Cyan:
Hi Patch. We invited a few members of the F/F Collective board into this chat. Thanks for considering our project newsworthy.

Patch:
Totally cool. I got the impression there’s a physical book happening with it?

Sol:
Yessir!

Patch:
I dig it – is it about furries-who-like-fashion, or fashion-for-furries? Like clothes + furries, or more specifically anthro costuming?

Steezy:
Furries who like fashion. Sometimes fursuit fashion.

Yazoo:
It’s an amalgam of both the fashion savvy and those interested in fashion, whether it’s fandom inspired or otherwise. So there’s a very nice intersection of people looking for fashion who are in the fandom and creators that provide for the fandom.

Sol:
Its also about giving insight for furries who might want to get into fashion.

Patch:
Oh yay, inspiration. Honestly that would even help me, I love making cool outfits but know nothing about the kind of stuff that people who go to school for the design know.

Looking mad scuzzy in my new @HyenaAgenda threads pic.twitter.com/2bxWjvkLUq
— Assistant Senpai (@MintyChocoPanda) January 19, 2018

DOG x HYENA pic.twitter.com/lvUlZ9DFsA
— A Dog On Quest (@S0LARDOG) January 12, 2018

Sol:
Exactly! We know not everyone understands fashion and it can be intimidating. One of my hopes is that this book (hopefully THESE books) will make fashion look less scary and more inviting.

Patch:
What kind of stuff will the insight cover?

Cyan:
Our original inspiration for the book came from a conversation about how the fashion furs community had yet to produce art book or photographical content like the stuff that Aycee has done with Gummy Guts, or like Brae did with his MLP series. We also noticed that, as far as we know, there have yet to be any photography-based collaborations in the fandom. So the thinking was: “why not both?”

Sol wanted to ground the project in reality, so we set a guideline for artists and photographers to try and list the clothing in their pieces.

Yazoo:
And to note there have been other fashion related fandom look books, which centered mostly around one kind of fashion in relation to fursonas in general.

Patch:
A few years back it caught my eye that photographers were getting inspiration from furry – so I wrote “Five pro photographers advancing the art of furry documentary.”

I was just on google looking up the Gummy Guts book. Doing a book that way is a bit of a new concept to me. I’m in the bigger-publisher way of thinking. Or in fandom that means Furplanet, Sofawolf or Rabbit Valley.

*High pitched squees* Lookit what came in the mail! @AyCeeArt Fantastic art book by talented artists~ much wow #GummyGuts #furryart pic.twitter.com/xljXi2qB3Y
— Manchas Sneppai @Katsucon (@irukatweetstuff) March 13, 2017

Oops! My hand slipped. More previews for Gummy Guts. A full color collaborative art collection debuting at #FC2017 pic.twitter.com/Fxm5jWC4b0
— Hyenas Go HaHa (@AyCeeArt) January 10, 2017

Steezy:
Hmm, I’ve never heard of those.

Yazoo:
They publish mostly furry literature and comics.

Cyan:
You’ve probably seen those books in dealers dens at cons.

We’re definitely a grassroots project. We’re not a company trying to make profit. Instead we’re a volunteer-based project that will use all profit from sales of the book to make the next one even better.

Steezy:
If it does well, we can print more books next time.

Cyan:
And in higher quality.

Patch:
It sounds like for showing off member stuff more than focusing on the other end of users, just because it’s cool and fun to make. For a while I have been saying there should be some focused effort on making like a Taschen book about furries, aimed for the niche interest side of real book stores. That’s a tall order though. A fun project like this seems more on the zine concept.

Cyan:
At this point, F/F Collective is definitely closer to the zine concept.

Steezy:
Specifically photo zines.

Cyan:
Right now we’re focused on collecting final submissions and piecing together a physical product to show people that this is a project that can put out a tangible product in a reasonable time. We made sure to hash out the important details early on in the brainstorming phase, so that when we have our pieces, we can quickly turn them into a physical product.

Patch:
Is it going to be certain chapters inside guidelines (like one thing about fursuits, one about street wear, one about making with fabric) – or just based on interest of whoever submits?

Cyan:
Sol is collating a page list with tentative locations for each artist’s piece right now. We also have some really interesting art being done for the inside cover. He has been managing the project while I’m in school.

Sol:
I’m technically the talent manager, also the talent scouter. Everyone plays their part of course, me and Cyan have done a lot of the ground work and try to make sure everything’s running smooth.

Patch:
Will it include art, and photos, and writing?

Sol:
Not so much writing. We will include an Index of the outfits at the end, but for now we might keep that a surprise! If this first book sells well and we’re able to generate funds for a bigger book we could bring that into the grand scheme of things.

Patch:
It’s great you have a few models of previous books people made. I briefly looked up the Gummy guts book, it looked like good art and sold at least a solid 500 or more copies. I pay attention to how well things sell (even if thats not the point).

At FC I went to a panel with the president of the Furry Writers Guild and got info. Hundreds is a pretty solid number for any furry-published book. A few thousand would be like a top best seller. It’s not yet enough to make fandom publishing be like a “job” for those who do it (it could be cool if it was both job and fun, like it is for a few very successful fursuit makers). Art type books like this are different from fiction too, more of the limited-edition concept. I’ve dealt with some very niche photo book publishers outside fandom who do editions of 500 or 1000. Photo books are hot, they have object value.

Can you tell me more about the concept of a look book?

Sol:
LookBooks are usually just booklets that advertise an upcoming season line. “A collection of photographs compiled to show off a model, a photographer, a style, or stylist or a clothing line.”

Cyan:
I think we’ve been side-eyeing the store structure of bigger players in the fandom such as HyenaAgenda. You can go to their website and buy clothes, posters, stickers/etc.

This look book is more to show off the artists and photographers in this fandom who consider themselves part of the fashion furs community, or at least have an interest in fashion.

Sol:
If look books show off models, photographers, style, and clothing, why cant we toss in original art and some anthros?!

Cyan:
We might get into specific themes later on, in future volumes. If our book inspires members of the fandom to get into fashion, then mission accomplished. There’s already so much variety on display in the WIPs we’ve received.

Yazoo:
The most exciting part of it at least to me is that each and every participant has a different and unique idea of fashion to provide.

Patch:
I could see potential beyond just a book to pair artists, models, and makers who are known for a body of work. Fursuit makers have distinctive styles… get a photographer to set up concept shots and amplify each others talents.

