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BronyCon & FAU
Posted 10 years agoBronycon is around the corner, and Sciggles and are I getting prepped for it. We've got a Dealers Table, and will be doing live engraving! If you're heading to Bronycon be sure and stop by and say hey, maybe have some apple cider with us.
Speaking of, we will have have our laser engraver at FA United! Which means sponsors can get shiny, custom-made badges printed on site! Much excite. <3
Speaking, FA United is just a few weeks out! You can pre-register at http://www.faunited.org/. <3
Speaking of, we will have have our laser engraver at FA United! Which means sponsors can get shiny, custom-made badges printed on site! Much excite. <3
Speaking, FA United is just a few weeks out! You can pre-register at http://www.faunited.org/. <3
Let's Talk Depression
Posted 10 years agoNOTE: I'm writing this as myself. I'm not a doctor, nor a medical professional. This is just my personal opinion and advice.
As a sequel of sorts to my recent journal, I want to keep the discussion of depression going. It's an important topic, and one that affects all of us. Every. Last. One.
People suffer depression. It's a fact of life. They suffer from mental disorders, from anxiety and nervousness, feelings of flight or fight and more. The umbrella of depression covers a wide gamut of areas from your run of the mill depression, bipolar disorder, manic and things like PTSD. There's no one set type of depression, and it affects everyone a little differently. The causes of it are as varied as the symptoms.
I know a lot about depression. I suffer bipolar disorder. It's a mental condition where I get extremely polarizing mood swings, from invigoratingly happy, on top of Cloud 9... to where I feel the entire weight of the world resting is resting on my shoulders. On a down day, it's like going outside and seeing thunder and rain where everyone else sees sunshine. Like a happiness vampire came in the night and sucked the entire will to go on out of of your system. Sometimes it lasts a few hours, sometimes days. It's rough. There's an empty gaping hole inside you that just seems to eat everything around it, never being sated, never being full. Except that hole eats happiness, munches confidence and can leave you kind of... well, a wreck.
I've dealt with it since I was a kid. I used to be afraid to openly discuss that fact, but I feel it's important. I know what it's like first hand. And I'm not afraid to be open about it. Nobody likes talking about mental or anxiety issues because of the awful stigma that tends to follow them (thanks, media!) but they can affect us all -- be it yourself, a friend, family member or loved one.
Depression is one of those things people tell you to "man up" or to just keep hidden away. Nobody needs to know your problems, right? Wrong. You can do that -- keep it hidden -- but it WILL start to eat at you. Little nibbles here and there. They may not seem like much at first but if you have no release, no way to let go of the frustration, it continues to eat away, wearing you down. Look at Robin Williams. Who knew the pain he was going through? It came as a huge surprise to everyone. His death hit me hard because Robin and I are affected by similar issues. Maybe if we knew, or more people were aware, we could have made a difference. Yes, even for someone like Robin.
DEPRESSION
Depression is real. There's a lot of people out there who shrug it off, don't believe it exists or simply don't understand the "why" or the "how". Nothing has to be going wrong in your life for you to be depressed. There's no one set trigger. For most depression is a chemical reaction inside your body where things become a little unbalanced. Some days those scales tip.
When it hits... it can hit hard. Brutally so. The most important thing you can do is to communicate your feelings. Screw being a "man". Screw being "strong". You have to be you. You have to be the person you are. All too often, I hear about people who snap or hit the breaking point, or those who commit the ultimate act and commit suicide. Their friends and family always say the same thing. "But they seemed so happy." Why? Because that person didn't communicate their pain. Maybe they didn't seek help because they were afraid or didn't think it would work.
HELPING OTHERS
What can you do to help people? Be there for them. Listen to what they have to say, and most importantly... give a damn.
The hardest part about dealing with depression is knowing how to help. Everybody is affected by it differently. Telling people "just try to be happy" or "try not to think about it" is really, REALLY terrible advice. Ever talk to a tree in Winter and ask it "Why not just grow some leaves?". Yeah, it just doesn't work like that.
"Your life is so great, how can YOU be depressed?" is one of the hardest lines somebody suffering depression can hear. When you see somebody you only see the outside, not the inside. You can't see the sunshine or the storm brewing from within. You can only scratch the surface.
Again, listen. Be a friend. Sit down and just be there for someone. Be re-assuring. Take them out from their current situation. Go to the mall, go see a movie, maybe grab a bite to eat. People in depression can hit a wall, and getting over that wall can be hard. Sometimes people need help distracting themselves from their problems or their internal struggle. Sometimes they've cleared the wall but are in too much of a downward spiral to notice, and just need to step back.
The most important thing you can do is just be there, as a friend... hell, even as a complete stranger. You can't fix their depression, but you can be there to lend a shoulder or ear to somebody who may need that support.
And if people don't want to talk about their problem respect it. Don't force it. They'll talk about it -- or if -- they're ready. Just make sure they know you're there if/when they need you. Depression is hard to tackle, and everybody approaches it differently. Again, sometimes just being there when they're ready is all it takes.
HELP YOURSELF
Depression sucks. It really, truly does. But don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid of what people will think of you. Be strong.
Don't be afraid to talk and open up about what you're feeling. Even if you can't describe it or you can't pinpoint quite what's wrong, don't be afraid to tell people about how you feel. It's rough, but it does get better. It may not seem like it now... but storms pass.
