OK, don't hold this against me. It's not THE ultimate, but it might as well be. This will be what I would like to say is what I have seen as of the furry community in general, and some small things here and there to relate to as well as some other things. Some of it may be rambliness, others hopefully really detailed. I don't know how much help it will be, but hey, something like this just might be pretty decent.
OK, let's get one thing clear. ANYONE can think they know what a furry is. Hell, thanks to the 'verse of the net, one can just wiki 'furry' and have a general idea. Well, I must say this is not good enough. Back in 96, I could say "yeah, a general idea is what we want". No, not any more. In this day and age, community cultists know of games, TV shows, movies, and lots of other off beat non-normal/everyday life stuff. Might as well have furry thrown up there too. A general guesstimate of what a furry is/isn't is like guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar at the carnival; you can always have a freak chance of 'Rainmanning' it out and knowing the answer, but unless the prize is the jar itself, you won't have any jelly beans, so, what you know is for waste.
I've had someone recently send me a link to a fur-wiki of what a furry was. ....I thought it was cute the little tyke did his research, but something stepped on my tail hard. And it took me days to finally figure out what it was... If you look up in a dictionary what anthropomorphic is, you'll get it's base definition and the key anchoring of what the furry community is based on. But when you look up something more like a culture, there's that chance of finding a site with any kind of information on it, as cultures (or, rather really, sub-culture) are listed by some general info on user generated sites. This means ANYONE could have written that furry article. Who the hell knows what is said in it? Will it speak of a large majority of the fandom being artists? Will it say all furries are into suit sex? Is there a good chance the article will have a link to X show that had furries on it (CSI, Vanity Fair and such)?
To be a furry, one who is past the noobism, you must first look through and understand, taking your own steps into something to know it. I'm sure people who are therians or vampires or whatever will say that you could be told many answers of what they are and how they live their lives, and this matter is the same when it comes to being a furry. The reason why something so simple has to be explained/experienced better is because the fandom is evolving. I never heard this stuff online too easily, or saw it on the news. I remember seeing less artists and crafts that were truly furry. Stuff had to be accidentally furry. My first furry collective thing were Exxon tiger tails. Unlike now, where you can spend a decent amount of money for large, poofy tails, ears, and lots of other furry swank. Furries back in the day had less connection to others, most where isolated and felt weird, and the artistic ability was low or haltered due to not sharing it with a crowd others could relate with. Difference now? Well, almost any time and place in the US has a furry meet of some kind, Australia has a furry convention in all three top major cities once a year, and Europe has their own meets, some professional, others out of their own pockets, and surprisingly the count of attendance is raising while people are traveling over seas to get to them. And the art crafting has exploded. Drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, suits, clothing, clothing for suits, sculptures, music, avatar building on Second Life...... Let's review.... Furries of old = low in gatherings and stuff made for furry. Now = what *can't* be furry?
So much has changes, so much is added..... When furry had just started out, a general idea would have sewn the community as one. But too muc umbrella'd out, until eventually one area or another 'sploaded out and caught the media's eye, and thus started our whole bad look in the world.
OK, let's say people are open minded and also have had a few months to lurk around, learning about themselves and others instead of jumping blindingly into the furry community.... Now it's time for you to learn the harsh truth.... The furry community is broken into different areas, and no matter what you do, say, or try, it will NOT lump into one community. You could have the unitive and influential powers of Hitler, and still won't unite furries into one thing. The furry community has retro-morphed into what the united states is; it has become a network of many different people, all of whom say they are equal and accepting to others, but yet hypocrisy tears out and starts the dreaded drama, and is worse then what any outsider/furry hater will start.
OK now, say it with me, "The Cow is inevitable. The Cow WILL destroy me.". Remember this phrase. This is a phrase my friends deemed as one of the funniest things I said in a comment I made for people who want to God-mod in DnD or an RP. What this means is if you try and think about cheating/doing something stupid, a cow will fall from the sky, and crush you, killing you. No speed can outrun it. No sword can cut it. The stronger you think you are, the fatter, more milk stuffed it will be to crush every bone, stat, and thought you had untill you are felled. This phrase should come to your mind if you think the furry community will be united as one.
To start off, let's chop the furries into the main sections here, shall we?
The normal furry- (self 'splanitory)
The psudo-furry- Furs who aren't really a fur, and don't have a fursona sometimes, but still enjoy some aspects of anthropomorphic things.
Darth Furry- These are usually the furs who would rather be known to draw/write/like anthropomorphic works, but wish not to be called 'furry'. The word furry has such a negative impact on them, they refuse to be called that.
