wolfnose.org
/ fur
/ furvey9.htmlI'm afraid I'm in the middle of a major bookmark purge/collate. I tend not to cruise around furry sites a great deal.
The only one I've ever used was FurryMuck - I wasn't overly impressed.
The newsgroup alt.lifestyle.furry of course! I'm also active on WEREmail (uk were list), and I've recently joined the Fursuit list. I'm on, but not overly active, on LondonFurs, ukfur, and eurofurries. I also maintain the mainly quiet ukalf list.
How: I finally realised my furriness when I found first the a.f.f FAQ, and (not long after) the a.l.f FAQ. A whole range of ideas and values that I had been struggling with as separate issues finally had a focus, a name, and *others* had been there before.
When: I guess the turning point was the a.l.f FAQ, which I downloaded Jan 22 16:15 1997 (but it would have taken a while to read it!). I don't think I got much work done for the rest of that afternoon. I actually got quite emotional reading it - I think it was the various quotes that did it - its pretty unique for an FAQ. Thanks to all those who wrote it.
I was pretty much overloaded emotionally by the experience. It touched something raw in my being.
Most: The sense of community and companionship. Lively and intelligent discussions about those things dear to me.
Least: The limitation of a text based medium. Its exposure to undesirable elements. Nagging concerns about the evolution of the group.
Right now I would dearly love to see furs expressing their joy and happiness at their existence, a return to some of the more insightful times.
We seem to have undergone collectively nearly 18 months of angst that began with 1999. Some of these issues are resolved, others are still to play themselves out. Furry has brought me a great deal, but these times have also drawn a lot from me.
I desperately need a chance to chill out, have some fun, and embrace the community again. I've been under a great deal of pressure from other things in life, and haven't really had the time to be part of alf for a long time. The traffic has been just too much for me to cope with - and I suspect others too.