(NOTE: This journal was carried over from the previous iteration of SoFurry as the updated version of the website no longer offers support for user journals. As such, some verbiage may seem out of place.)

SoFurry 2.0, I think is what it's being called, has been in an open beta for a while now (sofurrybeta.com). Maybe it's called SoFurry X. I don't actually know. Too many people are either putting "X" in the name of things or just straight up naming them "X" these days and it's making me feel like it's 1994 again. I mean, that would be nice actually. If it were 1994 again I'd be able to literally go back and re-do my entire participation in the furry fandom and pick the better choice at every single crossroads where I very clearly fucked up. Who knows where I'd be?

Anyways, I registered on the beta website and migrated my couple of stories over. The beta site is still very much under construction, namely the blocking and blacklisting features. There's uh, a lot of people with "very disagreeable fetishes" who joined the website once the new management of FurAffinity started weeding out a very specific demographic of people whom I am going to avoid referring to with derogatory terms because it's not worth the headache of pissing people off and winding up having my comments and profile wall filled with bitching from dumb people. Unfortunately the tags I've blacklisted and the accounts I've blocked on the beta site don't seem to actually do anything yet, though I assume it'll start working at some point because the blacklist feature works on this current iteration of SoFurry so that proves the devs here have a leg up on FurAffinity and know what the hell they are doing.

It's a shame that the journal feature has been retooled into a simple Twitter-esque feed but I guess that's just further evidence of the ongoing deterioration of online culture. I guess people don't really care to read someone's thoughts or feelings in longform posts, they just want a two sentence summary because everyone's attention spans have been fried by TikTok shit and collectively everyone's capacity to actually care about one another is toast. Case in point, I don't actually expect anyone to read this entire journal save for a few people my age who are still clinging onto The Old Ways. Most of you will open this page -- if even that -- see several paragraphs, and then bounce. That's fine, but before you go please let me know your name so I can extend the same courtesy to you and remember to disregard anything you have to say in the future. (Once the blacklist feature on SoFurry 2.0 starts working, of course.)

The SoFurry dev team is soliciting for donations, though at the moment they are doing the "cool stuff coming in the future we promise" sort of thing because I'd imagine right now they are still working on getting the actual framework and basic functions of the new site put together. Cool stuff comes later. Despite not receiving anything more at this time than a little icon next to my name I decided to step up to the plate and earned the gold supporter badge. I am not going to tell you how much I contributed nor the threshold to reach gold. You can look it up yourself if you want and take a guess. I made my contribution because I've been in (and out) of this fandom since the late nineties and out of everyone who's still around I trust Toumal the most, and pretty much only him. (An honorable mention goes out to Dinosorcerer from Lava Dome Five. I sorta see the two on equal footing, SoFurry is just the more generalized platform.) I've bore witness to a lot of stupid shit happening in this fandom. Nobody is ever really free from it, but over the past two decades or so Toumal has put forth the best effort to just do the right thing. He's never wronged me personally and as far as I am aware he's never mired himself in any sort of unforgivable controversy that permanently stained his reputation. I'm also fortunate enough to be in a position in life right now where I can do something like write the check for gold supporter status and not necessarily worry about it too much. After all I've been through over the years Yiffstar and SoFurry were the places that felt the most like my online home in the fandom, even as things were going to shit in my personal life. Giving back now that I am able to just feels like the right thing to do.

We will never truly be able to go back to the days of our youth where we could just do whatever and have the freedom to goof off and be ourselves. As the fabric of our society (both offline and in online circles such as furry) continues losing its ongoing battle with entropy we can only just move forward and make the best decisions we can. We're all older now. Things are kinda shitty. Not as fun anymore. Less freedom, less camaraderie. I don't like any of it. But as everything continues to fragment and splinter I hold out hope that if/when the new SoFurry launches it's able to recapture some of that spirit that once made this online world so special. Even if it doesn't, then at least I know I tried to do my part and help out when I could.

See you all real soon.