FurNation
| Community | |
|---|---|
| Name: | FurNation: A World Beyond Imagination! |
| Date(s): | 1996 – Feb 19, 2017 |
| Moderator: | Murphy Slaugh, Marfo, Tobin Wolfmar |
| Founder: | Reeyedog, Trun |
| Type: | online, social network |
| Fandom: | Furry Fandom |
| URL: | FurNation Network Facebook http://www.furnation.com/ http://furnation.com/index.php?act=home http://portal.furnation.com/ |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
FurNation was a PG-rated furry social network site.
In 1997 the home page brought the following text:
Welcome to the #1 anthropomorphic artwork site on the net! The artwork displayed by various artists on this site centers around characters and drawings of human and animal hybrid cartoons and fantasy artwork. Enjoy your visit![1]– FurNation homepage
In 1999 the text changes to:
Lore of long ago tells of a golden age when humans and animals were one with nature.Without warning a horrible catastrophe separated human's intellect from the animal's instinct. For eons the order of the universe turned to chaos.
But legend also speaks of a time when the great chasm that divides us will close.
A future where man and beast become one...[2]– FurNation homepage
History
Created in 1996, the site was widely visited over the next five years. In mid-2002 the site template was redesigned and a message about the changes was posted on the homepage:
FurNation Soon to be Reborn!We have been undergoing a complete makeover of the original FurNation system that everyone has come to enjoy through the last 5 years. You are viewing a non-working template that will soon be the new look and feel of the FurNation system. We are adding many new services to our existing system, and soon we will be able to host more than just artist's and writer's websites. This new website looks best in IE right now, but we are making sure it will look exactly the same in Netscape browsers as well.
For those of you who have been keeping up on the latest news you already know of the troubling times FurNation and myself (Nexxus) have been going through over the last few months. After suffering a small glitch on the main web server that hosts FurNation I decided to take the system offline for a while to complete some much needed projects. Now that things are beginning to calm down again I am working hard to get the new system up and running.
To the left is a demo cover of the upcoming FurNation Magazine Issue #3, which should be ready for sale before Anthrocon this year. We also have plans on printing a new separate magazine for both Fur and Fury by WerePuppy and The Wanderer by Krahnos. Both of these break away publications will be printed in the same high quality format as the original FurNation Magazine.
I want to give my thanks to all those who have come to my aid and given me encouragement to endeavor against those who wish to destroy Furry Fandom. This system really belongs to all those who have helped support it over the years. I will always be just the humble administrator, keeping the furry dream alive.
We will be back up again soon. Keep watching this site for the latest updates.[3]
Such changes were not only in the site's layout, one of the novelties was the launch of the FurNation Anthology Magazine, with works by the FurNation's members issues available for purchase at the site. However, from November 2003 to March 2004, several buyers reported never having received their edits, so an error was discovered in PayPal's payment reports. The problem was circumvented, but there were already around 22 people injured by this failure.[4]
On December 28, 2004, it was announced that FurNation would be renamed AnthroNation.[5] The project, however, does not seem to have gone ahead.
Like in the real world all things must evolve, and we are slowly changing FurNation into a new creation, AnthroNation. The logo you see above is the latest design for the new web system we are creating. AnthroNation will be more like some of the other art websites online that use a thumbnail system to allow quick indexing of artwork, stories, and creative works. The new system will be hosted on a much more powerful dual Xeon system running Windows 2003. We are hard at work designing the front end and database connection right now, and expect the new system to be online in a few months. FurNation will continue to be the premier free website hosting system for the fandom, but we are hoping to expand the creative works on the new system to all faces of the fantasy and sci-fi genre. The new system will provide the same high-level free website hosting as FurNation, but will also incorporate additional features not presently found on FurNation. We are sure that the new features will bring the experience of creative imagination to a whole new level for our visitors.[5]
There was also a review on the Homepage about the film Kaze: Ghost Warrior conceived by Timothy Albee, a FurNation's member and sold on their multimedia site (http://furplanet.com/shop/).[5][6] In October 2016 it was announced FurNation Worlds a 3D Virtual World System, a simulation with two islands hosted by Second Life community system.[7]
20th birthday, and DDOS Attack
In October 2015 the site suffered a DDOS attack, as well as others furry fandom sites. Those responsible for hosting FurNation had no protection against this type of attack and suffered numerous stability problems, even deciding that the site should no longer be active to prevent further attacks.
