are plenty of examples of this, do you plan to get your rules right?

Why would anyone assume medical advice given on FA is professional? You go to a doctor or a vet or talk to one over the phone, you don't go to a furry website.

You expect furries to have common sense and logic?

I don't expect anyone to have common sense and logic, not since the events over the past several years. It's hard to have faith in humanity but I try sometimes.

And that's why.

If some furry is having libido problems because they are taking a SSRI like fluoxetine, someone suggests getting off it, they do that, and commit suicide. Furaffinity will be dragged right into the mess.

Are you a lawyer or legal expert? I mean you talk about common sense and logic so I'm going to assume you aren't.

Wrong assumption! My job requires me to be well versed in laws. I can lose my job and license if I don't follow HIPAA and DEA laws and regulations. And OSHA too but not nearly as relevant. While I am not an expect in all laws, even all medical ones (I don't know any specific laws to things like ophthalmology or hematology just an example). I do know the ones in my field.

While there is nothing illegal for an someone to public give health advice, you don't want that to happen either. For example Jasonafex made a journal offering his time to talk to people who specifically are having problems and trying to help them. Now, I don't think Jasonafex is a mental health counselor and unless a moderator is keeping track of the journal, how can you say for certain everything said is okay?

Rules accomplish two things, to prevent problems and to keep things fun. The CoC is literally made on the go.

Being unaware doesn't mean being innocent. You can be innocent of a crime, but guilty of a problem.

Once again, it can lead to problems. If someone is harmed and wants to take Dragoneer to the court room, they can.
If someone is harmed and wants to sue Dragoneer for damages, they can.
"Well I didn't know" is not a proof of innocence in a courtroom.

You spoke of legality elsewhere but now you're just 'guilty of a problem?'

I can only assume you have no intention of arguing in good faith if you're just suddenly going to move the goal posts like that. Again as I said in the comment when I decided to rewrite it (sorry to make the comments messy) they would be wasting their time. You can read about the US case law here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230

There is plenty of law suits there that got thrown out. Every single website that hosted social interactions would have rules like you talk about if this was such a problem.

So all your being aware of some law didn't factor internet/telecommunication law so I guess if someone believed you they'd have lacked common sense and logic?

"You spoke of legality elsewhere but now you're just 'guilty of a problem?'

I can only assume you have no intention of arguing in good faith if you're just suddenly going to move the goal posts like that."

I have no idea what you are talking about, that first sentence wasn't even a complete thought.

Okay, let me spell this out for you.
Someone that is not authorized to give medical advice or treatment to others without having an active professional license, could be liable for punishment. No matter the source it comes from.

Notice I never said bad medical advice.

This is why having properly worded rules are so important. This is implying FA is responsible for good medical advice, and good medical advice is allowed and is being supervised. That is a disaster waiting to happen, I don't even need to go into the other problematic details.

There is plenty of case law that shows services are not responsible for things hosted on their website if that hosting is a service they offer. Some laws in some places, such as the EU, compels companies to remove offending content as soon as they find out though. If someone tried to 'drag FA' into the mess they'd be wasting their time.

Rules accomplish a lot of things. Preventing problems/keeping order, ensuring smooth operations, preventing harm and ensuring safety.

Rules are also differ from community to community and can reflect the goals and beliefs of that community and foster the environment that that community wants to foster. If FA wants to specifically have a rule about about not giving advice that calls harm they're perfectly within their right and I don't think it's as stupid as you make it out to be.

Rules in a game or sport can ensure fun but I fail to see how that applies to the rules in a community, even still fun is awfully subjective. I think keeping Nazis off the platform and AntiVaxxers/QAnon Conspiracy Theorists off the site makes it a lot more fun and pleasant to use.

It is their right. It's stupid and can cause problems, not being preventive like a rule should be, but it's a right.

Once again, this is one of MANY problems with the CoC. A few more examples, 1.1 basically covers 1.2 and 1.4, another one that is basically the same as 2.3 and 2.4, I can argue that 2.7 is basically the same concept as 2.8, both are ideologies harmful to public safety.

Did I mention 2.4 is a giant mess? Because it is. Making negative statements, that can include so many things, intentionally and unintentionally.

Oh, and 1.1 users CAN encourage marijuana use, even though the very next sentence pretty much contradicts that.

See what I mean CoC is so bad? It's a giant mess of overlapping rules, rules that don't go far enough, rules that go way to far or rules that, as I just mentioned, contradicts itself.