Fan furry- These are also regular furries, BUT, there is a catch on these ones. They saw the basic idea of furry, not understanding it 100%, and jump strait into the fandom. These are usually annoyingly know-nothing-know-it-all's, generally young folks too, who think the fandom is all about fur, fluids, and inserting slot A into slot B. This group is a pretty big influence on self drama, and bringing the name of furry down.
Zoo-furry- These are the zoophiles, people who are interested in inter-specie relations. These folk are pretty harmless and many can be cool actually, extremely open minded and accepting. Only downsides are 1) they think anthropomorphic creatures are animals, and only them, which defeats the concept of furry, and 2) with so many zoo-furs admitting they like bestiality, well, that too tends to stick onto the furry reputation.
Zen furs- Zen furs are either the neatest people or the most annoying. They KNOW their fur, and will work with it, but are STRICT with what it will and will not do/be drawn/be written in. It will not change much either. Zen furs are furries who treat the anthropomorphic fandom as a spiritual thing. Not 100% close to Therians, but pretty damn close. What the problem is with these is again, some can be the nicest people and are open minded and are willing to look into the world of furry, and others LOATH anything that isn't normal. Fat furs are unhealthy. There are no such things as gryphons, dragons, or whatever. Prejudice in other species. Etc.
Fetish furs- Furries who treat the fandom as one fetish ride. It's just a fetish to them, and can be even a sexual thing. Thus having the majority of strait furs not willing to say they are furs and many believing the fandom is a lifestyle. The furry community has grown up large enough that it is now both a fandom AND a lifestyle, but grouping furs into separate boxes labeled 'fandom' and 'lifestyle' is the best we can do. We can't smoosh both groups together, as, well, it just won't work out X/
Swiss army furs- This is kinda more like me. Furs who are the jack of all trades. I'm an artist, I try to write (but fail D= ), I'm imaginative, accepting, open minded, and besides my fursona being a pudgy fur, but he's open for growing fatter, being inflated, having hyper growth, gender swapping/mixing, specie changing, and other such themes in the fandom. Nothing taken too seriously, but serious enough to not be a nobody character. There are a lot of furs out there who are omni-furs and by far, is what the fandom was what it could have been. But as time goes on, more things are introduced, and more people join up, well, things don't fill out like they should.
...::: The definitioning of "furry" :::...
OK, let's get one thing clear. ANYONE can think they know what a furry is. Hell, thanks to the 'verse of the net, one can just wiki 'furry' and have a general idea. Well, I must say this is not good enough. Back in 96, I could say "yeah, a general idea is what we want". No, not any more. In this day and age, community cultists know of games, TV shows, movies, and lots of other off beat non-normal/everyday life stuff. Might as well have furry thrown up there too. A general guesstimate of what a furry is/isn't is like guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar at the carnival; you can always have a freak chance of 'Rainmanning' it out and knowing the answer, but unless the prize is the jar itself, you won't have any jelly beans, so, what you know is for waste.
I've had someone recently send me a link to a fur-wiki of what a furry was. ....I thought it was cute the little tyke did his research, but something stepped on my tail hard. And it took me days to finally figure out what it was... If you look up in a dictionary what anthropomorphic is, you'll get it's base definition and the key anchoring of what the furry community is based on. But when you look up something more like a culture, there's that chance of finding a site with any kind of information on it, as cultures (or, rather really, sub-culture) are listed by some general info on user generated sites. This means ANYONE could have written that furry article. Who the hell knows what is said in it? Will it speak of a large majority of the fandom being artists? Will it say all furries are into suit sex? Is there a good chance the article will have a link to X show that had furries on it (CSI, Vanity Fair and such)?
To be a furry, one who is past the noobism, you must first look through and understand, taking your own steps into something to know it. I'm sure people who are therians or vampires or whatever will say that you could be told many answers of what they are and how they live their lives, and this matter is the same when it comes to being a furry. The reason why something so simple has to be explained/experienced better is because the fandom is evolving. I never heard this stuff online too easily, or saw it on the news. I remember seeing less artists and crafts that were truly furry. Stuff had to be accidentally furry. My first furry collective thing were Exxon tiger tails. Unlike now, where you can spend a decent amount of money for large, poofy tails, ears, and lots of other furry swank. Furries back in the day had less connection to others, most where isolated and felt weird, and the artistic ability was low or haltered due to not sharing it with a crowd others could relate with. Difference now? Well, almost any time and place in the US has a furry meet of some kind, Australia has a furry convention in all three top major cities once a year, and Europe has their own meets, some professional, others out of their own pockets, and surprisingly the count of attendance is raising while people are traveling over seas to get to them. And the art crafting has exploded. Drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, suits, clothing, clothing for suits, sculptures, music, avatar building on Second Life...... Let's review.... Furries of old = low in gatherings and stuff made for furry. Now = what *can't* be furry?
