Recently, in an effort to make my voice singular with all the other voices of outrage crying out against the sell-out of Fur Affinity to IMVU I submitted the same chain protest image that has been popping up across FA from account to account, and within 3 hours this image had been removed. It was removed, and the reason given by the admins of FA, the admins, by the way, that are now nameless because Dragoneer had so many resign that it was an embarrassment to keep the staff page up and if you go there now you see a sickeningly cheerful message saying "pardon out dust..." It was removed on the grounds that it "lacked artistic merit" Which apparently is actually a formal part of the Terms Of Service for this site. That something can lack "Artistic Merit"

Let me ask you THIS. Of what RIGHT do the Admins of Fur Affinity have to determine what type of image has "Artistic Merit" and what historical or traditional standard by which FA claims to adhere to do they use to make this determination?

Let me go back further, for this is not the first time that FA has removed my images relating to IMVU, nor is it the first time they have done so for others, nor is it going to be the last. In the beginning I uploaded an avatar I had made, that others are still using, and then uploaded that same image as a submission. This image used the actual IMVU logo and it was taken down, but the TOS that FA cited for its removal was not that it was copywritten, for I had altered it with a large and defiant red X. No, it cited its removal as being for the assumption that I had not made it or that it had not been made for me. Specifically: “Acceptable Upload Policy: Section 2.6 - Content that was neither made by nor for the uploader is prohibited.” Now, I want to propose two things. The first being, that if the current Administration and whoever is behind them at IMVU is either not competent enough or not willing to enforce it accurately, and instead merely use it as a means of suppression, then what obligation do we have to follow it? Secondly, That if the current FA administration and IMVU doesn't even have the self respect to enforce their own copywrite, then how on earth are we supposed to buy their line and believe that they have any attention, will, or capability to enforce ours!

This isn't even the most shameful part of this blatant suppression of our discontent. No, the most shameful comes after I submitted a Trouble Ticket declaring that I had in fact made the image, and the response that I got was a complete dodging of that point with no acknowledgement, and the image stayed removed. My trouble ticket by the way, was answered within 20 minutes. Me, little HemmsFox with maybe 100 followers gets my anti-IMVU ticket responded too while some very prolific artists within this Fandom still have some still outstanding from 5 years ago!

And then, immediately after they "resolve" the trouble ticket, they removed the screenshot that I had posted of the notice of the removal of the first image citing "No screenshots allowed." Go into search, and search Second Life, hell, search IMVU, and you will see screenshots of both games, other games, peoples desktops, and more!

So the most shameful part, which I had touched upon, isn't any of this. It was a small phrase at the foot of the trouble ticket note. "Some Vent Art is allowed." Vent art. Vent. To use such a phrase as "vent", a phrase which in todays society is associated with the long prattling futile frustrations of an office worker or retail associate as they come home unfulfilled. Petty gripes with small insignificant problems. The usage of this phrase supposes that our very real concerns, unanswered questions, and our volatile outrage at the disrespect shown to us is of a nature that is insignificant and inconsequential, and that by extension WE are insignificant and inconsequential. This also supposes that we have no intention to make our grievances acknowledged or fixed, and that we have no intention of either undermining their efforts or standing up with our community for our self-respect!

And for such a piece of "Vent Art" To stand accused of lacking "Artistic Merritt" I rebutte that artistic merit can not be defined, it is not quantifiable, or measurable, but for the impact it has, and I further argue that the impact of that image and the images like these are of the most important impact that this site had ever known, and perhaps its full impact has yet to be felt. I ask what business such language that permits the takedown of art for lacking "Artistic Merit" has being in the formal semi-legal documents of the TOS of a site built by the Furry Fandom, the one Fandom beholden to no one but itself, a Fandom based on the progression of an art form that breaks barriers and seeks new ground! A Fandom built on the subjective interpretation and relationship built between ourselves and our innermost desires expressed in an artform of our choosing! That phrase "Artistic Merit" does not belong there! It belongs there only to be used as "We the administration do not like this and we are taking it down!" And that administration isn't even ours anymore! For now the "Artistic Merit" of our lifeblood, our purpose, and the realization of our dreams on paper are to be determined whether they are artistically valid, i.e., profitable by a company that not only has no understanding of what it means to be a Furry, but has no interest!

To the very moral foundation of our enterprise this growing conflict will reach. Faster and faster, each and every day we see only more transgressions, and then more silence. This may be a case isolated to me, and to most this may sound like the whining of an angry user sad and vengeful about his art taken down, but I put these images up and I put these speeches up for the sole purpose of expressing the deeper meaning of what is happening before our eyes. You may thing FA isn't the entire Fandom. You may think that we are all jumping up and down over nothing. You may even think that we ought to be silenced. But you're not a Furry if you don't think art deserves respect, and above all things one thing is clear. Its not being respected.