Fur Affinity

Last updated

Fur Affinity
Fur Affinity logo.png
Official logo since February 1, 2021, designed by Sciggles [1]
Type of business Subsidiary
Type of site
Art display
Social networking service
Available in English
FoundedJanuary 16, 2005;19 years ago (2005-01-16)
Headquarters Terre Haute, Indiana, United States
Area servedWorldwide
Key peopleSean Piche (Lead Administrator, deceased)
Parent Frost Dragon Art, LLC
URL www.furaffinity.net
sfw.furaffinity.net
RegistrationOptional (required to upload content or view adult content)
LaunchedDecember 10, 2005;18 years ago (2005-12-10)
Current statusActive

Fur Affinity [2] (also written as FurAffinity) is a furry-centric art community that hosts artwork, literature, photography, and audio recordings. It was launched in 2005 by a pseudonymous individual using the moniker "Alkora" and was owned by Sean "Dragoneer" Piche through his limited liability corporation Ferrox Art from 2007 until 2015 when it was purchased by virtual world platform IMVU, and then again through a second LLC, Frost Dragon Art, [3] from 2021 until his death in August 2024. [4]

Contents

Fur Affinity is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, and features both standard furry art and adult art, although registration of a free account is required to view the latter. The site has become the most well-known and used furry-based website since its launch, receiving around 20 million visits monthly. [5] [6]

History

Prior to the launch of Fur Affinity, the most well-known furry-centric website was an art site called SheezyArt. In 2004, it was announced that SheezyArt would be disallowing adult art. Alkora, a SheezyArt user, decided to launch Fur Affinity in January 2005 as a site that was open to adult art, along with standard art.

The original version of Fur Affinity was challenged with numerous security breaches and hacks. On August 1, 2005, due to a disagreement with the server provider and the lead coder, Fur Affinity was shut down. After a brief fundraiser to support a new server, Fur Affinity was relaunched on December 10.

Fur Affinity would continue to face server issues for the next few years. In 2007, site-runner Sean "Dragoneer" Piche's account was breached, which caused the site as a whole to go down for 2 days. In 2008, the site was taken down for over a month due to a "server hardware fault", and another fundraiser was set up in order for servers to be replaced.

In 2011, Fur Affinity merged with fellow furry-centric site, Furocity. In 2013, the site had achieved a total of 10 million posts. In 2015, FurAffinity was purchased by 3D software platform IMVU. [7]

In 2016, Fur Affinity's source code was leaked, causing many users' personal data to be compromised. The site was immediately taken down as a result, and users were ordered to reset their passwords. [8] In 2017, around 600 bot accounts posted graphic imagery of gore, once again causing the site to go down.

In January 2021, Dragoneer was fired from IMVU. In February, Dragoneer announced that he had regained ownership of the website, and formed the limited liability company Frost Dragon Art. In 2022 the site took a stand against artificial intelligence-generated artwork, stating that AI-generated works lacked "artistic merit" and were not welcome on the site. [9] In 2023, the site was banned in Russia due to "prohibited content". [10] In the same year, it was reported that Shanghai Disneyland had included a picture from the site in a new City of Zootopia attraction without the artist's permission. [11]

On August 6, 2024, Piche died from complications of a lung infection. In a tweet before his death, he stated that he needed over $25,000 for a doctors appointment, while another showed $2,000. This meant delays in his critical care, leading to his condition getting worse. As of August 7,2024, authorities were awaiting the results of a biopsy taken before his death to reveal the identity of the infection. His death incited criticism of the healthcare system in the United States. [4] [12] [13]

On August 20, 2024, the Fur Affinity website's domain records were compromised. [14] The hacker redirected the domain to other sites, including a fake Shopify storefront mimicking the official website, a cryptocurrency scam, the then-officially-controlled X account, a 2017 Washington Post article , and then Kiwi Farms. In response to the sudden influx of traffic, Kiwi Farms temporarily closed new user registrations and added a banner to the site claiming that the site's administration was not involved in the attacker's actions.

