[POLL]Has the fandom changed in worse or in better over the years?

[Tahr_Yrre]

Basically, the title, if you vote please give also an explanation for it.

I'll start:
I voted WORSE, the reason is pretty much talking about the community side.
About 7 years ago, you could see users and artists chat, talk, discuss without problems, meanwhile, right now there seems to be an invisible wall that is dictated by how popular you are.
Sort of like high school.
And I guess a big part of it it's because big artists that have a business nowadays even have a high fear of cancel culture in the fandom where everything gets out of control pretty quickly.
It's pretty hard to make new friends because of close circles of 3-4 friends, I noticed that even on discord, small groups of friends sometimes interact in very meme-y ways without much meaning behind, but after that return to their small circle.

I feel like the community is becoming way too inclusive and judgemental starting with these points: -Fursona, Quality of arts you can afford- personality and all that seems to fade into the background, and I'm noticing that sometimes I'm guilty of that too.

The artistic part has gotten much BETTER, quality, prices you can always find what you are looking for at various prices, the only downside is that a lot of artists now hide their arts behind sites like Patreon/Gumroad that didn't exist before, which I understand since... It's their job


TLDR: Relationships have become worse and high-school like while the artistic side of the fandom has gotten MUCH better.

 

[KimberVaile]

I despise what Twitter and social media did to the fandom. Cause apparently you are a bad person for saying the f word 10 years ago.
Not too pleased with the direction in terms of social status. I especially hate the over inclusiveness but that was always there, it's only now that stuff comes to light that there are shitbags like Sangie and Kero being shielded. Can't comment on artist interaction though, don't really try to reach out to them, and don't really care too. I do have some reservations about some potential arrogance on their part I suppose

 

[TyraWadman]

Personally, I've never had good and long-lasting relationships formed online. I've always been proactively trying to find my place but of course, it ends up with me basically trying to be something I'm not, realizing it, and moving on.

Its been this way since I joined in 2010 and still is now. People want to ride the high and be entertained. Very few actutally enjoy being down on earth and just discussing things, and of course there are the landslide of people that will take a sneeze as a personal attack just because they happen to feel that they fit the bill on some way.

I feel the community has gotten better. Its no longer just one thing and diversity can be great. I prefer it since, a lot of the time, I don't even care for whatever is trending. I'm here to create, not to fap. So I often favorite things that make me chuckle or something artistic that I liked about it (lines, colour palettes, etc).

Cancel culture has always been a thing. Its just being sensationalized nowadays because it gets more views. People have always liked drama and will always do anything to incite it.

Things are much less cliquey and you can breathe. There will always be pockets of cliques for sure, but at least you no longer have to worry about mods and their friends essentially circling you, waiting for you to prove your worth to them. That's what people can do privately on discord! XD

In a lot of ways the art has gotten better, but that probably has a lot to do with every artists improvement over the past ten years! The downside is we now have to deal with more scammers and impersonation more than ever.

 

[Rimna]

Honestly? For the worse. Earlier this year I deleted my old forum account because I didn't want to be associated with the fandom. It's(the fandom) become home to extremists who don't want to accept the idea that different people may hold different believes and views, thus fighting till their dying breath to get "the last word". It gets really old after a while, and ignoring and blocking people doesn't help since their shit keeps getting brought up everywhere all the time.

 

[KimberVaile]

Honestly? For the worse. Earlier this year I deleted my old forum account because I didn't want to be associated with the fandom. It's(the fandom) become home to extremists who don't want to accept the idea that different people may hold different believes and views, thus fighting till their dying breath to get "the last word". It gets really old after a while, and ignoring and blocking people doesn't help since their shit keeps getting brought up everywhere all the time.

Fucking preach.

 

[ZalexZTK]

I think this question isn't going to have a straightforward answer. It's kind of hard to determine how we as individuals think this community is because most of us aren't necessarily in it. I agree with these social walls and being popular vs. being one of thousands with a name or face outside the circle, and that leaves us with our community being the people outside the circle.