Seek help. Talk to a therapist or counselor. Open up and talk about it. It's not the easiest thing to do, but there are people out there who genuinely want to help. Don't let negative feelings and sadness well up inside of you. As I said before, it can eat away at you. Depression can leave you feeling drained, worthless and empty inside. But you're not any of those things. You're awesome. Depression lies, and makes you see and feel things that aren't true.
When the gloom hits you need to stay focused. Distract yourself, even if it's one of the hardest things you can do. Play games. Draw. Talk to people. Go for a walk. Brush the kitty. Build a monument of pure unadulterated awesome out of Lego. Sometimes a simple distraction can mean a world of difference.
And again, don't be afraid to talk about it.
People are out there. They care. I care. You're not alone. <3
As a sequel of sorts to my recent journal, I want to keep the discussion of depression going. It's an important topic, and one that affects all of us. Every. Last. One.
People suffer depression. It's a fact of life. They suffer from mental disorders, from anxiety and nervousness, feelings of flight or fight and more. The umbrella of depression covers a wide gamut of areas from your run of the mill depression, bipolar disorder, manic and things like PTSD. There's no one set type of depression, and it affects everyone a little differently. The causes of it are as varied as the symptoms.
I know a lot about depression. I suffer bipolar disorder. It's a mental condition where I get extremely polarizing mood swings, from invigoratingly happy, on top of Cloud 9... to where I feel the entire weight of the world resting is resting on my shoulders. On a down day, it's like going outside and seeing thunder and rain where everyone else sees sunshine. Like a happiness vampire came in the night and sucked the entire will to go on out of of your system. Sometimes it lasts a few hours, sometimes days. It's rough. There's an empty gaping hole inside you that just seems to eat everything around it, never being sated, never being full. Except that hole eats happiness, munches confidence and can leave you kind of... well, a wreck.
I've dealt with it since I was a kid. I used to be afraid to openly discuss that fact, but I feel it's important. I know what it's like first hand. And I'm not afraid to be open about it. Nobody likes talking about mental or anxiety issues because of the awful stigma that tends to follow them (thanks, media!) but they can affect us all -- be it yourself, a friend, family member or loved one.
Depression is one of those things people tell you to "man up" or to just keep hidden away. Nobody needs to know your problems, right? Wrong. You can do that -- keep it hidden -- but it WILL start to eat at you. Little nibbles here and there. They may not seem like much at first but if you have no release, no way to let go of the frustration, it continues to eat away, wearing you down. Look at Robin Williams. Who knew the pain he was going through? It came as a huge surprise to everyone. His death hit me hard because Robin and I are affected by similar issues. Maybe if we knew, or more people were aware, we could have made a difference. Yes, even for someone like Robin.
DEPRESSION
Depression is real. There's a lot of people out there who shrug it off, don't believe it exists or simply don't understand the "why" or the "how". Nothing has to be going wrong in your life for you to be depressed. There's no one set trigger. For most depression is a chemical reaction inside your body where things become a little unbalanced. Some days those scales tip.
When it hits... it can hit hard. Brutally so. The most important thing you can do is to communicate your feelings. Screw being a "man". Screw being "strong". You have to be you. You have to be the person you are. All too often, I hear about people who snap or hit the breaking point, or those who commit the ultimate act and commit suicide. Their friends and family always say the same thing. "But they seemed so happy." Why? Because that person didn't communicate their pain. Maybe they didn't seek help because they were afraid or didn't think it would work.
HELPING OTHERS
What can you do to help people? Be there for them. Listen to what they have to say, and most importantly... give a damn.
The hardest part about dealing with depression is knowing how to help. Everybody is affected by it differently. Telling people "just try to be happy" or "try not to think about it" is really, REALLY terrible advice. Ever talk to a tree in Winter and ask it "Why not just grow some leaves?". Yeah, it just doesn't work like that.
"Your life is so great, how can YOU be depressed?" is one of the hardest lines somebody suffering depression can hear. When you see somebody you only see the outside, not the inside. You can't see the sunshine or the storm brewing from within. You can only scratch the surface.
Again, listen. Be a friend. Sit down and just be there for someone. Be re-assuring. Take them out from their current situation. Go to the mall, go see a movie, maybe grab a bite to eat. People in depression can hit a wall, and getting over that wall can be hard. Sometimes people need help distracting themselves from their problems or their internal struggle. Sometimes they've cleared the wall but are in too much of a downward spiral to notice, and just need to step back.
The most important thing you can do is just be there, as a friend... hell, even as a complete stranger. You can't fix their depression, but you can be there to lend a shoulder or ear to somebody who may need that support.
And if people don't want to talk about their problem respect it. Don't force it. They'll talk about it -- or if -- they're ready. Just make sure they know you're there if/when they need you. Depression is hard to tackle, and everybody approaches it differently. Again, sometimes just being there when they're ready is all it takes.
HELP YOURSELF
Depression sucks. It really, truly does. But don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid of what people will think of you. Be strong.
Don't be afraid to talk and open up about what you're feeling. Even if you can't describe it or you can't pinpoint quite what's wrong, don't be afraid to tell people about how you feel. It's rough, but it does get better. It may not seem like it now... but storms pass.
Seek help. Talk to a therapist or counselor. Open up and talk about it. It's not the easiest thing to do, but there are people out there who genuinely want to help. Don't let negative feelings and sadness well up inside of you. As I said before, it can eat away at you. Depression can leave you feeling drained, worthless and empty inside. But you're not any of those things. You're awesome. Depression lies, and makes you see and feel things that aren't true.
