**EDIT 01/07**
While originally we planned for the update to be pushed live on the 6th, tech needs more time to review the code. We are hoping it wont take much longer but there isn't a solid ETA. We'll keep checking in and keep you updated. In the meantime the discussion thread is still open!

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Hey there and Happy New Year everyone! We have been pretty busy on our end of things but wanted to let you all know that the 2.7 feedback channel is open again with a draft rewrite in place to review on our discord here https://discord.com/channels/991855.....48429739393104

For those without discord you can read it here https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....it?usp=sharing and leave feedback via FA trouble tickets under "feedback"

https://www.furaffinity.net/control.....roubletickets/

Thank you for your patience and we are eager to get things moving in a positive direction!

We are aware of the compromised accounts happening on FA and would like to keep the confusion to a minimum. Currently, there is no evidence of a breach on our end but we are still investigating the matter. We believe it's likely an attack using leaked passwords from other non-FA-related breaches where users are using the same passwords.

We always encourage users to use strong passwords and avoid reusing passwords across various sites. Also, we recommend checking https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if you've been unknowingly affected by a past breach. If you haven't updated your passwords in a while, it would be beneficial to do so.

We also ask that you not "feed the trolls". If you see an issue please file a ticket to help us look into the matter. Engaging them or the pages they have compromised only makes it worse. If you see suspicious activity please report it here for us https://www.furaffinity.net/control.....roubletickets/

Thank you and we hope to have this resolved as soon as possible.

Hey there everyone!

With over 500 amazing applications in we are now officially closing the form! We are going to need time to completely get through all of these. We appreciate everyone being so willing to help!

We also want to let everyone know that there is still a current backlog on community advertising. We are working to get caught up with it but if you are sending in requests it may be a bit of a wait until we can get to them.

Thank you for all your continued support and understanding while we get back on our feet!

Recently, we were made aware of a possible data breach that had been circulating online. After investigation we concluded that this is neither recent nor a breach, rather a compilation of past attacks, leaks and breaches mostly elsewhere.

We have been able to identify two relevant accounts where listed passwords matched provided usernames or email addresses, and proactively taken care of them by having those passwords reset and users notified. All user data on FA is safe and un-compromised.

2.7 Temporary Hold and Apology


Over the last few months a lot has changed for Fur Affinity, and throughout this change we have been trying to adjust our policy in a way that was fair to everyone. After hearing the overwhelming feedback on the site, community discord, social media, and in private conversations we’ve had with voices within the community, it is very clear that we’ve failed to do this in the recent update. We would like to apologize to the communities negatively affected including the ABDL/babyfur community, who were the targets of a deliberate mass-reporting incident that was not handled with the proper care. We are incredibly sorry for this, and the undue stress it’s caused our entire community, and we are going to do everything within our power to make it right.

In order to accomplish this, we are going back to the drawing board to put this together the proper way. We want to take the first step in correcting this by putting a pause on all moderation actions involving Upload Policy 2.7 (with the noted exception of egregious or non-artistic violations) for the time being. We would like to remind everyone that malicious mass reporting is an abuse of the trouble ticket system and will not be tolerated. Going forward we will be making sure that abuse of the reporting system does not lead to individuals or communities being unfairly targeted. We would also like to remind everyone that harassment of anyone is not allowed on Fur Affinity; this includes attaching negative implications to people because they enjoy particular types of art. If you encounter this on Fur Affinity, please report it.

We know that many of you likely have unanswered questions in regards to the previous announcement, and on the nature of policy 2.7 as a whole. We know that for many of you, trust in us has been severely shaken or broken altogether; hopefully, with time and positive action, we may be able to regain that trust. Our lack of transparency is a large part of what has led to this entire unfortunate situation. This is something that has long been an issue with Fur Affinity and we are working diligently to correct, developing a plan of action that will allow us to address these and other concerns. Working these things out will take time, community outreach, and careful consideration - all things that we should have been doing better the first time around - but before anything else, we felt it was very important to issue an apology and assure those of you who’ve been affected most by this that your voices are being heard, and that we are taking the feedback we receive very seriously. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that everyone in our community can feel safe, comfortable, and welcome. We very much would like to humbly ask for patience while we develop newer, fairer policies that accurately reflect the input of everyone who calls Fur Affinity home.

Open Letter

This is from  Sciggles only.

It’s been over two months since Dragoneer passed. In some ways it feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like it’s been forever. It is something that has shaken the entire community. With that it has also shaken staff and inner workings. We’ve all been grieving and trying to figure out our way forward in the chaos. There has been an overwhelming amount of stress on all of us. I am still fumbling to figure out all the pieces and fill his shoes. He carried a ton of responsibilities on his own. More than one person SHOULD. And there is no guidebook for it. Majority of the Fur Affinity staffers are volunteer based. They dedicate hours upon hours of their free time to try to make FA a better place for all of us. We have lost some staffers during this transitional process, the growing pains and uncertainties can be a lot when we are all trying to figure out the best step forward. We are all human. None of us are perfect, and regardless of personal opinion it is a very difficult position and they do deserve respect for their efforts.

With all this said, I am wholeheartedly under a ton of pressure and stress and overwhelmed with all of this.

In trying to catch up with all I need to learn and do I was presented with an issue in regards to bans happening due to a malicious mass reporting situation that was specifically targeting Babyfurs and the ABDL communities here on Fur Affinity. I felt an obligation to do community outreach and try to fix it. I acknowledge and agree that the “solution” made was not a good one. It was one made out of a huge amount of stress and pressure to rush out something. Which is not okay. I'm really sorry for that. I know saying I'm sorry won't fix it. I am very aware that people are RIGHTFULLY angry. But that's also why I am still trying to take in feedback and listening to see what we can do to make it better. There is no making everyone happy...but I know we can do better than what was pushed out. And I take responsibility for not doing more and spending more time working on it before this.

I need help with this. We were short staffed to begin with and now even more so. If you have ever wanted to lend a hand in making Fur Affinity a better place for all, please fill out this form to start the process of applying to become a mod or part of the support team. https://forms.gle/NbgqvdtxGo5RGqx97

It may take a little time to get through applications, and not everyone will be approved, but I have hopes we will be able to get Fur Affinity where it needs to be with community help.

I appreciate all of your time and consideration in this. I hope I can do better moving forward.

Upload Policy, Section 2.7 Policy Revision and Clarification Update

After much time and consideration on the matter, as well as community outreach, we have decided to make an update and announcement in regards to recent incidents involving 2.7.

A few weeks ago, Babyfur/ABDL accounts and submissions were mass reported. We investigate every report and take action accordingly. While many of the reported submissions violated policies and were correctly removed, a few were mistakenly taken down. These were reviewed during the appeals process and restored with explanations and apologies.

As per our Upload Policy, violations of Section 2.7 were highlighted to warn users that violations under that category may automatically be escalated to a 4th Level Offense which states: 4th Level Offense - You will be temporarily suspended for 1 week, and will receive a final warning to cease violating the relevant section. For more information on our penalty system, please see Section 7, Enforcement, of our UP.