Cyan:
Everyone seems to have their own unique take on -what- constitutes fashion. We’re hoping to show people that there really aren’t any boundaries.

Yazoo:
Photography and illustration alike, people’s inspiration and creativity in outfit design doesn’t ever fall into one category, everyone’s got something different to display.

Patch:
Can you tell me about those unique takes?

Cyan:
Well, I guess you could consider fashion, and an individual person’s take on fashion, to be akin to an artist’s take on their own personal art style. No two are exactly alike.

Patch:
I have a personal take I’d been meaning to write up… like accessorizing for partial fursuiting (there’s more flexibility with outfits than with fullsuiting.)

Yazoo:
Generally when people hear fashion, the first thing they think is “designer”. While designer can be a trend setter for looks and styles, the true value of a look is in the care and interest an individual has in the look they want to achieve.

Cyan:
So some people might be into flowing fabrics with varied textures, while others will be into a more street aesthetic. And even within individual aesthetics, styles vary.

Patch:
Is there crossover with dancer furs? People into dance I have known can be fashion focused.

Cyan:
There’s definitely a crossover.

Yazoo:
Dancerfurs and dancers in general have a pretty fun street style, so they definitely tend to take an interest in fashion. For dance it can be more about the FLASH of the clothes you wear, which some people take into everyday looks. I can definitely say a number of my looks are inspired by dance communities.

Patch:
Is it easy to explain those looks? Or is it best for just seeing in photos?

Cyan:
I think fashion is best explained through photography.

Yazoo:
Illustration as well.

Patch:
One thing I’d be curious about is methods of acquiring… like, I get good stuff from thrifting, hunting ebay/etsy for specific items, occasional DIY stuff like glittering my sneakers and putting on jacket patches, and lastly hunting bargain racks for stuff nobody bought because it’s odd but you can accessorize to make it stand out. Like that one pair of mint green jeans in a huge pile of samey blue.

Sol:
It’s more about what the eyes see and what you feel rather than words.

Cyan:
Note to self: do a 100% thrift photoset at one point or another.

Sol:
We do have some DIY projects. We’re hoping that we can expose people to new places to look for clothing past Nike and Macy’s.

Yazoo:
There’s a very good knowledge base of places people go to find stuff, specific or otherwise in the fashion furs. Anything from thrifting to consignment to Target clearance racks.

Sol:
Some stuff will be dirt cheap, some stuff will possibly make you faint if you check the price tag haha, but all n all it’s diverse.

Cyan:
Also grailed.com. I think it’s incredibly important for outsiders looking in to understand that fashion doesn’t have to be a prohibitively expensive hobby to get into. It’s a slow burn with an incredibly rewarding end result.

Steezy:
I buy so much stuff on sale it’s not even funny.

Patch:
Trying new things is important. Years back I thought fashion = money, when I lived in small towns, and buying online seemed silly for stuff you couldn’t try on, and I didn’t make anything. So I wore the same jeans and plain things. Changing where I lived and looked helped. I still don’t spend tons but taking a chance on a few concept hand designed pieces has been really fun. And it doesn’t have to cost tons to just look for that one piece that makes an outfit and match it with other stuff.

Steezy:
I currently live in a tiny town out in Arizona and a lot of my shopping happens over the web.

Sol:
My brother who kinda started my interest in fashion taught me that just one strong piece can go a long way.

Is there anything you’d like to ask us?

Patch:
I should run, but nice to chat you guys so far.

Sol:
Same to you!!! Thanks for reaching out!

Yazoo:
Yeah this was great!

Cyan:
Thank you for your time!

Background of a hate group.

Fandom is about imagination, but it’s made of people with a real community. Having a healthy community means discussing issues in it like grown-ups, from politics to risks. That includes happenings in the wider culture that affect a subculture full of loveable college-aged oddballs. These stories connect to “Altfurry”:

The alt-right is a racist fringe group that defines itself in opposition to others (like the mainstream, minorities, and people who aren’t racist). It can’t exist on its own, so they try to creep in, recruit and manipulate for power. Like two-faced chameleons, they wear an outer face to hide a disturbing inner narrative. They sugarcoat it, but the end goal is hateful bigotry. You can see through it when you know what “cryptofascism” is and how it works.

In their own words.

@AamnaMohdin: Alt-right fascist groups, having "drained the market of libertarians” and outed themselves as racist primitives at Charlottesville, desperately try to rebrand as hip and liberal.

Yeah, that trick didn't go so hot here in the furry fandom.https://t.co/uN1P5fayox
— Tempe O'Kun (@TempoWrites) February 4, 2018

2’s next ignorant “joke”: people can’t be racist unless they wear pointy white hoods.

Hmm, why do racists conceal their faces?

Knowing the alt-right agenda is the key to understanding how altfurries infest fandom:

Fandom makes a captive audience who might be groomed by people like themselves (often playing on insecurities of young males).
Fandom acceptance and LGBT membership makes a cover; altfurries use it to protest that they can’t possibly be fascist because they are *token identity*. (That’s historically false: 1930’s Nazis had gay leaders until they took power and killed them – and their Japanese allies weren’t white.)
They may claim to be “centrist” or “diverse” while their actions disprove it. Some things, like racism, don’t have other sides. To sugarcoat the agenda, they may syncretize (merge and co-opt) pseudo-liberal concerns, like for workers or gay rights. But it’s short-term and selective for loyal followers.
Altfurries are considered losers by the alt-right. Fandom is where they want a “safe space”, but their hate keeps them on the fringe here too. Even so, they still try to re-rebrand for wider acceptance. People driven by insecurity and malice aren’t thoughtful enough to get why it will never work.
Fandom is crowdsourced and peer to peer. The altfurry fringe adopts that process for grooming, despite absurd contradictions of mixing furry and hate. Most of it involves convincing each other, unlike a cult of personality with a single leader. It looks like fandom superficially, but behind the scenes they do rank members by trust and devotion to racist and fascist belief. They keep higher decision-making separate from fresh meat they target.
Memes are their main activity that resembles furry creativity, but in a derivative, parasitic way. It’s propaganda for grooming and attacking.

More details are covered here: How White Nationalism Courts Internet Nerd Culture. *

Redpilling

* For those unfamiliar with the term “red pilling” it is a cult like indoctrination, programming a new member that what the group promotes is the only real enlightened truth and that these truths had been kept hidden from them by evil forces controlling society.

