No doubt there are going to be a lot of these today- hell, there were probably even last night.

I met Dragoneer when FA was fairly new. It was just finding its footing, and naturally, furs being what they were, they'd test boundaries. Some would create drama. And a lot of that drama went recorded and talked about on Livejournal, in a community called furry_drama_2. Just about any incident, any disruption that caused a big stir went on over there. As some of it would involve FA and what it allows, Dragoneer and some mods would be over there too. Some had real sticks lodged, but some were remarkably humane and fun to talk with.

I was an early advocate for greater tolerance around anything that would approach the idea of thought crimes- that is, people being punished because of their fetishes or weirdness. And that was a hard line to follow, because some would always want to watch the world burn. I probably somewhere between discussed and argued ideals, terms, and hypocrisies or problems with rules with Dragoneer, some old admins, and a lot of other old-timey furs, some still around, some I've not seen in ages.

As much as we wrangled, Dragoneer and I largely had a respect for each other. He didn't agree with me on everything, some things he did agree with me on and yet as FA aged, he flopped on them. Probably got too tired of too many people who didn't have a good faith interest and just wanted to test the system or aggravate folks.

One of my biggest issues I pushed him over was transparency- I watched the Watchmen early on, some admins were fantastic and fair, others remarkably not. Over time the solution there also became hiding the admins behind a curtain, so you never could see who was doing what. Always thought that was a terrible ripe for abuse as it removed recourse from users- they could be rejected and shut out without much to appeal- and even the appeals could be ignored and rejected.

It was one of my biggest beefs- I felt over time, FA sold out tolerance for sponsors and advertisers and ran roughshod over some people that engaged in things they didn't like. I still feel that way today. I have my issues with FA. And I had them with Dragoneer.

But he was a good guy. He provided us with a place that, despite its flaws, brought so many furs together. Ones who couldn't afford to run off to every con. Artists who were trying to show furs just what they could do. It was one of the larger influences that built this fandom, surviving dozens to hundreds of promises that it wouldn't last a scandal and would shut down. It's remarkably flawed, and I hope those admins behind the curtain understand that there remain problems with their system as it doesn't fully protect good-faith users.

But Dragoneer made it. He sustained it for 18+ years. I cannot count how many people I've met through this site, and he made it largely possible. Who knows how many I would have missed, had this site not been here.

Thanks, 'neer.