The Current Upload Policy

Upload Policy, Section 2.7 - Content Involving Minors

Content featuring minors is not allowed when the minor is in the presence of sexual activity, sexual objects, or nudity, though exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding. Presence is defined as being in the same scene, such as sharing a comic panel, contiguous image, reference sheet, or specific section of a story where characters are engaging each other.

Minors may not have detailed bulges or outlines of normal or hyper genitalia, clothed or otherwise. Minors may not be fetishized. Minors may not be depicted as pregnant. Minors are defined as real or fictional humanoids with a childlike body or younger than 18 years old, and any adolescent animals or fantasy creatures.

The removed content that caused confusion and sparked debate was content that featured minor appearing characters with messy/dirty diapers and age regression that was either labeled under kink accounts or showed fetish content. When making decisions on those types of works we refer to and use the dictionary definition for fetish and kinks.

• Fetish is defined as a specific sexual fixation (objects, body parts, activities).

• Kink is defined as uncommon sexual activity.

Feedback and Enforcement Changes

We received a lot of feedback from users who felt the rules were unclear and the punishments too harsh. Rumors also spread that Fur Affinity was unfairly targeting people in the Babyfur/ABDL community. Many users were unsure how their content violated our policies. After reviewing the situation, reports, policies, and staff procedures, we realized that automatically giving a 4th-level offense to accounts in good standing that didn't post explicit sexual content, nor intended to post kink/fetish, was too strict. We apologize and will make changes to handle these situations better in the future. However, we want to be clear that content featuring minors in sexual situations will still result in an automatic 4th-level offense, as we have a zero-tolerance policy on this.

Part of the feedback we received was that while we go by the dictionary definitions of fetishes and kinks, many people in those communities do not consider them sexual. They did not like the rule being put into the suspension message accusing them of sexualizing minors. We spent time speaking to many members of the babyfur/ABDL community trying to clarify our rules better in a way that is understood without using harsh accusations.

While we were speaking to members of the ABDL/Babyfur community, we found that while some do not find messy diapers sexual, some do, and some only if the messing is to a certain extent. There was not a good consensus on where the line is because the content matter is too subjective and open to interpretation to be able to properly moderate. So while no rule change had happened to start all of this, we are making one now in hopes of bringing further clarification and fairness to our rules. We want to be clear. We are not pushing out or removing the babyfur or ABDL community. You are welcome to still post your content on Fur Affinity so long as it abides by our Upload Policy.

Content Featuring Minors (New Policy)

Along with the clarifications to Upload Policy, Section 2.7, we have also decided that no minors will be allowed in mature or adult-rated content. This means that minors may now only appear in General-rated content. You can read full rating guide here: Content Guidelines

We feel that this covers the issue in the most fair and equally enforceable way without asserting a subjective intent or meaning behind the submissions.

The New Upload Policy

Upload Policy, Section 2.7 - Content Involving Minors
Content featuring minors is not allowed when the minor is in Mature or Adult content outlined by our Content Guidelines (Section 1.1) nor the presence of sexual activity, sexual objects, sexual language, adult themes, nudity, fetish or kink content, or other prohibited content (examples detailed below); however, exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding.

Definitions:
• Presence is defined as directly being in or the implication of being in the same scene, such as sharing a comic panel, contiguous image, reference sheet, or specific section of a story where characters are engaging each other.

• Minors are defined as real or fictional humanoids, animals, or fantasy creatures with a childlike body, the consciousness of a child, or younger than 18 years of age.

• Fetish is defined as a specific sexual fixation (objects, body parts, activities).

• Kink is defined as uncommon sexual activities.

Enforcement of this section is done on a case-by-case basis and upon the totality of the content being reviewed, including the upload, submission description, tags, artist/uploader’s comments, profile page, intent, style, and more.

Minors are also not allowed in the following content:

• Genital Bulges. Minors may not have detailed bulges or outlines of normal or hyper genitalia, clothed or otherwise.

• Pregnancy. Minors may not be depicted as pregnant.

• Messy Diapers. Minors may not be shown wearing messy (depicted as brown, yellow, leaky, lumpy with excrement, visible wetness/soiled indicator, etc.) diapers. This does not apply to big or puffy clean diapers.

• Restroom Activity. Minors may not be depicted relieving themselves or in content focused on them using the restroom.

• Body Part Emphasis. The focus (e.g. zoomed in, primary part of the content) of the content may not be on specific body parts of a minor, such as their feet, groin, butts, clothed or otherwise. This does not apply to content where the focus on these parts is coincidental.

• Regression. Characters that have been regressed to being minors, physically or mentally, may not be depicted breastfeeding, being born/unbirthed, or having their diapers changed.

We hope that this clears things up in a way that is better understood in regards to content under 2.7 that is not allowed on Fur Affinity.

In regards to the escalated 4th level offense: Escalations will only happen with 2.7 if it is pornographic content with minors. The rest will follow the typical warning and escalation system.

Grace Period

We hear the members of these communities when they say that previously 2.7 was unclear and punishment too harsh. With these clarifications now in place we wish to give users that have this kind of content featured in their galleries 6 months to remove violations and bring their galleries in line. During those six months, any reports made on content posted before this announcement will receive warnings only unless it falls under clearly sexual situations. Those will stay the same in enforcement. Anything posted that violates these rules after the posting of this announcement will be enforced as it should be and will not receive the same grace period. Please do your best to bring your galleries up to date with these guidelines and if you have any questions about these changes or the guidelines themselves, please file a ticket under the Question About Site Policy category here https://www.furaffinity.net/control.....roubletickets/.

TL;DR

• Upload Policy 2.7 was not new and has not been changed in the past year until this journal. The processes staff followed was consistent with internal policy.

• Staff are not permitted to "witch hunt" and moderation must only act on content reported in Trouble Tickets. We received an influx of tickets relating to babyfur/ABDL content. While some content featured adults and was not removed, other submissions featured characters depicted as minors in NSFW content and resulted in penalties.

• UP 2.7 is being changed now to no longer allow any characters depicted as minors in Mature or Adult-rated submissions per community feedback.

• UP 2.7 enforcement is being revised to be more lenient for users in good standing, while remaining strict on severe violations.

• Minors involved in General rated content (non-sexualized images) are permitted.

• The Babyfur and ABDL communities are still welcome on Fur Affinity, and no rogue moderator targeted them for removal.

• We've added two members from these subcommunities to our team for advice and perspective on related issues.

• Staff has not been ignoring or ghosting users, and we apologize for extended wait times. We are all still recovering from the loss of Dragoneer and hospitalization of Sciggles. We are working hard to get things back on track and we appreciate your patience during this time.

• Fur Affinity is not being cleansed for sale, despite rumors. These claims come from someone who hasn't been involved with staff for nearly 10 years. Please be cautious of social media rumors.

As we live in the age of social media, information is as abundant as misinformation. Please be vigilant and take a moment to validate claims made by individuals in regards to what is or isn't happening with Fur Affinity instead of taking their claims at face value. While everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions, when those thoughts and opinions are presented as fact, it can cause unnecessary tension for both us at Fur Affinity and for our users.

We understand emotions can run high in regards to these topics, but we do not condone or tolerate any attempts to harass or dox/wichhunt our staff for responding to user tickets.