Spreading hate since the 1990s as a Burned Fur and altfur.

A special target for altfurry hate is critics who interfere with grooming and indoctrinating. They’re labeled SJW’s – “social justice warriors” – in other words, healthy people who care about their community and won’t give a free pass to bigotry. (That describes most of fandom.) Vilifying opposition serves recruiting, and makes a watered-down version of “jews control the world”, so altfurs can conveniently scapegoat targets who react to being attacked.

Their “art”: mindless cliches, grooming, attacking, and nothing but pushy politics.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: In Part 2, a deep dive into Altfurry finds explicit, nauseating evidence.

This post is split for amount of screenshots. The source is “Altfurry Mead Hall,” a Discord server that grew after the neo-nazi march at Charlottesville. It documents months of chat in their private channel for trusted staff, which filters out memes and filler and shows exactly what they’re about. The server is run by Casey Hoerth/”Len Gilbert”, AKA “The Furred Reich”. These chat logs add to a long mission of hate shown by previous leaks from his Altfurry Discord.

Chat log file: https://my.mixtape.moe/gjdlqx.txt
Load file into the reader: https://dht.chylex.com/build/viewer.html

You will see:

“Len” (Casey) is paranoid about vetting and ranking staff, with applications, personal vouching and a point system to judge their cult devotion. (Isn’t it funny when they claim to be about free expression with no gatekeeping?)
A supposed 18+ group rule is bent to allow a minor into their most trusted staff channel. Political loyalty comes before anything else.
Len gives a mental map of associated altfur servers. Newcomers are funneled into different groups so they can be groomed or played against others.
Hardcore political racists are specially welcomed after many left because furries were too gay and centrist. Len makes attracting them fundamental while keeping it from public notice. It shows that altfurry is inseparable from hate, and members are complicit.

Insecure Len has an enemy list with Dogpatch Press on top as “ten times worse than @Deotasdevil”. (Wow, he hates something more than a vocal woman.)
Midwest Furfest made them extra active, but they didn’t meet because Deo leaked a meet plan. (In altfur parlance, that’s “cucked”.)
The chat talks about Foxler being an embarrassing association for them, making it hard to sugarcoat what they do. They’re relieved that FBI attention on Foxler hasn’t gotten worse and led to arrests yet. They discuss Dionysius trying to break up the Furry Raiders and how it’s good for them because the Raiders are a mess all the time. (Pot, kettle…)
They wanted an interview on the politics channel Louder with Crowder to make altfurry look “good” by accusing Antifa furs and FA of working together.
Their insecurity-fueled dream is to make a right wing con and turn the tables on “commies” by making them walk on eggshells.
Grooming tactics include filtering curious newcomers through a sham site that pretends to look neutral.
Trolling tactics include scheming to take over old abandoned FurAffinity accounts to make sockpuppets with histories.
There’s lengthy focus on trolling a chat group interview with Deo, trying to push members to fight each other. They discuss trolling tactics on and on and on. They admit wanting to look normal and reasonable by avoiding talking like nazis, making their enemies look mad and crazy, then stealthily pretending to be lefties and attacking popufurs to make others hate lefties.

This is what a hate group does. It has nothing to do with being friends, making and sharing furry art, or being in a fandom. Fandom is nothing more than their target for trolling, politics, grooming and recruiting. Altfurry has no concept of a community. They’re selfishly fixated on “power” in it.

To them, power means popularity – with zero understanding about how having friends comes from being a friend. They don’t even make creative stuff that catches notice. They want to be cool and proud of something without doing any work for it, motivated by jealousy. Racial supremacy just makes a lazy dividing quality that’s innate and can’t be taken away. Their main activity is hating people who get in their way. The stigma that comes from such bad behavior makes them more and more thirsty for attention, while they seek authority to force fandom to accept them unconditionally. It’s the most cliquish thing ever, and the saddest part is they convince each other that they’re right.

The defining feature of this group isn’t being hateful trolls – it’s being ultimate losers. They will only grow up by being exposed but avoided until they leave it.

Screenshots are coming in Part 2.

Life is short. @AltFurryBlocker is your ticket out of #altfurry bullshit. pic.twitter.com/6I2w1tvmcv
— Tempe O'Kun (@TempoWrites) November 14, 2017

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon. You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward. They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

In their own words.

Part 1 gives background about how the Altfurry hate group works. Now here’s the screenshots.

Chat log file: https://my.mixtape.moe/gjdlqx.txt
Load file into the reader: https://dht.chylex.com/build/viewer.html

The source is “Altfurry Mead Hall,” a Discord server that grew after the neo-nazi march at Charlottesville. It documents months of chat from late 2017, specifically from their private channel for trusted staff. That filters out memes and filler and shows what they’re really about. The server is run by Casey Hoerth/”Len Gilbert”, AKA “The Furred Reich”. These chat logs add to a long mission of hate shown by previous leaks from his Altfurry Discord group.

Screenshots are duplicated in imgur galleries for another reading option. One user named Kilton had their ID blanked when this leaked.

“Len” (Casey) is paranoid about vetting and ranking staff, with applications, personal vouching and a point system to judge their cult devotion. (Isn’t it funny when they claim to be about free expression with no gatekeeping?)

A supposed 18+ group rule is bent to allow a minor into their most trusted staff channel. (Political loyalty comes before anything else.)

Len gives a mental map of associated altfur servers. Newcomers are funneled into different groups so they can be groomed or played against others.

Hardcore political racists are specially welcomed after many left because furries were too gay and centrist. Len makes attracting them fundamental while keeping it from public notice. It shows that altfurry is inseparable from hate, and members are complicit. (Quote: “Gas the kikes.”)

Insecure Len has an enemy list with Dogpatch Press on top as “worse than @Deotasdevil”. (Wow, he hates something more than a vocal woman.)

Obsessed. Can you imagine this chud trying to be funny? It couldn’t be funny on purpose, but his failure would be. He couldn’t possibly be flaming enough.

Midwest Furfest got them extra active, but they didn’t meet because Deo leaked a meet plan. (In altfur parlance, that’s “cucked”.)

The chat talks about Foxler being an embarrassing association for them, especially with being implicated in the chemical attack on Midwest Furfest in 2014, making it hard to sugarcoat what they do.

They’re relieved that FBI attention on Foxler hasn’t gotten worse and led to arrests yet.