In response to the takeover, Fur Affinity invalidated all user logins to its website to mitigate the impact of the hack. [15] On August 21, Cloudflare posted a warning on the domain that it had been reported for "possible phishing". Later that day, the Fur Affinity staff reported that they had regained control of the domain and were preparing to bring the site back online, but were concerned about a sudden influx of traffic causing further issues. The following day, staff announced that the site had been fully restored and was safe to use. They asserted that the site itself had not been compromised, and no private data had been accessed. [16]

Functions and content

Fur Affinity is an art community website, with a format similar to that of Newgrounds and DeviantArt. Newsweek described it as "the furry equivalent of Facebook." [17] Registered users are able to upload artwork, animations, literature, photography, and audio recordings (including music). Users can also comment on posts, like them, and follow artists. Much like DeviantArt, users are able to create folders of their media, and can categorize uploads as "scraps". Fur Affinity also hosts Adobe Flash media and has integrated Ruffle into the site following the former's deprecation.

The minimum age for making an account is 13, [18] and most artwork on the site is safe for work. [19] Despite this, adult content is often posted. Posts marked as "not safe for work" are automatically restricted to registered users over 18, although many artwork containing fetishes but not considered outright pornography have often gone unmarked by authors. Fur Affinity has a toggleable all-"safe for work" version of the site that does not show art that has been tagged as "adult". Under the "adult" filter, only media depicting adult characters are allowed, with pornographic/fetish content depicting underaged characters prohibited. [18]

Community

Fur Affinity is the most popular furry-focused website and has become both well-known and controversial in the furry fandom. It is used by furry community artists to promote their work. [20] [21] Since 2016, the website has offered banner advertising space to artists on the site in addition to the free public profiles that artists may use for self-promotion. [22]

Fur Affinity formerly held a convention called "FA: United". The first convention was held in 2007, and was held yearly until 2020, when it was discontinued as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. [23]

Several of the site's controversies have stemmed from infighting and conduct between the admins and staffers, including long-time owner Dragoneer. [24] Many users have migrated to other furry-centric websites, such as InkBunny, SoFurry, Weasyl, and Itaku as a result of the site's controversies. There have also been reports of alt-right furries, or "nazifurs", posting images on the website. [25] [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furry fandom</span> Subculture interested in anthropomorphic animals

The furry fandom is a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters. Some examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking, walking on two legs, and wearing clothes. The term "furry fandom" is also used to refer to the community of people who gather on the Internet and at furry conventions.

FurryMUCK is one of the oldest and largest non-combat MUD-style games in existence. It was founded in 1990 as an online gathering place for furry fans to meet and socialize in a virtual role-playing environment. Over time, FurryMUCK has become one of the central focal points for furry fandom, with a user base consisting of several thousand, with over 150 users regularly signed on simultaneously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthrocon</span> Pittsburgh furry convention

Anthrocon is an annual furry convention that takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, each June or July. It caters to furries, which are fans of fictional anthropomorphic animal characters in art and literature. The convention was first held in 1997 in Albany, New York, and moved multiple times before settling at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Since moving to Pittsburgh in 2006, the convention has drawn millions in financing to the local economy.

Domain hijacking or domain theft is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of its original registrant, or by abuse of privileges on domain hosting and registrar software systems.

FA, Fa or fa may refer to:

Further Confusion, or Furcon, is an annual furry convention held in San Jose, California, each January, celebrating the anthropomorphics genre or furry fandom, including charitable benefits, educational seminars, art shows, panels and general social activities. It was the first event sponsored by Anthropomorphic Arts and Education and continues to be its largest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ConFurence</span> First furry convention, held from 1989 to 2003

ConFurence was the first exclusively furry convention, held annually in southern California from 1989 to 2003. The large furry presence at the BayCon science fiction conventions instigated Mark Merlino and Rod O'Riley to throw "furry parties" at Westercon, Baycon, and other west coast sci-fi conventions in the late 80's. This led to the test gathering in 1989, ConFurence Zero.

<i>Furcadia</i> 1996 video game

Furcadia is a free-to-play MMOSG/MMORPG or graphical MUD, set in a fantasy world inhabited by magical creatures. The game is based on user-created content with emphasis on world building tools, exploring, socializing, and free-form roleplaying. Furcadia hosts a large volunteer program called the Beekin Helpers, allowing players to help with community moderation, welcoming new players, handling in-game technical support, running in game events, creating art for the game itself, accessing and updating the game's website, and bug hunting. Furcadia holds the Guinness World Records title for the longest continuously running social MMORPG and, in addition to being one of the first games to heavily encourage modding and let users build virtual worlds for themselves, it was also one of the first freemium online games. In 2008, Furcadia was reported as having over 60,000 players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FanFiction.Net</span> US fan fiction website