🔞 New Feature: Disable Access To Minors 🔞

We recognize that many in our community have been using our rating system as a way to restrict access to their content by increasing the rating to Mature or Adult. While this has helped in limiting access for users under 18, it has also led to content not being rated appropriately according to our guidelines.

With our recent update focusing on ensuring that minors are entirely removed from being in Mature or Adult-rated content—and to emphasize the importance of proper content rating—we’ve introduced a new feature. This can be found under your Global Settings and allows you to restrict access to your userpage, gallery, scraps, favorites, commissions, submissions, journals, and watch lists specifically from users under the age of 18.

Please keep in mind that anyone who is logged out of Fur Affinity can still access your page and general content unless you have disabled access to guests, which is also a feature currently available and directly accessible above this new feature.

You can find these settings here https://www.furaffinity.net/control.....site-settings/

You can read more about the update and details here GoFundMe Update

Summary of Update:
We want to apologize for the delay in providing this update. The hijacking incident and subsequent investigations, along with the heartbreaking loss of Dragoneer, have been overwhelming for our small team. We’ve worked tirelessly, and we're grateful for the community's support in reaching our GoFundMe goal. Here’s a breakdown:

Funds Raised: $216,668.12 after fees.

Major Expenses Paid So Far:
$40,000 for Dragoneer’s mother to handle medical.
$11,250 for afterlife affairs
$19,350 to keep operations running
$5,200 for lawyer fees

No GoFundMe Goal Increase: Despite more debt discovered, we have no plans to raise the goal further but encourage continued support and donations.

You can read more about the update and details here GoFundMe Update

Good Afternoon!

Yesterday, after meeting for several hours with Network Solutions (our domain registrar), they finally agreed to our demands to lock our account and revert changes made to our domain name’s NAMESERVER configuration. This lock also prevents anyone from signing in and making further changes. A fraud investigation has been launched on their part, and upon conclusion, our account will be fully released to us and we will receive more information on how this hijacking occurred. Our domain is directing traffic correctly.

While the bad actor was in control of our domain between Tuesday, August 20th at 12:47AM ET and Wednesday, August 21st at 2:28PM ET, they redirected our traffic to other websites and they set up an email server to receive any emails that were sent to any of our furaffinity.net accounts. If you sent any emails to our furaffinity.net accounts during that time, then the bad actor has those emails, we did not receive them, and you should act appropriately to secure and protect your information. Furthermore, any emails sent from furaffinity.net during that time would have been sent by the bad actor and should not be trusted. The bad actor never had access to our actual email accounts, any previous emails, nor data we have previously received.

It is important to stress that the Fur Affinity web server itself was never compromised, and the bad actor never had access to any private information therein such as our user and server data (It's as if someone stole your home address and had your mail and visitors routed somewhere else. Your house and everything inside is fine, only the address and incoming/outgoing mail were affected). As a precautionary measure during the incident, we invalidated all current login sessions and you will need to log back into your account.

✨🌟🎉 FUR AFFINITY IS NOW ONLINE AND MAY BE ACCESSED SAFELY! 🎉🌟✨

Furthermore, as of last night (August 21st at 9:53PM ET), we have regained access to our Twitter account, and with the help of  Whanos, reclaimed our username (@FurAffinity). And as of this morning (August 22nd at 10:45AM ET), we also secured Dragoneer's personal Twitter account.

We have also been made aware of various sources claiming to have identified the bad actor responsible for this attack. We have no way to verify that these accusations are accurate, but will continue to share all information with the FBI. With that said, we want to remind everyone that we have a zero-tolerance policy toward harassment, no matter the circumstances. Recently, there have been instances where speculation has led to individuals being harassed, even if they have no proven connection to the incident.

It is important to note that Fur Affinity, with direct insight into the situation, has not conducted its own investigation. We are leaving that responsibility to law enforcement. Speculation only spreads misinformation and causes harm, so please be cautious about what you share or believe online.

We kindly urge everyone to avoid engaging in further speculation or harassment. It is the role of law enforcement to determine the facts and make decisions, not ours.

Finally, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to all of you for your unwavering support during this incredibly difficult time. Your kindness, patience, and understanding have meant the world to us as we've navigated these challenges together. We are committed to continuing to foster a creative and welcoming environment for all, and it is your strength and solidarity that make our community truly special. Thank you for standing with us.

Important: We have been made aware of fake fundraising pages. Please check the source before donating. The only official fundraisers are linked on furaffinity.net and Fur Affinity’s official social media.

Offical GoFundMe link- https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-.....goneers-legacy

Thank you all so much for the outpouring of support. Dragoneer’s family, Fur Affinity’s staff, and even many of you, are all shocked at just how many have shown up to support the cause. The initial goal was met in THREE HOURS and DOUBLED within 48 hours. Though we have to admit, we did make a mistake when adding up the costs on the original post. We set it at $75k, but then someone pointed out that we made a mistake with the math. We checked it again, and sure enough, the total of the listed expenses was actually $92.6k. But regardless, we still hit AND surpassed that goal overnight! Many of us were in tears, including Rita and myself. She especially just cannot thank you all enough, and neither can I. It is truly heartwarming and something to celebrate during this difficult time.

We apologize for taking so long for this update. We are all very worn down and still grieving the unexpected loss of Dragoneer. As a team we are working hard to make progress on sorting everything while continuing to serve the Fur Affinity community. Individually, we still need to take time to try to catch up on some much needed rest and make sure we are taking care of ourselves too. Speaking for myself, I know I have been on the phone pretty much from the moment I wake up until I eventually knock out for the night. It’s been exhausting trying to sort all of this out, but this has been such an inspiring and humbling moment. I hope that Neer can see how many of you have come together to keep things going and take care of his mom and the community he worked so hard to nurture.

As we continue to sort through the finances, we have unfortunately found more debts. We have added what we’ve found so far to the total. To continue being transparent, we’ve also included a quick explanation for why each one has been added. I hope we can keep pushing forward together on this. We don’t know what the future will hold. But right now, we feel optimistic and eager to not only keep Fur Affinity going but also secure its future through this transition. Dragoneer put his all into making sure our community went back to being independent. Unfortunately, the debt and burden are large because of it. Your support and kindness help ensure we can keep Fur Affinity going without being weighed down by any large debts.

Notes for any extra funds:
As we continue to go through and audit Dragoneer's personal and business finances, we will continue to update. The goal is to cover as much as we can so that Rita has nothing to worry about and Fur Affinity has a clean slate moving forward. If Rita encounters any road bumps or further legal fees through any of this, we will give the funding to her first. Excess funding will be saved in an emergency backup fund to cover unexpected expenses such as hardware issues, surprise bills, etc. We will be transparent about where the excess goes if there is any, but the goal is to keep our community safe from any surprises and out of debt.

One thing we have seen people raise concern about, and we do want to address, is why fundraising is also going to Dragoneer's debts. The legal process includes selling off the assets of the estate to pay for any outstanding debts. Unfortunately, Fur Affinity is an asset. To be clear, we have no plans nor desire to sell Fur Affinity. As such we need to pay those debts off to keep our community running.

In the interest of continuing transparency, here are some quick explanations of the new additions to the goal and why they are here.

$38.4k - Fur Affinity past contract services owed (expense found after GFM launch)
This covers contract work that was already completed for Fur Affinity but wasn’t yet paid for. While these are not an immediate need they are a required expense.

