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submitted by omglizification
[link] [8 comments]

Author: Rakuen Growlithe

Fur Affinity recently announced a restructuring and increase in staffing. On the main site, staff acknowledged “administrator inaction, bias, and a lack of accountability” but assured users that they “truly want to fix the issues, and [are] working toward a better Fur Affinity.”

To see whether this change is going to be enough to improve Fur Affinity, I want to compare the administration structures of the three main furry art sites – Fur Affinity (FA), SoFurry (SF) and Inkbunny (IB) – plus a few details from commercial alternative deviantART (DA).

Site Users Staff^ Views/Month$ Views/Month/Staff Fur Affinity* ~700?000 (est.) 30 [20] 6?958?710 231?957 [347?935] SoFurry** 167?591 27 [19] 974?580 36?095 [51?294] InkBunny# 55?660 7§ [6] 227?490 32?498 [37?915] deviantART## >16?000?000 92 250?000?890 2?717?400

$ Page views as of 17 August from statshow.com. Note: Likely to be inaccurate, but close in relative proportions. ^ Numbers in brackets exclude technical staff.
* Users as of 26 August. Staff as of 17 August. Page views for furaffinity.net and forums.furaffinity.net.
** Users as of 22 August. Page views for sofurry.com and beta.sofurry.com. Staff as of 17 August.
# Users of 22 August. Staff as of 17 August. § One IB moderator has two accounts for technical reasons.
## Users as of 17 August. Staff as of 17 August.

Staffing levels and workload

As can be seen above, although FA may have four times as many users as SF, it has just slightly more staff, with some restricted to the forums. This shows most when looking at the number of page views per month per admin. While SF and IB are in a similar range, FA admins must handle six times the number of page views as other furry site admins. To bring the work load per admin to a comparable level, FA would need 174 – though naturally the number required will vary depending on the proportion of pure browsing to posts and submissions. FA admins must continue to do more work, as the site reports growth of 11?724 new users per month, with roughly 50 new support tickets a day (Ed: IB gets around 6).

Just because FA has a higher work load per admin doesn’t mean that they are overworked. I do not know how many page views each administrator can handle, and it might be that SF and IB actually have more admins than is required. DA, for example, copes with 10 times as many views per admin as FA. DA is a commercial site, however, with full-time employees; furry sites are run by part-time volunteers.

Although FA does have a number of problems, the admitted “administrator inaction” could have a large role to play in that. I cannot say whether FA admins are working hard enough; all I can say is that compared to other furry art sites, they still have relatively few staff.

Organizational structure

Also important to how the site is run is the structure of the administration. IB is a much smaller site than both SF and FA, with it’s staff split into administrators (2) and moderators (5). Both FA and SF have specialised staff, with the main split being administration and technical/development. FA is unique in having two site owners, although this is only after joining forces with Furocity.

FA has 30 administrative staff and SF has 19. Both sites follow the same pattern of having one or two admins in charge of various aspects and a collection of moderators for general rule-enforcing. FA has many more categories, with a head of art, stories, photography, etc. while SF and IB have a flatter administrative structure.

In addition, for FA the forum is a separate site; not all forum admins have staff privileges on the main site. SF has integrated forums, so its staff have privileges over the entire site. IB does not have any forum capabilities, just submission and journal comments.

Another split in FA is that it maintains an IRC channel (#furaffinity on irc.furnet.org) with some admins exclusive to IRC. Two IRC-exclusive admins were excluded from FA’s admin count, as IRC activity was excluded from the page views count. SF again shows an integrated site with its own chat function included as part of the site, and three admins charged to focus on the chat. As SF has all features linked, they are included as part of the main admin count; any views for the chat will also have been recorded as page views. IB does not have a chat system.

Technical aspects

FA has a technical development team of either three or four members, with different sources giving different staff breakdowns. This is much smaller than SF’s nine-member development team, eight of whom focus exclusively on development (DA has a team of 29, plus ten ops staff).

FA’s developers all have other responsibilities in the forum and/or running FA’s convention, FA: United. This is a known area of concern, and Dragoneer specifically mentioned new “coding expertise” when announcing that members of Furocity would be joining FA staff.