When the gloom hits you need to stay focused. Distract yourself, even if it's one of the hardest things you can do. Play games. Draw. Talk to people. Go for a walk. Brush the kitty. Build a monument of pure unadulterated awesome out of Lego. Sometimes a simple distraction can mean a world of difference.
And again, don't be afraid to talk about it.
People are out there. They care. I care. You're not alone. <3
Random Mental Dump #19,983
Posted 10 years agoBeing an admin can be tough, and some days are no tougher than having to step in and help a user in distress. One of the hardest things you can ever do is try talk somebody down from committing suicide.
The following is true, but the circumstances have been changed. Some time ago a journal was posted and reported to me. I hopped onto the user's journals, and tried to leave some encouraging words. Reach out. Just try to tell the person that as much as things may suck each and every day can present different and unique challenges. Take a deep breath, step away from the PC, go get some air. Change the scenery of mind.
My sister has tried to commit suicide. I've lost friends to it. I've lost people who were murdered in cold blood by their father who mentally snapped, and decided to commit suicide but didn't want to go "alone". Yeah. Suicide is a bit personal to me.
Until you've been through it you can never know the pain and the loss.
The user in question went silent, and I didn't hear back from them. At least not for a few days. It turns out the user had gone through with their plans, but backed out at the last second. However, it was almost too late. Their life was changed forever, and suffered physically during the process.
I won't go into the who, what or why. In situations like that it's not anyone's business but the person suffering.
The person lived. Not everyone is so lucky.
When people are in distress they're not thinking clearly. Depression is like being drunk, but instead of wobbling back and forth, it's impossible to convince yourself that you're worth it, near impossible to even find a shred worth saving. It's raining inside your mind, but the concept of ever seeing another sunny day is all but impossible. Everything is bleak and numb.
When people are in that state of mind they're not thinking clearly. As another person, you've given a choice. You can reach out to try to help the person... or you can make it worse. You wouldn't push a drunk person down the stairs, but some people have no issue suggesting those suffering from depression to go kill themselves.
For some, it may be a cry for attention... but for others it may be their their last chance to reach out to others for help.
Take your answer - and the person - seriously. You never know if you're going to be the person to make the difference..
The following is true, but the circumstances have been changed. Some time ago a journal was posted and reported to me. I hopped onto the user's journals, and tried to leave some encouraging words. Reach out. Just try to tell the person that as much as things may suck each and every day can present different and unique challenges. Take a deep breath, step away from the PC, go get some air. Change the scenery of mind.
My sister has tried to commit suicide. I've lost friends to it. I've lost people who were murdered in cold blood by their father who mentally snapped, and decided to commit suicide but didn't want to go "alone". Yeah. Suicide is a bit personal to me.
Until you've been through it you can never know the pain and the loss.
The user in question went silent, and I didn't hear back from them. At least not for a few days. It turns out the user had gone through with their plans, but backed out at the last second. However, it was almost too late. Their life was changed forever, and suffered physically during the process.
I won't go into the who, what or why. In situations like that it's not anyone's business but the person suffering.
The person lived. Not everyone is so lucky.
When people are in distress they're not thinking clearly. Depression is like being drunk, but instead of wobbling back and forth, it's impossible to convince yourself that you're worth it, near impossible to even find a shred worth saving. It's raining inside your mind, but the concept of ever seeing another sunny day is all but impossible. Everything is bleak and numb.
When people are in that state of mind they're not thinking clearly. As another person, you've given a choice. You can reach out to try to help the person... or you can make it worse. You wouldn't push a drunk person down the stairs, but some people have no issue suggesting those suffering from depression to go kill themselves.
For some, it may be a cry for attention... but for others it may be their their last chance to reach out to others for help.
Take your answer - and the person - seriously. You never know if you're going to be the person to make the difference..
Anthrocon
Posted 10 years agoGoing to Anthrocon. If you see me, feel free to stop by and say hey. =D
I may be lurking around the Fur the More table (since Sciggles is helping them out) or just kind of... floating around. If you want to talk FA, Digimon, why blood sausage is so damn nasty or just want to discuss why humidity is the bane of mankind (it is!) feel free. All I ask is you leave drama the door. We're at a con, on vacation. =D Let's have fun!
I may be lurking around the Fur the More table (since Sciggles is helping them out) or just kind of... floating around. If you want to talk FA, Digimon, why blood sausage is so damn nasty or just want to discuss why humidity is the bane of mankind (it is!) feel free. All I ask is you leave drama the door. We're at a con, on vacation. =D Let's have fun!
Feedback, Plans and Banana Hammocks
Posted 10 years agoGiven the recent issues that have come to light, I wanted to let you know that I'm listening... and that I'm sorry. Communication between myself and the users needs to be a priority and to better share timelines and where we plan to be.
That's something I'm trying to get done, and going through the feedback left in the past few days to try to better address the shortcomings. I know I've not always followed through on a lot of things, but we're working to improve the site (new servers, larger uploads, site folders, forum upgrades, etc). Unfortunately, some of the things have taken longer than I anticipated.
That said, I'm going to start following through on my side and make updates to the Beta UI every Friday, and start posting weekly postings about what we're doing, why we're doing it.
And I plan to start that now:
* Yesterday we interviewed two new mods and accepted them on the site. We're waiting for them to get their NDAs back so we can start their training and have them start to focus more on art theft.
* I'm modifying and splitting up the Beta UI into two new versions (one mobile-specific and one desktop-only). I'm trying to get the most glaring bugs/functionality issues of the Beta UI fixed up by this weekend or sometime into next week.