$32k - Working capital loan (expense found after GFM launch)
This is the remaining balance for a loan that was taken out to cover Fur Affinity expenses.

$20k - Second month estimated FA running costs during legal transition
Legally transferring everything takes some time. A second month of costs ensures we keep Fur Affinity safe during this time.

$11.3K - Additional medical expenses (expense found after GFM launch)
We were notified of more medical bills from early July through early August since our initial post. This brings the medical expense total to $38.3k.
July 6th ER $4.7k (CT, Ekg, ER, IV, Labs, Pharmacy)
July 6th ER $356 (Ecg, CT chest w/contrast)
July 30th PFT Procedure $2.4k
July 30th PFT continued $635 (Spmtry, Co Diffusing, Outpatient)
Aug 1st Surgery $917
Aug 1st Anesthesia $1.3k
Date unknown Acute Care- $985

$10k Fur Affinity back-up savings for any emergency hardware cost (expense noted after GFM launch)
As we are all painfully aware, unexpected things happen. We want to ensure any unforeseen situations don’t negatively impact Fur Affinity and the community.

$6.5k - Additional estimate for medical examiner and cremation (notified of extra expense after GFM launch)
We were notified of an additional $6.5k more than we originally anticipated for these services. This brings the total for them to $9.5k. This may need to be adjusted as we learn more.

$6k - IRS (2022) (expense found after GFM launch)
This is the remaining amount for his owed taxes in 2022. As stated previously, these need to be paid off to keep Fur Affinity in the hands (and paws, claws, and tentacles) of the community.

??? - IRS 2023
We are still working on finding further information on this. We’re listing it to be transparent since it will likely be another debt.

$3.5k - Deed Transferral (expense discussed after GFM launch, this is an estimate based off past cost)
This covers the deed to Neer’s house being transferred legally.

$1k - Bereavement home services (expense discussed after GFM launch)
This assists Rita in handling the affairs involving Dragoneer’s home.

$500 - Estate Lawyer Retainer (expense discussed after GFM launch)
Lawyers aren’t free. Having legal assistance in making sure everything is done properly is required. This is the initial cost to bring a lawyer in for handling Dragoneer’s affairs.

??? - Estate attorney fees
We know there will be additional costs associated with the legal assistance; however, we do not have an estimate of the total costs.
And finally, here is a breakdown with the TOTAL of all the known expenses. Many are estimates until we have specifics; however, we will be posting the Fur Affinity transactions as they happen. Anything sent to Rita will just be shown as a lump deposit out of respect for her privacy.

Personal
These are necessary for taking care of Dragoneer’s family and affairs during this difficult time. As previously mentioned, personal debts must be paid to ensure the smooth transition of Fur Affinity from Dragoneer’s estate. These are listed from most to least expensive.
$38.3k - Medical expenses
$12.6k - Six months mortgage on Dragoneer's house so Rita has time to sort things
$8k - Public celebration of life (estimated)
$9.5k - Medical examiner and cremation (updated estimate)
$3.5k - Deed transfer fees
$3k - Family’s funeral (estimated)
$1k - Urn (estimated)
$1k - Rita’s travel costs (estimated)
$1k - Bereavement home services (added cost)
$500 - Estate Lawyer Retainer
??? - Estate attorney fees

Site Specific
These are for keeping Fur Affinity going for the time being. As previously mentioned, personal debts must be paid to ensure the smooth transition of Fur Affinity from Dragoneer’s estate. These are listed in order of priority.

$20k - First month estimated FA running costs during legal transition
$20k - Second month estimated FA running costs during legal transition
$6k - IRS (2022)
??? - IRS 2023 (unknown total at this time)
$32k - Working capital loan
$10k - Fur Affinity contingency savings for emergency hardware costs
$17k - Balance due to IMVU for FA’s buyback (confirmed)
$38.4k - Fur Affinity prior contract services owed

Total: $221,800

I know the new total may feel a little intimidating after blowing the last goal out of the water. But I want to reiterate how amazing and positive that was (and still is!) Some of these new added costs are also for securing longer term goals. We have hit the base needs for keeping the lights on and current bills paid, so we are confident we can keep things going at this time. We are getting closer to getting everything caught up, putting us in a much better position to keep all assets secured for not only the site but his family as well.

At this time nothing has been transferred out of the GFM, the moment we make withdrawals or payments we will make sure we let you all know. Again, thank you so, so much for all of your support. The loss of Dragoneer is difficult for all of us. With that in mind, we are taking the opportunity to move forward with a clean slate. We are working to be more transparent with the community, and of course we are still working hard to keep the site a safe place and to bring new features to you all. The community is what makes Fur Affinity such a cherished place. We are so thankful to be a part of it.

Offical GoFundMe link- https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-.....goneers-legacy

https://gofund.me/2c131578
"Sometimes the most important thing a person can ever say is 'I was here.'" -Dragoneer 2024

I am sorry to be coming to you all like this. As the majority know, Dragoneer passed away on August 6th. I have been asked to keep Fur Affinity going in his stead. I will be honest. It is terrifying. I've lost my best friend. Someone that I always thought would be there for me and lift me up. The grief is monumental, and this was not a position I ever thought we would be in.

I know that Dragoneer wanted Fur Affinity to keep going after his passing. And that is exactly what we want to make sure happens. But we cannot do it on our own. We are calling on the community to come together during this hard time to keep our online home going. Not just for ourselves but for everyone else that considers FA as such. He was a good man and always put the community before himself. He would rather go into debt or go without than let FA close. He knew what it meant to the community. So many people still rely on Fur Affinity. It's where many of us started out nearly two decades ago. People have built friendships, relationships, families, communities, and careers on FA.

We are also here to ask for assistance for his mother, Rita. She has been going through such a difficult time. Dragoneer's father passed away two years ago, she recently lost her sister, and now her only son has also passed. She is devastated. I have known her for 14 years, and never once has she asked for any kind of help... but she needs it now.

We need help covering a variety of unforeseen expenses: the medical bills left behind, funeral costs (there will be a private family and public celebration of life), and making sure Rita has the means to get by while she manages his affairs. We also need help keeping the lights on at Fur Affinity during this unanticipated transition.

The goal is high, but please understand that it has all these things in mind. The minimum goal of $75k* ensures these unexpected needs are met for her and covers one month of the expenses Fur Affinity requires. We will be fundraising for as long as possible. If you've ever used Fur Affinity, or if Dragoneer/Preyfar/Wren has ever touched your heart with friendship, please share this around. Please help make his passing a little easier by taking care of his family and legacy. He put his all into FA; it's time we show him how much it all means to us, hold it high as a community, and keep it thriving.

Thank you for every bit of help.
With love,
Sciggles, Rita, and the Fur Affinity team.



