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submitted by 123not-it
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In the past few hours, all of the Social Networks as well as forums on Fur Affinity and Lulz.net have been abuzz over Fur Affinity tracking users.

Fur Affinity has recently enrolled in an affiliate program called VigLink.  It’s a service that allows a website to monetize(make money from) outbound links – say if a site links to products on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and hundreds of other merchants on the web.

This is a very common practice.  Furry News Network actively participates in affiliate programs, as does sites like Flayrah.

Until recently, Fur Affinity has maintained a privacy policy that indicated that they do not collect data or sell data on their users.  By using this service, they can track some limited information.  Any web traffic analysis package allows a site owner to see where users are coming from, what pages on their sites are generating the most traffic and other information, including outbound links – like to affiliate programs or to an advertiser’s site.  VigLink allows them to see the same kind of information. It does however, allow an affiliate to see what products users have purchased – however, there is no user identifiable information such as IP address or user account names provided back to the affiliates.

There have been accusations that Fur Affinity’s action violates Federal Trade Commission rules. This would be the case if Fur Affinity was a site that offered product or book reviews. As they do not offer such reviews, the FTC rules covering Affiliate Links and Disclosure do not apply. You can read the FTC Guidelines on Affiliate disclosure here.

As for tracking, if you do not wish to be tracked, you can opt out of VigLink’s program by going to their site and chose the Opt Out link. Fur Affinity has updated their Terms Of Service to include information on VigLink – you can see the current Terms of Service Document here.  To go beyond this, you may choose to disable cookies all together in your browsers Privacy and Security settings, or install an Ad Blocker in your browser.

According to Dragoneer’s post in the FA Forums, they have been trying out VigLink’s affiliate service for 5 days.

Now, to address how this has been handled – It is within any Site Owner’s right to update their site or code, and their Terms or Service without notice to the user base.

As a user of Fur Affinity, you are being provided a service for free.  It is unreasonable to expect a site owner to provide the service out of pocket.  Fur Affinity has survived on donations and ad revenue from banner sales.  With the costs of operating the service growing, additional revenue streams are needed.

The alternative would be for sites like Fur Affinity to change to a subscription model, or charge all artists fees for any commission sales that go on to cover equipment, programming, bandwidth and operating costs.

All in all, Fur Affinity has updated their TOS, you have been provided an Opt Out link to opt out of VigLink’s tracking, and good, bad, or otherwise, you have the facts about what the service tracks.

You can read more about VigLink’s services at their web site VigLink.com

VigLink does not provide granular information on specific, user identifiable information.

Sample Screenshot Provided by VigLink

submitted by evilsibe
[link] [3 comments]

08/31/2011
By: CraftyAndy

This is a opinion article. These are my thoughts alone and nothing I say is be all end all.

Never do anything in hopes of fame and fortune, you’ll fail even if you succeed.

My view on the media is well varied, depends on the media. However lets stick to furries in the media. There is only one type that I would be nervous about and I’ll get to that soon enough, right now I just want to hold your interest.