* The forums are long due for an upgrade. We're getting a license for XenForo, and will be upgrading the forums soon (I'll post an announcement once I have the dates set).
I'll be posting the above, along with some other fixes/changes, to a site newsletter and posting updates to follow.
The mature ads did... not go as planned. I'm really angry at it, and IMVU is as well. The ads we were supposed to get are not the ads we *did* get. IMVU didn't want, I didn't want that. A lot of people think it was intentional, but riling up the community and causing anger and user frustration is the *last* thing on our mind. It's not how we wanted things to happen, and it's... well, to be bluntly honest it's a really black mark on my reputation and made me look like a total idiot (more-so than I do to myself at times).
Some people have been upset that I addressed the issue in "PR Speak". I'm not a PR guy. Anyone who's been on the site knows I am *not* a PR guy. But I'm also not going to post "Holy shit, I fucked up" on a news post even if that's the truth (and it is). I had massive reservations, but didn't voice myself as well as I should have. And for that, I apologize.
So I can post it here in my personal journal: I fucked up.
But I'm not going to dwell on it. Yes, the feedback and fallout ate at me for a few days, I admit. People were upset, people were passionate, people were angry. I get that, and I've read the comments. Instead, I'm taking the opportunity to get off my ass and try to fix things to show that I'm in listening to feedback and I'm trying improve the site, broaden the community and make FA a better place.
I can't change/fix things overnight (oh, how I wish I could) but I'm trying to correct things. Words only go so far, actions go farther. I'm hoping my actions in the next couple of weeks can will prove that I'm working to fix things for the long haul.
I love this site. I love this community. It's why I've been here as long as I have, and I'm committed to making it bigger, better and more spiffy across the board.
That's something I'm trying to get done, and going through the feedback left in the past few days to try to better address the shortcomings. I know I've not always followed through on a lot of things, but we're working to improve the site (new servers, larger uploads, site folders, forum upgrades, etc). Unfortunately, some of the things have taken longer than I anticipated.
That said, I'm going to start following through on my side and make updates to the Beta UI every Friday, and start posting weekly postings about what we're doing, why we're doing it.
And I plan to start that now:
* Yesterday we interviewed two new mods and accepted them on the site. We're waiting for them to get their NDAs back so we can start their training and have them start to focus more on art theft.
* I'm modifying and splitting up the Beta UI into two new versions (one mobile-specific and one desktop-only). I'm trying to get the most glaring bugs/functionality issues of the Beta UI fixed up by this weekend or sometime into next week.
* The forums are long due for an upgrade. We're getting a license for XenForo, and will be upgrading the forums soon (I'll post an announcement once I have the dates set).
I'll be posting the above, along with some other fixes/changes, to a site newsletter and posting updates to follow.
The mature ads did... not go as planned. I'm really angry at it, and IMVU is as well. The ads we were supposed to get are not the ads we *did* get. IMVU didn't want, I didn't want that. A lot of people think it was intentional, but riling up the community and causing anger and user frustration is the *last* thing on our mind. It's not how we wanted things to happen, and it's... well, to be bluntly honest it's a really black mark on my reputation and made me look like a total idiot (more-so than I do to myself at times).
Some people have been upset that I addressed the issue in "PR Speak". I'm not a PR guy. Anyone who's been on the site knows I am *not* a PR guy. But I'm also not going to post "Holy shit, I fucked up" on a news post even if that's the truth (and it is). I had massive reservations, but didn't voice myself as well as I should have. And for that, I apologize.
So I can post it here in my personal journal: I fucked up.
But I'm not going to dwell on it. Yes, the feedback and fallout ate at me for a few days, I admit. People were upset, people were passionate, people were angry. I get that, and I've read the comments. Instead, I'm taking the opportunity to get off my ass and try to fix things to show that I'm in listening to feedback and I'm trying improve the site, broaden the community and make FA a better place.
I can't change/fix things overnight (oh, how I wish I could) but I'm trying to correct things. Words only go so far, actions go farther. I'm hoping my actions in the next couple of weeks can will prove that I'm working to fix things for the long haul.
I love this site. I love this community. It's why I've been here as long as I have, and I'm committed to making it bigger, better and more spiffy across the board.
Quasi Out of It
Posted 10 years agoJust a note: I know a lot of people have been waiting on responses from me. For the past few days, I've been kind of out of it. I recently had a tooth pretty much explode (yay) due to an old filling apparently wasn't quite filled right. Big ass cavity developed, and then...
Blegh.
Been in an extreme amount of pain the past few days, not been able to sleep, eat or drink much. I've got an appointment for oral surgery on Tuesday (soonest I could get), and I'll be quasi-out of things until then. I'm working on some UI/site changes/fixes to go live next week, as well as some other changes.
Just wanted to apologize for not being uber-expedient on a lot of requests these past few days.
Blegh.
Been in an extreme amount of pain the past few days, not been able to sleep, eat or drink much. I've got an appointment for oral surgery on Tuesday (soonest I could get), and I'll be quasi-out of things until then. I'm working on some UI/site changes/fixes to go live next week, as well as some other changes.
Just wanted to apologize for not being uber-expedient on a lot of requests these past few days.
Fur The More
Posted 10 years agoRwar!
If you're at Fur the More stop by and say hi! I've got an FA table to help promote FAU and talk FA, shop and whatnot... and give away free FA lanyards. If you're at the con, or planning on stopping by, come say hey!