FanFiction.Net is an automated fan fiction archive site. It was first launched in 1998 by software designer Xing Li, and currently has over 12 million registered users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furry convention</span> Formal gathering of members of the furry fandom

A furry convention is a formal gathering of members of the furry fandom – people who are interested in the concept of fictional non-human animal characters with human characteristics. These conventions provide a place for fans to meet, exchange ideas, transact business and engage in entertainment and recreation centered on this concept. Originating in California during the mid-1980s, as of 2016 there are over 50 furry conventions worldwide each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwest FurFest</span> Furry convention held annually in Illinois

Midwest FurFest (MFF) is a furry convention that takes place in Rosemont, Illinois, usually on the second weekend after Thanksgiving. First held in 2000, MFF is presented by Midwest Furry Fandom Inc, an Illinois Educational Not-For-Profit Corporation that exists primarily for the purpose of holding an annual convention to facilitate education in anthropomorphic literature and art. It also facilitates the donation of funds to non-profit institutions, mainly of which promote the well-being of humans and/or animals. The convention is among the most attended furry conventions in history, peaking at 16,800 attendees in 2024.

<i>My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic</i> fandom Fan following surrounding the My Little Pony animated series

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated children's television series produced by Hasbro that ran from 2010 to 2019 as part of the My Little Pony toy franchise. The series tied in with the 2010 relaunch of dolls, play sets and original programming for the American children's cable channel The Hub. Lauren Faust was selected as the creative developer and executive producer for the show based on her previous experience with other animated children's shows such as The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on Cartoon Network. Under Hasbro's guidance, Faust developed the show to appeal to the target demographic of young girls, but created characters and settings that challenged formerly stereotypical norms of "girly" images, adding adventure and humorous elements to keep parents interested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discord</span> Online communication software

Discord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform which allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and media. Communication can be private or take place in virtual communities called "servers". A server is a collection of persistent chat rooms and voice channels which can be accessed via invite links. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, and in web browsers. As of 2024, the service has about 150 million monthly active users and 19 million weekly active servers. It is primarily used by gamers, although the share of users interested in other topics is growing. As of March 2024, Discord is the 30th most visited website in the world with 22.98% of its traffic coming from the United States. As of March 2022, Discord employs 600 people globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenNIC</span> Organization

OpenNIC is a user-owned and -controlled top-level Network Information Center that offers a non-national alternative to traditional top-level domain (TLD) registries such as ICANN. As of January 2017, OpenNIC recognizes and peers all existing ICANN TLDs, for compatibility reasons. However, OpenNIC has not yet evaluated and does not hold a formal position on future ICANN TLDs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D&D Beyond</span> Official digital toolset and game companion for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition

D&D Beyond (DDB) is the official digital toolset and game companion for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition. DDB hosts online versions of the official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books, including rulebooks, adventures, and other supplements; it also provides digital tools like a character builder and digital character sheet, monster and spell listings that can be sorted and filtered, an encounter builder, and an interactive overlay Twitch Extension. In addition to the official D&D content available to purchase, it also provides the ability to create and add custom homebrew content.

<i>uwu</i> Emoticon denoting cuteness or happiness

uwu, also stylized UwU, is an emoticon representing a cute face. The u characters represent closed eyes, while the w represents a cat mouth. It is used to express various warm, happy, or affectionate feelings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fursona</span> Personalized animal character created by the furry fandom

A fursona is a personally claimed persona resembling an anthropomorphic animal adopted by a member of the furry fandom. Fursonas can provide numerous roles for the creator. According to The New Science of Narcissism, 95% of those in the furry fandom have at least one fursona; with the Anthropomorphic Research Project estimating that the average furry has between two and three fursonas over the course of their life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yiff</span> Slang term used in the furry fandom

Yiff is a slang term used in the furry fandom to refer to pornographic content of anthropomorphic animal characters. It is considered a tongue-in-cheek term in the furry fandom. The term is also used as a way to insult members of the furry fandom, such as in the phrase "yiff in hell". Additionally, the term is also used in the plushie fetish community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midjourney</span> Image-generating machine learning model

Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence program and service created and hosted by the San Francisco-based independent research lab Midjourney, Inc. Midjourney generates images from natural language descriptions, called prompts, similar to OpenAI's DALL-E and Stability AI's Stable Diffusion. It is one of the technologies of the AI boom.

e621 (website) Furry-themed imageboard art website

e621 is a furry-themed booru-style digital art website known for hosting primarily pornographic furry content—called "yiff" in the furry fandom. Hosting almost 4 million images as of January 2024, the website is owned by Jan "Varka" Mulders, who is also the CEO of sex toy manufacturer Bad Dragon. e621 has a safe for work (SFW) mirror site called e926, although it runs on the same servers and thus maintains the same adults-only restriction e621 has. e621 is among the most-visited furry websites, alongside the art community FurAffinity.

