BootedFurs

July 27, 2024

BootedFurs is a community-driven web portal for furs who are also interested in boots and leather. It was founded as a standalone web site in 2010 by Cody Denton, as a follow-on to an earlier 2009 effort by Dylan Rinald to start a similarly themed group on Yahoo! Groups. Membership is free, and members range from those with only a slight interest, to those with a strong fetish for boots and/or leather.

History
On September 23, 2009, Dylan Rinald started a Yahoo! Group called BootedFurries and sent out invitations to a few friends known to be interested in that niche. Cody Denton, who had several years of experience running web sites, was asked to be the assistant administrator. Unfortunately because of the rather specialized topic and small membership, the group never reached critical mass to be self-sustaining.

On December 29, 2009, Cody Denton registered the domain name "bootedfurs.com" with the intention to launch a next-generation web community, not limited by the original group format. The original site went live on February 15, 2010, as version 1.0 Beta. Unfortunately the proprietary software used to power the site was plagued with errors, and Cody quickly made the decision to switch to a completely new provider and an Open Source software platform. On February 23, 2010, version 2.0 Beta was released on the BoonEx Dolphin Community Builder platform, allowing members greater flexibility to communicate, collaborate, and share. Also in version 2.0, Cody moved the site to a different web host with more liberal content policies, thus permitting adult content (within certain guidelines) for the first time.

On July 8, 2010, Dylan accepted a position as a moderator, joining the volunteer team of Mishi, DodgerPup, and Proxy. This appointment also brings the BootedFurs community full circle, by bringing the talent of the original founder back to the creative team.

Future plans
A gift shop / web store is being developed for release in 3rd Quarter, 2010. Many of the items for sale in the store will be exclusive to BootedFurs and created by artists within the furry community.

An online trading post or "swap shop" for members to buy, sell, and exchange items is also under development.

Current status
As of 12 September 2010, the site is temporarily offline. The site's administrator, Cody Denton, cites problems with the Dolphin community platform as a major factor. A search is underway for an improved platform.

In the interim, members of the community can keep up with happenings by +watching the Fur Affinity group "BootedFurs."