That the online furry fandom, and all its big sites, is and are dominated by porn cannot be argued. The evidence is overwhelming:-
1) The number of artists doing porn to one degree or another is much greater than those who don't do it at all.
2) Artists who do porn, largely regardless of ability level, are usually far more popular than those who don't; the only exceptions are those with exceptional talent, or who are exceptionally well known within the fandom.
3) A large number of furs who genuinely believe you can't call yourself a furry if you don't do porn; some will go as far as to harrass those who don't do porn.
4) Artists noting that they only offer porn commissions because they can't make enough money to survive otherwise.
5) Artists, of which there are countless, charging a premium for porn commissions, either to maximise income, or because they don't really want to do porn, but as they see no other choice but to do it, they might as well get as much as they can out of it; either way, they're doing it because that's where the market and the money is.
6) SoFurry and Furaffinity having SafeForWork modes - what's the point of those if the sites aren't heaving with porn, and their members aren't heavily focused on porn?
7) Getting on for half of all the work the fandom produces is porn. If it were truly just a facet of the fandom, that figure shouldn't be anywhere near that high.
8) The majority of furry literature is erotic in nature; around 75% of all books published through the likes of Sofawolf and Furplanet are sexually explicit.
9) Many hugely successful adult-based furry sites, like Hardblush and Furpile, and no successful clean ones; there's a reason Yerf! died a death - lack of demand.
The question thus becomes, quite simply: why? Why is porn so dominant? I think I've finally divined the answer. The fandom has become a buyer's market, driven by the consumer, and most furry consumers want...porn.
Every single one of the big sites is overflowing with lurkers, people with no work, no profile, and often no avatar - they're just here to collect. If you don't believe they're so numerous, check out Inkbunny's member list - page after page filled with blank faces, dotted with the occasional active member. These guys, I'm pretty sure, make up the majority of any fur's watchers, and buy the majority of the commissions sold, so they are very influential. What they want largely determines the shape of the fandom...and they want porn. They don't give anything, just take, and often aren't shy about manipulating, coercing, tricking and even bullying artists into giving them what they want, and to hell with the repercussions. They've created a perfect honey trap, a vicious circle of supply and demand, and it's getting worse.
The next question therefore has to be: how do we deal with that? We could only permit people to join the sites if they actually have work to contribute, but that could well penalise all the genuine lurkers out there, the ones holding back to get a feel, or who are just too shy to say anything - I should know, I was one, 12 or so years ago. I'm honestly struggling to come up with something that would work, but remain convinced something has to be done. If you genuinely value freedom, real freedom, the freedom to not do porn, and not have to sell it to survive, as well as the freedom to do it if you want to, things must change.
I just wish, in the face of so many people, including those running the big sites, denying, ignoring, glossing over and otherwise brushing this situation under the carpet, taking the easy route of blissful ignorance rather than facing up to reality, I knew how...
