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Emotional Issues Negatively Influence This Furry's Perception of the Fandom

Ask Papabear - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 13:28
Dear Papabear,

I once told you my fursona problem, which kind of still hovers in the room as I am finding not a solid answer, yet to it and am still young to the fandom itself even though it has been a few years until today of joining. The bigger thing is that I suffer severe depression, am pretty anxious, lack self-confidence and often am indecisive as well. Hard I know, but it is why I am feeling the fandom locks up on me for being one who doesn't contribute enough of matter nor being much of a speaker (noted my English not being the best of course). Regardless of this it does bother me a lot.

I decided over and over what I should be with no answer to be found, trying to meet furs on FurAffinity effortless as none often answer. Kind of saddens me that the fursona would help me reflect myself and how I'd want to be in the end as much as drawing and writing from there on with him. I just lack the decision making and the confidence to work on it.

Long have I been staying strong and growing stronger, thanks to the few friends who hold me so dear. For them of the Fandom I'd like to fully take part and shape as Furry and make much more presence, just unsure how.

Regardless in Time you'll get a proper thank you for all this help.

Thank you,
Lyah (age 24)

* * *

Dear Lyah,

It’s become a bit of a fascination for this bear that I get a lot of letters from people like you who are fretting that they don’t contribute enough to the fandom or are seen by other furries as not being involved enough. Yet there are many, many furries like you who are very shy and have trouble socializing (which is why, frankly, you don’t get a lot of response from other furries you try to contact—they are like you!), which is really one reason they become furries: they feel shy about mundane society and find a safe haven in the fandom as something set apart from it.

Another phenomenon is that many furries feel bad if they don’t have a lot of followers or friends on Facebook. My question to them—and you—is what would you rather have? A pawful of good, loyal, true friends or a massive following of fair-weather acquaintances calling themselves friends? You’re better off with 5 really good friends whom you love than 10,000 Facebook followers, trust me. So, as the goombahs say, fergetabowdit (er, pardons, that American dialect might escape a German speaker, so what I mean is be Zen, be mellow, relax, and don’t worry about things that are of no real consequence).

Another word of advice: FurAffinity is not really a good place to socialize. While you can make friends there, the main purpose of FA is to share and view art. Socializing is better done on a site such as Furry4Life or on Facebook and other more social media. You should also see if you can find some local German furries. Too, have you ever attended Eurofurence in Berlin? Best furcon in Europe and right in your neighborhood. Even if you’re not in Berlin, you are fortunate to live in a country with outstanding train transportation, unlike America.

A lot of your perceptions of the fandom are likely influenced by your emotional issues. Because you suffer from depression, anxiety, and low self-confidence, you see other furries in a more negative light than what is actually the truth. If you work on alleviating these feelings, you will, at the same time, feel better about the fandom, as well. That’s what was occurring in your previous letter http://www.askpapabear.com/letters/german-fur-having-fursona-trouble and what you still need to work on. As I often note, if you have difficulty surmounting your fears by yourself, a professional counselor may help.

Hugs,

Papabear

Taking a nap

Furry Reddit - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 12:03
Categories: News

Shark man with sharks for hands

Furry Reddit - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 12:02
Categories: News

Any tips on hands and legs/feet?

Furry Reddit - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 11:08

Particularly with regards to cartoons. These two things are my weakest points, and I was hoping some artists here could help me. I feel like I'm falling into the trap of hiding/overabstracting these parts. Link 1 Link 2

submitted by Polaric
[link] [4 comments]
Categories: News

Home Sweet Home

Furry.Today - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 10:30

For a moment I decided to go full on anthro here.     In a film that Pixar could have done we have a road picture with Houses.    The animation is downright stunning, every frame is a painting.

Hey! This would be legit at Anthrocon!

 

 

Categories: Videos

“All the Single Furries” parody fursuit video provokes special awe

Dogpatch Press - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 10:30
It’s the video they LOVE to hate.  They can’t tear their eyes away while they stare.  There must be some German word for that emotion – something that means spellbound horror.  I shared it without comment, shortly after it was posted on August 31.  Now, it wormed it’s way back to my attention. It’s attracting special antipathy, with […]
Categories: News

For those of you that were at MFF last weekend.

Furry Reddit - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 08:58

I am writing an article for my Journalism class and I chose the topic of the incident at MFF. So to whoever was there,

What was your initial reaction to the evacuation? Where were you in the Hyatt when the alarms went off? What were you feeling when outside the Hyatt?

Please don't give one or two word answers. The more detail is best. If you want, I can post my article after it is finished.

submitted by ShadowFur17
[link] [6 comments]
Categories: News

Just wanted to talk about something I've finally realized.