*In the interest of transparency, the following is a breakdown of the costs. Many are estimates until we have specifics; however, we will be posting the Fur Affinity transactions as they happen. Anything sent to Rita will just be shown as a lump deposit out of respect.
$27k - Medical expenses
$20k - One month estimated FA costs to help with legal transition
$17k - Balance due to IMVU for FA’s buyback (estimated)
$12.6k - Six months mortgage on Dragoneer's house so Rita has time to sort things
$8k - Public celebration of life (estimated)
$3k - Medical examiner and cremation (estimated)
$3k - Family’s funeral (estimated)
$1k - Urn (estimated)
$1k - Rita’s travel costs (estimated)
??? - IRS (unknown total at this time)
https://gofund.me/2c131578

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the sudden loss of Fur Affinity's owner, Dragoneer. He was our friend, family, and a pillar of this community. We ask for your patience and respect for his family’s privacy. We remain committed to supporting each other and the community. Updates will follow when appropriate. Thank you for your kindness.

Our friends at Rayka studios have officially launched Yaoling: Mythical Journey on Steam!

Check out Yaoling: Mythical Journey, now available on Steam!

To celebrate their launch, Rayka Studios and Fur Affinity are hosting an art contest on our official Discord server (click to join!). Discover a world filled with mysterious and unique creatures known as Yaoling, form friendships and bonds, join them in battle, and bring them to life through your art and illustrations!

You can find more info on our Discord under "Yaoling Art Contest". Submit your entries, and let your creativity fly!

The Prize

For the grand prize winner, you'll take home a hefty $500! Two second place entries will get an impressive $250, and in third place, there's seven runner-ups positions that will bank $50!

Yaoling: Mythical Journey

The demo for Yaoling: Mythical journey is also available if you want to give it a trial run.








Hello Fur Affinity!

Puppy here from furry_musicians with the results of the 2024 Express Yourself Music Contest, which began in January of this year and just recently concluded.

 furry_musicians

See below for our community-voted on top three, and follow to THIS SUBMISSION if you’re curious about the identities of the other finalists, semi-finalists, and wildcards who competed this year!

Third Place

Coming in third place, TommyFox showed everyone a polished, professional tune. 'I will be Okay' is a rose tinted homage to isolation and loneliness, where sad self reflection is punctuated by genuine hope and optimism. The tactful execution of the overall theme while under a time constraint has only solidified this fox as a truly talented musician in our community!

 TommyFox

Second Place

In close second, Noneuclideangarf shared with us their innovative take on EDM with the song 'BIG CHOMP'. Technically fascinating, meticulously detailed, and highly textural, it took us several incredibly enjoyable re-listens to properly traverse the floors of this triumphant tower of layering.

 Noneuclideangarf

First Place

And finally, the song the community loved by a landslide, Felix_the_Coyote's heart-tugging tune 'Desperation'! In a one-minute tour de force of layered pianos and strings, Felix took us and the community on a sobering trip through the emotional depth of one's want to impress and be seen- a relatable sensation best dissected through music, and best executed by talents like this coyote! We look forward to what you have in store for us next, critter!

 Felix_the_Coyote

For the 12 other contestants who placed in the EYC, look no further than: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/56987245/, our official contestant reveal submission over on Furry_Musicians!

To celebrate the launch of Yaoling: Mythical Journey's demo, Fur Affinity and Rayka Studios are hosting an art contest on our official Discord server (click to join!). Discover a world filled with mysterious and unique creatures known as Yaoling, form friendships and bonds, join them in battle, and bring them to life through your art and illustrations!

You can find more info on our Discord under "Yaoling Art Contest". Submit your entries, and let your creativity fly!

The Prize

For the grand prize winner, you'll take home a hefty $500! Two second place entries will get an impressive $250, and in third place, there's seven runner-ups positions that will bank $50!

Yaoling: Mythical Journey

The demo for Yaoling: Mythical journey is out now!

Check out Yaoling: Mythical Journey, now available on Steam!








Whether you use FA, Discord, Bluesky, Reddit, Telegram or any other form of social media, furries by and large have been seeing a rise in attempts for commission and art scams. While our moderation team works behind the scenes to stop them, the only way to truly stop scammers is with the knowledge of their existence and their tactics. We’ve seen a very small, but persistent group continue to try to cause issues, and we want to remind our users of some best safety practices.

Common Examples of Scams

-- YCH Scams: One of the more common scams is the claim an older YCH has suddenly become available again after the original buyer backed out. They target previous highest bidders on YCHes in an attempt to dupe them into paying. Most of the time, they use new accounts with a name that mirrors the original artist, but the spelling/formatting is just slightly off.

-– Commission Scammers: If someone messages you first with a commission offer that’s a red flag. Scammers love to impersonate existing artists, or use stolen or AI generated work to lure people in with the promise of affordable, high-quality commissions. They then send out mass notices in an attempt to catch as many people as they can. If somebody messages first always be wary.

Protecting Yourself

-- Invoice When Paying: Always ask for an invoice, and NEVER pay via friends and family. Doing so waives your rights to a refund and any money sent is considered a non-refundable gift. Again, always request an invoice. They come with buyer protections built in.

-- Double Check Their Profile: Take a moment to double check the person you’re messaging is who they saw they are. Ensure they’re not using a new account, and their profile takes you to a user page that’s been registered for a while and has an established gallery. Galleries without a visible history of completed works can be a red flag.

Stay safe, and happy FA-ing!

1) Reminder we still have preorders open for new merch here! https://shop.furaffinity.net/

2) Year of the Dergn Moderator Recruitment
It's that time again! Mod recruitment is open once more, and we’re looking a fresh new batch of energetic individuals to lend a helping paw! We've got roles available for both site and Discord moderation! Is that you? Check the requirements below and sign up today!

Volunteer Moderator - Roles and Responsibilities
• Care and understanding for Fur Affinity, our community, and the needs of our users.
• Being able to manage, respond, and resolve trouble tickets in a timely manner.
• Be a solid, warm, and friendly community ambassador.
• Have experience using and/or moderating on Discord.
• Have good, respectful communication and be able to work within a team.
• Ability to commit about 10 hours a week to perform support roles.

Click here to apply to join the FA moderation team!

This form will be accessible for two weeks (closing Feb 18, 2024). Applied in the past and didn't get selected? No worries, you're welcome to re-apply if you think you've got what it takes!

If selected, or if we have additional questions, we will contact you via the email address provided in your sign up. Due to volume, it can take a bit of time to process applications, and we're unfortunately not able to respond to everyone individually. If you don't receive a response by end of March, it likely means you were not selected this round.

We greatly appreciate everyone who takes the time to apply!

Our friends at  furry_musicians are back with another Express Yourself contest, and we're happy to once again host their announcement!

End FA Bit
*computery noises*
Begin Furry Musicians Bit

---

To Submit to the 2024 Express Yourself Contest, please follow this link to our home journal where we have set up a place to do so!

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10773230

<><><><><>
Hello, folks! Puppy here from Furry Musicians with an announcement for the 2024 Express Yourself Contest. It's begun! That's the announcement....

Everything you need to know is below, so get reading, critters.

WHAT IS THE EXPRESS YOURSELF CONTEST? WHAT IS THE PROCESS?
The contest is to express yourself through a minute long (or less) musical piece. The first round is a Public Submission Round, meaning anyone can submit a song and so long as it abides to the rules, be considered.

