For your consideration: Flayrah's top stories in 2013

So how did Flayrah do compared to 2012? At first glance, activity fell, with 536 stories from 33 contributors. But the year's 914 Newsbytes replaced many short stories, especially after auto-posting to Twitter and Facebook began.

High ratings accrued to a profile of horse-worshipping Turkmenistan, news of the proposed feline mayor of Xalapa, survey results suggesting that furries 'think differently', a review of Blue Sky's Epic, surrogate monkey mothers, and Mike Rugnetta's comments on fan communities.

News of the death of Lemonade Coyote attracted almost 10,000 unique visitors, while an exposé of FurFling and FurryMate remains active, with over 1000 views this past month. Many also followed the search for a missing fur.

Sex and crime remained both popular and divisive, with the arrest of a fur charged with having sex with a cat, the auction of a My Little Pony fan erotica magazine, and the sentencing of Mitch Beiro all resulting in much debate. Other topics which proved controversial included our coverage of MTV's presence at new furry convention Furlandia, questions about "anti-gay oppression" in Russia, and news of an otherkin documentary.

Convention stories included an investigation into MiDFur's selection of the name ConFurgence, the closure of FurFright and Furry Connection North, Rocket City FurMeet's troubles with the TSA, discussion of VancouFur's Pacific Rim theme, and reports from Fur the 'More, Califur, GaymerX, Anthrocon and Biggest Little Fur Con.

Flayrah itself was given a statistical treatment. Fans mused its future in a world dominated by social media; some suggested we were scaring away future fans, or gave furry a bad name by reporting on crime. Even our reviews came in for criticism. (Meanwhile, the site's Twitter presence was enhanced by larger summary images and video thumbnails, while spam countermeasures were reinforced throughout the year.)

Fandom websites were covered, with high-rated stories on Fur Affinity's journal spam issues and week-long downtime, FurBuy's updates, and Inkbunny's T-shirt contest and open-source plans. Contributors interviewed a diverse range of individuals: Jeremy Bernal, Lemurr, Chris Savino and Ursula Vernon, Max DeGroot, Kadath, DJ 5arah and Quell Ironheart, Ookami Kemono and the casting director for MTV's True Life.

A trend this year was reviews of foreign-language works, including La Saga d'Atlas & Axis, L’Épée d'Ardenois, Gusko Budori no Denki, The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki, La chat du rabbin, Ernest et Célestine, Unico, Le jour des corneilles and Kairos. 2013 also saw several crowdfunding stories, as well as pieces on art and exhibitions; the sculpture of animals from tires, multicoloured dogs, and stone horses; even a play.

Some movies promised for 2013 never arrived, and discussion of What Does the Fox Say? went off on a tanget; an animated remix was preferred. Still popular were Fred Patten's chronology of furry fandom and crossaffliction's review of The True Story of Puss’N Boots, as well as past stories about e621, Stalking Cat and Krypto1701. And yes… we published 40 stories about My Little Pony.

Contributors (excluding Newsbytes)

• Mink (Rod O’Riley) [180 stories]
• Fred Patten [127]
• crossaffliction (Brendan Kachel) [63]
• GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) [38]
• Patch Packrat [29]
• Higgs Raccoon [26]
• dronon [15]
• Sonious (Tantroo McNally) [10]
• Huskyteer (Alice Dryden) [8]
• Draconis [8]
• Isiah Jacobs [4]
• tmattlatrans (T. Matt Latrans) [3]
• Rakuen Growlithe [3]
• EarthFurst [3]
• TimidGrizzly [2]
• RingtailedFox [2]
• mailboxbooks (Rabbit Valley Comics) [2]
• DJ EAR (Huepow00) [1]
• Xander the Blue [1]
• thommanson [1]
• katherine [1]
• Auld Wolf [1]
• foxotcw (David Flory) [1]
• Martes (Roz Gibson) [1]
• Mister Twister (Andrew Valenkov) [1]
• Pimlico (Eddie Drueding) [1]
• hi-jera [1]
• Scani [1]
• fenrislorsrai (H.C. O'Neill) [1]
• Kakurady [1]
• Treesong [1]
• Potoroo [1]
• Micah [1]