Fun is super important for a community. Anti-spam is a perfect example of a rule that exists to keep the website enjoyable because no one wants to see 20 posts of a YCH.
Remember when raffle journal spamming was around? Yeah, that wasn't fun when you can get 20 journals a day all advertise raffles.
Remember when you could make custom thumbnails? And it was a troll. Yeah, that is a rule made to keep the website enjoyable.

That doesn't seem fair at all. People say stupid shit all the time - why should the site be held liable? FA can attempt to mitigate the problem but to say they're responsible if someone's dumb enough to follow medical advice from people who aren't medical professionals...

Always nice to see people helping out the sites development, positive natured critique is always an opportunity for change on any site, or in any environment and helps keep things moving forward. <3

I wish to speak my mind on this sincerely. I've seen you enough to know you're a nice person who listens, and don't doubt that so are many of the mods on the site. But there are issues on FA which have been growing over the years, many of which are sadly not exclusive to FA but happening worldwide.

Censorship and fear of being reprimanded are becoming a big problem. Artists are literally afraid to draw things; I'm not even talking about the infamous cub ban and how ridiculously far it goes, it remains as absurd today as it was a decade ago: Art banning has expanded to the point where you can't create many things including even political content. There's now an outright ban on drawing a flag (IIRC the confederate flag), literally just a mixture of patterns and colors, because those patterns are associated with a sensitive social issue. Even now an artist I watch, who makes harmless political drawings, keeps getting suspended for creating "heretical art" despite never seeing him discriminate or incite. Many of us are afraid to even say things in journals or comments, we don't know when we might say something that breaks some obscure rule and find ourselves in trouble.

I understand and agree that yes: There exists hate and discrimination, obviously it's bad and needs to be discouraged, users should indeed not be allowed to spread actual hate or discriminate. However it's going far beyond that now: What was once a sane anti-hate movement (now also backed by COVID hysteria) is pushing the world into an extreme sensitization that's literally becoming a mindless panic, and FA is no exception to the effects of this. Everyone who is a little mean is seen as spreading hate, anyone who has opinions that don't line up with the mainstream is spreading misinformation, anybody who is upset and vocal about a cause that doesn't line up must be a scary and potentially dangerous fascist. This isn't good people versus bad people any more: It's one half of the world against the other half, a strict norm versus anyone who thinks or acts a little funny! This radical division is growing and reaching dangerous extremes, it creates a very stressful and toxic environment for everyone including people who do nothing wrong. This is neither the world nor the furry fandom many of us grew up in and remember nor the one we want, it's an abomination from the dystopian films: I think everyone needs to do their part to resist fear and hysteria and keep the world from officially becoming a hell because of it.

My belief is that all indirect and interpretable rules based on fear or the need to appease trends need to go: Rules meant to avoid hate and discrimination should stick precisely to real hate and discrimination, where they do indeed exist, without otherwise labeling heretics or hunting people for what they did on other websites. Cancel culture in general needs to end and stop being a system of pressure, it's part of what led to this hateful toxicity. Beyond that I think one of the new features that would be a great start is tag blacklisting: It might be a good start for switching to a system where users can decide for themselves what they want or don't want to see, instead of things having to be banned off the entire platform out of fear that it might upset a large group.

Personally ive been very pleased with the coc. And neer.

It's awful. In my example above, it can actually lead to legal trouble.

The CoC is so poorly structured, with rules overlapping in other rules. Rules that is too broad, rules that are too specific. Not to mention adding rules around world events, that should have already existed.

Dragoneer already made an announcement regarding some of those new up and coming features years ago. Yet, nothing has been done.

For a site manager, he proved himself very unqualified compared to others.

Honestly the new coc rule i saw on the announcement is probably the thing that's gonna make me leave the site. As it just leads to uncertainty of whats ok or not to say

"The latest political news is a great source for website rules!"
Said no one ever.

Your opinion.

Really have to agree on the keeping politics out of things part. This is an art website, if people want to have opinions in their personal journals thats fine but dont make official website statements on it. Does anyone really give a shit about what a furry website says on the capitol incident? Pfft,no. (Coming from a furry)

I agree with this. I'm super lefty and trans but the CoC updates mean nothing to me because I've NEVER seen the CoC consistently moderated - every single moderator responds differently to the same issue, nothing is ever cohesive. It's a nice gesture, but that's all it is, a gesture, never actually enforced or improved upon. Imo just keep it out because the actions already don't match the words, otherwise it's just another annoying empty gesture.

