It's definitely saddening to see a general closedness mentality when it comes to furry community sites. "What can I offer that no one else can". The phrase seems to be more at home at venture capital pitches, where "proprietary technology" and "gross margin" are your measure of success, than in a fandom known for its openness, tolerance, and hospitality.
I'd like to offer the argument while there's much commerce, the furry fandom is also a gift economy in many parts. You see it at the artist drawing gift arts to others; you see it at the fursuiter who practice their choreography every night, just for two minutes of spotlight; you see it at people quietly at their keyboards, building FLOSS software for the fandom; you see it at people who voluntarily give up their chance to have fun for the weekend, and stay up over night as con security, without any remuneration; you see it at the photographer, the storyteller, and so many, many more people... Even when there's commerce, the result is often shared so that everyone can enjoy it.
So it's saddening to see FA deciding to need "survey-wall" unregistered users. It's saddening to see Ferrox, a project to re-make Fur Affinity under a Free(Libre)/Open-Source license, got disbanded. (I still have a copy of the repository on my backup drive, if anyone wants it.) It's saddening to see that Weasyl and Inkbunny, due to their use of ReCaptcha in the sign-up process, can't accept anyone in China, because there's no way Chinese furries can prove they're not a robot. (Okay, that one's really the Chinese government's fault.)
It really isn't necessary for survivablity of furry social networks, but Free Software empowers it users, and Open Source proves there's a better way of making software than behind closed doors. Not only does it agree with the fandom's values, it's also practically better. This is why we, the furry fandom, should embrace F/LOSS.
The good news is: while still proprietary software, both Weasyl and Inkbunny has a more open mindset, and offer APIs that allow other people to build software that work with the websites. (FA used to have language against such, but it's now more reasonable too.) Also kudos to GreenReaper, as both Flayrah and WikiFur are running on Free(Libre)/Open Source software.
The GNU project is also building MediaGoblin, a Free (don't call it Open Source, the Free Software Foundation doesn't like it :P ) web application to share media, although setup is a bit involved.
It's definitely saddening to see a general closedness mentality when it comes to furry community sites. "What can I offer that no one else can". The phrase seems to be more at home at venture capital pitches, where "proprietary technology" and "gross margin" are your measure of success, than in a fandom known for its openness, tolerance, and hospitality.
I'd like to offer the argument while there's much commerce, the furry fandom is also a gift economy in many parts. You see it at the artist drawing gift arts to others; you see it at the fursuiter who practice their choreography every night, just for two minutes of spotlight; you see it at people quietly at their keyboards, building FLOSS software for the fandom; you see it at people who voluntarily give up their chance to have fun for the weekend, and stay up over night as con security, without any remuneration; you see it at the photographer, the storyteller, and so many, many more people... Even when there's commerce, the result is often shared so that everyone can enjoy it.
So it's saddening to see FA deciding to need "survey-wall" unregistered users. It's saddening to see Ferrox, a project to re-make Fur Affinity under a Free(Libre)/Open-Source license, got disbanded. (I still have a copy of the repository on my backup drive, if anyone wants it.) It's saddening to see that Weasyl and Inkbunny, due to their use of ReCaptcha in the sign-up process, can't accept anyone in China, because there's no way Chinese furries can prove they're not a robot. (Okay, that one's really the Chinese government's fault.)
It really isn't necessary for survivablity of furry social networks, but Free Software empowers it users, and Open Source proves there's a better way of making software than behind closed doors. Not only does it agree with the fandom's values, it's also practically better. This is why we, the furry fandom, should embrace F/LOSS.
The good news is: while still proprietary software, both Weasyl and Inkbunny has a more open mindset, and offer APIs that allow other people to build software that work with the websites. (FA used to have language against such, but it's now more reasonable too.) Also kudos to GreenReaper, as both Flayrah and WikiFur are running on Free(Libre)/Open Source software.
The GNU project is also building MediaGoblin, a Free (don't call it Open Source, the Free Software Foundation doesn't like it :P ) web application to share media, although setup is a bit involved.