So much has changes, so much is added..... When furry had just started out, a general idea would have sewn the community as one. But too muc umbrella'd out, until eventually one area or another 'sploaded out and caught the media's eye, and thus started our whole bad look in the world.
******
...::: The Umbrella Idea :::...
OK, let's say people are open minded and also have had a few months to lurk around, learning about themselves and others instead of jumping blindingly into the furry community.... Now it's time for you to learn the harsh truth.... The furry community is broken into different areas, and no matter what you do, say, or try, it will NOT lump into one community. You could have the unitive and influential powers of Hitler, and still won't unite furries into one thing. The furry community has retro-morphed into what the united states is; it has become a network of many different people, all of whom say they are equal and accepting to others, but yet hypocrisy tears out and starts the dreaded drama, and is worse then what any outsider/furry hater will start.
OK now, say it with me, "The Cow is inevitable. The Cow WILL destroy me.". Remember this phrase. This is a phrase my friends deemed as one of the funniest things I said in a comment I made for people who want to God-mod in DnD or an RP. What this means is if you try and think about cheating/doing something stupid, a cow will fall from the sky, and crush you, killing you. No speed can outrun it. No sword can cut it. The stronger you think you are, the fatter, more milk stuffed it will be to crush every bone, stat, and thought you had untill you are felled. This phrase should come to your mind if you think the furry community will be united as one.
To start off, let's chop the furries into the main sections here, shall we?
The normal furry- (self 'splanitory)
The psudo-furry- Furs who aren't really a fur, and don't have a fursona sometimes, but still enjoy some aspects of anthropomorphic things.
Darth Furry- These are usually the furs who would rather be known to draw/write/like anthropomorphic works, but wish not to be called 'furry'. The word furry has such a negative impact on them, they refuse to be called that.
Fan furry- These are also regular furries, BUT, there is a catch on these ones. They saw the basic idea of furry, not understanding it 100%, and jump strait into the fandom. These are usually annoyingly know-nothing-know-it-all's, generally young folks too, who think the fandom is all about fur, fluids, and inserting slot A into slot B. This group is a pretty big influence on self drama, and bringing the name of furry down.
Zoo-furry- These are the zoophiles, people who are interested in inter-specie relations. These folk are pretty harmless and many can be cool actually, extremely open minded and accepting. Only downsides are 1) they think anthropomorphic creatures are animals, and only them, which defeats the concept of furry, and 2) with so many zoo-furs admitting they like bestiality, well, that too tends to stick onto the furry reputation.
Zen furs- Zen furs are either the neatest people or the most annoying. They KNOW their fur, and will work with it, but are STRICT with what it will and will not do/be drawn/be written in. It will not change much either. Zen furs are furries who treat the anthropomorphic fandom as a spiritual thing. Not 100% close to Therians, but pretty damn close. What the problem is with these is again, some can be the nicest people and are open minded and are willing to look into the world of furry, and others LOATH anything that isn't normal. Fat furs are unhealthy. There are no such things as gryphons, dragons, or whatever. Prejudice in other species. Etc.
Fetish furs- Furries who treat the fandom as one fetish ride. It's just a fetish to them, and can be even a sexual thing. Thus having the majority of strait furs not willing to say they are furs and many believing the fandom is a lifestyle. The furry community has grown up large enough that it is now both a fandom AND a lifestyle, but grouping furs into separate boxes labeled 'fandom' and 'lifestyle' is the best we can do. We can't smoosh both groups together, as, well, it just won't work out X/
Swiss army furs- This is kinda more like me. Furs who are the jack of all trades. I'm an artist, I try to write (but fail D= ), I'm imaginative, accepting, open minded, and besides my fursona being a pudgy fur, but he's open for growing fatter, being inflated, having hyper growth, gender swapping/mixing, specie changing, and other such themes in the fandom. Nothing taken too seriously, but serious enough to not be a nobody character. There are a lot of furs out there who are omni-furs and by far, is what the fandom was what it could have been. But as time goes on, more things are introduced, and more people join up, well, things don't fill out like they should.
