I'm glad some folks have logical opinions. :)

I've got mixed feelings on this whole ordeal. But knowing me, I won't be going anywhere lol.
It's nice to see another viewpoint on the situation.

Mind you, I run AdBlock Plus and Ghostery so I wouldn't know for sure, but I've heard some of these ads that are showing up have adware and other malware that infect your computer just from loading up that webpage that it is on.

I hope that's not the case! I usually keep my anti-virus software running all the time though and as far as I can see it hasn't picked up anything from FA!

But again, it could be different for other folks given I haven't even seen the advertisements they complain about.

And I'm not leaving as well even though I don't like looking at those adds

Even if I did move I'd be going from relative obscurity to just plain obscurity considering I don't really have a fanbase (or anyone for that matter) that would care if I moved.

But as of now, I've no reason to move. My obscurity lets me evade drama and porn Ads on a site with porn in it isn't much of an issue. Granted, I never saw such ads myself beyond stuff other users have shown, and I don't even use adblock.

And to think, the odd thing I've noticed is I've never seen any of these ads myself. I've turned off my adblock to see what everyone was talking about, got nothing like what I've been hearing about, even after testing with and without SFW active.

That's the thing to me too; I don't run adblock on Furaffinity anymore because I like seeing the adverts other artists put up. The ads I've seen are for spanish cell-phone services, a local car dealer, a fitness company, IMVU, Century Link, and Join.me. That's about it, really. I haven't seen any pornographic ads myself.

I will say that the ads were intended to only be seen on mature (that is not always porn) and adult rated submissions, (usually porn) and because you can only view said submissions in NSFW mode the ads were intended to show up there and only in those cases, however I had heard several people state that they saw said ads on other ratings and in SFW mode, being that this site has younger members that are under 18 that makes it a huge legal issue obviously, though they have stated that the porn ads have been lowered to a once in 24 hour cycle until they fix the filter, though this brings up that the staff have asked that any porn ads that are found to be unsafe be reported with a screen cap of the ad and a link to where they link to (I am sure I don't need to point out the obvious here) but that means the staff has allowed ads on here they have not screened already to make sure they are safe, this puts users at risk because it only takes a misclick to get infected with a virus and they are asking us to put our systems at risk, meaning your paypal or other forms of online money payments could be at risk because the staff is not doing their jobs, also that these ads break the ToS about linking to irl porn and if the staff can break the rules whats the point in enforcing them.

I don't mind the third party ads, or the IMVU ad, but I do have a huge problem with the staff being lazy and putting their users at risk, if you have never dealt with identity fraud good for you its a nightmare to deal with just to prove you did not spend the money from your account.

My other problem is the amount of broken promises made by the staff and the past history of Dragoneer, I honestly can't trust what is said, and that is what a site relies on is a trust between the staff and the users.

I think there is a huge misconception on how having a parent site works. I could be wrong, but having seen this happen on other websites, I have reason to believe that the FA staff had no clue what content the ads would have before IMVU implemented them. Dragoneer doesn't own FA anymore so when he's handed an exciting order down from the IMVU bosses, he probably isn't given a chance to review or inspect things like. I'm going to take a bet that he was told "there will be more adult ads" and it was left at that. Most likely, the FA staff and Dragoneer himself were not given the opportunity to review the ads before they were implemented and were just as surprised as we were.

Given there are thousands of different ads in circulation (for example I get many relevant to my location such as local car dealerships) so there's no way the staff could single handedly review all the content of said ads given they may be generated from a third party that imvu has negotiated with. That's why Staff are politely asking users to report malicious or obscene ads so they can be directed back to "the boss" as unacceptable and filtered out of use. On all honesty, if my concept of the situation is correct, then I assume Dragoneer is pretty busy trying to contest this issue with IMVU and doing his best to clean up the mess that he was handed from the ladder above him. The willingness to negotiate the removal of these ads is certainly something I appreciate and if don't think poorly of the admins for trying to get them cleaned up and removed, which is hardly lazy at all :x

I will quote Dragoneer on this "I have it in writing that things will not be changing EXCEPT for the better. I'm still in charge of FA, and it's my job to fix and improve the community. That's exactly what I intend on doing." I fail to see how adding porn ads that are not screened for viruses by staff (and them expecting us to risk our hardware to do their job for them) is bettering FA in any way.