The webmaster's Twitter account tweeted about the event,[8] before a notice of clarification was posted on the home page of the website.[9]
Due to unforseen issues we have turned the site off. We will be offline until further notice.And if your wondering why, we got DDOS attacked last week along with several other furry based websites. We are going to
set up some additional protection before we come back online. The system is fine and no data was breached.[10]
FurNation managed to get enough funds to change its hosted, and the site was then reopened. Shortly after FurNation's 20th anniversary, a 2.0 version of the site was announced in August 5, 2016:
We are gearing up to pull the switch and release version 2.0 of the FurNation website this weekend. During this transition time things will be completly crazy with the site. We may have a little downtime during this weekend as we make adjustments to the cache, server, etc. Please pardon our construction.[11]
Shutdown of FurNation
Unfortunately a few months later the webmaster/admin closed the site the following year, on February 19, 2017. After the closing of the site, the Twitter account of the webmaster @FurNation made some sporadic posts about the site,[12][13] its history, but currently in April 2022 it no longer seems no longer seems to have any sort of connection with furry fandom.
Twitter user @shy_matsi posted a photo of his collection of zines furry, including issue #2 of FurNation Anthology Magazine. The tweet was shared by admin of the site and generated some inquiries from other members about the status of the site and requests that it be restored.[14]
[SYSTEM @FurNation]
I see some FurNation Magazines in that stash! Brings back good memories for me.
[Shy Matsi @shy_matsi]
Omgosh is furnation still around?!!!
[ArmorBones @HipolitoGonz]
No it got shutdown long ago
[Shy Matsi @shy_matsi]
Aww should fwd the domain to a google+ community and get it poppin again! (The free way, till a user base comes in to rock it)
Discussions about possible revival of the site followed with numerous fans and members looking for administrators on other networks. SYSTEM even published a tweet in 2021 promising a comeback, that never happened. While LEO Owens has left links to his accounts in other furry communities.
This is LEO Owens Admin of FurNation, at least for the last couple days it'll be up. It has been a pleasure spending nearly every day for the passed nearly 6 years being a part of this website. When I first joined the site back in 2011 I NEVER thought I would have become a part of it like I had been. I was at the time too timid to even talk to the staff. I didn't have a tablet for my digital art and was still writing comics on paper. I had just gotten out of high school. I've mad lots of friends, and a few enemies. I will remain to be their friends afterwords. I will share with you all my FA https://www.furaffinity.net/user/xiileoiix/ and my twitter https://twitter.com/LEOxOwens it would mean the world to me that if any who desired to contact me watch and or follow me there. I welcome your messages and would love to hear from you always. This site has 6 of the best years of my life and I'll never forget this place.
A group on Telegram called FurMoon was made, but there is no more information about it:
So guys due to a request I have seen I created a group called "FurMoon" on telegram. [...][15]It's important to note this is not intended to be a followup to furnation or something as I was an admin and I do not own the IP of furnation. However, I know that SYSTEM the own as he is a friend of mine, would not mind I use it's icon as a show of respect towards the original site. Now, that being said it's been a while but I'm going to do my best to run the group the same way I administrated the site.
There's a captia bot to prevent bots from getting in, make sure you follow the instructions there so that we can keep the group bot free.
FurNation Content
Notes & References
Notes
References
- ^ "--- FurNation --- (March 1997)". 1997-03-26. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "--- FurNation --- (January 1999)". 1999-01-17. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "FurNation - New Template". 2002-01-24. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "FurNation - FurNation Anthology". 2004-03-24. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ a b c "FurNation - Name Change". 2005-04-07. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "FurPlanet! The Official FurNation Multimedia Online Store!". 2004-07-20. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "FurNation - FurNation Worlds". 2006-04-10. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "(19) FurNation(@FurNation)さん Twitter". 2015-11-13. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "FurNation - DDOS Announcement". 2015-12-01. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "DDOS ATTACK". 2015-10-13. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "FurNation: FN - FurNation". 2016-09-16. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "SYSTEM on Twitter: "I see some FurNation Magazines in that stash! Brings back good memories for me". 2018-09-21. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "SYSTEM on Twitter: "If you like a nice sexy twist on the werewolf myt…". 2020-03-06. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ "Shy Matsi on Twitter: "@HipolitoGonz @FurNation Aww should fwd the do…". 2018-09-21. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.
- ^ FurMoon Telegram Group
- ^ "Furnation Forum". 2007-03-14. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20.