I've been on this site under various names since 2008 and the only major improvement I've seen is gallery folders (great!) but blacklists and namechanges have been "on the table" for at LEAST 10 years so frankly I'm not expecting anything different.

I think the site would be way better if it was just allowed to be a melting pot again. Let ppl choose to block whoever they wanna block, implement blacklists & then its on them if they see something they don'r like lol.

I've always been left-leaning and a lefty at heart. Yet the strictness and hysteria surrounding the left in recent years scared me off and disgusted me, to the point where I actually supported Trump and the right just to see it balanced out. I was never a real Trump supporter nor a conservative on most things... can't stand their sensitivities on issues like porn, not to mention frequent transphobia or prejudice toward immigrants and what not. Thing is that many Trump supporters, excluding the actual Nazis and lunatics, became the new approachable people in some ways: Folks you can actually talk with about certain stuff, without fear of saying something sensitive and them snapping at you for it. Much of the left (and not only) lives in super sensitive bubble... you walk on eggshells, anything you say can cause you to be labeled as either a brainwashed conspiracist of a fascist siding with evil scary people.

For those of us who are seeing those things it's almost unreal at this stage. Really it's like someone drugged the entire planet to make it go wild. I don't know if after everything that's happened there will ever be an end to all this, if the world can ever go back to even the way it was around 2015 when we last had sanity.

Honestly I feel this despite being lefty. I really miss the old internet "don't like don't look" mentality, and seeing FA just accept the hysteria is really disheartening. I mean hell wasn't too long ago this place had cub porn, so it's very hypocritical to see them suddenly be anti-everything (which isn't even enforced to begin with).... I'm def someone who thinks as long as it's fictional who cares, a furry art site is the LAST place I want to get preached to about morality lol.

I do too, badly... never thought that in 2020 I'd grow to think of the 2010's as a peaceful and heavenly time. I miss the times when politics didn't matter at all: You could have voted for Bush or Obama, at most some people disagreed and shrugged it off. Now you're a criminal who wishes harm on others solely if you happen to support a president that's less popular like Trump... everyone is presented with today's accepted doctrine and they better embrace it and not ask any questions or else.

The problem with people like Trump is that they're the worst of the worst, and people still blindly support him for a variety of reasons. I'd let it go if it was someone like Bush, even in this day and age he doesn't even come close to Trump in horribleness.

Yeah Trump was always arrogant and never fit the profile of a president... neither does Biden but in different ways, Obama for better or worse knew how to act and speak like a president. Trump did a few good things, such as the way he acted toward the CCP for what it did in China and beyond... the bad ones outweigh the good ones for him though. In a sense the current situation is satisfactory: We have a Democrat president again, but he too was elected on a tight score and is scrutinized thus he won't be doing whatever he wants... balance feels like the best option now, in a world where both extremes can be really scary.

Congratulations! I'm so pleased that this grand adventure gets to keep rolling. <3

Holy shit. Thank you dude.

Oh wow o: congrats!

<3

Man, if we even get half the planned updates in that journal, that's gonna be friggin' awesome.

Congrats on buying it back! Hope it pays for itself over time. I didn't hate the IMVU purchase (we even got a couple nice updates during that tenure, and nothing went to pot), but I do think it's better to have it in the hands of furries.

Someone just sold all the $GME stonks!

People demanding "neutrality" as in, allowing nazis back in the site, are one... special kind for sure.

Fuck me, I wish. I totally missed the $GME train.

Nice!

Congrats! Also you probably wanna remove the owned by IMVU part on the FA plus page.

I totally missed that! We'll get that updated tomorrow most likely. Heh.

Oooh damn, you DID do the thing!

Well, am glad to see everything belongs to the great Dragoneer again! <3
Sorry it was at heavy cost to your bank account... But am sure many would help ya fix that hole!

Thank you for removing the association with that previous company, I'll start supporting the site to help out.

The price to be independent is heavy, but the freedom smells so sweet. I congratulate you for standing up for yourself and bidding good riddance to that IMVU. May heaven grant us that they do not return again, and that we may never see more of them.

I get IMVU may not be popular, but I will say they've never done wrong by me the and the team supporting FA over the years was nothing short of fantastic.

I was never fond of them, so thats a step in the right direction in my eyes. And your be able to have have more creative control over what goes on, even it means cutting the funds off drinking night or whatever. XD

If they never did wrong by you or the site, and it was such a blow to both your finances and medical Insurance, I fail to see how it was the right thing to do as you claim. Now, the site owner is one drastically drained of funds, without much of a failsafe, and with a poor track record of keeping promises to boot. I want to believe this is a good thing, and I’ve been here for over a decade, but I will frankly believe it when I see it. I would like to be enlightened though, if at all possible, because to me it seems you’ve put yourself and the site in danger for no real or tangible benefit.

