Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

This will contain important announcements about ZAFur as well as the site rules. Check in here from time to time to keep up to speed.
Post Reply
User avatar
Rakuen Growlithe
Fire Puppy
Posts: 6718
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:24 pm
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Bi
Species: Growlithe (pokemon)
Region: Other
Location: Pretoria
Contact:

Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#1

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

Today is, believe it or not, the 10th anniversary of the ZA Fur forum! That's right, we are 10 years old. For those that are interested in the exact details, Anoyomouse made the first post was on 31 March 2008 at 22:00. I still sort of think of 1 April as the forum birthday (first non-admin registration) but I don't want people to think it's a joke! :p For the forum's birthday I just want to say a few things.

The idea of a South African furry forum started probably back in 2007 when I had started using instant messengers to talk to a bunch of furs and began seeking other South African furs. There were other South African furs but none of the structures that exist now and I spent a lot of time using Google to try track them down. To make it easier for others, I thought it would be cool if there was a sort of Yellow Pages for South African furs. Another fur, Keita, suggested a forum would be a better solution. Later on I made The Furry Pages on the forum which was close to my original idea.

Keita and I teamed up with Dracius and Spike2k5forever to create the Furry SA forum. To be blunt, that was a bit of a disaster. Basically nothing worked. At the time, I also started chatting to Kad Foxwolf who knew Anoyomouse who had some sort of blog thing going for Gauteng furs under the zafur domain. I don't recall there being much content on there though. I put Anoyomouse and Keita in contact and they decided to work together for a second forum attempt.

That attempt became the ZAFur forum, which was made public late on 31 March 2018. There are still some mentions of Furry SA on the forum and the domain still directs here although it is no longer officially used. The merged team that started the forum consisted of Anoyomouse, Keita, Dracius, Kad Foxwolf and me.

Over time, the forum team changed. Some left and others got promoted to moderators or admins or joined the community representatives programme when that was running. I am grateful for all of their efforts, especially Valerion who has done an enormous amount for this site! Of course, there's no forum without users and I also want to thank everyone that uses the forum. That's over 700 accounts! We never dreamt there were even 100 furs when we began.

I want to give a massive thank you to the following furs who joined the forum way back in 2008 and have also logged in during 2018! They've been here for the long haul and it is very much appreciated. (Obviously I have too but I'm leaving myself off the list. :p) I've also met just under half of them in the flesh.

Anoyomouse
Nanukk
Wolfers
Sadrok
MrGrim
Valerion
Gowuffie
Yukon
TimbaWhitepaws
Dragonwolf
Zelian
Tigris Astartes
Hargan
Sticky_Fingers
Ivic_Wulfe
Electrocat
cetetic
Victor
GreenReaper

I probably should also mention Scratch. He didn't join in 2008 but he did join within the first year of the forum.

I'm really glad to see how the forum and the South African furry community has grown. I think this is a very easy place for furs to find and which can help them connect with other local furs. To me, that makes the forum a success as it is fulfilling its original goal of bringing South African furs together. Thank you for being a part of it and hopefully we will keep going for another 10 years!
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~

“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
~John Milton~
User avatar
Sadrok
Posts: 118
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:49 pm
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Other
Species: Anthro Dragon
Region: Western Cape
Location: Cape Town area
Contact:

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#2

Post by Sadrok »

Whoohoo. This is unbelievable!
User avatar
Trace
Snep's Best Doggo
Posts: 1155
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:44 pm
Gender: Female
Sexual preference: Bi
Species: Wolfdog/Shapeshifter
Region: Other
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#3

Post by Trace »

That is awesome. ^.^
Thank you to everyone who has been involved with the forum over the years, it is wonderful that it has lasted to this day.
"I change shapes just to hide in this place, but I'm still, I'm still an animal" -Miike Snow, 'Animal'
"Where there's life, there's hope."-Terence
User avatar
Contrast
Necrotic Neurotic
Posts: 4696
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:06 am
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Straight
Species: Necrobat
Contact:

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#4

Post by Contrast »

Congratulations all around! :D
Read my novel on: SoFurry | Fur Affinity | Deviant Art
User avatar
Tigris Astartes
Posts: 540
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:20 am
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: bi-mostly straight
Species: Snow leopard/Siberian Tiger
Region: Gauteng
Location: Gauteng
Contact:

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#5

Post by Tigris Astartes »

Hooray! Glad to have been around from the beginning and happy to see the community where it is today.
Snow Leopard + Siberian Tiger

Find my Furaffinity here.

Telegram:
Image @TigrisAstartes
ArtyLoop
Posts: 180
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2017 7:37 pm
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Straight

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#6

Post by ArtyLoop »

Image
User avatar
Animew
Banter kitty
Posts: 1217
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:45 pm
Species: Animu cat

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#7

Post by Animew »

OwO/ i am posting here for no particular reason whatsoever MEWHAHAHAHA!
Duck face? i thought they were all just making fart noises when posing for pictures...
User avatar
Asbjorn-phoenix
Papa Bear
Posts: 2740
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:55 pm
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Gay
Species: FireBear - Bear Phoenix hybrid
Region: Gauteng
Location: Centurion

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#8

Post by Asbjorn-phoenix »

Only saw this post now, hard to believe the forum has been going that long. Also hard to believe that I have been registered for 5 years, I registered in 2013.
If you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear,
if you've something to hide you shouldn't be here.
User avatar
Rakuen Growlithe
Fire Puppy
Posts: 6718
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:24 pm
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Bi
Species: Growlithe (pokemon)
Region: Other
Location: Pretoria
Contact:

Re: Happy 10th Birthday ZAFur!

#9

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

Yup, it's been a long time! Full of ups and downs but we're really grateful for the community for sticking around and helping us build this.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~

“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
~John Milton~
Post Reply