Hey, i was thinking about this and thought of posting it here:
In your opinion, if a person likes, appreciates or is aroused by furry artwork and animations, but is extremely not attracted to the irl furry community or all of the costume thing isn't really much of their liking, are they considered a furry or not?
Let me know what y'all think of this.

I have 0 interest in irl furry and fursuits but still consider myself furry. IMO those are still humans pretending to be furry but digital arts depicting "real" furry.

furryartlovah said:
Hey, i was thinking about this and thought of posting it here:
In your opinion, if a person likes, appreciates or is aroused by furry artwork and animations, but is extremely not attracted to the irl furry community or all of the costume thing isn't really much of their liking, are they considered a furry or not?
Let me know what y'all think of this.

The furry community is a community of furries. You don't have to like or be part of the community to be a furry. Not all furries are into costuming, so that's not a necessity either.

Whether or not someone is "considered a furry" will depend on the person. For some people, someone is a furry if and only if they call themself a furry, irrespective of any other factor (including whether or not they actually like furry art or anything). For others, they hold some personal definition of what a furry is, and anyone that fits that definition they would consider to be a furry (similarly, anyone that doesn't fit the definition they wouldn't consider to be a furry), regardless of what they do or don't call themself.

Fursuits are just a crude imitation of genetically engineered anthros which definitely don't exist in some billionaire's basement.

I think most people aren't willing to put a label on themselves unless it's a big enough part of their identity. A lot of people enjoy Zootopia, but don't describe themselves as "a Furry"

I have a friend who loves making furry characters but doesn't call himself a furry (and in fact asks people not to call him that). He doesn't get involved in furry communities; he tried joining some and he didn't like it. Perhaps it's because he designed the characters for a certain context (a video game he wants to make).

the furry community doesn't have any leaders or rules of any kind, no one can truly define what or who a furry is, no one speaks for the furry community as a whole, no one can be the face of the furry community or represent us as a whole (fuck you Cameron Bess, no one gives a shit that you went up in space, I'm not a pansexual, STOP TYING ME TO THEM). only you and you alone can determine whether you're a furry or not, if you say you're a furry then you're a furry, if you say you're not a furry then you're not a furry, LIFE HOBBY'S AND ART PREFERENCES BE DAMNED.

furryartlovah said:
Hey, i was thinking about this and thought of posting it here:
In your opinion, if a person likes, appreciates or is aroused by furry artwork and animations, but is extremely not attracted to the irl furry community or all of the costume thing isn't really much of their liking, are they considered a furry or not?
Let me know what y'all think of this.

You can do what you want, man. I've never been to a convention, never desired to get involved in "the community," am never getting a fursuit, and I even dreaded meeting any of the local furs (there were a couple.) I still consider myself a furry. No one is going to take your membership card for not showing up at conventions. Don't worry about it.

I've always found the definition of a furry to be nebulous. It's something of a self-identifier if anything

hotsoda said:
I think most people aren't willing to put a label on themselves unless it's a big enough part of their identity. A lot of people enjoy Zootopia, but don't describe themselves as "a Furry"

Also this. Despite being here, I don't consider myself a furry. Why? Because while I do enjoy anthropomorphic art, I don't enjoy it any more than non-furry stuff. I'm just as happy to see sci-fi art or fantasy or anime as I am furry.

Personally, I don't care if you identify as a furry or not. If you do, great. If you don't, what does it matter?

I believe many who don't call themselves furry fans actually would qualify as such, but they want to maintain some perception of personal dignity (even if it's usually more imaginary than not). So, why not let them? As long as they're not being toxic in their lack of identifying as a furry or in others wishing to identify as such, we really should not have any problems with what they wish to contribute to the fandom.

My SPECTRUM of FURRIES is one I personally believe in and helps guide me:

Zoo-Sadists
Zoophiles
Therians
Spiritually Furry
Yiffers
___________________________________________________________________
Furry & NSFW Admirers (MOST OF US ARE HERE) <-----
Furry / Scalie
Brony
The Chaparone
Closeted Furry / Brony / Scalie
Furry Friendly
Furry Admirer (usually means they like art / cosplay / furstuit aesthetics)
Okay With Furries
On-the-Fence
___________________________________________________________________
Appriehensive Bystandar
Dislike Furry but okay with Furry Friend
Furry Disliker
Furry Hater
Dispicable human being who particularly targets furries
Furry Terrorists

This "graph" is my interpretation of the FURRY FANDOM as a whole and what I've been a part of for 13 years so far now. It's good to meet the bare minimum and stay in THE MIDDLE RANGE. Going too low or too high is NOT GOOD.
Low are for those who hate us
Too high are for those who take it too far.

furryartlovah said:
Hey, i was thinking about this and thought of posting it here:
In your opinion, if a person likes, appreciates or is aroused by furry artwork and animations, but is extremely not attracted to the irl furry community or all of the costume thing isn't really much of their liking, are they considered a furry or not?
Let me know what y'all think of this.

It's a self identifying thing really, you decide, but my personal view of the situation is that, if you call yourself not a furry, but hang out on sites like furaffinity, inkbunny or even just here at e6, then people are most likely gonna view you as one

xdrthaja said:
It's a self identifying thing really, you decide, but my personal view of the situation is that, if you call yourself not a furry, but hang out on sites like furaffinity, inkbunny or even just here at e6, then people are most likely gonna view you as one

Thing is, some folks are in denial because of our bad reputation, see ClosetPossum's example above. I am personally not too fond of furries who literally act like animals with other people or wear their fursuit in public. To the average joe, furries are justa fetish group like abdl or bdsm communities.

Im gonna make this simple...

I know some artists that aren't furries, but who signed up for furaffinity, however I know who they are because they draw mostly non-furry art featuring mostly humans. Others who claim not to be a furry, but have a gallery full of nothing, but furry art or art of anthropormorphic animal characters are in denial.

neepokra said:
the furry community doesn't have any leaders or rules of any kind, no one can truly define what or who a furry is, no one speaks for the furry community as a whole, no one can be the face of the furry community or represent us as a whole (fuck you Cameron Bess, no one gives a shit that you went up in space, I'm not a pansexual, STOP TYING ME TO THEM). only you and you alone can determine whether you're a furry or not, if you say you're a furry then you're a furry, if you say you're not a furry then you're not a furry, LIFE HOBBY'S AND ART PREFERENCES BE DAMNED.

That's not how it works, alas.