Solely based off my experiences as an outer-circle gay guy (relevant to my opinion, not trying to flex my preferences), I can say that this community is not in a good spot. Every single furry I've met has essentially disappeared. Not one has stayed, and I've summed it up to two points:

• You have something they want and you gave it to them
• You don't have something they want and they realized it

Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone. However, I've gone through (and this is just an estimated number) at the least 50 male furries throughout my span of being a furry, and each and every one has followed these two points. That's terrible.

The absolute most common thing they want that you can give them are pictures of yourself naked. If you don't have giant flags all over yourself stating you do not partake in sending pictures of that nature, 80% of the time that's what the guy is after. Even then with those flags you're still going to get the people who don't care to read anything about you. It's so bad, some people might choose to give out their pictures just so they can filter out the people who feign interest, in the hopes of finding someone they can get to know. After all is said and done, once your pictures have been given, either some chatter will be given (usually compliments like "you're so hot") and that'll be it, or they may come back a few more times for more before eventually fizzling out. They always fizzle out. The big proc is having any sort of nsfw art with your fursona. Having any of it somehow makes people assume you're into getting raunchy with anyone.

The second point is split between standing firm on not sending nsfw pictures and when a guy comes to you with interest in starting a relationship. I've had one furry come back from the dead a year later with sudden interest in getting to know me. Not long after spending maybe a day with me did they reveal they were interested in dating someone, implying that I could be a candidate. As you might imagine, this didn't sit well, and lo and behold when they realized I wasn't it they went back to their grave. Hell I met a furry in a graphics card server months ago, they went on to ask for nudes, and after denying them they died. You can put "no rp" in your bio, get some cat dude making puns every sentence and putting their rp asterisks on you, and when you don't reciprocate POOF, they're gone.

Imagine people sucking up to you to get what they want, intentionally or not, and leaving when it doesn't go their way. After 50 times, you'd think I'm a puddle on the floor. I'm a strong guy, I've come back from worse, but for the normal furry, this can destroy confidence, create anxiety, and cause depression. This is not okay, and it's the norm amongst guys in this outer-circle.

Tell me this isn't a problem. How is it so hard to make friends in a community that advertises itself as open and welcoming?

Now let's be more realistic. Obviously not every single male furry I've interacted with has behaved this way. A lot of furries have trouble keeping a conversation, or have one or two hobbies that make it difficult to diversify topics. That's the most common problem I've experienced in the community, and while it sucks as someone looking to make friends, I can understand that not everyone can be as "fun" as I can. A lot of furries suffer from things like depression and social anxiety. However, when 30/50 (estimated, probably a bit lower) of these furries are messaging you because they want in your pants, are desperate for companionship, spend so much time with you and cut off unexpectedly, when you complain about yet another furry to your non-furry friend and even they start to agree that furries suck, there is a clear problem with the quality of people in the community. I know nothing about you ladies in the community, but damn the men suck here. Thanks for watching, like and subscribe.

 

[Tahr_Yrre]

You basically described the whole furry fandom, but I never encountered people adding me just for nudes so far.

 

[Regret]

I definitely feel like the increasing politicization and use of social media such as twitter has had a profoundly negative impact on the social aspect of the fandom. No longer do people bond over their similarities, but crucify each other for minute differences. Artistically it seems about the same as it was ten years ago, though the various styles come and go, but I do feel like the quality of fursuits has improved.

Overall, I feel that the fandom has gotten worse, though that can be a result of me getting older, rose tinted glasses for the past where things seemed more "innocent" and "fun," or my multi-year absence from interacting with the fandom which allowed for a more stark contrast.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

I put "IDK" as there are multiple reasons why I don't look like I engage a whole lot with the fandom.

Social interactions are NOT a strong suit of mine and will never be.

 

[O.D.D.]

