In regards to the situation surrounding Fur Affinity, I've seen a number of interesting comments and speculations regarding what the site should have done, should do, isn't doing or how incompetent they are. I want to take a moment to say something that isn't being said enough. Many of you have little to no understanding or perspective on the things we take for granted.
Fur Affinity is a furry art community/gallery that's been around since 2005. For nearly 20 years, the platform has served as a means for furry artists and enthusiasts to connect with others of similar interests and build their own brands/businesses; for free. While you could pay to have ad space or donate to support the platform, you did not have to pay a penny to own a profile, post your work, or advertise commissions. Throughout it's lifespan, the platform has seen it's fair share of controversy and problems but regardless of this, Fur Affinity's owners and staff persisted to serve the community and continue to provide this unique, accessible, space.
Obviously, I have not always agreed with Fur Affinity's decisions and have been very vocal about it. I believe it's important for us as a community to express concern or criticize decisions that have potential to bring harm to our community. I also believe that Fur Affinity deserves to be recognized for the success it has achieved as community-owned project, not just it's shortcomings. I know this sentiment has been echoed across social networks but it's just the facts; I wouldn't have pursued my art or engaged with the community if not for Fur Affinity. There's a lot of things in my life that would not have happened if that archaic site did not exist, but instead of going into detail on that, let's bring this back to the present.
Fur Affinity is currently working with their service providers to address their account getting hijacked and redirecting Fur Affinity to another website. How did this happen? What does this mean? I don't know and frankly, neither do a large majority of people speaking on the matter. To those giving unwarranted, uneducated advice, you are not helping. Even if you're a professional in the field, your opinion is nothing but speculation as you don't have access to how the platform is run. If we really want to help the platform recover from this, we need to stop contributing to the spread of misinformation and baseless speculations. If you want to know what's going on with Fur Affinity, you'll get no better information than from Fur Affinity itself on Discord.
[Edit: Fur Affinity has released a journal post regarding the events on their website. You can read it here.]
To address the sensationalist comments proclaiming 'Fur Affinity is Dead', the site has persevered for roughly 20 years and had faced it's fair share of problems and outages. Fun fact, the creation date on my profile is actually when the site came back from a multi-month outage! The platform facing a disruption in service for less than 24 hours does not warrant panic or fearmongering.
Lastly, I want to take some time to address those using the opportunity to take pot shots at Fur Affinity and its staff. As the title of this journal states, you have no perspective or understanding of what it took to make an even remotely acceptable space for you on the internet and in reality. Many of you fail to realize that the only reason you attack the platform is because of a trend set on it; that you are blindly following in the wake of Fur Affinity's influence. You make your ignorant remarks because whether you like it or not, the platform has existed longer and achieved more than anything you're likely to and you're just following along. Do better.
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