While it maybe true that he did not know what all was implied in the contract that is the reason we did ask for transparency something that Dragoneer promised us, I even heard another parent company was willing to purchase FA, but Dragoneer went with IMVU because they had the money up front, while yes the money up front is nice it creates this issue IMVU wants to turn a profit and to do it in as short a time as possible, thus we have the ads and I am positive that it will not end here, there will be other changes that will benefit IMUV's bottom dollar profit margin even at the cost of the user base, Dragoneer has always been blinded by money it is part of his history that we all know fairly well, but always seem to give him the benefit of the doubt in the end and forget, fact is the reason most company's do not offer money up front is because they wish to negotiate a contract you set your terms they set theirs and you come to a middle ground and negotiate a price, when a company offers you money they are not looking to negotiate, they want to buy you out plain and simple and will make promises that they see as bettering a site.

Think of it like this, we both have two different ideas of what a better site would be, my idea would be that it makes lots of money for me and you, your idea is that it is a place that people love, so if I offered you money and gave you my word that I would better your site, our ideas do not mesh, making lots of money is only bettering mine and your pocket books I would consider that to be a better site cause it is a successful business, but at the cost of your idea that it should be a place that people love, and notice how were are never told what a better site is defined as.

The fact that the ads are relevant has more to do with them being google ads, google tracks your cookies and the sites you visit also taking into account where your IP is located if you are in the US it displays English ads if you are in Spain it will display Spanish ads, your IP is tied to where you live and you can thank google for that, as they do monitor and make sure their ads are safe, hence why most reputable sites use them, Porn ads on the other hand are not supported by google, google refuses to have adult themed ads thus the amount of ads needed to be monitored and and reviewed by FA staff is cut drastically, I am not asking them to review the google ads as I know they are safe, I want them to review the ads google does not check out to make sure they are safe too, it is a reasonable request, but the staff has shown they do not care by asking us the user base to report ads for them in effect doing their job for them, it is the staff's responsibility for site security if they refuse to make sure the site is secure then what is the point in having a paid staff that refuses to do part of what they are actually paid for?

This is my point you assume yet the facts are Dragoneer has screwed up big time in the past (something everyone loves to forget) he has stolen money and "allegedly" used it on purchasing games rather then spend it on a much need server upgrade that got us in this mess to begin with, Dragoneer has a whole history of this and incompetence, why assume anything when the facts have shown just what Dragoneer is like trust should be earned not freely given.

To be completely honest, in making a journal saying I planned to stay I didn't really invite discussion about the site itself. If I were looking to argue, I would have posted on one of the site journals. My personal choice is to continue servicing my fans here and I would hope that choice is one that could be respected. I've invested nearly ten years in this community so I do plan on staying so your personal feelings won't be swaying me.

I really think you have a very biased view on the situation especially given you have the idea that Dragoneer has been making mad money on FA for the last ten years. The implication that "Dragoneer is all about the money" holds no weight with me because I feel that of your acusation were true, he would have sold the site years ago. Hell, if he really was all about the money, I assume he would have taken what he got from imvu and left FA altogether so he wouldn't have to deal with the mess that is running this site anymore. In all honesty, if I were him I think I would have done just that since this community is always out to shoot him down and I don't think I personally would have the resolve to stick with it. The fact that he stays and tries to clean up the messes constantly makes me feel that his investment to this community is about more than money. But that's just my personal perspective. Then again I tend to not believe what people tell on social media and drama communities until I've seen fact presented rather than speculation.

But it seems clear you have a very heavy distrust for him and dislike the website, so I'm curious as to why you're staying and wasting all this effort to try and shoot down the community that I had just expressed having holding dead to me rather than taking your patronage elsewhere? I don't really have interest on hearing your conspiracy theories and I'm sorry to sound dismissive but in being brutally honest, that's all I see in these paragraphs.