It always had its issues but it's gotten much, much worse.

 

[The_biscuits_532]

I think this question isn't going to have a straightforward answer. It's kind of hard to determine how we as individuals think this community is because most of us aren't necessarily in it. I agree with these social walls and being popular vs. being one of thousands with a name or face outside the circle, and that leaves us with our community being the people outside the circle.

Solely based off my experiences as an outer-circle gay guy (relevant to my opinion, not trying to flex my preferences), I can say that this community is not in a good spot. Every single furry I've met has essentially disappeared. Not one has stayed, and I've summed it up to two points:

• You have something they want and you gave it to them
• You don't have something they want and they realized it

Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone. However, I've gone through (and this is just an estimated number) at the least 50 male furries throughout my span of being a furry, and each and every one has followed these two points. That's terrible.

The absolute most common thing they want that you can give them are pictures of yourself naked. If you don't have giant flags all over yourself stating you do not partake in sending pictures of that nature, 80% of the time that's what the guy is after. Even then with those flags you're still going to get the people who don't care to read anything about you. It's so bad, some people might choose to give out their pictures just so they can filter out the people who feign interest, in the hopes of finding someone they can get to know. After all is said and done, once your pictures have been given, either some chatter will be given (usually compliments like "you're so hot") and that'll be it, or they may come back a few more times for more before eventually fizzling out. They always fizzle out. The big proc is having any sort of nsfw art with your fursona. Having any of it somehow makes people assume you're into getting raunchy with anyone.

The second point is split between standing firm on not sending nsfw pictures and when a guy comes to you with interest in starting a relationship. I've had one furry come back from the dead a year later with sudden interest in getting to know me. Not long after spending maybe a day with me did they reveal they were interested in dating someone, implying that I could be a candidate. As you might imagine, this didn't sit well, and lo and behold when they realized I wasn't it they went back to their grave. Hell I met a furry in a graphics card server months ago, they went on to ask for nudes, and after denying them they died. You can put "no rp" in your bio, get some cat dude making puns every sentence and putting their rp asterisks on you, and when you don't reciprocate POOF, they're gone.

Imagine people sucking up to you to get what they want, intentionally or not, and leaving when it doesn't go their way. After 50 times, you'd think I'm a puddle on the floor. I'm a strong guy, I've come back from worse, but for the normal furry, this can destroy confidence, create anxiety, and cause depression. This is not okay, and it's the norm amongst guys in this outer-circle.

Tell me this isn't a problem. How is it so hard to make friends in a community that advertises itself as open and welcoming?

Now let's be more realistic. Obviously not every single male furry I've interacted with has behaved this way. A lot of furries have trouble keeping a conversation, or have one or two hobbies that make it difficult to diversify topics. That's the most common problem I've experienced in the community, and while it sucks as someone looking to make friends, I can understand that not everyone can be as "fun" as I can. A lot of furries suffer from things like depression and social anxiety. However, when 30/50 (estimated, probably a bit lower) of these furries are messaging you because they want in your pants, are desperate for companionship, spend so much time with you and cut off unexpectedly, when you complain about yet another furry to your non-furry friend and even they start to agree that furries suck, there is a clear problem with the quality of people in the community. I know nothing about you ladies in the community, but damn the men suck here. Thanks for watching, like and subscribe.

Shit like this is one of a handful of reasons why commissioning or making nsfw art isn't something I've felt comfortable enough to do.

 

[TyraWadman]

Wait, people are asking for random nudes?
I just get harassed for free art requests!

I feel like y'all are forgetting that seeking companionship and looking for fap material has kinda always been one of the most common uses of the internet. Phone sex, sexting, roleplaying... I'd see it more as a society thing than a fandom thing. XD

 

[Punji]

I voted IDK because the answer is subjective and I haven't been active in the community at all for very long, little more than a few years at most.

