How 'bout this for FAQ?
Greywolf
The following is my first draft at an "FAQ" regarding furry fandom, and reflects
my personal observations and opinions though I've tried to cover some other
perspectives I've seen as well. Commentary, corrections, suggestions for
revision and the like are welcome. Flames are not, but then since when are
they? =, Anyway, I'm not certain I hit all the Frequently Asked Questions,
but if somebody thinks of some that ought to be covered, they can always let me
know. =)
* WHAT IS "ALT.FAN.FURRY"?
Alt.fan.furry is a newsgroup devoted to the discussion of all things "furry"
and/or of interest to "furry fans". Of course, tangential discussions
occasionally get into things that are very far from being distinctly "furry",
such as copyrights, cellular radios, mecha... =)
* WHAT IS A "FURRY"?
"Furry" when used as a noun seems to refer to one of two things:
a) An animal-like character known as a "furry"
b) A person who is a "furry fan"
The latter is easy enough (knock on wood) to define: A person who particularly
enjoys stories, pictures, dolls, video games or whatever concerning "furry"
creatures. Defining a "furry" creature is somewhat harder, though. There are
several definitions depending upon which "camp" in furrydom, for lack of a
better term, you might be in.
The basic definition for a "furry" is an anthropomorphized animal character.
In other words, an animal character given human-like attributes, such as
sapience and often a humanoid form. The term "furry" is a misnomer, as a
creature does not need to have fur to be "furry" in this sense. Other terms
sometimes interchangeable with a "furry" in this sense are "zoomorph", "morph",
"anthropomorph" or (debatably) "funny animal".
The core definition of a "furry" seems to include basically humanoid-formed
creatures with animal faces, fur/scale/feathers/whatever, and often appropriate
tails, wings, claws, etc., able to speak, and with a human-like personality,
though quite often with "quirks" hinting at the real-life animal upon which the
character is based.
A broader definition will sometimes include other odd creatures that simply
have some sort of animal features in their makeup. Such would include mythical
creatures such as centaurs, manticores, satyrs or harpies, all of which have
human faces though more-or-less animal-like bodies. This broader definition
might also include the human-like characters that appear in some Japanese
animation that have an animal tail and ears, but no other animal
characteristics beyond that.
One of the narrower definitions held by some is that in order for a character
to be truly considered "furry", the character must exhibit animal-like
characteristics in behavior, or else in the story that the character appears,
the fact that the character is an animal must be a major ingredient. In other
words, under this tighter definition, some characters that may visually fit the
core definition of a "furry" given earlier may be despised as "humans in animal
suits" if their behavior isn't distinctly animal-like in some way.
* WHAT IS "FURRYDOM"?
Furrydom is a rather vague term, usually used to refer to "furry fandom".
"Furry fandom" is an abstraction of the loose collection of people who are fans
of various "furry" publications. It is also sometimes used, depending upon the
context, to refer to the collection of publications devoted to "furries",
particularly those small-press or amateur "fanzines" devoted to them.
* WHAT IS A "FANZINE"?
A fanzine is a publication, usually home-brewed, catering to fans of a
particular genre. In "furrydom", one can find several "furry fanzines", which
usually publish an assortment of stories and pieces of artwork drawn by fans
and submitted to the 'zine. Other publications that may pop up in "furry"
discussion are APAs: These are limited-circulation publications meant largely
for a collection of artists/writers to share their work with other artists and
writers. Usually each contributor pays his share of the production costs
depending upon how much of each "issue" consists of his work, and copies of the
collected publication are only sent out to each contributor. A variation,
the APA'zine, is an APA which non-contributors can also subscribe to. At this
writing, some of these furry fanzines and APA'zines include such titles as
"Yarf!", "Gallery", "Zoomorphica", "Bestiary" and a ton of fanzines that come
and go, often with some sort of "fur" pun in the title. =)
* WHAT MAKES A STORY (or MOVIE/SHOW/GAME, whatever) "FURRY"?
This is a matter of debate, varying as much as the definition of what a "furry"
is in the first place. The definition that seems to be most applicable is that
in order for a story, movie or show to be considered "furry", the primary
character (or a significant number of the primary characters) must be a
"furry".
Another definition is that simply whatever stories tend to be popular among
furfen (furry fans) that they consider to be "furry" are furry. But that's
hardly helpful, is it? =) Cartoons with animal characters are often accepted
as being "furry", for one thing. Steve Gallacci's "Albedo" is usually
considered "furry", unless you're from the group that believes that his
characters are merely "humans in animal suits". Many Disney movies might be
considered "furry", such as their animated "Robin Hood". Even though "Bambi"
isn't an anthropomorph in shape, the characters in the movie talk with each
other and have human-like emotions, and thus are considered "furry" by some.
In a more recent Disney movie with a prominent "furry", "Beauty and the Beast",
this is particularly a grey area, since some consider it NOT to be furry, since
the "Beast" was just a human changed into an animal-like form for most of the
movie. "The Little Mermaid" is another one of those fringe "furry" films if
you want to use the broadest definition (since Ariel's body is part fish? =. )
Movies where "furry" creatures are merely the villains which the humans must
fight are almost certainly not considered "furry". =, Also, stories where an
animal-like character may appear but is not the primary or one of the primary
characters are usually not considered "furry", either. For instance, Gnort
doesn't make the Green Lantern comics "furry".
* WHAT'S FURRYMUCK?
FurryMUCK is a phenomenon found on the 'net, which is a MUCK devoted to
furry fans. If you want a definition of a MUCK, check out the FAQ on
rec.games.muds.misc. =) Basically, it's a multi-player text adventure game
where the "game" element has been pretty much removed, and the setting is
largely a social environment instead (even though there are smaller games-
within-a-game on the MUCK). If you have telnet, you can connect to FurryMUCK
at 138.74.0.10, port 8888.
* WHAT'S AVATAR?
Avatar.snc.edu is an ftp site where there are several "furry" gifs (digitized
picture files) available for downloading. Once connecting to avatar, you can
login as "anonymous" and give your email address as your password. The gifs
are available in the "pub/furry/images/downloads" directory, divided into
further subdirectories organized alphabetically. These are pictures of "furry"
characters or of scenes and characters related somehow to "furry" settings or
FurryMUCK.
* WHAT DOES =) MEAN?
This is a 'net smiley face. Turn it sideways. =) See? Of course, furfen
often get creative with animal smileys, such as:
-=) {unicorn}
}=) {miscellaneous critter with ears}
(=3 {mouse, facing other direction}
>=X) {cat, complete with whiskers}
=3 {otter, facing the right direction}
=} {friendly dragon}
d=> {pigeon wearing a baseball cap}
Okay, so this section wasn't COMPLETELY serious. =D
--
-Jordan .. PEACO...@iscsvax.uni.edu
.OO. Jordan Greywolf (Jordan Peacock)
O/\O 1610 Parker
~~ Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Radical right-winger fundamentalist ultra-conservative religious fanatic
student/programmer/doodler/writer/SwordTagger/mecha & old car enthusiast