They discuss Dionysius trying to break up the Furry Raiders and how it’s good for them because the Raiders are a mess all the time. (Pot, kettle…)

They wanted an interview on the politics channel Louder with Crowder to make altfurry look “good” by accusing Antifa furs and FA of working together.

They have a dream to make a right wing con and turn the tables on “commies” by making them walk on eggshells. (Only if there was funding from the failed idea of member fees paid to Dionysius.)

Grooming tactics include filtering curious newcomers through a sham site that pretends to look neutral.

Trolling tactics include scheming to take over old abandoned FurAffinity accounts to make sockpuppets with histories.

There’s lengthy focus on trolling a chat group interview with Deo, trying to push members to fight each other. They discuss trolling tactics on and on and on. They want to look normal and reasonable by avoiding talking like nazis, making their enemies look mad and crazy, then stealthily pretending to be lefties and attacking popufurs to make others hate lefties.

The defining feature of this group isn’t being hateful trolls – it’s being ultimate losers. They will only grow up by being exposed but avoided until they leave it.

Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel. See their tag on Dogpatch Press for more.

Get a load of this sneak peak for this weeks long-awaited Culturally F’d Miniseries. Inspired by a series of articles right here on Dogpatch.Press, Fursuiting: A History is an expedition straight into the uncanny valley.

This multi-part miniseries will look at animal-costume history from the basics of the mask, theatrical outfits, Hollywood rubber-suits, fandom cosplay, and our very own fuzzy army of unique performers. Stay tuned this #FursuitFriday for the first installment of our 2018 series – and make sure to subscribe to Culturally F’d on YouTube to catch new videos as they come.

The music used in the trailer is “Ascendance” by Fox Amoore.

Also check out our older, concept trailer that parodies the Westworld opening titles.

Plus you can see our version side by side with the Westworld open:

Like this and want more? Buy Culturally F’d Merch, Support Culturally F’d on Patreon, and subscribe to their Newsletter.

Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel. See their tag on Dogpatch Press for more.

Yesterday we posted a sneak peek of our multi-part miniseries. It looks at animal-costume history from the basics of the mask, theatrical outfits, Hollywood rubber-suits, fandom cosplay, and our very own fuzzy army of unique performers.

Now here’s Part 1: Masks. This video explores the very idea of the mask itself and its ancient origins. Of course we focus on animal-masks, since we’re talking about Fursuit History, not just costuming in general.

This was truly a collaborative effort, so allow me to specifically point to some of the amazing furs that helped make this series not only possible, but brought the quality above and beyond just a simple YouTube blog:

Thanks to our special guest speaker Archaesophilia for sharing some anthropological insights.
This installment of Fursuiting: A History was co-written by show-runner Arrkay and Tempe O’Kun.
Extra big thanks to EZ Wolf for allowing us to use some of the gorgeous convention and fursuit videography from his YouTube channel.
Sherbert also contributed some of the Mascot footage featured.
As always the thumbnail artwork and graphic design was handled by co-producer Underbite Dragon.
The episode also featured music by Eluti, “Speed of Design” (youtube.com/RevamptOrchestra soundcloud.com/caero_musician) and some royalty-free Kerbal Space Program tracks.
Our opening title animation was created by ButterscotchOtter, with theme music composed by Khord Kitty.

NEXT TIME ON FURSUITING: A HISTORY –

We look at Pantomime Animals and Skin Parts as was explored right here on Dogpatch Press, with a video dedicated to the theatre!

NEXT UP ON CULTURALLY F’d –

We aren’t just releasing Fursuiting: A History. We’re also keeping our regular programming of furry media analysis and fandom videos. We have an all new film-space to work in, so we’re itching to get back into filming on the regular.

Tempe O’Kun has written up a romantic analysis of the 1973’s Disney’s Robin Hood.
We animate Arrkay and Underbite’s interview on the podcast #CreatorTown.

So SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL ALREADY!

Like this and want more? Buy Culturally F’d Merch, Support Culturally F’d on Patreon, and subscribe to the Newsletter.

This started with a guest submission by Rama the Golden Liger, a fur in Honduras. I collaborated with a lot of editing to smooth out the language and add extra info and another point of view. Fred Patten helped connect with even more furries who sent info at his request. Thanks Rama and Fred! – Patch

The Diversity of the Latin American Furry Fandom

We know how furry fandom started in the U.S. As it grew there, the mainstream media, the internet, its memes and popular YouTubers, and other influences put the fandom within a stone’s throw for many young people. Now across borders, different cultures are experiencing a growth of furry fandom among many international influences they already have.

Latin American furries are a result of all this exposure. The internet helped many young people get interested in the art, behavior, and culture of the furry creatures they see on the screen. Many Hispanic furry fans are males mostly from around age 15 to their 20’s. They came across fandom through friends, memes, anime, manga, and fan art. There are popular YouTubers like Khazoo, who spread the term “furry” through his videos. Of course, there was also Zootopia spreading popularity of anthropomorphic animals around the world.

Khazoo’s struggle

(Patch): International reach reminds me of studying animation under an “old master” who in 1989, helped lead a nonprofit mission to Latin American countries to reduce AIDs among street children. They traveled around to test screen educational cartoons on the side of a van. The audience was poor kids who were vulnerable to exploitation and had low access to schools. The films they were shown were life saving, and most importantly to this story, the language of cartoons was universal across borders to all levels of literacy. Of course internet users in 2018 are the main topic here.

Khazoo is an example of how furryness spreads now. This teenage Spanish-language Youtuber from Mexico may not be known to English speakers. He was born in 1999 and only uploaded his first video in 2016, but soared to 31.5K followers on Twitter and nearly 600,000 youtube subscribers so far – much more than any specifically furry internet celebrity! How did he start? According to a wiki about him (use Chrome/Google Translate), Khazoo started with general teen audience content like gaming and cartoons. While he joked about being in love with Judy Hopps, fans called him “furry” but he denied it, until finally admitting it to everyone – a story I’m sure we can all laugh about in any language!

Latin American fandom does have old school furries; those who joined the fandom in the beginning or have been there for more than 15 years. From talking with some of them, they all got into it through comics with art from – for example – Nakira, JK Willard, Kese, or K9. And of course cartoons and books. Later on, the boom of the internet brought them to a community of those who loved anthropomorphic animals.