Furry Reddit - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 07:59

I'm not quite sure how to start this post, but man I'm incredibly socially awkward. This isn't what I've realized I'm just stating it to inform you of what kind of person I am. Now I'm a relatively young furry at the age of 16. Have been a furry for about 3 years but never really cared until a few days ago. But man I'm not that social in a shy type of way. I really only talk if spoken to outside of my group of 4-5 friends and my boyscout troop. But there's something I've finally realized. Being a furry is sort of my life. I feel at home when I'm on the subreddit, talking to you other furries way more than any of my actual friends. (not saying I hate talking to them, they're awesome people) This place is so kind and inviting and hell I taught myself how to draw my fursona which is pretty neat. Funny thing is, sadly due to the Internet and trolls I always thought furries were just some only gay community and that being straight I wouldn't fit In. (That was obviously a lie for my stupid young brain to almost believe). Either way it doesn't matter your sexuality or sexuality preferences we're all family. It's like the family I've never had and always wanted. I don't feel afraid to talk to you guys, I don't feel afraid to talk to other furries in real life. More and more I'm realizing that I want to be apart of this fandom. I want to go to a convention one day! Wear my own fursuit! Etc. What I'm saying is I guess I found out who I really am, who the people I relate to most with and am comfortable being around. I plan to make Eagle Scout by the age of 17 - 18 and once I've finally achieved that goal I'll start making my first arrangements to go to a furry con where I can just be myself and hang out with others. Anyway thanks for reading my really long post, I'm sure some of you have seen me around the subreddit and I hope to stay for a long time. You guys have a wonderful day.

submitted by Foxes281
[link] [2 comments]
Categories: News

Guest post: “What Can Goodreads Do For Me?” by Huskyteer

Furry Writers' Guild - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 07:55
What Can Goodreads Do For Me?

by Huskyteer

What it is

Launched in 2007 and acquired by Amazon in 2013, Goodreads is a social network for readers and writers. Like Facebook, but for books. Bookbook, if you will. Users can search for books in the extensive database, for the most part user-created, and add them to their ‘shelves’. If the book you’re after isn’t listed, you can do your part by adding it. There are three default bookshelves, ‘Want to Read’, ‘Currently Reading’, and ‘Read’, but you can add as many custom shelves as you like; ‘Crime’, for example, or ‘Non-fiction’, or perhaps ‘Comfort Reads’ or ‘Really Bad Books’.

It’s strangely satisfying to have a record of what you’ve read, with statistics and word clouds for your shelves. If you feel the need to gameify your reading experience, you can sign up for a challenge like ‘read 50 books in a year’. Every time you log in, Goodreads will tell you how many books you’ve got through and how far behind or ahead of schedule you are. Other bits of fun include literary trivia questions, polls, and daily quotes from writers.

As well as keeping track of what you’ve read, you can follow your friends to see what they’re reading and reviewing, and leave comments. I’ve had many a Goodreads discussion over books I might otherwise never have suspected someone I know had also read.

Looking at your friends’ shelves is one way to find new reading matter, but there are also communities for fans of particular genres, as well as for readers from one particular area or with a common interest. There’s a reasonably active furry community, Furries!, as well as the more general Anthro Fiction group. Goodreads also offers recommendations based on what you’ve read, and lists of the top books in a particular category, which can be as broad as ‘Best Young Adult Books’ or as specific as ‘M/M Cat-Shifters, Feline Aliens, and Other Feline Humanoids’.

When you finish a book, you can add a star rating and a review, tweet the fact that you’ve finished it, and recommend it to friends (Goodreads even suggests friends who might like it, given their tastes). All of this is optional, of course, but if you loved a book, this sort of thing can really benefit the author. Which brings me on to:

Goodreads for writers

Here’s where things get interesting. Once you’re signed up as a Goodreads Author, you have a number of options for promoting your works and interacting with your readership, most of which will cost you nothing but time.

Learn more about your readers and how your books are doing by visiting the page for one of your books. Here you can see who’s read it, who’s marked it as To Read, and any ratings and reviews. Who are those people? What else are they reading? These could be valuable clues to help your marketing strategy. See whether your book is featured on any lists, and what else is on there. Add it to some lists yourself (sneaky!).

Goodreads offers a number of configurable widgets, so you can show off your reviews on your own website, or add a button next to your book so passers-by can add it to their To Read list. They even provide the API if you really want to get down and dirty. And if you don’t mind giving away something for nothing, it doesn’t take much more effort to upload a free sample of your work as an ebook.

Medium-level effort, now. If you already have a blog, you can hook it up to your Goodreads account quickly and easily (mine feeds off my LiveJournal). If not, you can blog straight to Goodreads. Blog posts keep your page looking new, and pop up on your followers’ homepages to remind them you exist.

