TexasFurs.org

TexasFurs.org is a portal for furries in Texas or are moving to Texas. TexasFurs was a web forum setup by GibsonFox in May of 2003. During its two year run, TexasFurs.org accumulated around 1,000 members and spawned Texas's first furry convention, Texas Furry Con.


 * Address: http://www.texasfurs.org/
 * Founder: GibsonFox
 * Administrators: ?
 * Ran from/to: May 2003 - May 2005

Unlike many other web forums, TexasFurs.org was democratically run. Moderators were nominated and voted on by all the users.

Controversy
In April 2004, GibsonFox banned a member from the forum for arguing with him about the necessity of changing the forum to require moderator approval for all new registrations. This was widely seen as an abuse of power, and protests from the members eventually resulted in the user's reinstatement, along with GibsonFox transferring administrative control to a democratically-elected group of members. However, other members questioned whether the new administrators had any real power, since as server administrator and owner of the domain, GibsonFox retained absolute control. This concern was not unfounded, as GibsonFox later banned numerous members, including some of the elected administrators, for reasons that are still unclear.

TexasFurs.org shutdown
TexasFurs.org went offline in May of 2005 because GibsonFox lost interest in hosting the community. Despite calls to transfer the current setup to several individuals, he decided it was best the community started over. This decision to start fresh grew from a few vocal critics of the community, primarily those concerned with voter fraud against the purported democratic process. In order to purge the idea of a puppet staff controlled by GibsonFox, he allowed anyone who wished to buy the domain and build a new community to their standards.

The domain was purchased by Mephit, who created a splash page thanking GibsonFox for his time and effort in the community. A link on the page leads to the new community.

The replacement
TexasFurs.org was replaced by Lone Star Furs. The site is owned and administrated by Dhaiul. Several of the former democratically-elected moderators of TexasFurs.org were appointed to equivalent positions on the new site.