Even if furry fandom in these regions is still following development in North America, it’s already showing exponential growth; not only in the number of people who join every day, but also in the quality of fursuiters, artists, gamers, and more that have come from it.

Some examples are:

The amazing works of Coby Wong, the fursuit maker from Brazil. She’s considered one of the most qualified makers in Latin American fandom.
Talented artists like GAB SHIBA, Anhes, Peritian, Señor Nutria, and more from Mexico and Argentina.
E-sports gamers like Noah Fox from Mexico, right now living in the U.S.

Coby Wong

Some of them answered questions for this article.

One furry who spoke was @NoahFFox. He discovered furry fandom when he was 16 years old. He’s been in the fandom for four years, and since he moved to the U.S. he’s become a big Hispanic representative on Smash. He’s recognized as the only one using the Toon link.

From the comics partnership of GAB SHIBA – Zurdo is the artist (and Cross is the writer.) Zurdo shared his story about the fandom and how things started. He joined furry fandom 13 years ago when he was 16 and a friend showed him anthropomorphic art. He sees in the Latin American furry community a big opportunity for improvement. It can get a little chaotic because it’s now populated almost entirely by youths, but as it develops you can see how much good it can do, as more join year by year. There’s fear of the young population misunderstanding what furry fandom is; what role it serves, and that it’s not only about porn or yiff art. But he hopes to see more and more mature furries in Hispanic fandom as it grows with time.

Gab 98
From the same who brought you UBEAR, we bring you the ubearPOOL pic.twitter.com/Q7vm3ksbxw
— GAB SHIBA (@gabshiba) January 26, 2018

*otter in spanish* pic.twitter.com/xpeYJgmB3G
— otter cake (@senornutria) June 9, 2017

(Patch): GAB SHIBA has a smart approach. The comics are frequently wordless, or posted with dual-language for wide appeal – but they don’t just stay G-rated. Some are mildy sexy and others are even explicitly adult.

Señor Nutria at Fur Con

The same for Señor Nutria’s art. Maybe in the U.S., one may think of some Latin American countries as having conservative religious traditions or maybe not being the most tolerant, but some of his art is up there with the hottest gay yiff porn – showing that wherever furries are, they may spread a certain freedom or even counterculturally unbound expression in their creativity.

At Further Confusion in January 2018, I met Señor Nutria on his first trip to a fur con outside of Mexico. He was super friendly but still a little shy of being on camera, so I got a pic of work in progress at his dealer table instead. He said his younger brother, a teenager, had recently gotten into the fandom from seeing furry art.

Let’s not forget Paco Panda, the popular Mexican artist already widely known in fandom. And – Dogpatch Press has generous website admin support from Mexican fandom.

Latin American furmeets and cons

Many countries already have active communities and cons where they gather to exchange experience and knowledge, and socialize with other furs of their region. Some Hispanic countries started to do this as recently as two years ago, some four years. They are getting bigger and bigger. As new as furry fandom is in Latin America, you will notice how the media is interested in it and seek to interview these new animals in their lands. You can also see how many of the fursuits are hand made mostly by fans for themselves. Only a few can afford to buy a professionally made suit. But that’s the lovely part. You can see the large amount of effort and love this community is putting into its hobby and fandom.

The biggest gathering right now is the Brazil FurFest. Then there’s Vidafur and Fursummer in Mexico, and furmeets in Argentina and Chile. Here’s videos, with info about the first con in Mexico below.

(2/22/18) BrasilFurfest sent appreciation and a comment: “Brazilians aren’t Hispanic. Latin America is made of countries that speak Spanish, French, Portuguese. Hispanic refers only to people who speak Spanish.” (Apart from this, many from the region probably do meet there.)

BrasilFurfest – Brazil

Vidafur – Mexico

Furmeet – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Furmeet – Santiago de Chile

(Patch): There was rare media coverage of Peruvian furries in 2015. The standard “furries 101” article added useful tidbits: It was “still somewhat unusual” to see furries in Lima because their group was little more than four years old, and “the members of this tribe in our country are no larger than 100.” It also claimed: “In Latin America, Chile is a privileged country for furry fandom.” I’d love to know more.

Mexico’s first con – info gathered by Fred Patten.

Leonardo Davalos wrote:

The fandom is growing and very quickly and expanding to other countries, for example here in Mexico, the fandom isn’t unknown like it was before, and I’m happy that I had become one of the new members of this fandom.

In Mexico, the first meet was held in Guadalajara in 2008. It was a FurMeet called VidaFur. In 2010 it was held in Mazamitla, and in 2013 it was held in Guanajuato. In 2014 there was no event. The theme in 2017 was Furs in Space. This year it became a great convention with approximately 170 attendees. The name is now changed to Confuror, to be held in November 2018.

There were 27 staff members for the 2017 event. Some of them were Hugo Nieto, Henry J. Doe, EddBear, SoraDezWolfox, Zachary Huslion, An Ju Hope, Nathan de Xolotl, Foxhell, etc.

The activities were the following:

Dance competition
Drawing, traditional drawing, and sock puppet workshops
Writing, character creation and GAB SHIBA speeches
Fursuit Parade and Photoshoot
Relay race
Skating
Lazer Wars

There were more than 30 fursuiters in the event. There was no donation. Here is a blog of one of the attendees, Koidel Coyote.

“8 years celebrating local furmeets in our city… We all finally evolved this event to a new level turning it in to a Convention.”

Growth of Latin American social networking and more

Mike Retriever of Furryfandom.es, in Madrid Spain, writes:

I’ve read that article in Spanish, from Furry Amino. Amino is like a ‘Facebook’ kind of website/platform. Latin Americans like to use it. I don’t know of any other furry groups using Amino, only Latin Americans. It has some kind of integration with smartphones or something. Honestly I don’t get very good vibes from it, it seems very commercially-driven, like Fandom Wikia. It’s a social network geared towards fandoms. I’m very suspicious of non-furry websites catered towards furries. Flayrah’s GreenReaper says of Amino Apps they’re doomed to fail because they don’t allow porn! That’s a funny fact!

(Patch): The Furry Amino group has 200,000 members, and Furry Spanish on Amino has 35,000.

In 2008, Greenreaper’s Wikifur site launched a Spanish project in collaboration with Latin American furs. It was one of the first on the wikifur.com domain in a foreign language (along with Russian), showing them on the edge of growth.