As far as Tyra Banks, CSI, Strange Addiction, every other ‘event’ related to television, movies, and articles what actual repercussions were there other then other furries going on a tangent and ripping on the people who participated in these things? I doubt they got nearly as much gruff, if any from the general public. I never saw a decline in Anthrocon, being barred from public venues as a result from any of these things (if anyone has examples that come from personal experience and not hear say by all means let me know.)
Why can’t people just shrug it off and stop making a big deal over every god damn thing that comes the way of people who share interest in furry related entertainment. The most recent is of course a reality show emailing FA members asking them to participate in “hell if I know ” type of show. Who cares? Why care? If you want to go on so be it, doesn’t effect me in anyway no matter what you do. I’m not going to wake up and get fired from my job or lose my video editing skills. There isn’t going to be some rally that forms against all things furry as a result of it, because really even the supposed ‘worst of us’ (socially) are they a problem in terms of the grand scheme of things? Will some politician or world leader look at Tyr Banks and say “you know furry is problem corrupting our youth I say we ban all copies of Lion King immediately.” I doubt it.
The only I ever get nervous about a furry news related event is one of the big cable and local news channels. These venues, though they are just as focused on entertainment as any other show, they have more of a dedicated following that would more than likely take action in some way.
I know in the grand scheme of things all the people who could have a real negative impact on furry fans have bigger fish to fry but I think this is a sound argument. When Howard Stern says “Furries should be locked up.” At most you’ll get some internet chatter in agreement with a line of empty threats and comments. When Bill Oreilley, or Glenn Beck start saying “furries should be locked up.” Well then that’s when you’ll get these groups of people who would take action, maybe confront you, become hostile, get the cops called on your little public BBQ meet because you were interacting with children and a parent got “afraid.” Maybe (I doubt it’s even possible but my imagination is at work here) even pass ordinances that require a permit and background check to wear a fursuit in public. Furry is not that big but neither was the gaming culture at one point and when that exploded in the nineties, ideas of legislation was being thrown around left and right.
Anyone recall when D&D was seen as a path towards Satanism and we got specials and tv movies about how kids were killing themselves and each other. When people thought it stemmed from this RPG instead of it having to do with them being troubled individuals. People called for a banning of the books which resulted in the company censoring it’s next edition and then dropping in sales to the point of bankruptcy.
So to sum up I see no reason to worry about whatever media throws at me or you. Just think and ask questions about what you could be getting yourself into if you agree to go on someone’s TV show and think through the vast amount of scenarios that might transpire. Never do anything in hopes of fame and fortune, you’ll fail even if you succeed.
So anyone else have thoughts they’d like to share?

attribution, non commercial.

submitted by N4N4KI
[link] [54 comments]

submitted by Tmachine
[link] [1 comment]

The Storyteller was a popular fantasy TV series in the late 1980′s, created by Jim Henson and the Muppet Creature Shop. It featured John Hurt in the role of the Storyteller, simultaneously telling fantastic tales to his muppet dog (voiced by Brian Henson) and we the audience. Now, Archaia Entertainment brings us a brand-new Storyteller graphic novel in hardcover. It features new stories and artwork from numerous talented folk. Here’s a write-up from Comics Beat: “The Storyteller anthology will be edited by Nate Cosby, formerly of Marvel, with contributions by Roger Langridge, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin, Colleen Coover, Francesco Francavilla, Brian Clevinger, Tom Fowler, Marjorie Liu, Evan Shaner, Jennifer Meyer, Katie Cook, Chris Eliopoulos, Ron Marz, Jim McCann and Janet Lee — and an unpublished story by the late Anthony Minghella [who helped the late Jim Henson create the original series].” Look for it in September.

image c. 2011 Archaia Entertainment

submitted by KazakiLion
[link] [1 comment]

08/30/2011
By: Trashville

September 2011

So FBOTM has been revamped with a couple new questions and here to test drive them is Artslave. In a world of sweet, fluffy fursuits, this builder’s costumes stomp in and strike fear into the foamy hearts of furries. ArtSlave has become popular with semi-realistic/realistic and often frightening costumes sporting impressive muscle and digitigrade padding. After some conversation I have come to find that ArtSlave, like her costumes, is very, very cool.

Describe your history in the furry fandom.
Actually, I got into furry via another furry. When I was super little I would wrap up towels with rubber bands and wear them around like a tail, and I just thought that people with tails was the KEENEST idea. After a few years I stopped doing that, of course. Sometime in high school, I ran into some bloke I’d known from both frequenting a local gaming shop, who had a fairly convincing wolf tail that he wore around everywhere, 24/7. Eventually I popped the question and did “that” google search. Found a bunch of furries in my area who did social meetups and so forth, and they all turned out to be really stellar folks, so I hung around for a while. I really love meeting new and interesting folks, so conventions are a huge plus for me. I’ve been to other conventions before, but I really adore the personal creativity in the furry fandom. Other conventions laud adoration on canon, but furry is really the only fandom I’ve seen where folks design their own characters, worlds, and so forth. Between that and the fact that it’s populated with some of the best artists I’ve ever seen, I ended up sticking around