The contest then undergoes a private voting round, where the songs from the Public Submission Round are placed on a rating criteria and at least fifteen are selected to move on. The (5) that were rated lowest of the top (15) will enter the Wildcard Round. The remaining (10), those that scored the highest on our rating criteria, will be moved directly into the Semifinal Round. (2) of the songs in the Wildcard Round will move on to complete the Semifinal Round, making the Semifinal Round the top (12).

Both the Wildcard Round and the Semifinal Round will be publicly voted on by you, the community.

After the Semifinal Round, a Final Round consisting of 5 submissions will occur to pick this year's winning 3, and prizes will be distributed! This is also a public voting round.


THE RULES / RATING CRITERIA
Can be found on our original journal over here >>> https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10773230

Make sure you read them before submitting!

A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR NON-MUSICIANS
ARTISTS: As always we are looking for new artists to contribute to the prize pool. If you are interested in having your very own placement prize promoted like this, you can reply DIRECTLY to the designated comment in the original journal. Yes, you will be paid.

LABELS: Do you own a Music Label that's looking to sign on some new talent? Send a note to Furry Musicians if you do and we can work out a promotional collaboration that will give you a signal boost and the contestants in our contest an amazing opportunity.

<><><><><>

Again, submission for the 2024 Express Yourself Contest should be sent to the journal found on  furry_musicians

Happy New Years from Fur Affinity!

We hope everyone had a good holiday season and a wonderful New Year. We wanted to take a moment to wish our community an amazing new year full of new opportunities and possibilities.

We’d also like to congratulate our Discord team! Since its launch, our official Discord server has grown into a vibrant community hub, bringing over 7600 individuals from all corners of our fandom. The conversations, shared interests, and friendships that have flourished within have made our server a special place to connect, share, and celebrate the furry fandom.

Thanks for making our Discord an amazing community and new chat home for a lot of fantastic folks.

Fur Affinity Shop

We recently updated our store with new designs and options, among them rolling out a limited run of plushies! Celebrate 2024’s Year of the Dragon by taking home our very own draconic mascot, Rednef (along with her partner in crime, Fender!). We've got a convenient bundle available to bring these two home!

These two fun-loving mascots are still available for pre-order as we gear up for our production run! In the meantime, you can order these amazing plushies and other fantastic merch by visiting https://shop.furaffinity.net/

Want to help us get the plushies into production faster by hitting our order goals? You can help get us past the finish line by tossing a few dollars to the amazing indie furry team who created, designed, and produced our amazing mascot plushies by clicking here.

New Privacy Options

As part of our continued efforts to combat spammers and other bad actors, Fur Affinity now has new privacy features to allow users to limit when new accounts can leave comments on your submissions, journals, shouts, or direct messages.

These options can be found under Site Settings in the Control Panel. Additionally, as a reminder, newly registered accounts can be identified by a green leaf next to their name.

UI/Coming Update

One of our first updates to go out this year (est. Feb 2024) will have improvements to our UX. We’re not reinventing the design but refining and evolving our current look with more polish, love, and care, all while incorporating user feedback we’ve received over the years.

It’s time to slide into fall saving!

We’re celebrating the autumn harvest with an incredible array of new offerings! This year, we’ve got showstoppers like our very first official plushies of our mascots, Fender and Rednef! We’ve also got matching shirt and pin designs, and a whole host of new shiny FA gear!

These new designs celebrate the Fur Affinity community with art, crafting, music, writing, streaming, and gaming! You can see facets of these represented in the smaller details of the images.

The Autumn Harvest sale runs from now until 12/05/2023.




Fender and Rednef are here! Pre-order them today!

We’re officially introducing plushies for the fluffy power duo! Designed by Sciggles, you can snag these adorable little fiends at just $35 each, or take home both for $50!

Note: As this is our first run, the plushies are currently pre-order while we wait for little friends to arrive from production! Email updates will be sent to all those that decide to adopt these cuties.

Click here to snag our adorable friends and take them home.




We’ve updated the store, adding new merch for our mascots (Fender and Rednef) with pins, mugs, and shirts! We’re also rolling out some new ways to show your pride.

Click here to browse the store.




Give the gift of FA+ to your favorite artist, creator, or supporter on the site for just $50 a year! We’re also bringing back the turn of FA+ lifetime memberships for those who want to further support the site.

FA+ Perks

-- Guilt-free ad blocking! Browse FA without third party ads while still supporting site development.
-- Boosts the maximum upload resolution to 4K, displaying your work with the quality it deserves!
-- View up to 128 submissions per page with larger thumbnails!
-- Show off your support with flair and snag an FA+ icon next to your username! Or, if you’re shy, take your support into stealth-mode by hiding the icon in the Control Panel.
-- Customize the Shinies tipping system by setting your own price and name for your tips.
-- Reduce the anti-spam cooldown and get an increased max folder count (75) and folder groups (30) for your gallery.




We’ve slashed prices on all long term ad slots. Save up to $100 (or more!) on our various ad packages.

The Lil's (300x90)
1 month: $25 | 6 months: $125 $100 | 12 months: $225 $175

The Bigs (728x90 & 300x200)
1 month: $60 | 6 months: $300 $250 | 12 months: $540 $475

Kaiju Package (300x90, 300x200, & 728x90)
1 month: $75 | 6 months: $350 $300 | 12 months: $625 $525

BONUS
Save an additional 10% off your total order when purchasing additional campaigns! Multiple campaigns all you to boost the total exposure of an ad run, allowing up to 3X the amount of impressions.

Whether you use Fur Affinity, Discord, Telegram, Reddit, or other social media platforms, we’ve been seeing an increasing rise in scammers attempting to directly target furries.

The only way to stop scammers is with the knowledge of their existence and tactics.

These scammers claim to be artists, mass DMing users with the promise of various types of commission work on the cheap. They often link to Twitter accounts where they have next to no followers, no real gallery, and their commission examples vary widely in terms of quality, style, and consistency. In some cases, their examples may have been AI generated to steal the look and feel of popular artists.

Another variation of common scams is claiming an old, closed YCH has suddenly become available again and trying to dupe previous bidders into paying again.

Avoiding Scammers:

Regardless of the platform, if somebody you don’t know directly messages you, use your best judgment. Take the time to check the artist’s profile, their registration date, check to make sure they have an established gallery with examples of their work, and a history of posting and interacting with users.

When paying for art, NEVER send money using methods like “Friends and Family”. When you do, you legally claim that the money sent is a gift and you waive your rights to a refund. Some platforms do not offer options for refunds. Once the money's gone, it’s gone.

Always check to ensure your payment method offers buyer protections. Scammers hate when their victims have the ability to get a refund.

New FA Privacy Settings

To help, we’ve updated the site with new tools to help give users a bit of peace of mind. Found under Site Settings, you can find new privacy options to block new accounts under the following areas:

-- Block submission comments
-- Block journal comments
-- Limit shouts
-- Limit notes

New accounts are designated on Fur Affinity by the presence of a green leaf to signify their freshness.

Note: These tools should be used responsibly. While they have the power to block harmful users, they also have the ability to alienate legitimate users who simply want to interact with your work and can potentially turn away new fans and buyers.

Black Friday Ad Pre-Sale

While Black Friday isn’t here officially, we’re offering some incredible early deals on advertising! Promote yourself and score up to $100 off (or more!) These special rates expire Nov 30, so take advantage of them while you can.

