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2012 saw Flayrah double its output – 677 stories from 48 contributors, including 173 from syndication partner In-Fur-Nation. Newsbytes also ramped up, with over 680 submissions (~450 last year).

So what was popular, well-rated, or highly-commented? The answers may surprise you . . .

By far the most visited article concerned the death of Stalking Cat, which drew almost 59,000 visits to the site - close to the front page's 70,000. The Anthropomorphic Research Project's 'brony findings' brought in 8,000, while two more My Little Pony stories (news of Hoof Beat and a season 3 announcement) duked it out with Fred Patten's illustrated fandom retrospective for third-place. Overall, site traffic increased 70% over 2011, and new visits almost doubled.

The pace of discussions increased, too, with over 4800 comments; a massive 471 of them posted to Xanth's arrest over a bestiality video. Next came MC Crumbsnatcher's furry music video (100), Rakuen's proposal for more criticism in furry fandom (98), an investigation of furry fandom's origins in science fiction fandom (with 1970's cosplay photos) (94), Softpaw artist Mizzyam's arrest on child pornography charges (93), and PayPal's crackdown on publishers of erotic literature (80).

Sonious's editorial 'Furries are already well aware of sex and sexuality' also deserves mention, for getting 63 comments in 2012 despite being published back in September 2011. (A poll regarding locking the ratings of old posts was inconclusive.)

Flayrah published many reviews in 2012, with coverage of popular topics such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 and Madagascar 3 all drawing four-figure crowds. But the most popular review was, again, published in 2011: Crossaffliction's critical take on The True Story of Puss'N Boots, which drew almost 6,000 visitors last year. The year also saw a number of interviews, many posted by Isiah Jacobs.

More controversially, an opinion piece ventured to weigh the impact of politics on furries, drawing a sharp counterpoint; most rejected the topic. In Higgs's crime reports, 2012 saw the arrest of Mitch Beiro, and the conviction of 'Alan T. Panda', bringing to a close the long-running saga.

Highly-rated content

Not all liked our feature on the fandom's success with Offbeatr. But almost everyone approved when we poked holes in a story by Christchurch's Press about 'fur fetishists'. Also deemed significant by readers was furry's portrayal within National Geographic Channel's Taboo.

Everyone loves a feel-good story; raising over $20,000 for Fernandos was no exception. While they didn't draw the crowds of the 'Brony survey', our summaries of Anthropomorphic Research Project findings concerning furries vs. fursonas, therians, non-furs & artists and furries vs. therians and otherkin were also well-regarded – as was Ursula Vernon's victory at the Hugo Awards with Digger.

2012 saw many highly-rated videos, including a crayon dragon, German Shepherds abusing police authority, Mamna-chan's visit to Anthrocon, Taylor the transforming duck and sharks on the playground. Fursuiters appeared in a bizarre flash storage promotion and a tandem skydive.

Readers also apprecated Colin McEnroe's furry radio show panel, followed by TV coverage on Fox CT, after the appearance of a fursuiter at a Connecticut library sparked a media frenzy well out of proportion to its impact.

Crowdfunding and new business launches caught many readers' fancy, such as Emoki, providing custom ears for Necomimi, and animated comic-book stories from Narr8. Within the fandom, we covered the incorporation of the American Furry Association, the development of Weasyl, the celebration of Furstivus, and the sale of a piece of artwork for $5500. More sadly, some - such as Elden and PandaGuy - departed from our community.

Fred Patten contributed many reviews for works such as Even the Wingless and Carbonel, the King of the Cats, as well as numerous animation-related shorts. But readers saw his best pieces as the aforementioned furry history retrospective, and extensive coverage of foreign furry novels and talking animals in WW2 propaganda.

Technology-wise, Flayrah expanded to Tumblr and added on-click summaries on Twitter. FPS and FursuitTV episodes were added to our list of latest podcasts (as were several new shows), and our comment rating system was expanded to cover anonymous users.

Lastly, Flayrah won the 2011 Ursa Major Award for Best Magazine - not surprising, given our output in 2011. We'd like to win this year, too! Please nominate us, and tell your friends about Flayrah by linking them here.

(It'd be nice if WikiFur beat the bronies this year, too!)

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