Please be clear that I’m not trying to be a dick about this, just concerned is all!

You're assuming that he had a choice in the matter. IMVU ended its ownership of the site. That left IMVU with two options. Try to sell it (and if it doesn't, shut it down), or just shut it down immediately. Neer basically was faced with "Someone else, probably non-furry and probably a VC owning the site, or the site being gone entirely." His decision may not have been the best for him, but it was his decision. People are acting like he just left the friendly and nice confines of IMVU to go rough it. That's not what happened. He was fired, IMVU cancelled FA, and Neer bought it from them.

Kinda why I wanna see more transparency from administration given how the sale happened after a massive donation to him and now something happened serious enough to have him compromise his health insurance coverage and again we get no straight answer.

People value being told the truth, not riddles which is all we seem to get from him. I don't think it's an unreasonable thing to want to know given the history and what happened after those donations only for people to be told soon after the site was sold and he got a shiny new Cintiq. A lot of folks felt scammed after that.

It's just… he could have started a nonprofit and crowdsourced the funds. It would have been a better course of action, I think, for both transparency and integrity. Or just, you know, have mentioned to the community that IMVU was cutting ties. ANOTHER fur or group of furs would have surely taken up the mantle, and it wouldn't have put 'Neer in such a dire situation. The only issue then would be that he doesn't own the site anymore, and part of me feels that was also a driving factor.

Eyyyy congrats on the stuff and the thing and the shenanigans :D

wait wut? you bought it back? why? not that i'm complaining mind you, just genuinely curious what must've been going on behind the scenes to drive you to kill your wallet like this.

Well...I didn't know this. o.o

i wish you the best of luck dragoneer and hopefully your bank account can recover

What did IMVU actually...do? And why did they buy FA in the first place? Just seems weird that they acquired the site, when they were a glorified chat program...then they added furry stuff to their platform? *Is confused.*

Also, yay for name changes and such!

Probably bought it for the user list and contact info, and the data associated with that.. and for the royalty free blanket licensing on things sold in the IMVU stores which oftentimes were scrapes from here.

Congrats on it dude.

Congrats! ^_^ Gonna have to get me a FA+ as soon as I can.

Name changes, something I have wanted since I joined in 2012. Sadly I am sure the people that pay for FA+ will be able to have this option and those of us who can’t afford it won’t be able to. Which will be a shame and will have to be forced to keep there old name or make new accounts and loose the watchers they currently have.

agreed
I wanna change this clunky and polarizing name, but don't wanna lose my join date or favorites

I can't speak for the FA team here, but Neer has said many times in the past that FA will not have paid-for functionality - there may be some bonuses for FA+ users, but all users will be able to make use of the site's functionality in full, and I assume that includes name changes.

congrats dude

Ayyy the dragons are taking over, let us rule the world.

So happy to see FA moving in this direction! I hope you don't get sick of ramen too quickly, lol.

Good for you man! You work hard every day, you may as well own the website! I hope your bank account recovers quickly!!

https://media1.tenor.com/images/433.....8502/tenor.gif

Congratulations.
https://medicaldeviceslegal.files.w...../06/kermit.gif

Oh. Well thanks for that! I hope it wasn’t too expensive!

congrats and good luck man.

Would this be reverse sellout?

I can see good things coming. I like the sound of a lot of the upcoming changes... and lets be honest, full independence is always preferable.

Duuuude congrats!!!! Im looking forward to how things go. :)

I really hope you add more payment options for FA+ in the future. I am afraid I might forget to add money to my PayPal which I haven't used in an eternity. Or, at least the option to pay a full year subscription.

Cheers!

You did good. I'd rather FA be owned by you than by some faceless corporation anyways, just like in the olde days.

<insert Dexter from Dexter's Lab saying "Success!">

I remember when the site journal introduced IMVU as the new owners, I commented to you (and not expecting an answer, because contracts and stuff), hoping you had negotiated right of first purchase / repurchase.

Congratulations! I hope funding and future planning from now forward goes well so FA stays online, and another sale to a corporation isn't necessary.

Congratulations.

I see you had a secret exit plan on hand from back when you announced IMVU's acquisition, and I asked what the exit strategy was in case of corporate overlord emergency.