Feel free to talk my ear off. It's what I'm here for. =3
Also, if you're planning on going to FAU, we've got a reg code to save 15% on all reg levels! Just use code "nevermore" when checking out to save a few bucks. This is the ONLY sale until the con, so if you want to save some cash, now's the chance!
- Neer
If you're at Fur the More stop by and say hi! I've got an FA table to help promote FAU and talk FA, shop and whatnot... and give away free FA lanyards. If you're at the con, or planning on stopping by, come say hey!
Feel free to talk my ear off. It's what I'm here for. =3
Also, if you're planning on going to FAU, we've got a reg code to save 15% on all reg levels! Just use code "nevermore" when checking out to save a few bucks. This is the ONLY sale until the con, so if you want to save some cash, now's the chance!
- Neer
Apologies
Posted 10 years agoI wanted to post an apology. The sidebar thing should not have gone down the way it did. I screwed up, and own up to that mistake.
We're currently rolling back the changes on both live and beta, and will not be making those sort of drastic changes again without some warning and further community testing and involvement.
Again, I'm sorry for the poor implementation. It could have, should have, gone far, far better. That said, we *ARE* dedicated to improving the site, making changes and fixes to improve quality-of-life across the board, and are working to bring long awaited features to fruition (see: the mythical pink unicorn, "Folders" and better mobile functionality through our public Beta UI).
We're currently rolling back the changes on both live and beta, and will not be making those sort of drastic changes again without some warning and further community testing and involvement.
Again, I'm sorry for the poor implementation. It could have, should have, gone far, far better. That said, we *ARE* dedicated to improving the site, making changes and fixes to improve quality-of-life across the board, and are working to bring long awaited features to fruition (see: the mythical pink unicorn, "Folders" and better mobile functionality through our public Beta UI).
My Day Today
Posted 10 years agoSummed up:
Me: "I'm going to be productive."
Firefox: "Well, I'm going to crash."
WinSCP: "I'm a conformist. CRASH!"
WiFi: "And I'm going to lose network connection!"
Gimli: "And my axe!"
Me: "I'm going to be productive."
Firefox: "Well, I'm going to crash."
WinSCP: "I'm a conformist. CRASH!"
WiFi: "And I'm going to lose network connection!"
Gimli: "And my axe!"
UI Feedback & Whatnot
Posted 10 years agoThe early Beta is up, and I've been working my ass off trying to get it improved. There's still a lot to do, and a lot (a LOT) to fix. It's what I've been working on alongside trying to get user issues fixed as well.
If you're using the beta, be sure to give us feedback on the forums.
https://forums.furaffinity.net/foru.....-Beta-Feedback
I'm reading it constantly, and will be looking over feedback/suggestions/ideas to help improve the functionality of the beta. I should have a large pass that fixes a lot of the major complaints regarding the beta done tomorrow.
The UI has always sort of been my "white whale" of sorts, but progress is coming along. =)
If you're using the beta, be sure to give us feedback on the forums.
https://forums.furaffinity.net/foru.....-Beta-Feedback
I'm reading it constantly, and will be looking over feedback/suggestions/ideas to help improve the functionality of the beta. I should have a large pass that fixes a lot of the major complaints regarding the beta done tomorrow.
The UI has always sort of been my "white whale" of sorts, but progress is coming along. =)
Delays
Posted 10 years agoJust a note - I know many of you are waiting on responses for me for this and that. The past 48 hours have been rather hectic.
Went up to Pennsylvania to handle taxes with my CPA, had a tire blow out on my car (no spare at the time) then got stuck in the middle of a massive lightning storm stuck on Rt 222 outside of Reading, PA. Got towed, went back to my parent's place...
... and woke up to Glaide having a seizure this morning. Spent the entire day at his side in the ER, helping him recover (he's doing much better!).
Needless to say, sometimes life kicks it's ugly head up when you least expect it. This is definitely one of those times. If you've messaged me recently trying to get in contact you're on my list, and I'll try to get back to you soon. I've been limited to my Lumia 1020 for the past few days, and it gets all of 4-5 hours of battery life on a full charge (YAY).
Went up to Pennsylvania to handle taxes with my CPA, had a tire blow out on my car (no spare at the time) then got stuck in the middle of a massive lightning storm stuck on Rt 222 outside of Reading, PA. Got towed, went back to my parent's place...
... and woke up to Glaide having a seizure this morning. Spent the entire day at his side in the ER, helping him recover (he's doing much better!).
Needless to say, sometimes life kicks it's ugly head up when you least expect it. This is definitely one of those times. If you've messaged me recently trying to get in contact you're on my list, and I'll try to get back to you soon. I've been limited to my Lumia 1020 for the past few days, and it gets all of 4-5 hours of battery life on a full charge (YAY).
Level 35
Posted 10 years agoDING!
In Regard to IMVU & User Content
Posted 10 years ago"Fur Affinity is governed by the site's terms of use, not Google's, Apple's or IMVU's."
- IMVU VP (and my boss)
I'm not entirely sure where people are getting all the quotes from the sales (we never made it public), but IMVU is *NOT* taking FA content, redistributing it, reposting it, using it in-game, etc. It's your content. Only FA has the right to show it if you upload it to the site.
Nobody else.
- IMVU VP (and my boss)
I'm not entirely sure where people are getting all the quotes from the sales (we never made it public), but IMVU is *NOT* taking FA content, redistributing it, reposting it, using it in-game, etc. It's your content. Only FA has the right to show it if you upload it to the site.
