Feed aggregator

submitted by DonnytheGoat
[link] [5 comments]

submitted by bladespark
[link] [1 comment]

Looking into getting a tail made before too soon, but I have no idea what a good place is to get one. Recommendations?

submitted by Kirean
[link] [14 comments]

I have an idea for a fursona, but it's a rough one and I don't have all of the details in mind. If anyone is looking to make some money, I'd like to hire someone to help me sort through the details and create some sort of drawing of the fursona. I'd like to only spend 35 dollars tops, but if that's not enough I'm willing to work out another price.

Thank you in advance to anyone willing to do this.

submitted by Explolguy
[link] [5 comments]

The stream is here

Depending on the time I finish this digital version I might draw something else for someone.

Come enjoy great music (taking requests) and watch me draw!

submitted by VideoHusky
[link] [5 comments]

submitted by Chewy_Lemon
[link] [9 comments]

submitted by MrFistYourSis
[link] [4 comments]

(This is the follow-up to the first article, published October 9th, On Advertising: Part 1 – Before which explores the hows and whys of our little experiment in advertising.  Start there if you have yet to read it!)

And so it’s over.  We ran advertisements for one month on two furry sites to try and gain some insight into the way furries interact both with ads and with those sites in general. Those campaigns ended several days ago and we’ve been looking over the data we have available to us, including information before, during, and after the campaigns were over.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

 [adjective][species] Campaign Visits furaffinity 1486 sofurry 174

As with any site with a publishing schedule such as ours, one can expect the spikes around the days when articles go live.  That was true before, as well as during and after the advertising campaign.  In fact, though there is a visible increase in the average number of visitors, and the campaigns do show some activity*, this ad was less effective than both the Love – Sex – Fur and Furry Poll ads.  I think that this was due to the relatively calm and passive nature of the advertisement itself.  While LSF’s ad was also passive in nature, it did happen to include the word ‘sex’ as well as a salacious RandomWolf in red-tinted glasses (ain’t he dreamy?).  The Furry Poll ad, on the other hand, was more of a call to action, using very active language such as “Take part…” and “Stand up – Get counted!”.

However, these numbers aren’t the only ones worth taking a look at.  In addition to the increase in visitors, the [adjective][species] FurAffinity account has gained 81 new watchers (and one spam note offering free anime downloads!), and the Twitter account at least 40 new followers (Twitter will only let me look back so far).  Even more surprising, to me, was that my own personal FA account gained 30 new followers.  JM reports that he has also seen an increase in followers on FA.  The amount of times that we have been contacted via shouts, notes**, and emails has increased, as well.  Several of those who have found us (or perhaps even already knew about us) have some delightful ideas worth exploring within the fandom, it seems!

Love – Sex – Fur

Campaign Visits furaffinity 3440 sofurry 258

LSF‘s activity is, of course much lower than [a][s]‘s.  I have been on something of a sabbatical*** (as I did around this time last year), and JM has been extraordinarily helpful in carrying the burden of [adjective][species], but there hasn’t been as much traffic to Love – Sex – Fur, understandably. Along with 42 new watchers on FA, 24 new Twitter followers, and another note received there, we can more easily see the effect of advertising on site traffic without the spikes of new articles being posted on a regular basis.

The Furry Poll

Campaign Visits furaffinity 3440 sofurry 258

Whoa there!  Although this graph shows pretty clearly the start and end of the ad campaign, the numbers are skewed by the graph’s scaling due to a very large jump on October 29th and 30th.  As far as is visible from the referrers list during that time, the survey was shared in two large furry groups on Facebook (which ones are, of course, not visible to us).

The presence of furries on Facebook has always felt somewhat surprising to me.  I do not shrink from sharing my membership with this subculture in contexts outside of the fandom.  I go by Makyo on work’s IRC servers, I use the same old dapper-fox-drinking-a-gin-and-tonic icon on GitHub, where some of our code is stored, and I’ve even used one of the [a][s] visualizations to prove a point about overwhelming amounts of data during a meeting.  Something about the way that Facebook promotes unmediated sharing and monetizing of information rubs me the wrong way, however.  Perhaps this is a holdover from my early-adopter days, when Facebook was touted as the best way for students to connect and share photos and such with each other, when it was restricted to university students.  For me, the site still feels like the very mundane (in all senses of the term) social media network, focused primarily on staying in touch with classmates.

However, I know that’s not the case, as I’ve seen several incoming spikes such as this show up from links being shared on Facebook.  For those of you who are active in a furry context on Facebook, how do you manage your identity there?  Do you have a separate furry-only profile, or do you mix in all circles with one profile?

And to whomever shared a link to the furry survey on Facebook, cheers!  Of all of the sites included in this exercise, the survey is the one that will benefit the most from increased exposure. It’s important that we get as many responses from all around the world as possible to provide a clearer picture of our community.  Given the single-use nature of the survey site, the dramatic decrease in numbers after the campaign’s end is not too surprising: after all, there’s no reason to revisit the site more than once a year!