But as for myself, things only ever seem to get better for me. Meeting new friends, finding new content creators to follow, having fun the whole time! If anything I got most of the bad stuff out of the way already here on the FAF at least.

I've never had people ask me for nudes (where inappropriate at least ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) and as far as I know no one has ever tried to manipulate me for anything substantial. Is this really a problem for many people? Maybe I'm just lucky, but I think the fandom is a good place.

(Is everything and everyone good? No, of course not. But overall things are nice).

 

[TyraWadman]

I voted IDK because the answer is subjective and I haven't been active in the community at all for very long, little more than a few years at most.

But as for myself, things only ever seem to get better for me. Meeting new friends, finding new content creators to follow, having fun the whole time! If anything I got most of the bad stuff out of the way already here on the FAF at least.

I've never had people ask me for nudes (where inappropriate at least ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) and as far as I know no one has ever tried to manipulate me for anything substantial. Is this really a problem for many people? Maybe I'm just lucky, but I think the fandom is a good place.

(Is everything and everyone good? No, of course not. But overall things are nice).

Aren't you the leader of that man-booty cult?

 

[Punji]

Aren't you the leader of that man-booty cult?

I don't know what you mean.

 

[Rimna]

I definitely feel like the increasing politicization and use of social media such as twitter has had a profoundly negative impact on the social aspect of the fandom. No longer do people bond over their similarities, but crucify each other for minute differences. Artistically it seems about the same as it was ten years ago, though the various styles come and go, but I do feel like the quality of fursuits has improved.

Overall, I feel that the fandom has gotten worse, though that can be a result of me getting older, rose tinted glasses for the past where things seemed more "innocent" and "fun," or my multi-year absence from interacting with the fandom which allowed for a more stark contrast.

Hmm I don't know if it's just rose-tinted glasses. I remember a time in the fandom when people didn't want to kill me simply because I am born in a certain country. I also remember being able to talk about simple everyday things without getting them politicized.

Generally, the chances of encountering a crazy extremist were lower a few years ago.

 

[FlooferWoofer]

It's made me better I think, but I stay away from Twitter and especially Ferzu. Both are rife with call-outs, slap fights, sh-tposting, politics, and petty high school drama and mods are zero help especially on Ferzu. Plus if you aren't 'popular' or part of the 'old boy's club' you might as well be screaming into a vacuum. Despite that, I understand that humans are the most flawed, dysfunctional animals the Earth has ever seen and anywhere humans congregate, drama and exploitation will be found, whether you're part of the furry fandom, football fandom, or ANY fandom. The only way to avoid it is to be a perpetual lurker and never participate which I have tried and that is quite lonely. But all the drama has less to do with 'drama prone furries' and more to do with that pesky human condition we all wish to hide behind the veneer of a happy pastel animal.

What binds us all together is that we all recognize humans suck sometimes and want to be something else more cuddly and innocent and I will always love this fandom for the good parts. I learned to separate that cancer from the fandom because at the end of the day, we all just want to feel comfortable in our own skin, make friends, and find some meaning in life.

Do you know how much fursuiting has helped me come out of my shell? A chronically depressed shut-in who was too awkward to make new friends? I cherish every message, reaction, and random stranger hug I get at every con I go to.

 

[Kit H. Ruppell]

It was fine until minors and puritans started thinking they owned everything.

 

[Troj]

I voted "Better" because I think we're mostly getting better at setting boundaries, calling out bad behavior (albeit with some false positives and false negatives in the mix), and doing PR. But, social media has been a blessing and a curse for sure, and I'm saddened by the more recent political divides and fights in the fandom.

 

[Nexus Cabler]

Better in some ways, worse in others.

The fandom is always changing, sometimes we are all cool with each other and there's little issues, other times there's events or periods where conflict becomes a part of waking up every day.

My idea is to stay in the fandom, see what changes in a few years down the road from now. I like to think of it like those analogies of civilizations rising, falling, and rebuilding, but instead of civilizations, it's animal costumers and really good porn X3.

