ZA Furries

Sev wrote:It's not like any of this matters. The whole thing has become a farce.

ZAFur has been on a gradual decline for a long time, and has an almost negligible impact on the local community these days. Most meets aren't even organized on here anymore.

Zafur is a internet forum offering the means for local furries to share opinions, meet others and whatnot. According to you:

Sev wrote:On a somewhat positive note, this is possibly the most activity that I have ever seen in my time on this forum.

In what way is it declining then? Because to me it seems as if your arguments contradict.

Hardly, it was simply an extraordinary. Utterly unprecedented in the time that I've been around.

Sev maybe you remember things different from me but ive seen activity like this plenty times, and not just when theres drama.

The fact of the matter is this forum is an extra to peoples every day lives, and activity does not negate its neccessity.

I for one would be devistated if it ceased to exist. And not just because my post count would be meaningless.

You have to admit though that in general spikes in activity here tend to be due to drama, and most of the rest is either pointless nonsense or whining.

Leeward wrote:You have to admit though that in general spikes in activity here tend to be due to drama, and most of the rest is either pointless nonsense or whining.

Sensationalism.

/thread

Almost every time a serious debate happens, people start taking it way too personally and it gets locked/ deleted cause the point has long since stopped being debated.
I'm honestly suprised, but glad, this wasn't locked on page 2 already, or when DW posted, or when Raven and Randall had an exchange, or when…

So people tend not to debate serious things here often, which leads people having "pointless" fun in the gaming section, and "whining" in the V&S (is the doctor Lee included in this whining? Who knows).

Even this thread could be renamed to "should badge be CR & also should we have CRs & also general forum grievances."

Sev wrote:Hardly, it was simply an extraordinary. Utterly unprecedented in the time that I've been around.

Well that's an opinion based on your time on the forum and you didn't really answer the question. In what way is the forum declining?

Sev wrote:It's not like any of this matters. The whole thing has become a farce.

ZAFur has been on a gradual decline for a long time, and has an almost negligible impact on the local community these days. Most meets aren't even organized on here anymore.

Sev, that's not a bad sign. The forum is never going to be the most popular place for South African furries because forums are not that popular. They are slow and require more effort than things like Telegram. Those faster platforms are what people enjoy these days and that is where the activity is. I don't see that as a bad thing though. It's not great for the forum, no, but it's a sign that the forum has worked.

Now I can't speak for Dracius or Keita or Anoyomouse or all the others that were there when we founded the forum but I can speak for myself. When I became a furry I looked for other South African furs but there just weren't any to find. There was one or two but it took effort and there was little to know community. I wanted to change that and set up something that would bring South African furs together, let them meet one another and form friendships. That is what the forum has done. Those communities on Facebook, Telegram and all the other platforms did not exist before the forum. And there are many furs that don't come here any more because they have found places that they prefer but I am sure if you asked them that the majority found their to the South African furry community through this forum.

Facebook groups, FA pages, Telegram groups... those are all great but you won't find them through Google. If someone is just starting out in the fandom they can Google for South African furries, find the forum and then get pointed on their way to whichever platform they prefer. I am happy even if that is all that the forum still accomplishes. I do think that we have a South African furry community, at least as big as we do now, is largely because of this forum. Just think back on how many introduction threads began "I thought I was the only one until I found this forum." At Eurofurence I spent a bit of time talking to Tarkan the Wolf, who is basically the founder of the Turkish furry fandom. He's been trying to establish the fandom for about four or five years and just has 100 furs, most of whom are under 18. We had 100 furs by year three and 250 by year four and SA has a smaller population than Turkey. He's got FA and Facebook pages but no Turkish furry site. He intends to build one and I told him that should be the top priority, that will act as a beacon to attract furs.

The forum is perhaps not the most notable aspect of the South African furry community any more but it was the start of it. It's where most of the furs first found the SA furry community. It's where we organised the first South Afrifur national meet. It's where the name South Afrifur came from that Ivic has now used for his really successful podcast. It's from where we've launched so many other projects and where people have found friends and lovers. We didn't start a forum just for the sake of starting a forum. We started the forum because there was no South African furry community and we wanted to build one. That has been successful.

Hey i know Tarkan. He bought me a drink once.

Hey I know you too. You told me to shut the fuck up remember. Miss Special Snowflake that is too special to get banned. How does it feel being untouchable and special? Do you give Rakuen special favors for the privilege level? Or is it that special African way of cronyism.

Oh and by the way you are your own problem and your own solution. The U.K. is beyond the point of no return. Too much of a weakling to cut it in SA but it's fine we think the UK is the answer to all ones problems

Ironically i dont like Rakuen all that much either most the time... i find him too opinionated most of the time... but he does make some good points too (which irks me... bad Rakuen)

Also i moved to the UK to more effectively stalk Tom Hiddleston and Emma Watson. Neither of which has happened yet... because i got distracted living my life. Oops.