Nobody else.
On the IMVU Sale
Posted 10 years agoA lot of people are wondering "why". That's a natural question.
I've always wanted to be able to work on FA full time, improve the site, and really invest into the community. Towards the end of last year, my free time plummeted drastically. I worked for Amazon AWS, keeping the cloud fluffy and sites like Netflix and Reddit happy with all the kibbles and bits they could offer. I was also working upwards of 80 hours a week, denied vacation, denied days off, even threatened by management over wanting to take a day off for Thanksgiving.
Things got bad.
Through December, I received many offers to sell FA. Some wanted the site just to turn it into a store front, but in doing so wanted to dismantle the site. Others wanted to buy it LITERALLY just to shut it down. I didn't want any of that. Money was good, and some really high figures were thrown out, but I legitimately care about the community. I haven't done this for 10 years out of my own time and energy just to see someone come in and rip it apart.
IMVU offered to help the site with funding and support the site as is. They're the only group who didn't want to tear it down, but help build it up. That group: IMVU. They wanted to help fund the site and support it in order to help grow their large furry community base. That was it. Their goal was solely to grow the community. They get more users, we get more users. Everything works out.
IMVU has been hands-off on the site, and have been doing nothing but supporting us and helping us make the improvements we need. I know a sale like this is hard to fathom, and it was hard for me to put my trust into a community like that. FA's already got massive infrastructure changes under way, new servers, new storage options and more support. The community is going to grow, improve and better itself over time!
Just take a deep breath. =) Things are only going to improve from here on out. I know it's rough and scary, and there's a lot of questions out there, but things are improving.
I've always wanted to be able to work on FA full time, improve the site, and really invest into the community. Towards the end of last year, my free time plummeted drastically. I worked for Amazon AWS, keeping the cloud fluffy and sites like Netflix and Reddit happy with all the kibbles and bits they could offer. I was also working upwards of 80 hours a week, denied vacation, denied days off, even threatened by management over wanting to take a day off for Thanksgiving.
Things got bad.
Through December, I received many offers to sell FA. Some wanted the site just to turn it into a store front, but in doing so wanted to dismantle the site. Others wanted to buy it LITERALLY just to shut it down. I didn't want any of that. Money was good, and some really high figures were thrown out, but I legitimately care about the community. I haven't done this for 10 years out of my own time and energy just to see someone come in and rip it apart.
IMVU offered to help the site with funding and support the site as is. They're the only group who didn't want to tear it down, but help build it up. That group: IMVU. They wanted to help fund the site and support it in order to help grow their large furry community base. That was it. Their goal was solely to grow the community. They get more users, we get more users. Everything works out.
IMVU has been hands-off on the site, and have been doing nothing but supporting us and helping us make the improvements we need. I know a sale like this is hard to fathom, and it was hard for me to put my trust into a community like that. FA's already got massive infrastructure changes under way, new servers, new storage options and more support. The community is going to grow, improve and better itself over time!
Just take a deep breath. =) Things are only going to improve from here on out. I know it's rough and scary, and there's a lot of questions out there, but things are improving.
Why Net Neutrality Matters
Posted 10 years ago(This journal is more for people who don't understand what Net Neutrality is, or it hasn't quite clicked and why the ongoing debates flame to this day over it)
Let's say you move to a new town, and everything's great. The location is great, the traffic is minimal, there's shopping everywhere and your neighbors are friendly. Utopia.
One day, you go to Walmart and there's a line stretching around the door. Some people are freely entering Walmart while others are queuing up. Turns out, unless you now have SpeedPass, you're not allowed to enter Walmart right away. You have to wait in line. It's moving decently, but you don't understand why.
You go to another store... and meet another line. Then another store. Another line. Walmart says they didn't create the line. None of the stores did.
But the guy who created the road leading to the stores has decided which stores you're allowed to go to (unsurprisingly, all of his stores and those belonging to his buddies stores aren't queued). Everyone else has to wait. OR... you could pay $50 a month for the SpeedPass and go to and from the stores whenever you want and skip the line.
It doesn't make sense why the road's owner is charging you for a pass to go to Walmart, but Walmart has no choice but to accept it.
Oddly, the road that took you to the stores wasn't busy all. No traffic. You talk to the local shop owners, and they say they don't oppose people coming to shop, but that doesn't matter. The road owner determined who gets to go where and when, and they made that decision FOR YOU.
Worse, not only can he decide who gets to go in the store or wait and line, he can ALSO put up roadblocks in front of the store's parking lots to prevent people from going in UNLESS they pay him a fee. For the road owner, he's looking at a quarter of a million people in the lil' town paying $50 a month for the SpeedPass to go to the stores they'd already been going to before. Only now, he can charge them more to do what they already could do! He claims there's too much traffic on the road, yet there's never really any major traffic jams.
Net Neutrality says "Dude, no. You can't put up roadblocks or prevent people from going into stores. You have to be fair. Charge people to drive on your road and perform upkeep, but you can't tell people where to go."
The long and the short of it: nobody should decide what stores you can shop at for you. Nobody should decide what websites you can go to or charge you a fee to use somebody else's services.
This is why people want Net Neutrality. They don't want to go to the store and see a roadblock setup that'll let people go if they pay a fine.
Let's say you move to a new town, and everything's great. The location is great, the traffic is minimal, there's shopping everywhere and your neighbors are friendly. Utopia.