Your idea of changes are very different from mine; a few advertisements don't really stike me as horrific as it does you? I've seen no bad changes to the website because as long as it functions as a place to post my work, doesn't have consistent down times and continues to give my fanbase a means to view my work, then I have no complaints. Oodly enough, since the sale, FA has run better than ever for me as an artist where as in the past downtimes were often and uploading resulted in Cloudflare errors. I've seen none of that since January. This website offers it's services to us for free with no "pay to play" style nonse like Deviantart pulls and I'm actually happy to see that hasn't changed despite the switch of ownership. However, as one of many artists that generates their income through clientele that use this website, I also wouldn't be opposed to paying for the service either. I'm not offended to see a company make money for providing a service because at the end of the day, that's what I'm doing, is it not? If I had the option to pay for a service that enables me to generate my income then I would be happy to do so! That's why I pay for the services I already use such as Picarto's premium service, my setmore account that helps me schedule my clients, and why I never have attempted to dodge paypal fees. Websites like FA are incredibly valuable to freelancers like myself so if IMVU runs advertisements to generate profit in return for keeping this website running smoothly, then I'm perfectly fine with it, even more so knowing that staff are taking account of the ads they may have malicious spyware and sending requests for removal.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't feel like I'm obligated to trust or distrust Dragoneer; he is irrelevant to weather or not the website is still functional, which is all that matters to me. I'm not on FA to get dragged into anyone's politics; I'm here to cater to the fanbase that gives me so much in return. They are and always will be my main priority.

Since you did not want a discussion and rather have an echo chamber of people who (seeming don't understand the risks involved, don't understand the implications, or care what appears on the site) I will leave you alone then, I just hope I am wrong and things actually do change for the better of all the users and not just the pocketbooks of staff and IMVU.

I think you misunderstand the concept here; I said I didn't want large arguments on my journal. That's not creating an echo-chamber nor does it mean I don't understand a situation; it means that I want you to have respect for me as an artist and vocalize your holier than thou dribble where it's appropriate. A Journal that alerts my fans that I won't be leaving isn't that place and despite not wanting to get involved, I still bothered to reply to you and hold discussion. But then you began heckling my other watchers and that's when I put my foot down.

As I said before, if you have such a hatred for this website, why don't you leave? Why are you here? Do you feel some obligational duty to run around regurgitating twitter conspiracy theories to people that don't care? You point a finger at me and imply I am ignorant yet here you are crusading against a wesbite that you're still using as a mouth piece? Do you lack that self awareness? If FA is such a burden to you, leave. You do not have to exist here, so why stay?

You came into my journal, guns 'a blazin' with the intent to try and sway me and my followers into bailing on the site and when you were returned indifference you because condescending and hostile. Sorry if I don't take kindly to that? You came in here to cause conflict because I said I didn't care about the website's changes and then brand me as "unable to understand". The wonderful fallacy of your argument here is that because I disagree, you assume I don't comprehend; That's absolutely not true. My indifference was well explained many times and your lack of comprehension does not equate my own, lol.

Like I said, if you're in such a rootin' tootin' mood to argue, take it here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6831187

Its not a holier then thou issue nor have I said it in that context, as I stated the ads I don't care about it is more about the site security and the security of the users machines and accounts, I have a genuine worry that is at the heart of the issue and has nothing to do with being holier then thou and is rather insulting you imply such, because the way I see it you give an undo amount of trust to a staff that is willing to put you at risk for the sake of meeting their contract and don't actually seem to bother to check out what is being added they just simply add it and wait for the backlash, the staff clearly don't put any thought into it until the community rips them an new one and this is why many choose to leave they are tired of dealing with this kind of mentality as it is nothing new, I for one don't blame them the staff learn nothing when they repeat the same mistakes they got them in trouble in the past, if you feel that putting your machine and banking/monetary accounts at risk is something you are okay with then by all means, just don't you complain if you do end up with a virus or your accounts get hacked because you were infected by a virus that allowed someone to steal your personal information, that would be as you put it, "dredging drama"

And I don't hate this site I love it, but I dislike the path I see it taking, and I am justified in voicing my concerns to not just the staff, but the other users of this site who don't seem to understand they are at risk or that they run the possibility of identity fraud happening to them, once a person has your personal information its hard to prove that you are the victim of identity fraud and it is very easy to get said information if your machine is infected with a virus that logs your keystrokes and browsing history and it only takes a simple mis-click for it to happen.

I honestly have no intention of continuing this line of discussion, you have your mind set that you will stick it out regardless of the warnings that many blare, my "guns 'a blazing" as you put it is a concern that the staff should be thinking about because they are paid to keep us (the users) safe, but clearly don't care until there is a huge backlash against them, I do respect your thoughts but not as an artist, but as a user to this site, because it doesn't matter artist or watcher alike are both at risk here and it is in no way dribble or holier then thou.

So I say to you, I wish you luck and hope I am wrong, have a good day madam.

I think the ads are pretty bad but I think leaving the community over it is more than extreme.

