Honest first thoughts were:

"Oh my Gosh, these peeps are awesome!"

"I Didn't know you could have a Persona- A Fursona!
Who could be cool-looking Wolfs, Foxes, Tigers, Bears-
And not only that but, These peeps seem pretty accepting
of different walks of life too! I think one of them was Gay,
Like- OPENLY Gay!"

I didn't know how deep the rabbit hole went but for my first
exposure to being gay, as not a bad thing but something to be
accepted about one's self, I'd have to say coming across the
fluffy was a net positive for the repressed peep I used to be who
shied away from any bright color for fear of being called gay.
T‿T)~★

Now my opinion hasn't changed much, The mystic is neutral but
I still find myself feeling the same excitement for the furry fandom
when I go to conventions, Giggling like I have the very first time
thinking of the peeps as these awesome monoliths of Coolness.
Being who they truly are out in the open!

Now I have drifted away since the first wave to establish who I am,
understanding titles like: Gamer, Anime Watcher, and Furry doesn't
suit me since I found it a lot more fun to call myself whatever I want
too instead of holding onto a title made by another. But I'm super
curious, I couldn't have been the only one with a bombastic first interaction
with the community, so I must ask-

What Were Your First Thoughts and Opinions When You First Came Across The Furry Fandom, Dood?

╹‿╹)~★

That you're weird and way too horny. Still feel that way but therians aren't in a position to call others 'weird.'

Disgust? Weirded out? Methinks something most folks would feel seeing the furry community for the first time. I cant recall how I felt exactly.

cka9se said:
That you're weird and way too horny. Still feel that way but therians aren't in a position to call others 'weird.'

I still dont understand your deal? Why do you feel like you are an aimal spirit trapped inside a human body?

Let me just start by saying I'm a furry of the late 90s early 2000s, like most furries back then when I saw the furry fandom at the start it was like seeing the perfect world, all the shows that influenced us, like rupert, the raccoons, duck tales, goof troop, etc, all showed us a peaceful loving world where people can get along and people ended up trying to create their own world free of hate, crime, and other bad stuff and tried to share that with others, I like to bring up sabrina online as a possible example, it was nice, and others also shared theirs and added sex and free love, honestly thats a pretty nice world. then as time progressed more and more people shared their view of the perfect world....and then the sick twisted people started crawling out and ruined the image of the furry fandom I was hoping it would've been, somewhere along the way it stopped being about creating a world and started being a place to post random nsfw images for money, and now I can't openly identify as one without people assuming i'm into bestiality and/or paedophilia.

wolfmanfur said:
Disgust? Weirded out? Methinks something most folks would feel seeing the furry community for the first time. I cant recall how I felt exactly.

I still dont understand your deal? Why do you feel like you are an aimal spirit trapped inside a human body?

It's a long story. I'm actually a bit more than a therian. I suffered a variation of clinical lycanthropy around 15 years ago. Unlike most such cases I had control of my "shifts." That allowed me to keep it secret for nearly a decade. I'm now on anti-psychotics but their effect is limited, and you don't go through something like that for such a long period and just shrug it off. "Therian" is the closest recognized term for how I feel.

notkastar said:

What Were Your First Thoughts and Opinions When You First Came Across The Furry Fandom, Dood?

╹‿╹)~★

For me personally I was weirded out by it all, but I looked in to deep and it just turned into a guilty pleasure of mine

Honestly its a natural step from internet becoming a mainstay in human society

At first, it was fantastic. Everyone was so welcoming, and everyone seemed to want to hug me and buy me lunch or dinner. That's when I was 20.

Now I'm 45 and I'm invisible. I can walk through a packed con lobby and it's like I'm transparent. I'm the old creeper now.

cka9se said:
That you're weird and way too horny. Still feel that way but therians aren't in a position to call others 'weird.'

I've got some surprising news for you...

It all started with the Sonic fandom. There was a local Sonic-centered website, it was one of the first sites I found when my family got an Internet access. I've heard people there mentioning "furries" but I didn't know what that meant. I looked it up and came across an article on a local Encyclopedia Dramatica knockoff. This now defunct site was popular in my friend group back then. It had an elaborate article about furries and of course it was making fun of them. Hating furries seemed like a cool thing so I was a hater for a month or so.

Then I found myself visiting a primary (also defunct) local furry site. It had some dope S.T.A.L.K.E.R. themed furry artwork, Egyptian jackals, dragons and etc. - it all looked so cool I was hooked instantly. And there was also a sense of community, lots of different people with disctinct artstyles, differing interests, sometimes with clashing personalities. I wanted to be a part of this world but I wasn't an artist back then so I felt I wouldn't be welcome. Big mistake on my part, but what's done is done. Later I would contact furries here and there and eventually form a furry friend group.

There was a time when I was disappointed with the fandom, mainly when I discovered that a certain portion of artists are only doing it for money, having abandoned their own characters long ago. I saw it as a huge betrayal of whatever I thought the fandom stood for. Eventually I stopped caring - everyone is different after all. Nothing is stopping me from finding like-minded furs.

The same applies to modern times. The fandom is seemingly full of people who think that making everything political is the correct way to do escapism. They're a loud minority though. Others are just doing their thing, creating and admiring art, meeting each other, having fun. Having a great fandom experience is absolutely possible now - make sure to delete Twitter though, its algorithms make sure you constantly see the worst ones.

Sorry for rambling, I kinda felt like sharing my story.
That Sonic site is still alive btw.

I think I was a furry before I even knew what furries were. I saw some anthro animals and sparkledogs on the internet when I was very young, probably over 14 years ago, and was like "oh shit, I can do that?".

Furries helped me be comfortable with who I am as a person - my gender expression, eventual discovery of my sexuality, being autistic and representing myself in an autistic way. If it weren't for furries I'm sure I would have ended up a pretty anxious and miserable person. Being a furry is cool!

Furries have generally supported me the most when I've needed it and I feel like giving back to them and loving their world is only appropriate. I love furries and have always loved furries from the moment I discovered them.

"omg, people that likes drawing animals and that will enjoy my art!"

Raw unfiltered hatred like AM levels of hate, quickly turned to an addiction to furry media of all sorts

It depends if you're asking about art and other furry-related stuff or the people in the fandom.

I've always liked anthro animals. My favorite cartoons were those with animal characters, like Duck Tales, Chip n' Dale, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc. So, to some extent, anthropomorphic animals, as a stylistics in fiction, have always been natural to me.
I've also always liked coming up with characters and I think I've made at least one OC for every universe/theme/story, I've encountered. And a bunch of these characters are anthro, even those I made when I was ~7yo.
So when I found furry art in the internet I wasn't really surprised, it was just a style I liked, that has always been present in my life. It seemed obvious that there are people who like too.
And even later when I found... yiffy side of furry, it also wasn't really shocking to me. Well, people like porn and people like anthro animals, so it's obvious there are people who like porn with anthro animals - Rule 34 and such, right?
Actually, I think it was only after finding yiff, when I found out that there's actual community tied to the whole furry stuff. I can't really say there where any specific feelings involved.

As for people in the fandom, I don't know - I have never met any furries ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