The Lil's (300x90)
1 month: $25 | 6 months: $125 $100 | 12 months: $225 $175

The Bigs (728x90 & 300x200)
1 month: $60 | 6 months: $300 $250 | 12 months: $540 $475

Kaiju Package (300x90, 300x200, & 728x90)
1 month: $75 | 6 months: $350 $300 | 12 months: $625 $525

BONUS
Save an additional 10% off your total order when purchasing additional campaigns! Multiple campaigns all you to boost the total exposure of an ad run, allowing up to 3X the amount of impressions.

Hey all! Puppy here from  furry_musicians with an exciting update on the Express Yourself Contest, which we ran in collaboration with Fur Affinity earlier this year.

We've finished! Now it's time to show all.

Coming in third place,  Kiav awed the panel with their dreamy EDM piece AGF#D. Proving that their song's success was not a fluke, they entered through the wildcard round and sprinted all the way to the final podium!

In second,  Artan118 dominated the the semi-finals and went on to secure a spot on the podium in the finals. Motivation Makes a Return is reminiscent of their other works, which promise a wild ride and show you, pointing out each point of interest, how epic their world, translated through orchestra, really is.

In first, contest veteran  Schtewee finally secured their sought-out top placement... and for good reason! Wowing the panel and receiving the third-highest score out of the 110 submission in the open submission round, Screaming at the Top of my Lungs went on to blast the contest away in a thunderous cacophony of hard-hitting drum & bass.

To see all 15 finalists, check out our Results Submission hosted on  furry_musicians, which can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/52756160/

**EDIT**
(If someone is reported for 2.7 on or after July 1st, we will be reviewing their tickets to ensure that they are not awaiting clarification from us. We will not take action on Pokemon or Digimon submissions if they submitted a "gallery check" ticket before July 1st but did not receive a reply by then.)

Update for Upload Policy Section 2.7

As we continue to monitor feedback concerning our recent announcements, it has come to our attention that there has been a lot of discussion focusing on a specific part of Upload Policy, Section 2.7 about teenage pregnancy which says:

“Minors younger than 13 may not be depicted as pregnant.”

The reason we originally implemented this clause on April 16th, 2020 was to allow representation for those persons to illustrate or tell their stories, as this may be important backgrounds of themselves, loved ones, or even as contextual story elements (e.g. the movie Juno), but NEVER as something to be fetishized. Unfortunately, teenage pregnancy is not a rare occurrence in the real world and we understand that it can be a sensitive topic of discussion. Fur Affinity would like to provide a safe place of expression for all people in our community. However, based upon user feedback and with the community’s best interest in mind, we are updating the rule to better reflect our intentions in fostering a safe and comfortable environment for everyone. As such, the clause will be updated to the following:

“Minors may not be depicted as pregnant.”


The full rule will now read as:

Upload Policy, Section 2.7 - Content Involving Minors
Content featuring minors is not allowed when the minor is in the presence of sexual activity, sexual objects, or nudity, though exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding. Presence is defined as being in the same scene, such as sharing a comic panel, contiguous image, reference sheet, or specific section of a story where characters are engaging each other.

Minors may not have detailed bulges or outlines of normal or hyper genitalia, clothed or otherwise. Minors may not be fetishized. Minors may not be depicted as pregnant. Minors are defined as real or fictional humanoids with a childlike body or younger than 18 years old, and any adolescent animals or fantasy creatures.

This rule change will go into effect on July 1st, 2023.

We encourage anyone who would like to leave feedback on UP Section 2.7 to *do so on the thread we opened in our Fur Affinity Discord community (https://discord.gg/fur-affinity) or open a trouble ticket under “Feedback” here https://www.furaffinity.net/control.....roubletickets/ We will continue to review all feedback and make any changes we feel are appropriate to our rules and guidelines.
*Discord thread feedback has been closed, please continue to send feedback via the trouble ticket system

If you would like to review further clarifications and frequently asked questions about UP Section 2.7, please check out our previous announcement here:

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10557600

Thank you for your time.

FAQs and Clarifications for UP 2.7

To begin, we want to start this announcement off with an apology on how this has been handled. It was scheduled to be posted at a time that not all staff were available to help moderate and were not able to provide adequate clarifications concerning what we look for in regards to "aging up" characters. Because of this, there was confusion and speculation that caused undue stress upon the community which should have been prevented sooner. This led to some users feeling they would be falsely accused of being something they are not and become a target of harassment. We do not tolerate harassment of our users. If you ever experience an issue with someone and need staff assistance, we encourage you to open a trouble ticket in here:

https://www.furaffinity.net/control.....roubletickets/

This is an ongoing learning experience for us on how to prepare to handle announcements like this. That doesn't fix what's happened and we know that, but we will continue to improve so that we can provide a better experience for the community in the future.


Frequently Asked Questions

TL;DR
- The rule isn’t new and hasn’t changed.
- This does not affect SFW content.
- Enforcement is being expanded to include Pokémon and Digimon.
- Short characters are not being impacted.
- Minors involved in SFW or non-sexualized interests, such as vore and transformation, are allowed.



1. What does the rule say?
Content featuring minors is not allowed when the minor is in the presence of sexual activity, sexual objects, or nudity, though exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding. Presence is defined as being in the same scene, such as sharing a comic panel, contiguous image, reference sheet, or specific section of a story where characters are engaging each other.

Minors may not have detailed bulges or outlines of normal or hyper genitalia, clothed or otherwise. Minors may not be fetishized. Minors younger than 13 may not be depicted as pregnant. Minors are defined as real or fictional humanoids with a childlike body or younger than 18 years old, and any adolescent animals or fantasy creatures.


2. When was this rule created?
The terminology of “childlike body and adolescent animals” is a clarification that went into effect on September 8th, 2015 (7+ years ago) to an already existing rule that was created on November 24th, 2010 (12+ years ago) that banned content featuring minors in sexual situations.


3. Why did this rule receive clarification in 2015?
While minors were banned from being in sexual content in 2010, users were still uploading children in sexual situations, saying that they were adults (e.g. 1000 year old vampire child) and therefore didn’t violate the rule as they were not minors.

At the time, Fur Affinity was owned by IMVU who had a firm stance against children presented sexually, and the rule was clarified by defining a minor as: “real or fictional humanoids with a childlike body or younger than 18 years old, and any adolescent animals.”


4. Why am I hearing about this now?
While this policy has had several small changes that were announced throughout the years, enforcement was never taken against the Pokémon or Digimon in sexual content that look like children or cubs although they violated the rules. After years of receiving user feedback via trouble tickets, we have decided to end this internal policy on July 1st, 2023.


5. What Pokémon and Digimon cannot be in sexual content without being aged up?
While we cannot present an exhaustive list of thousands of characters, common canonical inclusions would be “baby Pokémon” such as Pichu, Mime Jr., Riolu, and Smoochum, other Pokémon such as Cubchoo, Cubone, Torchic, Ralts, Eevee, and Gothita, and Digmon such as Agumon, Impmon, Gatomon, and Veemon as these characters have childlike proportions or look like adolescent humans or animals.