I had issues with FA as a website long before this nonsense but I don't like the way these people are ready to crucify Dragoneer over this.

Ads are a minor issue and not really worthy of outrage. As far as far as evil business decisions go this is pretty far below EA, Konami, the entire oil industry, the military industrial complex, Wal☆Mart, McDonald's, Hobby Lobby, Telecoms, Nintendo, YouTube, Capcom, and the list goes on, and on, and on.

Yeah, in all honesty I've seen improved site performance since the sale to IMVU; Some things have been cruddy like the advertisements but as an artist I'm happy that I'm not seeing downtimes or cloudlfare errors while I try to upload. As long as the site functions, I have no complaints. Then again, I don't complain in public anyways because FA gives me so much (a venue to broadcast myself to over 10,000 people and generate my income via commissions) at zero cost to me so I don't feel I am in any position to complain anyways. I don't bite the hand that feeds, lol.

At least the IMVU ads weren't as... Ah...
Explicit.

how many times have people "quit" FA; I'm losing count

I don't know off hand; it seems like a monthly event these days. I just tend to unwatch artists when they say their leaving since it's empty space on my watchlist. If they come back, I usually miss out on it.

I'm the opposite; I'm actively trying to use this site more in spite of it's problems; maybe I'm just an optimist.

Anuvia you continue to present yourself as professional AND sensible. I wish you only luck and good fortune in your business and practice.
SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND!

Now I want to put on some Pink Floyd and jam out <3

Yeah... I'm putting some of my work on alternate sites for people leaving FA. For meow, like always, I'll be staying too <3

As for ads I guess to put in my two cents, I just liked it a lot more when I just saw furry porn ads xD

hardcore clickbait ads and crap make it feel like I'm on some struggling site like Writing.com lol, where they legit refuse to operate for you if you have adblock turned on xD

Seems everyone takes the situation out of control and so many people just want to have a excuse to leave for no valid reason there is always adblock X3.

The only kind of advertising that I've seen so far over here, are nordic European countries selling their electronics/video games etc. So in my case, there's some localization going on with these ads, and I'm okay with that.

That is because the ads you see normally (excluding the adult porn ads) are google ads please look up google AdSense, this is the reason you can trust the ads from google, they review the ads they offer, and tailor them to your IP and browsing history if you have chrome, google however does not offer adult ads these ads have not been screened as we the users are asked by staff to report any ads that are harmful to users (sounds silly doesn't it asking users to report ads that are harmful to users?) yet this is what the FA staff have asked, last I checked staff are responsible for site security, having ads that are unsafe is a risk to site security, not to mention it puts you at risk too.

Straight from the AdSense website : https://www.google.com/adsense/start/ "AdSense is a free, simple way to earn money by displaying targeted ads next to your online content. With AdSense, you can show relevant and engaging ads to your site visitors and even customize the look and feel of ads to match your website."

There is no need to repeat yourself to other people. They can read the comment thread we are having. This used has expressed that they haven't seen any adult advertisements so your cautionary explanation and jabs at FA staff are unwarranted.

My journal is not the place for you to dredge up drama. If you'd like to have these discussions, take it to the FA staff journal.

Just making sure that this information is known, people don't seem to understand the ads that are not user ads, IMVU ads, or porn ads are supplied by google and how it all works, I am just informing so others will know too, you will notice I only brought up the points pointed out, I was not "dredge"ing drama, it is a legit concern, but I suppose if you consider a legit concern to be drama then I suppose so, but many have brought this up already to the staff so there is no point in asking the staff for the millionth time, I am just waiting for their official response and spreading the word about how having safe ads and potentially unsafe ads together is a bad idea.

It's not just about the nature of the ads. On a furry themed site, you would expect more furry-related ads instead of your typical 'fuck 20 bitches a day' stuff.

Also, several people have reported getting malware from these ads, so that's another issue.

Adult ads? Other than something Furious or Bad Dragon came up with that are already here, the only ad I've been see is a tech, fabric, housing, and even a TV remote ad. There is that eye sore IMUV has on occasion but I haven't seen anything having a dick, tits, or even cheese! CHEESE!!!
And this is coming from a guy who doesn't use Adblock, ever. . . .so far.

This porn prevents me from enjoying this other porn! RABBLE RABBLE!

I still don't understand their transgressions myself. It is nice to see rationality in others. With all that's going in the world, it's nice to see people think.