How did you end up in this fandom and what makes you stay?

[Troj]

*I've always been interested in and awed by nature in general, and animals in particular. I've been an avid watcher of nature shows and a voracious reader of nature magazines and biology books since I was a wee bairn.

*I've always loved stories, films, comics, and TV shows involving anthros. I'd argue that there are many stories that you just can't tell as effectively or as compellingly with human beings, as you can with animals.

*On a whim, offered to be the mascot for an event back in college, and fell in love with it. Thus was born a passion for fursuiting.

*I've always found costumed characters delightful and fun, and getting into fursuiting myself only served to deepen my respect and appreciation for mascots and fursuiters in general.

*The people I've met thus far have been super-cool and super-interesting. This year, I finally decided to attend my first furry convention, and I'm very glad I did! Met some awesome folks. Seeing Youtube videos of people like Bucker Fuskyote, Uncle Kage, and Mangusu finally convinced me that I wasn't going to be venturing into a den of over-sexed, under-socialized creepers who were going to yiff me to death.

*Just from a psychological and anthropological standpoint, I find the whole subculture absolutely fascinating. I'm really interested in the whole question of identity, and furries play with identity in a way I find endlessly intriguing.

So, basically, enough of the dots got connected over time, to the point where I finally had to say, "Fine, screw it, I'm a furry. Happy now?"

Dr. Strangevark, or How I Stopped Worrying, and Learned to Love the Fur.

 

[Bulveye]

I've always liked acting/improv but never really had the time to practice it or become good at it. I also like weird shit and things that are adorable (although I'll never admit that in public). So I saw some fursuiting videos on youtube and decided to go to MFF last year to check it out. It looked fun but I also heard horror stories of people shitting in diapers and leaving them in hallways and other terrible stuff. I wanted to make sure that those people were a minority and I wasn't going to be associating myself with a bunch of people with really weird fetishes. Everything went alright besides some really socially awkward guy sitting directly next to me and coughing on me. Suiting looked as fun as I thought it would so I ordered a suit! Still waiting on it.

 

[slashlife]

i have been an elder scrolls fanatic ever since morrowind, and i was ALWAYS a kajiit. when i was in middle school, i had a music teacher who's daughter is 2 years older. when i started high school, we became friends, and she introduced me to the fandom (well, she actually just talked about it, and i looked it up, and took it from there, so she doesn't even know i'm a furry)

i still only play as the khajiit.

 

[Mighty_Mohawk_Monster]

I'M DESPERATE!!!

 

[Tyrbis]

I'M DESPERATE!!!

You are looking for a boyfriend or something?

 

[Mighty_Mohawk_Monster]

You are looking for a boyfriend or something?

chicks dig rainbows right....?

 

[Saiko]

This topic sounds familiar....

 

[Riho]

chicks dig rainbows right....?

I loooooovve briiiighht colors
*mesmerized*

 

[Golden]

I don't really know. I was always artistic, and I was way into cartoons as a kid. I actually heard about the fandom from encyclopedia dramatica, and I guess I stay because its nice to interact with people with whom I share a common interest.

 

[Calemeyr]

Around early 2005, I got into the fandom because suiting looked fun. Now I've settled on an idea for a suit, likely from Artslave. It'll be of a character I'm planning to write a story about.

I stayed in the fandom because I learned not all furries are manchildren. Many are, but not all. Some furries are even female. :V

Hell, this fandom got me to be more creative, and I'll thank it for that. Here's my restrictions on my involvement: I won't become too much of a fanboy, because fanboys annoy me, and becoming something of self-annoyance is ironically horrifying. Also I feel being too much of a fan limits original content. And I'm not going to treat my involvement as something around which to build my identity. What I produce in the fandom, however...that'll be something to define me.

As artistry is a means of expression, creating original work not bound to some TV series or movie can really help one, well, express oneself.

Also I like dragons and sergals, and anything in between.

 

[Not-a-DJ]

"How did you end up in this fandom"

Webcomics.

"and what makes you stay?"

... Um. Art I suppose? (And by that I mean the clean somewhat cartoony kind of art that got me into it in the first place.)

 

[nereza]

what brought me here ..
I been a cosplayer and live action role player for years it was only a matter of time before I found this community and got hooked long story short.