On Wikifur I found that in 2014, when Mexico’s Vidafur didn’t meet, the members collaborated in a different gathering of many fur groups in another city, Fursummer. It lists the groups as: Vidafur, GTFur, Enfurry, Urban Clawz, Bicifurros and Tonalli Furs.

How cool is that? Getting small groups from across a country to pitch in and make a bigger meet shows the DIY ethic of fandom around the world. I love that art doesn’t need one language, and look forward to sharing more about the diversity it brings. In a small way, this international conspiracy represents a nicer future for everyone.

Furry Ambassadors – a recognition program

“Furries ruin everything.” “F#$king Furries.” “Yiff in H$!!.” The furry community can face stigmatization from the mainstream – and for some, fursecution is real. That being said, there are good people who put a lot of effort into the furry community. Between helping people financially, educationally, or by going out of their way to help keep the peace, there are good furs out there who deserve to be recognized for their efforts.

On June 1^st, 2017, the Furry Ambassadors Program was initiated on Fur Affinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/furryambassadors. An ambassador is someone who protects people, promotes prosperity, or works for peace. Meeting one of those three duties has become a requirement for someone to be recognized a Furry Ambassador as well, as this is not a popularity contest. Being a Furry, however, is optional.

The list of Furry Ambassadors to date are as follows.

June 2017: The chairman of Anthrocon, Dr. Samuel Conway aka Uncle Kage aka kagemushi
July 2017: Doctor Courtney “Nuka” Plante aka Nuka-kitty
August 2017: Aberguine from the YouTube channel Furries in the Media
September 2017: Arrkay and UnderbiteDragon of the YouTube Channel CulturallyFD
October 2017: Founder of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, Dr. Kathy Gerbasi
November 2017: Civil litigation lawyer Boozy Barrister Badger
December 2017: DogPatch.Press, founded by Patch O’Furr/Patch_Packrat, with Furry Historian Fred Patten, and contributing editor Pup Matthias.
January 2018: (skipped due to holidays). More is coming soon… please get in touch with them to nominate furries who deserve recognition!

Want to nominate your own FurryAmbassador or learn more?
Please visit our FurAffinity page for more info!https://t.co/vD8rwja1FS
— FurryAmbassadors (@FurryAmbassador) October 23, 2017

How are they selected and what’s the goal?

Anyone can be nominated to be a Furry Ambassador. We have a list of everyone nominated, and pick someone to be reviewed. A vetting process then occurs for the nominee. We research the person to see if they have met the ambassador requirements, as well we reach out to people who have had contact with the nominee to get any additional background and or perspective. If the nominee passes the vetting process, then a recognition is written and privately provided to the nominee to review. If the nominee consents, then at the beginning of the next month, the recognition is posted on the Fur Affinity account and posted to be shared across various art blogs and social media outlets. If however the nominee does not meet the ambassador requirement upon review, then the recognition is shelved. A shelved recognition can be reviewed at a later time when evidence of the nominee’s meeting the ambassador requirements can be identified.

So what is the benefit of being recognized as a Furry Ambassador? Does it make the person into a super fur, or do they win an award? Absolutely not. Being a Furry Ambassador is just the ability to have a title, plain and simple. Obviously, a title would not change a single thing about these members of the furry community. That being said, giving someone the prestigious Furry Ambassador title is a way to give a big shout out to highlight the positive things that furries are doing to make the fandom a better place. Help is always appreciated in the way of nominations.

As far as future plans are concerned, the number 1 goal is to simply strive for consistency, plain and simple. Ideally, with enough participation, the Furry Ambassadors program will hopefully continue with minimal to no interruptions for a very long time, as we do not see an end of good furries to review any time soon! Also, we have a few ideas on how to give rewards to those recognized as Furry Ambassadors. A Ko-fi tip jar has been set up, and funds permitting, we are looking to make buttons, or if funds permit, challenge coins to give to those recognized! http://ko-fi.com/X8X17Y8J

Who is involved?

Furry Ambassadors is administrated by PezWolf and AzarionSWE.

In the spring of 2017, a Texas furry artist by the name Pez Wolf got bit by the fur suiting bug, and started working on his own fursuit design. Having a shoe string budget and being in close proximity to fur bashers, Pez shelved the fur suiting and redirected his energy into researching the furry fandom. Pez repeatedly ran across furs who have been making great steps toward reducing the stigmatization of the furry fandom, and making the furry community more acceptable to the mainstream. Pez’s day job is working at a major financial institution that has a culture of recognition. Pez took the values he learned at work and applied them to the furry community by recognizing furs who have made contributions to the Furry Fandom. Thus the Furry Ambassador program was created.

Azarion has been a part of the furry fandom since 2013, where the kitsune has found the warm and fuzzy welcome of many new friends. Ever since Azarion discovered the negative press media coverage from main stream media sources, he has been determined to bust the typical myths about the furry fandom. In the fall of 2017, Azarion stumbled upon the Furry Ambassador program, and knew immediately that he wanted to be a part of the writing and administrating processes. Azarion is currently studying humanities with a focus on the European Continent, and learning about other peoples and cultures has always been a big interest. Being able to promote and give exposure to people that are making a positive impact on the fandom has provided him with a new field of research that’s also given him plenty of warmth and fuzz.

Note from Patch:

This is a great idea worth supporting! And what an awesome honor to even have them notice me before I noticed them. If you think other furries deserve it, that’s why you should send them YOUR nomination to spread the love.

It reminds me of this excellent thread I noticed, and one key point I’m highlighting that shows why I think Furry Ambassadors is a great idea.

Just realized I've seen the furry fandom go from a recreational clique to a legit counter-culture.
— La Renarde Écrivaine (@threetails) February 17, 2018

Sooner or later, the furry fandom will have to show a clear preference for its own art, music, costuming, etc.
— La Renarde Écrivaine (@threetails) February 17, 2018

Co-written by Thurston Howl and Patch O’Furr. Full disclosure – Howl and Patch have received Ursa Major awards by community vote.

Even in non-writing communities in the furry fandom, many furries are aware of the Ursa Major Awards. They’ve been around for about 17 years, have presence at cons, and each year they receive many voters. However, for all their legacy, Thurston Howl – (a furry publisher who assisted with social media and marketing for the UMAs in 2017) – has come forward with concerns involving the UMAs’ recent soliciting for donations and GoFundMe campaign.

A transparency concern.