First orders of business?
I strongly recommend mandatory base tagging for uploads, along with tag block lists.
This site is the only major enough site within the fandom that lacks what has become essential over the last decade.

Omg yes please!

Omz thank you good sir.

That's awesome!

I'm not personally aware of anything bad ever coming of IMVU's ownership (despite the people who got overly dramatic claiming it was going to be the end of FA) but it's cool that the website is back in your hands.

Thank you for your enormous effort, I am more than happy to support a site which has helped shape me into the person I am today through the art and the peeps I've met through the site.

Thanks Dragoneer and best wishes to the FA team!

Well done.

Thank you. You are greatly appreciated. I hope enough people tell you that.

Big balls mogul moves
Respect to the king

What needs to be done next should concern the moderation team and how tickets are handled. Given the recent events, the site should be made for better accessibility and better security, especially for PoC & LGBTQ+ folks that make up a good damn segment of this community we’re in.

Good on you, though, for reclaiming FA.

Yay! I like what's in the pipeline, too.

Awesome job you crazy purple bastard. Fully expected that announcement to say it was Dragon Fruit like many other furry sites have ended up under by now.

FA is still one of the most usable and active furry sites. Some people shit on FA saying some also-ran is better when nearly every also-ran have bugs or "coming soon" basic usability improvements still unmoved over 6 years later. Also fuck web 3.0 and modern design specs, I prefer being able to actually read websites without getting a migraine.

I'm going to go find some money to throw at you now.

I am not really aiming to cause drama or anything. I am just confused as to why you bought it back at such a massive financial risk because you felt it was right. What happens if this doesn't go the route that was planned? I am hoping everything works out but it does seem a bit odd.

I'm taking a risk and trying to do right by the community I've been a part of helped foster for 15 years.

Was there negatives or something that were happening to the site while it was under IMVU?

I'm just guessing here but I wonder if it was sold to someone else they might input certain policies or changes that would go against alot of people, kind of like DA but I'm just not sure

Other then IMVU cancelling the project and firing Neer? He didn't leave by choice, and FA was going to be sold to someone.

Oh, okay. That's was what I was trying to figure out. Like I said, I wasn't 100% informed about all of this and mostly just wanted to understand what was happening. That clarifies a lot.

Good luck

Why did you buy back the site when you just lost your insurance and can't afford your medication?

I lost my insurance because I'm no longer an IMVU employee. Doing right by the community mattered more than my short term mental health.

Quitting medication cold turkey for psychiatric disorders isn't going to do you or the community any favors. I've unfortunately had the experience of being forced to quit Paxil cold turkey when I was a teenager; I was sick in bed with a horrible migraine for weeks and I started hallucinating. You can't do right by the community if you become mentally incapacitated.

I don't really have the option at the moment. My Latuda costs $1.5k without insurance. Even with discounts the best I can do is $900.

It's not ideal, but once the ACA opens up and I get caught up on art I'll try to get back on it.

you should be able to apply for ACA under special circumstances due to losing your health care.

From healthcare.gov: You’re eligible if you have certain life events, like getting married, having a baby, or losing other health coverage.

But I think you have to apply within 60 days of losing coverage else you'd have to wait till Nov.

see this here too!

In addition to what the person above said, you might want to check for health co-ops or free health clinics, explain your situation, and see if any help is available in the meantime. Are generics available? Does the pharmaceutical company have any way to help people who can't afford their medication (like some commercials say in the end)?

While I am glad FA is privately owned once again, you also need to keep yourself healthy to keep it going.

Also, I'm sure you know this, but check if you'd qualify for unemployment, unless you've lined something up already.

Differences some may have with things with FA aside, you've taken on one huge responsibility, in uncertain times, and that deserves some respect.

Best wishes, truly, for the continued longevity of FA, and for your health, 'Neer.

Congrats on getting the site back. I hope things work out for you!

Your financial sacrifice is noble, Dragoneer!

Our king has returned!

Can you make serving flash content without ruffle still be an option? The killswitch is pretty easily bypassed to be able to enjoy content that ruffle doesn't work right with yet.

Well hey, that's nifty. ^^ Hope it all works out well for you eh!

Congrats

Wait, Dragoneer my dude, what happened?
I need context for i was not aware of this.

You certainly did the thing.

Frost Dragon LLC? Missed opportunity to be under UwU Rawr X3 Pounces on You LLC. Frost Dragon sounds like a generic doritos cool ranch for gamers brand.

