Dogpatch Press

Help vote for success for the only furry auction site!

For over 20 years, furries have had their own specialized auction sites serving the “Furry Economy”. In 1999 there was Furbid and Furbuy. In 2015 we had Furbuy and The Dealers Den. Now only the last one is standing — and thriving. It may be poised to leap ahead of big corporate sites with an ambitious plan.

The Dealers Den is a furry-owned marketplace that brings outsized benefit to sellers and users. They don’t have to use Etsy, Ebay or Amazon. They can efficiently reach each other within their own niche. It keeps things in the “fandom family” without corporate middlemen and control. Ask users what the site does for them. (“Very surprised and very grateful”: fursuit maker Beauty of the Bass talks about a $14,000 sale.) It makes big support for independent art.

But for any niche community, there are downsides. Keeping things personal and relying on trust can be risky. Anywhere in the fandom, scam sellers can come back under new names, or good sellers can be hurt by false bidding or cheating on pay. It’s hard to scale up for new features — like a verified purchase review system, payment processing, or escrow protection.

Enter the Dealers Den rebuild plan.

Sites like Ebay and Amazon can pivot as slowly as giant ships. But furry fandom is a good lab for experiments. Ask Dealer’s Den admin Vitai Slade. He’s devoted to Bitcoin and blockchain tech that allow decentralized, peer-to-peer markets. In his vision, it’s key to the site (and the fandom’s) future.

These will be features of the new plan (register an account to read the whole thing and vote for it!)

• SALES: “A peer-to-peer system for businesses and individuals to buy/sell merchandise to one another in a verifiable way.”
• CATALOGING: “Tracking ownership of one-of-a-kind costumes, artwork, and merchandise on a public blockchain.” (Like fursuit databases already in use.)
• COMMUNITY: “A social platform and phone app that rewards positive interaction with others and promotes sales.”
• ACCOUNTABILITY: “Built into the platform will be Positive/Negative incentivization… rewards for purchases, achievements for repeated good behavior/order completion, customer/business reviews, and strict penalties for non-payment that attach to each user account.”
• MEDIATION: “an honest and vibrant marketplace… at low-cost and with high security over their funds and identity, while allowing our administrative team to monitor interactions and settle disputes between parties.”

Furries who are native to the internet will probably already be familiar with virtual currency. The specific blockchain tech is on the Cardano platform (info). My browsing saw it ranked next to Bitcoin and Ethereum (I couldn’t name better names.) To my understanding, users would cash in and cash out by exchanging dollars for equivalent tokens that exist in the global blockchain. Tokens would have to use site features, so you have to play fair and can’t just run off with money. One rule is requiring 10% collateral with auction bids, so you can’t do frivolous bidding without paying.

Vote to help make the plan happen — the deadline is October 20!

VOTE HERE AND SHOW THAT FURRIES WANT A FANDOM ECONOMY WITH EXCITING NEW FEATURES. (Add a Kudos number above the title.)

The plan is on Project Catalyst — a Cardano initiative to develop their entire concept. It’s like a crowdfund except all you have to do is vote. The Dealers Den is one of many proposals and Cardano will share millions in funding for those who win approval. I think it’s a test for whether Cardano will get used. THIS IS A RACE FOR APPROVAL BY OCTOBER 20 — DON’T WAIT!

Why join a plan like this? Look at the track record of The Dealers Den. It’s the foremost furry auction site that stays as close to free as possible. And this plan comes with decades of strong fandom growth, that can meet a leading edge of tech.

I’m working with modest knowledge as a non-techie, but can share a critical opinion: I’m not very into cryptocurrency in general. It reminds me of this joke: “imagine if keeping your car idling 24/7 produced solved Sudokus you could trade for heroin.” Wide adoption of Bitcoin raised a problem with excessive energy use. But Cardano uses “proof of stake” math, not “proof of work” like Bitcoin. It takes a fraction of the energy, making faster and more efficient transactions without sacrificing security. This peer-to-peer tech may just keep things in the fandom family and allow market mediation that is otherwise hard to develop.

There’s even an X-Factor on my mind; the power of adult art to help a fandom grow against mainstream judgement. There simply is demand for art that corporations won’t make, and fans serve it to each other. But it’s under threat by corporate power that serves a “war on sex” from conservative lawmakers. Payment processing is withheld, accounts are frozen, communities purged, and laws are changed to suppress it. In 2018, SESTA/FOSTA carved out an exemption to the standard of websites not being liable for adult content posted by users. Now only the biggest can afford compliance. As a result, Tumblr was purged, Craigslist killed its personals section, and furries suffered the loss of their dating site Pounced. Decentralizing could protect these things.

If blockchain tech is applied well, it has potential to raise power and freedom for the fandom.

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