Until now, there has been no formal budget or accounting for funding. Fred Patten, Secretary of the ALAA (Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association, which runs the UMAs), told Howl on 5/30/17: “I cannot remember that the Treasurer for the ALAA has ever submitted a formal treasury report.” Fred confirmed there were no records for 17 years, and later added:

I don’t know how much it costs to print UMA award certificates, buy frames for them, ship them to the recipients, make and ship powerpoint presentations, etc., and I don’t know how much total in donations we’ve gotten over the years…

There have been complaints in email discussion by associates. ALAA member Bernard Doove said: “I would like a report on the finances that is more than ‘we’re broke.'” And on 5/4/17, a donor reported that they considered their donation “an unwise decision that could have been put to much better use elsewhere.” There were even fears of misappropriation, but Bernard Doove found no evidence when he looked in the bank accounts. The explanation seems to be fees of $156/year to maintain a Checking and Savings account if they have under a $300 minimum balance each.

It honestly seems like an issue of mixing small fan efforts with more formal organization, like how fandom started. ALAA Treasurer Rod O’Riley was a fandom founder who helped start Confurence in 1989. He responded to a request for comment:

The problem is not transparency — the problem is a lack of funds to be transparent about.

All donations have made their way into our bank account, and have been spent on either what they were supposed to be spent on — making and mailing out our trophies and plaques — or else were swallowed by the bank fees. ALL donations. Sometimes they took a while to get where they were going — as recently, when PayPal and our bank’s on-line system had difficulties talking to each other, for reasons I still do not understand. But eventually, they got where there were going.

Good faith is evident when many operation costs have been paid out of pocket by Rod and other ALAA members. However, when public contribution is wanted, more formal fiduciary duty should be expected. Can we see a budget for expenses? Will there be accounting for what is received and spent, and a report? Without such efforts, donations could be received under mistaken expectations. There should be clarity for donors reached by public appeals.

The understaffed committee.

When Howl consulted ALAA members in 2017, Fred Patten explained:

The ALAA has always been an understaffed volunteer organization. We have had to take who we can get. Rod is literally the only person who has shown any interest in handling the ALAA’s assets. We can’t afford to fire him; who would we replace him with?

Let me emphasize that the ALAA does have some real expenses, and with all donations going into Rod’s pockets and him paying for those expenses personally, we are basically trusting that his financial contributions outweigh the amount of the donations we get from other people.

On top of all of this, for con presentations of the UMAs, Rod apparently charges the ALAA for some services, such as assembling “and delivering” a Powerpoint presentation. Volunteering is work, but isn’t every con run without compensation? It seems that Rod puts in a great deal of work into both the ALAA and the UMAs, and the ALAA board allows respect for his long experience and devotion. A clear budget could help assure that to the public.

Solutions.

Here’s some steps for proper accounting to solicit more and better help:

A finance 101 book for indie business could solve some issues such as what the IRS expects.
Start a basic bookkeeping system – such as with Quickbooks or free Google Sheets.
Optionally, set up a Chart of Accounts for income and spending categories.
Make sure all income and expense transactions are tracked.
Post a clear budget and promise annual reports.
THEN crowdfund for expenses with full transparency.

Rod responded:

I’m actually very appreciative of the system you laid out. Other than the paperwork to fill out for the US of A (which is new now that we have a Tax ID number), much of it is things we’ve already been doing — again, when asked. We simply have to make them habitual even even not asked. Can do.

CAN YOU HELP? PLEASE COMMENT.

Let’s solve this to raise donations and make the Ursas what they always promise to be – a fandom institution to rely on, be proud of, discover with and enjoy!

Are you willing and able to volunteer skill for the understaffed needs? How about donations to offer, contingent on progress? Specifically, there’s a wish for small, stable, solid yearly contributions out of the budgets of big cons to sustain the awards. Can any con organizers assist?

Soon, the UMA GoFundMe campaign will be reposted on Dogpatch Press and promoted with a reminder about needs that generous people can help address. Solving these problems would be a good way to help repay what Rod and associates have done for fandom since the beginning.

Additional comments from ALAA members, February 2018.

Bernard Doove:

The ALAA has needed volunteers for years, but we have lost members rather than gained, and we are all doing as much as possible to keep the Ursa Major Awards running. I’ll be donating money from my personal funds once again for the 2017 Award trophies, and I will be flying up to Queensland where the awards ceremony will be held at FurDU this year in order to run the event. The cost of that comes out of my own pocket too. I’m willing to do my bit for the cause, but we desperately need more people with the skills required to improve it.

Fred Patten adds:

Often it isn’t as much the money as the time & effort to cover the bureaucratic details. Rod has also been handling all the correspondence and financing to have our trophies made and mailed to the recipients. I don’t know exactly how much labor and money is involved, but Rod has been taking care of it alone for over 15 years now.

Since 2015, we have replaced the first UMA trophies — the framed certificates — with the lucite trophies, which are more expensive.

I have told McFarland & Co., the publisher of my Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015, to donate all my royalties directly to the ALAA, but so far this has been less than $200. Something else that I have been trying to get is some of the better-established furry conventions to regularly donate $100 a year to the ALAA. Is there any way to arrange for a regular small donation from, for example, Anthrocon or Further Confusion or Midwest FurFest or Megaplex or Biggest Little Fur Con or Furry Fiesta or Anthro Weekend Atlanta? If we could get just $100 each from some conventions, we should meet our annual budget.

Visit the Ursa Major Awards site to learn more about what they do.

In February 2018, Radfox, a New Jersey furry, helped a small group of friends meet for a fun weekend party in a room suite at a casino. The success led Radfox to launch a real convention for a future date. The ad-hoc trial run was named Atlantic City Fur Con.

Behind the scenes, trouble was baked in from the start. Some members seemed to consider the purpose of the con to be frat-style partying and being “offensive“. This comment came in with the original story tip:

Apparently it was bad – lots of noise complaints, there was thousands of dollars in hotel damage. Someone pushed someone into the shower which broke the nozzle or something. Caused MAJOR water damage. It went through multiple floors and into the kitchen.

Review of the Telegram group for the event found lengthy discussion about thousands in damage. A pipe was broken and flooded 12 floors of the hotel.

This is only a minor part of the story. We’ve all made mistakes and had bad luck, and it’s only money, right? It’s not bad like trashing a person.

