by Michael Campbell

As one of BF's founders, I would like to say that this is officially NOT a good idea. Like punk rock, Burned Fur was something that arrived when it was needed, made the noise that needed to be made, lived out it's alloted span, and should be allowed to rest in peace.

This does NOT mean however that a LJ community dedicated to fixing the many problems that still exist in the furry community is necessarially a bad idea. Although some headway has been made in some key areas (the fandom's relationship with the press, for example) There are still a lot of areas that need some serious work:

For example:

THE LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM. Just about anyone who has ever comissioned art from some furry artist somewhere has a horror story, myself included. On the other side of the fence, almost every artist has a horror story about some dickbutt publisher that ripped them off. This all leads to a lot of hurt feelings, bitter artists, and general loss of good karma all around. Something needs to be done about this, and soon.

THE OVERALL LOW QUALITY OF FURRY ARTWORK. Ever wondered why few people outside 'furry' publishers publish furry stuff? It's the simplest reason in the world: Furry Comics Don't Sell. And why don't they sell? Because the general consensus among the mainstream world is that furry comics suck. And why? Could it be because most furry comics DO suck? Let's face some ugly truths here: Most of the material from the so-called 'hot' furry artists (Terrie Smith, Michelle Light, etc) wouldn't even get their foot in the door of a conventional comic publisher if they were basing it solely on quality. I'm sorry, but when I see better art from an issue of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG as cranked out by the hacks at Archie than I do from miss $500-a-print lady, something is very wrong here...

DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE/ABUSE: I realize that a lot of us are adults, and as such don't have a problem with knocking back a few to relax (I personaly don't, but hey, that's my choice.) And I can even understand the need for some people to take little magic pills: Hey, you wanna run the risk of permanently damaging your health and getting in trouble with the law, that's your business. But when you do it as part of a community, or at an event that supposed to be representative OF said community, it becomes the community's business. And with the new 'rave laws' on the books, this could be a very serious issue in the near future.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PRESS: How many times do we have to say this: If someone with reporter's notes asks you what the word 'yiff' means, the correct response is "I don't know what you're talking about."?