To be clear from the start: I don't wish to either start drama, nor get myself in trouble on Furaffinity. I'm simply going to mention and discuss things I've been seeing or hearing from a lot of users recently, and wish to know what other people know and think on the matter. I'm posting this because I am literally mind blown by some of the news that has been circulating, and there are actually things which I simply can't believe are true.

No, this is not another complaint about the IMVU deal! At this stage I don't foresee any major issues or drastic changes caused by IMVU having bought Furaffinity, although I'm still skeptical and ready for negative side effects long term. My journal is about the rules on FA, and the way they seem to have spun out of control... since long before the IMVU deal and getting worse by the day. There has recently been a wave of users complaining about their comments and journals being censored or themselves getting banned, for things they are saying or for posting links the FA staff doesn't agree with.

A few days ago, someone I watch got close to being banned for having links to their Tumblr page in their journal signature, because the admins didn't like some pictures they found there. She mentioned having to edit all of her journals to remove the links, but thankfully she managed to save her account. The icing on the cake came today however... when I've come across rumors of FA staff permanently banning people who are publicly criticizing the IMVU move, under the reason that their comments are being disruptive. More than that, it's said that the Furaffinity administrators now follow people across the internet and ban them on FA if they find negative comments about FA on other websites.

http://www.sofurry.com/view/830711
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6600728/
http://twitter.com/Rowedahelicon/status/579501193560473600
http://twitter.com/tjsynkral/status/579826287163744256
http://twitter.com/tjsynkral/status/579826716064944129
http://twitter.com/tjsynkral/status/579827006512046080
[UPDATE] http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16092423/

Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on here?! I have seen a lot of scary things on FA over the years, but even I cannot believe this right now. There has virtually never been a website on this internet taking censorship to such an unthinkable level. I mean sure, if someone posted comments encouraging terrorism or talking about planning to commit a crime, deleting them and warning the user makes perfect sense... but banning people for what they are talking about, or for linking to their profile on another website? Has everyone literally lost their minds?!

Since the announcement about IMVU buying FA was posted, many people deleted their gallery and decided to move away from FA. I haven't and don't plan to do this for the same reason... nor am I the type to say "boo-hoo-hoo I'm leaving this website" for some stupid reason then come back an hour later. But if this is proven to be true and FA has really taken censorship to a fanatical level, I will slowly begin switching to an alternative. In fact I already started preparing for a move, and registered on the other furry galleries where I'm now watching all FA users I could find... although I haven't taken any definite decision yet.

I simply cannot use a website where the administrators are acting like witch hunters and start an outright war against their own community, and you are literally afraid to talk or think openly. I understood many things over the years, but this is unacceptable! What's next? The Furaffinity staff punishing users because they were bullies in grade school? Or because they wrote "FA sucks" in a comment on Youtube? If this is the mentality based on which the site is ran, I am seriously expecting this to start happening as well someday.