As an author with a Goodreads account, whenever you’re listed as the author of a publications, you’ll get ‘Goodreads Author’ in brackets after your name. This tells readers than they can come and bother you right there on the site, declare themselves your Fans, interact, and ask questions. If you activate the ‘Ask the Author’ option, users can ask you questions through the site, which you can then answer and display on your page. Or not, if it’s a question like ‘why is ur riting so rubbish’. No fans yet? Goodreads provides several preset questions for you to answer and post. Kyell Gold-esque levels of popularity? Announce that you’ll be open for questions on a specific topic, like your soon-to-be-released next book, for a limited period only. That should ‘generate buzz’, as Goodreads is so irritatingly fond of saying.

If you’re prepared to invest money, you can pay to advertise on the site. With the ability to target a specific audience, and stats to look at, this might be an interesting route to pursue, although I haven’t tried it myself. You can also give away copies of your book. Everyone loves a freebie, so a listing on the Giveaways page is a good way to familiarise a lot of readers, albeit cheapskate ones, with your name and cover. You will have to pack and post the books yourself, and hope your winners enjoy their prizes enough to write a review and spread the word.

See the Goodreads Author Program page for more information and ideas.

How to join

Joining Goodreads as a reader is as simple as registering a name, email address and password, and you can also sign in using Facebook, Twitter, Google, or your Amazon account. For authors, it’s a little more complicated, and takes slightly longer.

You’ll need to sign up for a reader account, if you haven’t already. Then find a book that gives your name as the author (co-author, editor, contributor and so on are all fine too) and click on your name. You’ll see an almost empty profile page with a link near the bottom: ‘Is this you? Let us know’. Click the link  and a verification request will be sent to the Goodreads team. Within a few days – often hours – your reader account will be merged with your shiny new author account, which you can then update. If your book hasn’t been added yet, just add it yourself.

And when you’ve signed up, come and be my friend!

 


Categories: News

Having a bit of a rough time, and frankly, I have a ton of questions.

Furry Reddit - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 05:31

For me... well, sex and sexuality is different.

Let's just get it out of the way, I'm a furry trangender MtF, but I like women.

No, I haven't altered my body. To be honest, I'm a plain as normal guy, I suppose. But inside, I'm a girl, just trapped. And frankly, all of this is so complicated, that even trying to express the idea of sexuality is just a clusterfuck.

To get the furry thing out of the way, it's barely sexual. I love me some anthropomorphic animals. I adore movies that have them. And frankly, I have so much respect for the characters that I wouldn't dream of being sexual with them. I'm a writer, and I love good characters. And while, sure, I think Mrs. Brisby is a lovely woman and mouse, I wouldn't dream of defiling that image, and that goes for many of the females I adore in fiction.

I expect sex to be a thing shared between consensual beings who love eachother so much that they feel comfortable in the idea of sharing that moment. It's a thing to be cherished. But...

Given that, my fantasies often involve women. (Human of course.) But that's the thing. As a transgender, I feel I am a woman myself. I hold on to that thought, and would, given the chance, to be one. And frankly, it's more difficult because while I could please a man, and have, I desire women more. But I'm a man, who wants to be a woman, who wants women.

But oddly, my furriness has nothing to do with sexuality, and for most, it has to do with the relationships between fursonas. And frankly, I don't particularly feel sexual about the furry thing. I just enjoy the art and the idea of my fursona being who she would be as a person, and not as a sexual object.

Frankly, it's so frustrating I've been almost unable to open up about it for a year. I hoped perhaps others could lend a hand in a community I deeply feel connected to.

submitted by Usagi-Nezumi
[link] [5 comments]
Categories: News

Episode 79 – Christmas Movies - Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house, Ringo was yelling, so loud he killed a mouse. Killick had plugged in the microphone with care, while Sepko played games, since the Xbox was there. The episode of Fu

Furballd - Wed 10 Dec 2014 - 02:42

Christmas thug life

Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house, Ringo was yelling, so loud he killed a mouse. Killick had plugged in the microphone with care, while Sepko played games, since the Xbox was there. The episode of Furballd was long overdue, so its now time to sit down with this podcasting crew. This time they would talk about movies filled with Christmas cheer, which Ringo filled with sex, dicks and dildo jokes. Oh dear.

This week’s song is “Food Frenzy” by GaMetal.  You can find the song on OCRemix here.

Xander’s Japanese Panda News!

Stephen Colbert’s take on the new lightsaber design!

The Star Wars VII George Lucas special edition trailer!

Saving Christmas trailer!

Bye for now, but not forever!

Episode 79 – Christmas Movies - Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house, Ringo was yelling, so loud he killed a mouse. Killick had plugged in the microphone with care, while Sepko played games, since the Xbox was there. The episode of Furballd was long overdue,
Categories: Podcasts