 

[Minerva_Minx]

Better. Change isn't always a bad thing.

If you go looking for the bad, you are going to find it. People are very good at being horrid to each other. So much so that being nice can be construed as being disingenuous.

That being said, the level of self-policing has gone up, at a cost. Certain things are now taboo,but it's ok. We also seem to be moremindful of minors and different opinions. Wether this is just normal constriction or bleeding off to discord or other areas remains to be seen.

 

[LameFox]

Some things seem better, other things seem worse. I mostly only interact on the art side of it though.

About 7 years ago, you could see users and artists chat, talk, discuss without problems, meanwhile, right now there seems to be an invisible wall that is dictated by how popular you are.
Sort of like high school.
And I guess a big part of it it's because big artists that have a business nowadays even have a high fear of cancel culture in the fandom where everything gets out of control pretty quickly.

I'd say it's more the level of attention they're exposed to. Social media has centralized a lot of internet communities over the last decade or so. Popular users get way more people wanting to talk to them than anyone can realistically deal with. Other popular users are a more constant, recognizable face in the forever shifting crowd.

 

[Tahr_Yrre]

I definitely feel like the increasing politicization and use of social media such as twitter has had a profoundly negative impact on the social aspect of the fandom. No longer do people bond over their similarities, but crucify each other for minute differences. Artistically it seems about the same as it was ten years ago, though the various styles come and go, but I do feel like the quality of fursuits has improved.

Overall, I feel that the fandom has gotten worse, though that can be a result of me getting older, rose tinted glasses for the past where things seemed more "innocent" and "fun," or my multi-year absence from interacting with the fandom which allowed for a more stark contrast.

I disagree about fursuits. Right now they are all the same style, recolor of toony-like style fursuits. I could look at 10 different canines fursuits and the only differences I would notice are the fur's color and the height of the people wearing it...
Besides, nowadays it feels like people get a fursuit only to get more attention rather than to have more fun at cons.

 

[Tahr_Yrre]

So basically reading all the answers:
The fandom is a worse place and the solution could be easily solved if people stopped using toxic places with little regulation (Twitter, Ferzu, social media in general?), because furries can't behave properly in these situations with >
1. politic is a huge problem nowadays that causes drama (Even if I have only seen Americans do this to be fair)
2. There aren't enough controls to keep minors out of NSFW places.
3. Getting friends, in general, has gotten harder because of drama, cancel culture, and people being afraid in general( Which is the opposite of how someone should feel in a fandom)
4. overly-horny(we are all horny sometimes bu yeah) being normalized by some people is gross.

 

[Attaman]

I'll be real with people: Dropping even the "Blatantly political and thus against FAF rules to bring up, why do people keep stirring that pot / swinging a bat at that bee's nest then acting like the harmed party when it invariably turns into a shitshow?" reasons for why the(edit: They argue the) fandom's got worse, a lot of people really have blinkers as to what the fandom was like even just a decade ago.

For starters, I'm far less aware of people in the fandom using cropped porn avatars on approximately PG-related forums and web communities. Because that was a thing for a while. Likewise asking non-Furry forums to change their rules specifically to allow Furry smut to be posted. To say nothing of how I can remember the time when the fandom could and would let anyone in the door as a matter of convenience, even when they were very explicitly known to be bad news, only you didn't even need to be a "popufur" to get away with it ("Yeah, they may groom minors. Buuuuuut, can we really kick them out?"). The fandom at least has some basic level of self-policing now where it'll drop people (occasionally even a popular person, as a certain fox dropped by tens of thousands on Twitter recently showed) for shit like "Openly expresses a belief that some people are sub-human and treats fans in private like horseshit" or "Was discovered to diddle kids".

Some of y'all just upset that you can't make the same jokes (or 'jokes', in a few directly admitted cases) you made 10+ years ago and still get raucous laughter.