Jokes aside I wish you luck in re adopting your old spaghetti fort OwO exchange.

Well done! I hope you're doing good in 2021 btw ^^

Congratulations, Dragoneer! ^w^

Yeah, no kidding. That does sound expensive. Still, I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end. :3

But the loot your dead bank account dropped does seem pretty sweet

I'm tempted to do a Pawn Stars meme but nah :p

I'm very happy to see FA once again owned by a furry. I sure hope you can afford it though. I'm continuing my FA+ of course, and hope enough others decide to do it too.

I'm also pleased with your latest addition to the CoC. Thank you for taking a stand on stuff that should be common sense.

Go you, just hope it works out financially.

Persuade Dragoneer to invest ;)

For 15 years I've been on FA and it's been my home on the internet.
I don't plan to leave till the day it dies.
I am neutral on the sale, not a jab against you but rather I just don't know what to expect anymore.
I will continue to support the site with my FA+ subscription.
Although this journal looks like a shit show as ANYTHING of this magnitude becomes on the internet, for now I say Cheers.

Glad to see FA will still be alive.

I've been with FA+ for more than a few months. I even pass shinnies to artists who have it on their accounts.

Even if the price per month gets hiked up to 15 dollars a month I wouldn't mind it. This site has been there for me when I was broke, now that I am more fortunate I want to help keep this gateway open.

But I do have another question about content types of you have the time...

Congrats! I hope enough folks support the working of the site to make it a good financial decision in the long term.

Eyyyyy rad! Glad to hear!

Yesssss! That's awesome!
Congratulations Neer! I know this means a lot for you! You have your baby back :D

um...i may be a bit slow and new to this?

but when and how did he lose ownership of FA?

and when and how did he gain it back?

This websites users gratitude and appreciation are yours. Thank you for keeping the site up no matter the cost.
Perhaps one day the debt will be repaid when the opportunity arises.

And all is as it should be!

instantly signed up for FA+

sacrifices are necessary, try not to set fire to everything XD

*SALUTE*

THe Ultimate Stonks! FURSTONKS!

It was only a matter of time. Great Jorb!

...did you use the GameStop stock situation to get it back?

awesome!
and uhh... are you okay?

Congrats in the buyback Dragoneer. And sorry about the bank account. Will see about FA+ to help out.
Those upcoming changes look really nice.

Already got my FA+ going! Hoping those who were complaining about it "going corp" will come back >.<

Do you think anyone could set up a GoFundMe to repay Dragoneer's selfless act here?

I contribute monthly to FA. Does that mean it will go to you now, I hope? And... I am sorry for your bank account, but thank you so much.

Anyone who doesn't like the CoC misinformation rule eats pizza with a fork

:3

Also, anyone defending the ability to spread damaging conspiracy theories, propaganda and racial biases... On a private non-government entity, doesn't understand that the first amendment does not apply to private websites, nor does it apply in international forums. And all it does is make it appear, from an outside observer, that you're worried about it because you yourself want to spread such misinformation.

And if you do and to spread racist, Qanon, anti-mask, or trumpy propaganda, you can kindly go eat dumpster condoms till you get full. <3

Also, congratulations, Beer! Welcome back for reallllllls

I'm hopeful. I've been seeing you work hard on changing stuff. Fuck the people who can't see you trying. Humans grow and change. Just keep chugging along and don't let your goals out of sight.

I think what makes me have no faith in you was that time you, (as far as I am concerned) took people's money under false pretences. You know, just before the sale to IMVU you did a little fund raiser to get money for FA together. To me this could be defined as manipulating all of us into giving you money under false pretences in two ways.

1. You sold it to IMVU, meaning you didn't need the money in the first place. This one is kind of dependant on time. If you began making the arrangements to sell FA to IMVU after the funding campaign had ended then it's fine, just poor timing on your part. But if it began before the funding had ended then I'd say that the lack of returning the funds would be somewhat scammy.

2. You gave some of the money to SoFurry. Throughout the funding campaign you only ever mentioned that they money was going to be used to fund FA. SoFurry is not FA, it's not a subsidiary of FA. In fact it's a direct competitor to FA. To me this felt like if a charity collected money for a good cause then gave half of it to help their friend clear their debts. I live in the UK for a charity to do that, it would be illegal.

So I feel you might have robbed people of their money under false pretences in two ways. So prove me wrong and explain why I should trust you. I love FA and its eccentric community but, each mistake you and the staff make really makes it harder to trust you. So...some reassurance and explination would be appreciated.