Describe your fursona/s.
I’m an avid roleplaying nerd, so I’ve got a filing cabinet of characters somewhere, but I really only have one I consider my fursona. It’s a towering, daemonic thing. Just a generic monster, I guess. A friend of mine(Midori) drew up a sketch of a monster for me one day, that I loved so much so I went with it. It’s pretty laid back for a monster, never really going out of its way to visit wanton destruction on villages or anything(Unless there’s a village or townsfolk in its way or harassing it with pitchforks, of course). Most of the time it lives under the beds of troubled children and befriends them, helping them cope with life and so forth. Horrible, unapproachable monster, totally a good person inside though.

When did you build your first costume and what was it?
Oh man, actually when I was two or three I “made” a costume.. and by that I mean I stapled netting to the arms of a pair of green fleece pajamas and put a latex raptor mask on. Obviously this was a dragon with a majestic wingspan. Not terribly impressive but, hell, I was three.
The first real costume I ever built was a set for a husbandry event(Where you and your horse had to have matching costumes), where I made a wolf mask out of faux fur and cardboard(Big bad wolf), and I made a cloak and hood for my mare(Little red). I didn’t get started sewing fursuits until late 2002.

How many fursuits have you been paid to build?
Oh jeez. I would venture to say more than 50, but less than 100? I’m not entirely certain, to tell you the truth. I don’t really keep track of this sort of thing. Quite a few, though.

What is your construction method of choice?
I like balaclava and foam method, with some tweaking with different densities of foam. Its comfortable, cheaper than resin, and lightweight, with no uncomfortable pieces of plastic or anything to jam in your face.

What is your average price range?
Full suits start at $1200, Partials at $850, heads at $450. I can’t offer an average because most folks who come to me to build something for them want something different, so alot of my stuff has muscle padding, or a full suit or prop armour or is made entirely out of fleece, or something, to make it pretty non-standard. But for regular fursuits, those are pretty much what you’d be looking at

Who was your favorite to build?
Definately my lizardman. I got to work ALL in fleece, which was a first, and got to build a full muscle suit- everything, back, legs, arms, OH! And TONS of airbrushing. That was my favourite part XD. Because it was a personal suit I got to do ‘whatever I thought was good at the time’, so got to experiment with alot of new techniques and tools, so it was a big springboard for me working on lizards- I’ve got a ton of techniques I can apply in the future. I like building personal stuff for that reason- if I find a technique that doesn’t work, it’s not a huge deal, I can just go back and fix whatever I messed up later, rather than messing up a customer’s order. So I try to dump as many new ideas onto the few personal suits I churn out, so I can experiment all at once.

What are some challenges you have had to overcome as a builder?
Time management. Totally time management. People don’t tell you that when you do something you love you might forget how long you’ve been working and end up working an extra 3-5 hours a night. This doesn’t sound like such a bad thing but when you start to think you’re superman and can work 12 hour days, 6 days a week, you get overloaded or backed up REALLY fast. So time management is one of those skills I’m still trying to master. Obviously there’s technical skills, I still can’t use a sewing machine to dart for the life of me. But those are much easier to get over, a little practise and things become doable. Time management needs more than practise. Like.. a bachelor’s in economics and a personal aid(My cat tries, but she just isn’t up to snuff.. caught her sleeping at her desk AGAIN. I’ve gotta fire her).