6. What does aged up mean?
We are not concerned with whether or not a character is emotionally mature, a certain level, or evolved. The physical proportions of the character would need to be altered. It is not enough to change the size of a character. Scaling a character up or down doesn’t change its proportions. Making an adult smaller doesn’t create a child and making a child bigger doesn’t create an adult. If the character has no difference from birth to elder, you will have to draw them non-canon for them to be acceptable in sexual situations.


7. How do you judge proportions?
Generally speaking, as characters age, their proportions change. For humanoid characters, we compare to the proportions of humans and for feral animals we look to their earth counterparts or similar for fictional species.


8. What about the size or size difference between characters?
Since size is not the same as proportions, size and size difference rarely has any weight in decisions we make, whether the character is macro, micro, or several feet in difference apart in relation to each other. Corgi, otters, ponies, and other short creatures, will not be affected based upon stature alone.


9. What about characters without larger reproductive features?
A common misconception is that we will remove content because a character has smaller genitalia or breasts. The size of genitalia and breasts have no impact on our decisions as they may not change with age.


10. What about “shortstack” and “chibi” characters in sexual content?
A shortstack character is one who is short in stature with larger than average features. Shortstack characters generally have adult proportions with short stature and would be allowed.

Chibi depicts short and cute characters with oversized heads. The chibi style is often used in media when characters are acting silly or out of character, and some of these circumstances may not be allowed if they appear too childish; however, in many situations the style of the character has a large head and small adult body and would be okay. Ultimately, body proportions are what we will be looking at when making a decision.


11. How do you make the decision as to what content is allowed?
When content is reported, a staff member will review it based upon the criteria that we have discussed in this journal. If a cut and dry decision cannot be made, it is reviewed by a group of senior staff members for a consensus. If the content is removed and the user does not agree with the decision, it may be disputed through the ticket system, or if the user is suspended, via the email address provided to them and will be reviewed for accuracy and uniformity.


12. I don’t know if my content is allowed.
If you have questions as to whether your content is allowed, please open a Trouble Ticket under “General > Question About Site Policy” with a link to the content in question and we will provide you with an answer.


13. I’m scared that I’m going to be banned from the website.
Although this rule is not new and has been in effect for over 7 years, we understand that there are concerns from users who may not have been familiar with the rule or understand the criteria for removal. Because of this, for 90 days after July 1st, all violations of UP 2.7 will NOT be escalated as severe offenses and will instead be treated as normal rules violations.

We do not have bots on Fur Affinity. Each report, dispute, and appeal is handled by real people. Sometimes, mistakes may happen, but we will work with you to correct any errors made on our part.

Furthermore, we do not support harassment of any kind on Fur Affinity. If someone harasses you, we encourage you to block them. If the harassment is serious or bypasses that block in any way on the website, please report it to us through the ticket system and we will review the situation.


14. I deleted my gallery too hastily!
We are really sorry to hear that and we don’t want to see you go. Please open a trouble ticket on the website under the category “Account Problem” and we will do our best to try and restore your content provided that it was deleted between May 19th and May 22nd. You have until May 26th to open a ticket on this issue.


End of the FAQ

Thank you for your patience and giving us the opportunity to provide clarification. We will continue to monitor all feedback we receive and will provide additional updates as necessary.

Update Regarding Upload Policy 2.7 - Content Involving Minors

Since Fur Affinity has taken the stance against fictional content featuring minors in sexual situations, we have continued to evolve our rules to prevent minors from being exploited and to ensure that our rules are equally applied.

Our most well-known change removed the classic “1000 year old loli vampire” loophole trope by expanding our definition of minors to include humanoids with childlike body proportions, including canonically adult characters who look like children. Such characters need to be aged-up accordingly (proportions changed to that of an adult) to be allowed in submissions containing sexual situations. These changes were well-received, and based upon additional feedback from our community, any reports we receive of Pokémon or Digimon who have childlike body proportions or appear as adolescent animals will be treated as any other when in the presence of sexual activity, sexual objects, nudity, or fetishized in a sexual way. This update will go into effect on July 1st, 2023.

We would like to reiterate this applies to those characters only with childlike proportions or are otherwise presented as children in sexual content as described above.

Accounts found in violation may receive a 1 week suspension and a final warning. Repeat violations may result in a permanent ban. If you believe that this change may impact your gallery, then you should delete any and all content that may violate our rules before July 1st, 2023.

If you have questions as to whether this may apply to your content, please feel free to open a ticket under “NSFW Underage Content” with links to the content in question, and we can verify if the content is in violation or not.

As always, thank you for being members of our wonderful and creative furry community. We hope that this update will continue to provide everyone with a safe and inclusive place to share your artistic endeavors and meet new and interesting people from all parts of our furry world.

Appended: Additional Clarification

Due to feedback we have received regarding this update, we are providing the following clarification on the changes that went live today.

- NO, there is no blanket ban across species.
- NO, there is no list of species that we will always take action on.
- YES, characters in your NSFW art must be aged up.
- NO, simply making something bigger or smaller does not indicate age.
- We look at anatomy proportionally alongside other context in submissions.

There is also some confusion as to the extent of the changes that went live today. Section 2.7 of the Upload Policy has been in effect for many months with its current wording. The only thing that changed as of this update is our internal policy on Pokemon and Digimon. Pokemon and Digimon are now actionable, if presented as children, when they were not in the past.

Again, small or otherwise cute adults, Pokemon/Digimon or not, will not be removed unless they proportionally/anatomically represent a child.

Please submit a Trouble Ticket as described above should you need additional clarification. Thank you!

To Submit to the 2023 Express Yourself Contest, please follow this link to our home journal, where we have set up a place to do so!

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10489000

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Hello folks! Puppy here from Furry Musicians announcing this year's Express Yourself Contest! This year we've changed the rules slightly, so make sure you read everything before submitting over on our main journal!

WHAT IS THE EXPRESS YOURSELF CONTEST? WHAT IS THE PROCESS?
The contest is, well, to express yourself through a minute long (or less) musical piece. The first round is a Public Submission Round, meaning anyone can submit a song and so long as it abides to the rules, be considered.

The contest then undergoes a private voting round, where the songs from the Public Submission Round are placed on a rating criteria and at least fifteen are selected to move on. A few, the (5) that were rated the lowest of the top (15) but still show a lot of potential, will enter the Wildcard Round. The remaining, those that scored the highest on our rating criteria, will be moved directly into the Semifinal Round. (2) of the songs in the Wildcard Round will move on to complete the Semifinal Round, making the Semifinal Round the top (12).

Both the Wildcard Round and the Semifinal Round will be publicly voted on by you, the community, over on  furry_musicians when that time comes.

After the Semifinal Round, a Final Round consisting of 5 submissions will occur to pick this year's winning 3. This is also a public voting round. As an outcome to this round, the top 3 submissions will be chosen and prizes given out!

THE RULES
Can be found on the original journal over on https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10489000

Make sure you read them before submitting!


THE RATING CRITERIA
Can be found on the original journal over on https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10489000


A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR NON-MUSICIANS
Not a musician? We would love to work out a way to promote you. If you are interested in promotion and payment, as well as contributing to the contest’s prize pool, please follow the instructions on the original journal over on https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10489000

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Again, submission for the 2023 Express Yourself Contest should be sent to the journal found on  furry_musicians https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10489000