Like everyone else this morning, I was surprised to wake up to the news of Dragoneer passing away. RIP: Hope he is well where he is now. Others shared their thoughts and it's been months since I've been active at all, so I figured I'd throw in my two cents as well.
From the few interactions we had over the years, Dragoneer always seemed like a nice person to me. I vaguely remember he personally helped me the first time I ran into issues with FA more than 15 years ago, his posts and takes always seemed fair and balanced. I never blamed him personally for the state FA has been in over the past years, my sentiment was always that he was pressured by an increasingly fanatical society into letting the site fall to where it has. I am a bit upset that he couldn't try harder but don't hold it against him per say.
I won't lie and claim I share that sympathy toward Furaffinity itself: This platform hurt me too much to be able to care for its fate. Whether intentionally or not, FA became one of the strictest places in the fandom and harms in my life under his leadership: I still wake up not knowing if I may find myself randomly suspended, abused over something so silly my mind couldn't imagine any sane platform taking issue with it. I won't wish it harm but don't care what happens to it either: Whether it officially shuts down or not, it's been dead to me the moment any semblance of free speech and artistic freedom died years ago. I still use it as many artists and acquaintances insist of sticking to FA instead of moving to Inkbunny so I can't follow them anywhere else.
Obviously I suspect FA will find ways to stay up and carry on as usual. I don't see anything changing though I could be wrong, especially not for the better: We'll likely see more artists we love getting banned, wondering if we'll be kicked off the service next for an offensive letter or pixel we posted 100 years ago. I could push myself to be naive and imagine something improving under new leadership, but my rational mind would remind me someone even more strict will likely take over and impose yet crazier rules used to abuse creators even harder, so I'll avoid it as to not trigger the cliche "you just had to say it can't get any worse" moment. Just hope I can stick around till I finally join the side of the multiverse Dragoneer is now on.
But I'll always remember the old FA of the mid 2000's as well: That used to be a great place during some of the nicest years in my life, one of the first sites I discovered together with the fandom itself. I at least thank Dragoneer for those few good years he gave us, I know that Furaffinity is just a distant memory but it will also live on in my thoughts.
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6 months, 2 weeks ago
07 Aug 2024 19:30 CEST
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