GreenReaper's stories

AAE bans Softpaw from Further Confusion 2008 over legal fears
Tue 22 Jan 2008 - 00:00

Softpaw #2, the previous edition of Softpaw Magazine, was banned from Eurofurence over similar concerns.

Further Confusion's governing organization Anthropomorphic Arts and Education (AAE) has banned the sale of erotic cub fanzine Softpaw Magazine at this year's event, making it the second major convention to ban the work.[1]

The decision was based on a rule banning "[depictions of] minor[s] engaging in sexually explicit conduct", which AAE added due to the prosecution of Dwight Whorley for receiving lolicon over the Internet.[2] Softpaw and its supporters maintain that, as furries are not humans but anthropomorphic animals, laws covering the sexual relation of humans do not apply.[3][4][5]

Some assumed AAE's decision was made partly on moral grounds, while others thought they were making a definitive statement about the legality of Softpaw and similar works.[5] The board later posted a statement denying both of these, emphasizing that the risk and consequences of legal action - regardless of its success - were the sole reason for their ban.[6]

ConFuzzled sells out, as Eurofurence 14 opens its doors
Thu 10 Jan 2008 - 00:00
ConFuzzled
Eurofurence e.V.

ConFuzzled organizers were celebrating last night, as the newly-minted UK convention sold its last ten spaces.[1] The event is scheduled for June 20-23 at the Manchester International Youth Hostel, which holds 144 attendees, including 16 staff and 47 sponsors.[2] Most were charged £170 [US$340] (£210 for sponsors),[3] £135 of which covered YHA costs,[4] though the price was £10 lower for the first eight weeks.

Demand was even higher for rooms at late August's Eurofurence 14, which opened registration this Sunday.[5] Badge numbers over 600 were issued in the first 3 hours of registration, and a total of 760 had registered to pay by Wednesday morning.[6]

Yiff! musical adds new characters and songs for Jan/Feb '08 reading
Thu 3 Jan 2008 - 00:00

In-development musical Yiff! is adding additional characters and songs for its next showcase reading at the Kings Head Theatre, London, UK on 28 January and 3 February 2008.

Among the additions are characters called Cyaneus (a Wyvern), Robodog, RaccoonBoy, ishi_qweek (a dolphin) and Samba, a lion cub. [1].

New songs include The Ultimate Yiff, Furmeet, Perfect Oblivion, The Foxman Cometh and Never Gonna Happen.

ConFuzzled selects guest of honour
Wed 26 Dec 2007 - 00:00
ConFuzzled

Manchester-based furry convention ConFuzzled has selected a guest of honour: German artist, DJ, photographer and fursuiter BigBlueFox, known worldwide for his DJ sets and convention videos, and locally for his live DJ'ing at Eurofurence and Mephit Mini Con.[1] ConFuzzled will be his 26th convention.[2]

Additional events were also announced, including an instructional panel on filming furries, and a pub quiz based on facts from WikiFur.[1]

ConFuzzled is to be held June 20-23 2008, at the Manchester Youth Hostel in North West England. A maximum attendance of 144 is planned.[3] As of December 5, over 40% of those registering had indicated that they were fursuiters.[4]

DDoS attack on FA, Fchan, E621
Wed 26 Dec 2007 - 00:00

A distributed denial of service attack struck furry art archive Fur Affinity and image boards E621 and Fchan on Sunday, lasting for several days. Fchan suffered from degraded functionality until early Monday morning,[1][2] while Fur Affinity's main site was mostly unusable until the evening of the same day.[3] E621 had returned by the middle of the week.[4]

The initial burst of traffic was via UDP, a protocol not typically used by web servers, but blocking such traffic only worked for a short time.[5] During the downtime, Fur Affinity popped up sporadically, with users reporting abnormalities such as getting logged in under other user's accounts.[6]

Furries at French independent art festival
Thu 6 Dec 2007 - 00:00

Eurofurence booth at the festival

On December 1st and 2nd, 2007 the independent art festival Rassemblement des Mondes Hors-Pistes (Assembly of the Off-Track Worlds) took Part at gallery agnes b. in Paris. The festival celebrated ten years of TRACKS,[1] a TV magazine about subcultures and independent art which broadcasts on the Franco-German cultural channel Arte.

Members of the Eurofurence staff were invited[2] to take part in the festival. TRACKS had previously covered the furry fandom with a report from Conifur Northwest 2002.[3]

MFF 2007: Thursday
Sat 17 Nov 2007 - 00:00

At ninety minutes to midnight, the Hyatt Regency Woodfield's main atrium - newly accented with eerie colour-shifting LEDs - is packed with furs, tails and fursuits. Old friends greet one another with smiles, laughter, and a more-than-occasional hug. Midwest FurFest 2007 has arrived.

Registration opened promptly at 7PM, with badges flying off the printers as fast as staff could call the names out. A total of 649 were registered by the end of the day.

As has become customary, Thursday's early arrivals were greeted with a sweet treat, along with a variety of tasty toppings. Somewhat less customarily, the treat consisted of sweet mashed potato. Regular mash was also provided, along with pitchers of kool-aid.

While the official schedule doesn't start until Friday, a combination quiz and betting game was in progress down the corridor. The question of the day: "How fast is a speeding cheetah?" (Answer: 65 miles/hour.)

Funday PawPet Show fundraiser breaks $10,000
Tue 13 Nov 2007 - 00:00
Funday PawPet Show logo. The characters displayed are (L-R) Mutt, Tod Ferret, Arthur, Poink, and Rummage.

Fans of the Funday PawPet Show dug deep this week, raising over $10,000 for the regular four-hour puppet show in a fundraiser spanning two broadcasts.

The show's initial goal of $6,000 was reached shortly into the second show. $10,052 was raised by the closing song.[1] Last year, $3,940.19 was donated.

The show's website lists over 120 separate donators.[2] Many are regulars of the show's IRC channel, which topped a record 237 simultaneous users in the last hour.

The largest sum came from T. H. Squirrel, who paid $1,400 for an acrylic commission donated by Herbie Bearclaw.[3]

WikiFur launches in German
Mon 5 Nov 2007 - 00:00
WikiFur

WikiFur was especially active this week with the arrival of a German-language sister project founded by Eurofurence media contact o'wolf. Also recently started is WikiFur's Czech-language version, founded in mid-August by local fur Xkun with assistance from Lokosicek.

Close to a hundred German articles have been created in the first week, many with the aid of automatic translation tools. Some completely new articles on European topics, such as the Schweizer Stammtisch, have been translated from German to English.

Serenity Woods saved from chopping block
Sun 28 Oct 2007 - 23:00

Guide head Curt Pascal dances after his group raises $1925 to save the sim

Residents of long-time Second Life furry haunt Serenity Woods celebrated tonight after raising US$1925 during a ten-day drive to save the sim from auction.

Forest furs were first notified of problems on the 19th, when community leader Curt Pascal revealed that current land manager, Mako Minogue, had decided to move on due to "RL commitments." This change led to a decision by financier Kerwin Newall to sell the sim.

Staff decided a transfer should take place by the end of this month, in time with monthly tier (sim rental payments) due at the start of November.