One day, you go to Walmart and there's a line stretching around the door. Some people are freely entering Walmart while others are queuing up. Turns out, unless you now have SpeedPass, you're not allowed to enter Walmart right away. You have to wait in line. It's moving decently, but you don't understand why.
You go to another store... and meet another line. Then another store. Another line. Walmart says they didn't create the line. None of the stores did.
But the guy who created the road leading to the stores has decided which stores you're allowed to go to (unsurprisingly, all of his stores and those belonging to his buddies stores aren't queued). Everyone else has to wait. OR... you could pay $50 a month for the SpeedPass and go to and from the stores whenever you want and skip the line.
It doesn't make sense why the road's owner is charging you for a pass to go to Walmart, but Walmart has no choice but to accept it.
Oddly, the road that took you to the stores wasn't busy all. No traffic. You talk to the local shop owners, and they say they don't oppose people coming to shop, but that doesn't matter. The road owner determined who gets to go where and when, and they made that decision FOR YOU.
Worse, not only can he decide who gets to go in the store or wait and line, he can ALSO put up roadblocks in front of the store's parking lots to prevent people from going in UNLESS they pay him a fee. For the road owner, he's looking at a quarter of a million people in the lil' town paying $50 a month for the SpeedPass to go to the stores they'd already been going to before. Only now, he can charge them more to do what they already could do! He claims there's too much traffic on the road, yet there's never really any major traffic jams.
Net Neutrality says "Dude, no. You can't put up roadblocks or prevent people from going into stores. You have to be fair. Charge people to drive on your road and perform upkeep, but you can't tell people where to go."
The long and the short of it: nobody should decide what stores you can shop at for you. Nobody should decide what websites you can go to or charge you a fee to use somebody else's services.
This is why people want Net Neutrality. They don't want to go to the store and see a roadblock setup that'll let people go if they pay a fine.
Storage. STORAGE EVERYWHERE!
Posted 10 years agoFA's getting some serious storage upgrades soon. =3 Just got in 56TB worth of hard drives to be paired with a tasty new MegRAID 9271 controller. Because, from what I hear, you kids want larger upload capabilities without those nasty overhead things like 10MB file size limitations.
https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/statu.....93166405304320
More to come!
The drives in question:
http://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/ent.....trastar-7k4000
https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/statu.....93166405304320
More to come!
The drives in question:
http://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/ent.....trastar-7k4000
Quick Note: Comment Editing & Auctions, YCH
Posted 10 years agoWe updated the site so you can now edit your comments to fix typos, add that last thought that you realize you forgot or the one word that somehow went missing. But for a lot of people, this will affect how they do auctions on the site and YCHs.
Simple fix: add a small rule to your auctions or YCH that edited bids will be hidden OR considered invalid. This is basically the eqv. of a user hiding their bid after.
Simple fix: add a small rule to your auctions or YCH that edited bids will be hidden OR considered invalid. This is basically the eqv. of a user hiding their bid after.
If You Use Paypal...
Posted 10 years agoI've been seeing journals pop up left and right about a Tumblr post -- a really, REALLY poorly written post at that. A lot of people are buying into it, so I figured I'd help.
http://vivziepop.tumblr.com/post/11.....o-slip-the-rug <-- This is not quite accurate. Nope.
1) The "No Address" thing has been an option and been in place for over 10 years. It's not something new, but has always been there. Always. This is not something new. No, Paypal is not trying to "slip one under you".
2) If you're an artist, don't rely on people sending you money directly if the shipping issue is such a big deal. Instead, use Paypal's invoicing option instead. Send the buyer an invoice, state what it's for (e.g. "1X Color Commission, 2 Chars") and list your prices. It'll be a lot easier to track if the buyer has paid, invoice tracking will make your earned income/profit through Paypal MUCH easier to track (and thus make tax day a breeze) and it's not too involving.
3) And if you don't want your Paypal locked, don't state you're taking a commission for "giant hyper tiger cock vore herm taurs lactating like lawn sprinklers" in the description.
http://vivziepop.tumblr.com/post/11.....o-slip-the-rug <-- This is not quite accurate. Nope.
1) The "No Address" thing has been an option and been in place for over 10 years. It's not something new, but has always been there. Always. This is not something new. No, Paypal is not trying to "slip one under you".
2) If you're an artist, don't rely on people sending you money directly if the shipping issue is such a big deal. Instead, use Paypal's invoicing option instead. Send the buyer an invoice, state what it's for (e.g. "1X Color Commission, 2 Chars") and list your prices. It'll be a lot easier to track if the buyer has paid, invoice tracking will make your earned income/profit through Paypal MUCH easier to track (and thus make tax day a breeze) and it's not too involving.
3) And if you don't want your Paypal locked, don't state you're taking a commission for "giant hyper tiger cock vore herm taurs lactating like lawn sprinklers" in the description.
Deadlines
Posted 10 years agoI set a personal deadline for Feb 21 a while back. I'm racing to get shit done for it, and oh god... why is it when you're nearing a deadline that you have a thousand and one last minute ideas, ALL OF WHICH ARE AWESOME, that you absolutely, positively could use to get things done?
My "To Do" list just exploded with a thousand little post-it notes of concepts and ideas.
So much to do. So little time.
EDIT: Feb 21 is more of a self-imposed personal deadline. Not a major event. =P Don't read into it.
My "To Do" list just exploded with a thousand little post-it notes of concepts and ideas.
So much to do. So little time.
EDIT: Feb 21 is more of a self-imposed personal deadline. Not a major event. =P Don't read into it.
