First Steps
Hello, I'm ByteBark (You can call me Byte)!
I'm a developer from the United Kingdom, and a relatively new integrator of the furry community, but I've been lurking for long enough.
Let's get to know each other; my job is code, my main hobby is code, and my contribution to my non-code hobbies is code. I've travelled to a few countries but the purpose of that travel is mostly the same, Theme Parks! I don't have any strong music opinions, but I'm more than happy to consume jazz paired with soft lighting and conversations.
What? Why? How? When?
My goal is to build a content sharing platform that is fair and concise in it's actions, with a focus on automation and transparent reporting. We've seen how other platforms chop and change their rules, to appease their own distain for others, or to make a service more profitable.
I want to keep it simple. One set of rules, executed by [mostly] humans, and results published for all to see. My objective is not to build the largest furry social media network but to build one that is fair.
Art and Story are some of the most popular creations this community publishes and consumes, with sites hosting millions of images and words. My focus will be on the simple publishing of content and audience response to start. Post art and stories, and receive comments and love in return.
I aim to have early signups available by October 31st 2024 with the platform accepting its first contributions by 29th November 2024.
Rules and Enforcement
This is a subject which has long plagued the community with controversy, with some services upholding different interpretations of rules, or fabricating guidelines to push out marginalised portions of the community. I will not accept that.
Rules will be defined in a consumable fashion, and reports will target specific rules, with outcomes of reports being published (and anonymised) for everyone to see, and staff to reference in future cases.
One report per rule per post will mean we have a clear view of the moderation scale at hand, and are able to appropriately size our moderation capabilities.
To ease community burden, some rules will be automatically used in reports of certain tags, or combinations of tags, which are pre-determined to breach a rule.
NSFW content will be automatically hidden based on the tags used, and will be unavailable on the logged-out version of the website, or if the user is under the age of 18.
Open Data Initiative
Giving back to the community is very important. Like I said, I'm relatively new here and want to get off on the right paw.
Tags run our world, it's how we find the content we love most, or follow our favourite creators, or curate feeds that are relatively to us.
In 2025, I aim to publish the full list of tags that will be curated by the community, and allow any platform to use them.
My hope is that by allowing other platforms to use the data we curate, we can have an easier time searching for what we love on all platforms or even curating multi-site search results to get content from every niche of the internet.
Infrastructure
Cost is a contributing factor to how services scale and Furriosity is no different. I will always fund a basic working service in one region, but expanding to different regions will be left to the community for better response and load times.
Funding
I will accept no support until there is a stable service and happy users. Not a penny. Nobody should be on the hook in case this doesn't work out other than me.
In the future I do plan on accepting donations through OpenCollective, or a similar service, to support the costs of hosting the platform (expanding into new regions, supporting EU costs), and increasing it's presence (social media content).
If an OpenCollective type system fails to work, some form of ads will need to be added, but I've also got plans for that too.
To start, your voice is more important than any amount of money ever could be, so please spread the word and follow our progress.
Later thoughts
I'd love to support the communities activities more too, with some of the following miscellaneous thoughts for systems:
- Facilitating commission workflows and management, including offering Escrow where possible
- Subscriptions to artists (SFW and NSFW)
- Meetup organisation
- Event badges/collectables
Follow Along
I'll be cross-posting for maximum reach on the websites linked below:
https://bsky.app/profile/furriosity.com
I'll be posting progress images in Discord with official announcements making it to regular social media websites.
I'm all ears, so if you have anything you want to see, or concerns you want addressing, please reach out on any of the platforms above and I will respond.