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