Bookmarfs!

 

Campaign Visits furaffinity 1017 sofurry 117

Bookmarfs! is an unrelated project, but one that also needed an advertisement. Additionally, once I noticed that all of our ads followed the same format, I took a different path with this one: no striped background, simple and to the point.  The ad was actually strikingly effective during the period it was shown, given the relatively low initial interest and the (current) rate at which we post: twice a month, usually on the same day – once for the discussion of the past month’s book and once to announce the next month’s book.  We also received 14 new watchers on FA and 10 new followers on Twitter.

Conclusions

I think that the advertising experiment was useful in seeing just how the fandom utilizes advertising.  Judging by personal interactions with friends and through comments here on the previous post, our reaction to advertising is decidedly mixed.  Several people I have heard from have described ads in general to be intrusive and a nuisance, especially on the Internet.  However, I am not the only one who turns off ad-blockers on furry sites such as FurAffinity and SoFurry.  Part of it is that I know that a higher percentage of ads are, by the very virtue of their existence on these sites, targeted toward my interests.  However, and I’m not alone in thinking this way, it’s also good to know that a lot of the people posting these ads are individuals, sharing an interest in common with me, who are doing their best to get by in life doing something they love.

This, in fact, is one of the reasons that I ran these ads only in month-long intervals.  [adjective][species] projects (and Bookmarfs!) are all projects run out of pocket with no profit incentive.  We sell no products or services, and we write because that’s what we love to do.  Our readership is fantastic, and we would love to grow that, but it’s also nice to give the space to the creators who are doing their best to make a living in our little subculture.  Advertising does play a role in our community, and I think that these few examples have shown just how that information is transmuted into a measurable and visible change.  For those out there questioning whether or not their business within furry will benefit from advertising, I think this serves as a fairly strong “yes”.  I placed four ads on two high-traffic sites for a month for just about $130 (about the cost of running all of the above sites except for the furry survey for one year) and the results were immediate.

* The campaign numbers differ significantly from the impressions reported by SoFurry’s advert system (campaign reports 174 impressions, SoFurry reports 429 clicks for [a][s], with similar skews for other sites).  Piwik, our metrics tool, plays nice with AdBlock, Noscript, and other such tools, and so there are likely several more visitors than are actually being reported by these metrics.  However, it was still nice to get an idea of the ways in which advertising works within our community!

Here are the actual numbers from SoFurry:

** In general, notes are a poor way to get in touch with us.  Please email instead!

*** Apologies for the paucity of content on my part!  However, I will be attending Mid-West Fur Fest this year, so if you catch me around, I’d be more than happy to talk shop, furry or otherwise!

submitted by grifthesniper
[link] [6 comments]

Is it your way of life? Do you have a fursona? Just in it for the art? Just in it for the porn? Because it's fun? Because you feel like you belong here?

I wanna know!

submitted by VentKazemaru
[link] [60 comments]

I'm not sure what to write here or even what the response I receive will be, with that said, hello, first time writing to ya. 

I suppose I should start off at the beginning of what put me into my current situation, just a few years ago I joined the US Army, went through the training, deployed to Afghanistan once, got back to the states and did some bullshit for the next few months and eventually left the military with an honorable discharge.

After this I moved in with my folks and spent some time off just living on the money I saved up in the military, then started looking for a job, couldn't find one, money dried up, parents asked me to move out. The trailer I was living in on their property didn't have heat anyways and winter was approaching quickly, I heard of a homeless veteran shelter and moved in there.

Its not a bad place, its clean, safe and has food available, its just, still can't find a job, last couple months I've been pretty depressed about my situation, enough that I have had certain thoughts that I would prefer not to mention here but I am sure you will suggest I seek a "licensed professional."

Honestly I prefer not speaking to one, reasons being that with the current state of the country, and the fact that if one of these "licensed professionals" can legally strip me of my second amendment rights if they feel my mental state is not within a certain standard. I do not want to wake up one day with a police officer knocking on my door demanding my firearms because of some bout of depression I was treated for. I wouldn't be surprised if I am on some type of government watch list for the sole reason of serving this country.

I suppose that is all I have to write for now, maybe you have some advice for my situation.

Thanks,
Rob

* * *

Dear Rob,

I would like to start my reply by giving you a big “Thank You!” for bravely serving your country and all of us who remained at home. That was a selfless thing to do and must be acknowledged. I think it is pretty awesome that there are furries in the military (I assume you’re a furry and that’s how you found my column.)

Papabear can understand your reticence about seeking professional help. I often suggest to writers who contact me that they do such, but more important is that you reach out to someone when you are troubled. And I think it is a very good sign that you have written to me that you are thinking clearly and have not sunk so low as to be a danger to yourself or others.

It is also understandable that at this point in your life you would be depressed. Who wouldn’t be? You have put your life on the line only to come back and find yourself jobless and kicked out of your parents’ home.