This is perhaps the aspect on which FA does worst, with very few changes being made to the site, or at least made public. FA’s technical development has been consistently criticised; the new user interface is three months behind its promised release date. SF2.0 is currently in public beta, though with very active development and staff posting regular updates and dealing with problems as they are reported. IB, while neither having a specific development team nor making any major changes to their user interface, regularly reports bug fixes and feature changes.

Staff conduct and communication

FA’s new staff has already come under criticism for being put in a high-level positions, despite only just having joined FA. The entire photography and written works departments of FA are formed of new admins who haven’t been on FA for much longer than a month.

At the same time, one of FA’s admins complained that existing staff hadn’t been told a lot of the information about the new admin structure. This may represent a failure to properly communicate within FA (and with the users as well, even on important issues such as the rules) which could be responsible for many of the problems the site experiences.

Along with the new staff announcement was the announcement that “we have written a new Staff Code Of Conduct which outlines requirements that all staff must adhere to.” When people asked why the Code Of Conduct was not available, staff revealed that the ‘written’ Code Of Conduct was still in draft form. If it is released, FA will be the first furry site to have released a public Staff Code of Conduct. It remains to be seen whether this is a progressive step with FA leading the way or a forced move to try and improve the behaviour of the admins.

Conclusion

FA has markedly fewer admins for its level of activity than other furry sites, though that may not represent a shortage of admins. As far as the structure of the admin team goes, FA and SF are using a very similar system, with some individuals focussed on certain tasks and others to do general maintenance. However, when it comes to technical development FA lags far behind both SF and IB in it’s ability to implement changes and bug fixes, although it has promised to work on this shortcoming. The current staff structure appears sound and it would appear that the problems with the site are more to do with apathy and poor communication, both between members of staff and between the users and staff.

I saw this post and it made me think of my furry bretheren. As the image says, he's willing to do artwork and/or shirts for whatever you feel like paying him. I strongly encourage reimbursing him for his work, but he'll even take on freebies. So, contact the guy and get yourself a cheap portrait of your character or something!

submitted by twcaiwh
[link] [7 comments]

submitted by evilsibe
[link] [21 comments]

I wanted to, but didn't, take a picture because I thought it would be rude to treat him differently.

submitted by pseudodoxia
[link] [6 comments]

Any furry redditors heading to MFM next weekend?

submitted by Jordypop
[link] [7 comments]

Over the years, furries have been mentioned a few times in the columns of sex-advice writer
Dan Savage. And here's the latest (August 24, 2011):

Q:

Six months ago, my 17-year-old son told me that he was seeing [insert male name]. No biggie. What troubles me: My son and his boyfriend are "furries" and open about it. The boyfriend is 18 and sweet, but he's clearly the more dominant one. I'm worried that my son may not know how to say no to him. Adding to my concerns: I found a dog collar in the kitchen with an engraved tag with my son's name on it. Dog collars seem like a heavy activity for a lad, Dan, and today I noticed a bruise on his throat that's the size of a collar buckle. How do I ensure he is exploring safely without freaking him out? —Why This Fetish?

A:

Go ahead and freak him out, WTF.

Your son is being open with you about his sexuality — openly gay, openly furred, openly collared — and you shouldn't hesitate to be open about your concerns. You won't be able to talk him out of his kinks, WTF, if they're his kinks (and not, say, a teenage affectation), so focus on the issues: power dynamics and sexual safety. Tell him it's important that he be able to say no to his boyfriend, and let him know that you're there for him if he has questions or concerns or needs a sounding board. Then ask him about the bruise on his neck. Dog collars are harmless — lots of kids and kinksters wear 'em — but if he and his boyfriend are playing choking games with that collar, and that's where the bruise came from, that's a very dangerous activity and it has to stop immediately.

