What are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[Galahad]

Busy working on the experiment data we did for a fluid mechanics assignment. We have to model a vector field of (relative) air velocity flowing over a car moving at different speeds. Accounting for wind conditions, of course. How did we do it? ... We pasted a huge grid of wool tufts (think of grass blades - that shape) on the car's surface, and took photos of them as we drove. Low budget, but really effective. And cool.

A wind tunnel with smoke would have been much cooler. But hey. Student budget, guys.

[Baz]

^^ Wow! That's sounds pretty cool.

Yea, so I am just chilling listening to moozic!

[Adagio]

I dreamt I crashed Zafur and then had to restore an old version... LOL!

[Rakuen Growlithe]

>.> Don't do that.

[Galahad]

Accept the challenge, Adge!

[Cape_F0X]

I dreamt I crashed Zafur and then had to restore an old version... LOL!

I wouldn't have bothered to fix it.

[Leeward]

The real question is... would anyone notice the difference?

[Cape_F0X]

I think I'd miss the fake profiles being generated every now and then the most.

[Galahad]

Was busy having coffee outside with family and friends, when suddenly we hear four mildly distant gunshots ring out. My uncle and I go out to investigate but don't see anything. For some reason, criminal activity in our suburb has increased in the last month. I'd love to know why the interest in our area has increased. We have private security, but at this rate we'll soon have to form our own community patrol.

[Galahad]

Is Telegram down for anyone else? It is for me, and for regions in Europe and the Middle East, apparently.

[Cape_F0X]

Where will I get my sticker fix now?!

[Galahad]

Adagio's posts.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Just closed old Yahoo! email accounts. One was 12 years old and the 14 years old. That was a long time ago. Still, sometimes you just gotta move forward.

[Kievvu]

Back home from day 2 of Fancon. Met so many furry's today I don't even remember who they all were o..o

[Raven Song]

My flights are booked! It's officially happening!!!!

[Nihilus Razorbeak]

Went on a Mini run with the cape town Mini club on Sunday, then found out I burned out a headlamp. So now I'm looking at putting in a new light system for my ongoing maintenance plan. In the meantime I'll just drive with one high beam until payday.
I'll have to buy new bulbs, new reflector cones, and relays to divert power away from the console but at the same time, leave room to upgrade in future so I don't redo the same jobs over and over.

[Splicer-Fox]

I just found the Vive/Steam easter egg in Postal 2.
When you put on the Vive it takes you too the future where you are buying a Redux and the shop owner (Steam) warns you not to buy Postal 3.
I was not expecting that in my old game. O_o

[Leeward]

I now officially own a fifth of a fancy 3D printer.

[Ivic_Wulfe]

I've upgraded my pc! Time to eat pasta and soy mince for the rest of the month!

[Leeward]

I've got a snazzy new hat.

[Galahad]

If I believed in Satan, I'd swear he set my test schedule for this week.

Also, Lee: Pictures plz.

[Contrast]

HOLY SHIT ZEFRANK IS BACK!!

[Animew]

Hello furries! *crickets chirping and tumbleweeds tumbling*

Owo is it just me or has this place died while no one was paying attention? there is hardly anything going on here anymore.

anywho i'm inventing a new species of invertebrate... i came on the internet to make sure something like it doesn't already exist.
<w< then much to my surprise i see that absolutely nothing has happened here in my absence... i suppose that's a good thing because i hate missing out on drama but... would be nice if something happened... anything happened.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

It has been quieter than normal over the past week. I played some Counter Strike with Adagio yesterday... And I also played with Windy a couple days back.

[Galahad]

To be candid, this place's activity has been on a downward spiral - with bumps and spikes here and there, but still generally a protracted downward spiral. And unless some things change, it's going to continue that way. Perhaps it's at least partially due to the forum's redundancy as a medium (if you're going to interact with other furries, Telegram is a much more rewarding medium in most cases - quick and gratifying, with stickers); the forum as a format (or at least, the format ZAFur is currently in) is mostly a relic from the 2000s. It's probably been said and I am beating a dead horse, but it's true. You've got to change with the times; that's how sites survive. Your greatest competition doesn't come from other forums - it comes from apps and instant chat nowadays. 2018. Unless you innovate, you lose your membership.

But, hey. That's just a hypothesis. And not the only cause imaginable.

As for what I am doing? Busy clearing my sleep debt from the week. Engineering test weeks; when local coffee shops are in business!

[Cape_F0X]

My weather app forecasts sunny all week, but that contradicts the rain spider in my bathroom. `\_(°~°)_ /`

I think ZAfur needs blockchains.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

To be candid, this place's activity has been on a downward spiral - with bumps and spikes here and there, but still generally a protracted downward spiral. And unless some things change, it's going to continue that way. Perhaps it's at least partially due to the forum's redundancy as a medium (if you're going to interact with other furries, Telegram is a much more rewarding medium in most cases - quick and gratifying, with stickers); the forum as a format (or at least, the format ZAFur is currently in) is mostly a relic from the 2000s. It's probably been said and I am beating a dead horse, but it's true. You've got to change with the times; that's how sites survive. Your greatest competition doesn't come from other forums - it comes from apps and instant chat nowadays. 2018. Unless you innovate, you lose your membership.

People have been saying that for years. Spiral is not particularly downward, more level. I think you're partially right about people favour instant messaging over forums. There's nothing we can do about that, short of not being a forum, but there's no need for that. If people want instant messaging then those places already exist, no point competing with them on that front. However, forums and threads are superior to instant messaging on several fronts. They are better for having multiple concurrent discussions, they are better for long form posting, they are more discoverable and they serve as an archive. It may not be the coolest, most popular format but not everything needs to be, it has its own strengths and adds its own value.

[Galahad]

People have been saying that for years.

Hence "protracted". But I'd wager it's accelerated in recent months.

On the empirical level, how have these strengths helped in keeping the forum activity steady if not improving it? If the answer is demonstrably "not very well", then I don't think these strengths are very strong.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Activity goes up and down but I don't have an easy way to check posting levels over time.

The forum is the most easily found part of the South African furry community. There are a huge number of furs who found the South African furry community because of the forum. But on the other hand, the goal was never popularity. If it is mostly a beacon that brings people in and then they go to other places then that is fine too. If we were running a business then popularity would matter but we're not; the part that matters is getting furs together and that has been successful. Where the activity happens afterwards is secondary. In one of the first posts on the forum, one of the founders wrote an FAQ which included...

6) I just wanted to find other furries. Do I have to participate here?
Well…the site was intended primarily as a place for furries to socialise, so of course we’ll be far happier if you chose to join our community, but no. You can just use it as a networking site if you really want to. Either way, the result is a stronger South African furry community, so it’s all good.

[Kievvu]

Just sitting here going over the awesome meet last night.