It is a dirty shame that, for the most part, our federal government has fallen down on the job when it comes to helping veterans, especially when it comes to getting jobs and reestablishing themselves in mainstream society. Nevertheless, if you haven’t already done so, I would recommend you contact Veteran Affairs at http://www.va.gov/. The VA not only has medical assistance to those who need it, but also job training and job search programs. That would be a good start.

If you have already done that, then you can also look into private veteran organizations like the National Veterans Foundation (http://nvf.org/) which has chapters throughout the country. A big part of what they do is help vets find work. There is also AmVets (http://www.amvets.org/), which does have training and grant programs, though admittedly a lot of their focus seems to be on helping vets with medical and other financial problems.

On the next level, start connecting to local and war-relevant groups. Since you served in Afghanistan, you are eligible to join the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (http://iava.org) for free. The IAVA is focused on assisting with health, training, and employment of veterans of these wars.

Finally, you can search for local organizations in your state, county, or city. Search under “veterans for veterans” and see what you can locate using Google. Or, you could probably get recommendations from the IAVA if you asked their office.

Oh! And don’t forget your furiends! Connect with military furs at such places as http://militaryfurries.livejournal.com/ and http://furry4life.org/forum/topics/military-furs. This might not lead to a job, but it will give you some social support that you might need.

As you can see, Rob, getting help and reaching out doesn’t necessarily mean looking for a mental health professional. My instinct is that you are not crazy or a danger in any way; you are simply depressed because of the southward turn your life has taken. I hope that some of the information above can put you on a course toward helping you find your way out of your present situation.

Papabear Salutes You!

Ok, so here's the deal. I don't work for free. I don't do requests but I will sometimes do trades. It doesn't have to be for art. Everyone has some skill or knowledge to offer.

I have a bit of time for art today so I will be offering at least 5 sketch trade slots. First come, first serve. Will trade for most anything, art, music, stories.... tell me a really great joke or an awesome family recipe! These will mostly be face sketches, but the more effort you put into your half the more I'll put into mine.

Please provide a ref or description. One sketch per person.

My FA- http://www.furaffinity.net/user/pariahpoet/

Will post sketches this afternoon when I am back to my computer.

[EDIT] Since it's getting later in the day I can't guarantee that any more trades will be completed today, but 2 slots still stand. :)

submitted by ChatGarou
[link] [14 comments]

submitted by MrFistYourSis
[link] [8 comments]

Author: That British ‘yote’s back again. In other words, hello. I’m stuck in a bit of a tricky situation regarding my education and its driving me mad. I train as a mechanic for a good part of my school time and if I was to assess how good I was at it, I would say […]

So I wonder if there's anyone out there with the same interrest in roleplaying as me? I've been roleplaying via text for a long while now but I haven't met anyone (that I know of) into furries as myself. So if there's anyone who would fancy trying out some roleplay, send a PM and I'll explain everything you'd like to know. It's worth a shot :)

And if it matters, I'm a female.

submitted by Alozamee
[link] [6 comments]

submitted by xandertheblue
[link] [2 comments]

UPDATE:

It looks as though the the reveal may have already been spoiled, as the resume of the english voice actor for Nanoko, Karen Strassman, has listed the games "Persona 4 Vol. 2" and "Golden 2 Persona 4". Could it be a direct sequel? Looks like we'll find out this Sunday.

 

PERSONA!

That's right everyone, Atlus is at it again with yet another Persona game in the works; at least if this teaser site is to be believed. If you go to the teaser site that went up just a little while ago called http://p-ch.jp/, you'll see a few blank boxes and a date in huge lettering reading "20:00, SUN, 11.14, 2013" along with some cities labled below.

Now if you mash you mouse button on any of the pictures, it'll reveal a shadow that, after a few seconds, show's you the real surpise. Teddy has returned, and that brings up a few questions. Persona 4 has already been released on PS2 some years ago, and it's been released on the PSVita more recently, so what does this mean? An HD revamp of Persona 4 for the PS4? A direct sequel (which would be the first time for the Persona sub series)? Is Atlus just pulling our leg? All of them are equally possible I'd imagine.

In my opinion I'd be a little bummed out if it was either of the first two ideas. Not because I don't like Persona 4, I love it quite a bit, but because I want Atlus to continue the tradition of making a completly new story with new characters and concepts with each new entry.

If anything does happen at the appointed time, we'll be sure to update this post or make a new one with whatever new information we recieve.

So I'd like to know, do you agree with me about about having completely new game each time? Or do you want a sequel to Persona 4?

Any ideas on what the teaser might be? Tell me in the comments below.

I do not mean offense to enyone in the fandom I think all art is beautiful in there own ways.

So im sorry if this sounds stupid but ... I have this friend and she is a furry I was not aware of this until a few days ago and I whould like to know if I should get educated about a sertain subject?

submitted by Mr_Wildfier
[link] [3 comments]

submitted by ThatDiesel
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submitted by Mr_Lego
[link] [1 comment]