In your shoes, WTF, I would bark at the boyfriend about that bruise too. Furry, schmurry. It's erotic asphyxiation that you should be worried about.

submitted by Rad2
[link] [12 comments]

submitted by killercacti
[link] [10 comments]

submitted by duskcheetah
[link] [12 comments]

We talk about jargon, using onomotopoeic words, and K.M. unleashes the true power of the Star Wars rant. Unsheathed #84 - Onomotopoeia and Star Wars

"If furries freak you out, you might want to stay away from Magdeburg, Germany this week"
Fark main page headline

I couldn't help but smile at the "macrofur" photo used for the article

Story with photo and link to video
http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-Europes-largest-furry-convention-Eurofurence-attracts-hundreds/tabid/417/articleID/223205/Default.aspx

submitted by Drenko
[link] [12 comments]

I feel like high quality fur comics are lacking. I'm talking about comics like Lackadiasy and Blacksad that are high substance and great art. Not so much like free web based comics like Housepets! (not hating). Anymore like the two former titles out there?

edit: I am willing to pay money, I'm not only looking for free comics.

edit 2: Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I see some purchases in my future.

submitted by Jakk-Cannon
[link] [27 comments]

Admit it: At times it almost seems backwards to have a comic book based on a movie or TV series these days (as opposed to vice versa). But, here we go again: Image comics presents Teen Wolf: Bite Me, a full-color 3-issue mini-series based on the new Teen Wolf  TV series on MTV. In case you need a re-cap, Scott McCall is a high-school athlete with a beautiful girlfriend and a future that’s looking up — until the night when he’s bitten by a werewolf. Now he not only has to deal with his frequent transformations, but also the fact that his girlfriend’s father is head of a local posse that has taken it upon themselves to hunt down and kill werewolves. In this new mini-series (written by David Tischman and illustrated by Stephen Mooney), Scott must deal with the new discovery that his “condition” may be incurable. Look for it this September.

To get the conversation a little more flowing, I don't think this question has been asked:

• What conventions do you consider yourself a regular to?

• Is there a local area furry group you associate yourself with (what's it called/where's it centered)?

• What are your thoughts about a con centered meetup, or a way to match up furs at a reddit meetup?

The 'Y U so dead?' thread mentioned the idea of a furry reddit meetup. This seems silly to me given that it could just as easily be a furry meetup with such a small group in any one area. Conventions get huge though and you only know your normal circle, perhaps this could be a lead-in to reddit parties at cons?

I'll try to occasionally stop in & tally the cons/local areas.
Bed for now!

Conventions:

• Anthrocon Pittsburgh, PA 7

• Midwest Furfest Chicago Suburbs, IL 5

• Furry Fiesta Addison, TX 4

• Further Confusion San Jose, CA 3

• Califur Irvine, CA 2

• Antheria Redondo Beach, CA 2

• Furry weekend Atlanta Atlanta, GA 2

• Memphit Furmeet Memphis, TN 2

• Furfright Cromwell, CT 2

• Oklacon Roman Nose State Park, OK 2

• Rainfurrest Seattle, WA 1

• Norwescon Seattle, WA 1

• Rocky Mountain Furcon Denver, CO 1

• San Diego ComicCon San Diego, CA 1

• Wildnights Robber Cave State Park, OK 1

• FurAffinity United Newark, NJ 1

Local Areas:

• LAFF - Illinois 2

• FFF - Fort Collins 1

• Southern Cali meetups 1

• TAF - Tulsa Area Furs 1

• Frolic 1

• Skiltaire 1

• TNFurs Tennessee

• Vermont Furmeets 1

• Delaware Furbowl 1

submitted by DaSkunk
[link] [21 comments]

submitted by DragonyTheDragon
[link] [15 comments]

submitted by PawFox
[link] [6 comments]

submitted by MeepleMeerkat
[link] [3 comments]

Author: Fred

Bitter Lake, the Fursuit feature that was announced as premiering at this year’s Eurofurence (and which has done so to generally favorable reviews) was also made available there on a region-free DVD, making it theoretically available for purchase by all Furry fans.

Where the DVD may be purchased outside of Eurofurence’s dealers’ den is not yet known, but it is said to include behind-the-scenes footage and English, German and French subtitles.