(long story)
I found out about them at anime north I loved the art form and the charters and decided to join a form not this one .. the from was small and inviting and extremely friendly and helped to to learn what a furry is about, and every thing behind the amazing community of people and artist, I started drawing more antho art and I started getting request and trades and commission though my art, it horned me that people were interested in my art so I did just that and though the years actually got meany commissions and trades.
at the time I was all ready going to anime north as was meany other furs on our site so I personally planed a meet at amine north to meet up with somewhat local furs, I meet up with them and became a more of a leader rather then a follower and made meany life long friends we shared laughter we played we talked it was awesome to find more people like me people with similar tastes and personal love for animals creature and anthropomorphic designing (and at one point even found love), the site then divided into two separate sites one with one of my good friends from the original community witch I followed and supported into becoming one of the moderators for the site though it didn’t last forever not because it didn’t work out at all but because of technical issues. but I didn’t mind just being a regular member, I would still join in the efforts to aversive our site at cons ect, by this time I was a full fledged furry with not a chance in hell of going back and I was doing decently well with commissions or at least more then I ever would or have gotten though other sites like deviant art, I became more confident and outgoing thanks to the community and helped me undercover more about my self and my fursona along the way .. before the furry community I was somewhat shy and quiet since the furry community I found my voice I'm more talkative then ever I have tons of amazing friends and acquaintances and I don’t think I ever be leaving I'm here to stay.
By the way the community I was mentioning was ...
http://www.ontariofurs.com/ (the new site)
http://www.ontariofurries.ca/ (the old site)
I will forever be a geek for life weather its furry, cosplay, steam punk, Renaissance, fantasy, or any other community I will forever be a geek for life. Noting can ever change that...
Also if you read all this holly shit you devise a cookie!

 

[CynicalCirno]

I liked werewolves ever since I started playing RPGs and MMOs a few years back. After being a miserable lonely guy with nobody to share the werewolf love, I decided to join a Gaia online clan. It was then apparent to me that there's a whole community for that. I spent about a year in that clan and chatting with many furries over YouTube, at least when it still was a community website, and then decided to look for furry forums in order to discuss memes.

 

[BRN]

Porn. Porn.

actually to be more genuine it's the indiviudal people I met who I'm really fond of now, the impromptu romances and the occasional fling, the abundance of creative energy, and it's pretty fuckin' easy to meet people when you're this world-famous

 

[Dreaming]

I remember... it was June 2009 and I was being a retarded mid-teener in an asexual chatroom. I remember tabbing out for something and came back later on, they were linking all these anthro art pictures and stuff and calling it "Furry art", obviously I had absolutely no idea what they meant by that

I'm not exactly sure how it played out after that... I either asked what it meant, or said something along the lines of "That's pretty cute", I'm guessing the latter since I recall them replying with "omg you're a furry omg omg" and flooding me with examples of good and bad Furry artwork ripped straight from Google Images. After that? I just Googled it and found Furtopia, and I was introduced to the rest of the fandom through that

What keeps me here? If you play it right, there truly is a good side to the fandom. Good art, nice people, 90% clean

 

[Tigercougar]

What got me in the fandom? Cartoon animals.

What keeps me in the fandom? Cartoon animals. No amount of furry drama will get me to dislike it.

 

[Troj]

What got me in the fandom? Cartoon animals.

What keeps me in the fandom? Cartoon animals. No amount of furry drama will get me to dislike it.

Righto. The community around the interest is a separate entity from the interest itself. If you're passionate about something, you shouldn't let the turkeys get you down. (That saying potentially takes on new meaning in the furry community, doesn't it?)

 

[toddf-alt]

I'd be lying if I didn't say the porn played a pivotal role in becoming a furry. TMIFor some reason, it made my other fetishes disappear entirely; so I'm not complaining./TMI
I stay because of the porn, and the fact that there are a lot of interesting people here who DON'T talk about it. Two years ago, I thought you all fit the overweight man-child stereotype; and that furriness consumed all of your waking life. thorinneverhaveibeensowrong.jpg. You're all very diverse people that I enjoy getting along with and talking to; And I feel I owe you all a sincere apology for having judged you so rashly.

 

[BigwiggingAround]

An interest in traditional animation and the cartoon animals often included in it led me to the fandom, and the access to great art I can learn from (re-learning to draw here) makes me stay.

 

[Toshabi]

Autistic furfags make me stay.

 

[Stripeypants]

When I went to a furry convention, I found out there were a bunch of people that liked cartoons and stories I liked, as well as people interested in nature and science.

I stick around because of art.

 

[Joey]

I stick around because I can deal with it's shortcomings and enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Tabasco]

I've loved sci-fi/fantasy my whole life, so after gaining Internet access it was only a matter of time before something led me here. I stayed for awhile not only because I was genuinely fascinated by the art, but because I was lonely and enjoyed the easy company of online community and roleplay. School and my family were shit, so it was a nice escape. After 5-6 years, I wound up not relating to anyone or being too interested in most of the content so I slowly stopped visiting regularly. Not that I'm more social now or anything, I just feel better about it and have the option of comfortably going out when I want to.

 

[Furcade]

I have liked anthropomorphic animals since forever. Found furry porn on the internet, and consequently, found out about the fandom. I found the fandom and the hobby to be quite interesting, and here I am.
I stayed because I have nothing better to do :V. And because it's fun.

Yep, this. Except less ":V" after the "nothing better to do" part. This forum is actually really awesome, by the way. You guys rock.

Autistic furfags make me stay.

What's with the autistic furfags thing? Do people think furries are inherently autistic or somethin'? Maybe I don't want to know...

 

[TeenageAngst]

What's with the autistic furfags thing? Do people think furries are inherently autistic or somethin'? Maybe I don't want to know...

When I think of sperglord turbofedorabeards, furries come in just a hair higher than bronies and the waifu crowd. This doesn't say so much about furries as it does about how god awful the brony fandom has become.