Further Confusion
Posted 10 years agoHey all,
I'm heading out to Further Confusion this week to chill with my peeps. If you see me at the con, don't hesitate to stop by and say hey!
My only rules:
* Ask before you hug.
* Leave FA drama at the door. We're all going out to have fun and mingle with friends.
* No politics.
* You're free to buy me drinks, but if you buy me anything with tequila, I can't guarantee that you won't get slapped and/or end up with a giggling drunkmon.
* Tacos.
I'm heading out to Further Confusion this week to chill with my peeps. If you see me at the con, don't hesitate to stop by and say hey!
My only rules:
* Ask before you hug.
* Leave FA drama at the door. We're all going out to have fun and mingle with friends.
* No politics.
* You're free to buy me drinks, but if you buy me anything with tequila, I can't guarantee that you won't get slapped and/or end up with a giggling drunkmon.
* Tacos.
2015, GO!
Posted 10 years agoI'll keep this journal short and sweet. There's been a lot of backlog, delays and other issues which have caused a bit if undo burden on the site. I'm going to be working over the next few weeks to play catch up, and get everything in gear bit-by-bit. 2014 was one of the worst years for me on record (having lost almost everything I own, work trouble, life trouble, moving and more). I'm intent on getting 2015 started on the right foot, and thus here's the first minor update: Expenses.
http://donations.furaffinity.net/ *
A list of what we've spent, how much and on what since the GoFundMe. All the merch has been ordered (except wall stickers, but those are coming soon). We promised the merch, and getting those shipped out will be my priority. I'll also be adding screenshots of all the purchases to help give a bit more transparency into the purchases. My goal is to be as open as possible, and I want to work towards that. We've also got some upgrades in store for FA as well (e.g. adding more RAM).
More to come, and it will come via an official site announcement.
* I will be adding more to it as I go through the logs, as I realize as of posting this I forgot to add in Pingdom to the list.
http://donations.furaffinity.net/ *
A list of what we've spent, how much and on what since the GoFundMe. All the merch has been ordered (except wall stickers, but those are coming soon). We promised the merch, and getting those shipped out will be my priority. I'll also be adding screenshots of all the purchases to help give a bit more transparency into the purchases. My goal is to be as open as possible, and I want to work towards that. We've also got some upgrades in store for FA as well (e.g. adding more RAM).
More to come, and it will come via an official site announcement.
* I will be adding more to it as I go through the logs, as I realize as of posting this I forgot to add in Pingdom to the list.
Merry Christmas!
Posted 10 years agoIt's been a rough few weeks and I'm mostly getting caught up to speed, slowly but surely. While many developments are on the horizon, for now... it's Christmas! Regardless of your faith, today's a day to sit back with a warm cup of cocoa and enjoy the company of friends and family (the true reason for the season!). Relax, be social, maybe watch the greatest Christmas movie ever made (Die Hard).
Take a deep breath. 2014 is almost behind us, and for many of us, it's been a ROUGH year. But that year's almost over. We can take a fresh step into 2015, and get things started on the right foot.
But for now... cocoa. Friends. Relax. You've earned it.
Take a deep breath. 2014 is almost behind us, and for many of us, it's been a ROUGH year. But that year's almost over. We can take a fresh step into 2015, and get things started on the right foot.
But for now... cocoa. Friends. Relax. You've earned it.
*flops*
Posted 11 years agoNope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope...
*10 minutes later*
...nope, nope, nope, nope. Never want to go through that again. Ever. That was not fun.
I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep in the past 72 hours, my entire body hurts, my stress levels are 14 out of 10 and... yeah.
*10 minutes later*
...nope, nope, nope, nope. Never want to go through that again. Ever. That was not fun.
I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep in the past 72 hours, my entire body hurts, my stress levels are 14 out of 10 and... yeah.
Paws for Penny
Posted 11 years agoSome friends of mine are trying to raise money for their pup, Penny. They're selling some collectable Disney pins and other merch to help raise the money for their dog to get much needed surgery.
Penny belongs to
frostbight, an FAU staffer and all around amazing guy. If you're able to help them out it'd be much awesome. <3
https://www.facebook.com/PawsForPenny
Alright Ladies & Gents,
We are still working on raising money for Penny's surgery. Still looking to raise about another $800.
Currently still available:
$100 donation - name gets put into a raffle to get 3 tickets to Disneyland.
$100 for a hardback set of all 7 Harry Potter books.
A variety of Disney pins and collectibles that I have purchased over the past few years that I am willing to sell to raise the money.
Penny belongs to
frostbight, an FAU staffer and all around amazing guy. If you're able to help them out it'd be much awesome. <3https://www.facebook.com/PawsForPenny
Alright Ladies & Gents,
We are still working on raising money for Penny's surgery. Still looking to raise about another $800.
Currently still available:
$100 donation - name gets put into a raffle to get 3 tickets to Disneyland.
$100 for a hardback set of all 7 Harry Potter books.
A variety of Disney pins and collectibles that I have purchased over the past few years that I am willing to sell to raise the money.
Life Delays
Posted 11 years agoI know a few people out there are waiting on things from me. I'm trying to get them taken care of ASAP. My job recently changed my schedule so I'm on 12 hour shifts, and I'm working 80+ hours a week for the near future. Trying to get things in line and get caught up, but ita rather hard to do with my schedule.
I'll be trying to keep better open communication with what's going on. Just trying to survive this schedule change first.
I'll be trying to keep better open communication with what's going on. Just trying to survive this schedule change first.
