It seems people I watch in the fandom seem to have a much higher death rate than other areas of my life. The causes vary, health, accident, suicide…, but it is always good to remember, somebody cares about and and will miss you, accidents happen, never practice risky play alone, and terminal diseases suck. Because of the nature of the fandom though, something is left behind. I though I would take this moment to link to some profiles of members that have died since I’ve been paying attention. Some are creators I watched from afar, some are related to those I watch, and some I didn’t discover until after their deaths. Hopefully if I find the need to add to this list, I will at least have had the courage to say hello.
In alphabetical order and NSFW unless otherwise specified.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/divepup and on twitter @divepup and @palowalf (bondage, CW breath-play). Was watching well before the tumblr purge. His taste in both hobbies and content were nice to watch. Based on comments going around, he seemed to have made a big difference in peoples lives.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dogbomb wholesome suiting (ALS sucks). Some of the most wholesome suiting stories I have ever read. After his diagnosis he did what he could to raise money and awareness. I believe he went on his own terms with medically assisted suicide as he was loosing his ability to walk.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/faithry/ (bondage. The art was from others, the stories are theirs). Most of the art is from Omegaltd who has an account on inkbunny. Aneurysms can happen to anybody.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/felixpath (CW snuff). I’ll be honest, not a big fan of his work, I don’t really like snuff, but the character showed up in many I did enjoy. If my memory is correct, he committed suicide after changing medications. His boyfriend recently purged his own gallery and journals, so I am only going off memory.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/foople (general BDSM themes, writer) Not a lot of stories, but the ones he did write, I really liked.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/jasentamiia body modification/Transformation He had a creative way with the absurd that I think is difficult to match. I enjoyed watching what weird scenario would come up next. Unfortunately his website DeviousTangents is gone, and much of his art and comics with it.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/robertbear Old school various yiff. Art re-posted under https://www.furaffinity.net/user/vawlkee-88/ and some details about him https://dogpatch.press/2018/08/28/interview-robert-hill/ He seems to have made some of the first fursuits, and fetish ones at that. Certainly a unique old school feel to his art and his suits.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/galonodel and https://www.furaffinity.net/user/kyoungblood . Saw each of them in various galleries. Stay safe on the road.
and many others.
I think the fandom probably has the same rate of deaths as any other, but it can often be a very close knit community that encourages openness. As a result I think we feel these deaths a lot more. Often furs display a lot of personal and sexual information on their pages, so it feels like we really knew them at a deep and personal level. Seeing this info after they’ve gone is an odd feeling. It’s kind of beautiful but also very sad.
Rest in peace to all those we’ve lost
I keep trying to think of how to respond to this, and most times I’m coming up short. The more I reflect on it, the more I have to agree with you, especially for those who hold nothing back. The community is small enough, anybody feels like they are just a quick message away.
Yeah - having such a small and open community has a lot of benefits, but also creates a lot of empathy (both a good and bad thing). Seeing someone pass away in the fandom really makes you feel like ‘whoa, that could have been me’. It’s also quite nice that we can leave these little records of ourselves on the internet - raw and unashamed for all they are.
This actually touches pretty closely to a project that I’d like to put together someday. I think it would be really nice to have a site where you could memorialize members of the fandom who have passed away.
There would likely be a lot of details and minutia to work out. There would be dangers of vandalism and malice and the like for sure. I don’t have the answers to that right now.
What I do have is an idea about a site where you can essentially have a picture of the character, and some information about both the character and the person behind it. Maybe a name, if appropriate.