What makes you unique as a builder and why should people choose you?
I think the market is saturated with folks who do cartoon style costumes and hyper realistic costumes. I cater more to the scary/freaky/gross/monster crowd. I don’t see many people who do scary suits as a running theme, so I think I’ve got a pretty solid corner on that market. People should choose me only if that sort of thing floats their boat, while I can stumble my way through making other styles of costume, ‘rar’ suits are definately more in my comfort zone, and if someone’s looking for realistic or cartoony, there’s definately a ton of folks out there who do it better. BUT, if you want that zombie/werewolf/daemon/hellhound/mind flayer/evil-psychic-tire that you’ve always secretly craved, my prices are pretty reasonable and I’m always available for quotes.

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/artslave/

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5898256 (Lizardman pics)

submitted by sojahawk
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Fucking hell furries it's only FA.

So what it's down? Go outside and do something else. Just getting sick annoyed with "FA IS BEING DOS sadface!!!!!!" posts.

I promise you, that you will live without it.

submitted by PawFox
[link] [4 comments]

I think we can all agree that certain behaviors (that are already illegal) are inappropriate. But, what other behaviors or practices that you've run into do you consider taking the fandom "too far"?
Personally, I find some individual's needs to "come out" as a furry at work or to casual acquaintances to be too far. It's one thing to be honest about your hobbies if they become a topic of conversation. It's another to have some personal need to establish furry as your overriding public attribute.
I would like to hear what you think?

submitted by evilsibe
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This museum no longer exists, but this 1960s video features Walter Potter's collection of taxidermied animals arranged in human costumes and situations.

submitted by Dark_Waters
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Author: Scani

Pre-registration has opened for Furnal Equinox 2012.

The third iteration of the convention, with the heaven-and-hell theme of Infurnally Yours, is scheduled to take place March 16-18, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Featured at the convention will be artist Guests of Honour Dark Natasha and Canadian Marci McAdam.

Membership to the convention is only $35 CDN ($10 less than the at-the-door price). For an additional $30, sponsors will receive a T-shirt, plus access to the Wolf’s Den hospitality suite. Early bird registration lasts until November 30. Hotel bookings and dealer applications are also open.

Official updates about Furnal Equinox can be obtained from Furnal Equinox’s new website at furnalequinox.com and on Twitter at @furnalequinox.

 

Find the full article here: flayrah – furry food for thought

Creative Commons: Full post may be available under a free license.

submitted by clockingbird
[link] [8 comments]

The first real show of Season 6 and other than a little problem with the website - nothing breaks! On tonight's show: TK and Eeve3 rant about people walking in cycle lanes, Xavier shows us that the games industry is full of douchebags in the Gaming News. For Done and Dusted Xavier talks up the Bastion demo, Deus Ex Human Revolution and a bit more about Terraria. Eeve3 talks about the PSN and Move game Tumble while TK reviews the new Winnie the Pooh film as well as the new Pirates film On Stranger Tides. Felis is back for Season 6 with a re-recording of his MegaMan 9 review from Season 5 and new review for Wild Arms Alter Code F on the PS2. Starring TK, Xavier, and Eeve3. TigerTails Radio - Season 6 - Episode 01 - It Has Begun (Again)

Sad phinny is sad. DDOS makes no one happy. :(

EDIT: FIXED

submitted by Jakooboo
[link] [12 comments]

For years we’ve been seeing sample art from the Ultraduck project showing up at San Diego Comic Con and other fannish events. Now, it seems, Arcana Studios will finally be publishing the new Ultraduck graphic novel this October. It’s written by Edgar Delgado, with full-color art by Omar Lozano and Humberto Ramos. Here’s the basic description from Amazon: “Carlos, a regular duck living in the great city of Featherbay, just got dumped by his girlfriend, his life as a freelance do-it-all is going nowhere, and he must make some grown up decisions: to get a real job, get his girl back, and stop drinking. That is, until he gets super powers and becomes the only duck in the world who can stop a powerful creature who’s destroying the city on a vengeful rampage, and an evil weapons manufacturing corporation who wants his abilities.” Just how “anthro” is this project? Check out the promo art!

image c. 2011, Art by Delgado, Lozano, Ramos