References

  1. ↑ Fender (February 1, 2021). "Feb 1, 2021 - New Ownership, Updated Logo, & More" . Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Terms of Service". Fur Affinity. April 11, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  3. ↑ Strike, Joe (October 3, 2017). Furry Nation: The True Story of America's Most Misunderstood Subculture. Cleis Press. ISBN   978-1-62778-233-3.
  4. 1 2 "Death of Fur Affinity founder Dragoneer ignites US healthcare debate". The Express Tribune. August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  5. ↑ "furaffinity.net Traffic Analysis". Similarweb. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  6. ↑ Silverman, Ben(Benjamin Luke Matanos) (2020). Fursonas : furries, community, and identity online (Thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/127662.
  7. ↑ "Mar 19, 2015 - FA Joins the IMVU Family [UPDATE 2] -- Fender's Journal". Fur Affinity. March 19, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Hackers Destroy Fur Affinity Art Gallery Website". www.hackread.com. May 23, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  9. ↑ Cole, Samantha (September 13, 2022). "Furry Fandom Site Bans All AI Art". Vice. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  10. ↑ Dragoneer [@Dragoneer] (February 9, 2023). "Recieved [sic] an email from the Russian government requesting we add FA with their registry of websites because we host "prohibited content." Yeah, no... no... noooooooooo. NOOOOOO. Nah. Don't think so. Nyoooooope. Nyet. Nada. No thank you" (Tweet). Retrieved December 14, 2023– via Twitter.
  11. ↑ "RUMOR: Stolen Furry Fan Art Used In Shanghai Disneyland's Zootopia Without Artist's Knowledge". WDW News Today. December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  12. ↑ @Furaffinity (August 7, 2024). "It is with heavy hearts that we announce the sudden loss of FA's owner, @Dragoneer . We ask for your patience & respect for his family's privacy. We remain committed to supporting each other & the community. We will keep you updated as we learn more. Thank you for your kindness" (Tweet). Retrieved August 7, 2024– via Twitter.
  13. ↑ Dragoneer (July 30, 2024). "Health Update 2: The Specialist". Fur Affinity. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  14. ↑ Waqas (August 24, 2024). "Fur Affinity Website Hacked in DNS Hijacking Attack". Hackread. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Fur Affinity website hacked". Peq42. August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  16. ↑ Fender (August 22, 2024). "Aug 22nd - All Our Base Are Belong To Us". Fur Affinity. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  17. ↑ Hicks, William (November 22, 2017). "Neo-Nazi Furries Trump's Latest Alt-Right Supporters". Newsweek. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  18. 1 2 Fender's Journal (May 24, 2023). "May 24, 2023 - Update for Upload Policy Section 2.7". Fur Affinity. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  19. ↑ Austin, Jessica (August 26, 2021). Fan Identities in the Furry Fandom. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 111. ISBN   978-1-5013-7541-5.
  20. ↑ Ho, Rosemarie (December 6, 2018). "Where will furries go after Tumblr?". The Outline. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Featured Artist: Nanukk Luik". Furry Times. No. 3. 2016. p. 10. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Advertise on FA". Fur Affinity. May 11, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  23. ↑ FA United [@Faunited] (December 2, 2020). "It's been a blast" (Tweet). Retrieved December 14, 2023– via Twitter.
  24. ↑ LagoVirt (February 24, 2021). Dragoneer Part 1: The Stumbling Leader of FurAffinity . Retrieved December 15, 2023– via YouTube.
  25. ↑ "Terror, Teens, and Furaffinity — How a chain of violent hate incidents links to furry fandom". Dogpatch Press. April 14, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  26. ↑ "FBI Ties Nazifurs to Atomwaffen Division — Attacks Targeted US Gov Official, Journalists". Dogpatch Press. February 28, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.