Radfox was asked for comment by direct message on Twitter on 2/24/18. He told me: “Everyone had a good time and kept within reason, there were no incidents with the hotel or their security.” I asked him again: is it really true there were no incidents with the hotel or their security? His last reply before blocking messages:

ACFC went really well. Had a blast and we'll be back next year more offensive more dank and more loud than ever...a lot less wet hopefully

@CyberpupEigenAD pic.twitter.com/gAb19W53Wg
— RadFox ACFC (@ShRadow_Fox) February 11, 2018

And then it got worse. After the party, the chat group (linked on the official website) kept talking about making a con. The group was full of edgy behavior, like dozens of hits for the word “nigger” covering a 7 month span. Frequent posters appeared not to be held to rules like this, until Radfox was asked to comment for this story.

A black furry criticized a stereotype meme in the chat. He called for better behavior if it was going to be the official face for a new con. In response, he was scapegoated for racist attacks. It came from known altfurries and included hate propaganda from a neo-nazi terrorist group.

Radfox redirected the discussion to a “no holds barred anything goes” chat group that was already set up long before as an “After Dark” for the main chat. Most of the story happened there. Hundreds of hate posts were made in there about the black furry who wanted better behavior. They called him “uppity negro”, nigger, “basketball American” and more. Radfox joined, watched the racist posting, and received intense peer pressure from members. To his credit, he told them he couldn’t support racism. They negged him as a “pussy” to discourage him from listening to complaints or trying to tone things down, and resolved to attack those who would try.

Moderate racism from @slizzzler means only Monday-Wednesday, on leap years and at furry cons pic.twitter.com/oCMxXziayI
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 26, 2018

Radfox was only the host and didn’t bash anyone. Observers of this story defend him as a good person who runs inclusive parties. However he oversaw the event, and even designated a safe space for hate and used it for con business. It showed a deeper relationship to members than just people he “banned”, where the new chat was used during the hate posting to consult them about the agenda of the con. He didn’t agree with the peer pressure and wanted better behavior – at least for the public face – but let it go in private. That doesn’t solve the problem if members of this group will be involved in founding a convention.

That’s the story in a nutshell. A hotel was damaged and group members attacked a black furry for asking for better behavior. This report will look closer at who they are and what they represent, and ask: will they be attending or staffing a future event? And will fandom want anything to do with it?

A longer statement from Radfox plus over 200 screenshots gathered for this story will be shared in next parts.

Had a great weekend and trip with @ShRadow_Fox ! Thanks for inviting me out to hang with you and go to your con! ACFC was a blast I met so many awesome people! And partied all night. Hope next year we do something again! pic.twitter.com/YbcwLgdIyo
— Riley Fox (@Rileyyfox) February 12, 2018

(Please don’t use group pics to get mad at party goers – it’s not a good way to tell who was involved online.)

Let’s back up and talk about partying. I’ve never cared for complaints about fur cons forgetting art and being taken over by costuming, dancing and drinking. Parties are fine by me, and I think there’s more art than ever. When (*some*) graymuzzles lament about how back in the day, it was more about carrying a sketchbook and quietly drawing around a table, it sounds like old fogeys wanting early bed time. Things are getting bigger and more diverse, so let the kids play.

But sometimes a thing stares you in the face, and says here is The Problem. What happened in this story isn’t about creativity and positive expression. It’s the bad kind of party influence like you see with frats that do hazing, peer pressure and vandalism. Letting loose for fun shouldn’t include spreading hate for its own sake just to flex selfish power. But that’s how this event came to have haters consulted for its purpose.

That’s not partying right:

PARTY TIP: The only thing we should hate is hate.
— ANDREW W.K. (@AndrewWK) December 4, 2014

PARTY TIP: Focus on love, partying, and bringing joy to the people around you.
— ANDREW W.K. (@AndrewWK) August 29, 2017

What set them off: A key moment was a screenshot from the New Jersey furry chat where Trenton, a black furry, criticized the coded-black Ugandan Knuckles meme. The worst part was a post with the character hung on a noose. He didn’t call them nazis, but asked them to be adults and put more effort into comedy besides just dumb offense. Apparently that was so unreasonable that it deserved extreme retaliation.

Trenton’s concern was attacked as “PC dictatorship”. When Radfox moved offensive behavior to a new chat, they said one SJW was making him bow down to conformity and “shilling”. They said it would kill free speech and stop them from “being themselves”. They said Trenton was the problem, he should be banned, and called him “dindunuffin” for ruining their fun. Bad behavior made him speak up, and they doubled down and called him a nigger because he complained.

Then here’s some of the post history of the chat they were defending from his request.

Radfox answered complaints about “SJW’s” and defended caring, because the bad behavior made about 10 other people privately complain and drop out of his group. Apparently they were reluctant to speak up. But it didn’t matter to members who piled on him for listening to “one SJW”. They wanted Trenton banned.

Banning Trenton as well as others would be a perfect example of defective “centrism”. Compare the above posts and look at how much they got away with. And Trenton was the problem for speaking up once? Do you think this explains why nobody else did before? Thankfully Radfox didn’t fall for it.

The most aggressive were about 6 outspoken altfurs and a dozen supporters. They attacked Trenton’s concern to the extent of filling the chat with zoo porn and hate propaganda. If you look for the source of the propaganda, it’s a neo-nazi terrorist group in the news for murder called Atomwaffen Division.

1/ Last month, we revealed Sam Woodward—the accused killer of Blaze Bernstein, a gay Jewish student—belonged to the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division.

We’ve uncovered 250,000+ messages from the group’s secret chat room. We want to show you some of them. https://t.co/fxXpKKS1ud pic.twitter.com/b6IuPu2pV4
— ProPublica (@ProPublica) February 23, 2018

An Atomwaffen member murdered a student in California and earned approval from the other neo-nazis. They planned terrorist attacks to start a race war. Group access is tightly controlled. The New Jersey furry group poster (Jerreh) is known for altfurry posting history that ties to outside neo-nazi activity.

The news report above discusses the neo-nazi propaganda and it’s maker (Denton):

“Records and interviews show Denton goes by the name Rape in the online conversations, and he appears to be involved in nearly every aspect of the organization. He shapes Atomwaffen’s ideology, chooses designs for its distinctive black-and-white posters and online propaganda, and selects the books that new recruits must study as part of their initiation.”

These posts followed it in the New Jersey furry group, showing their “ironic” behavior and sincere belief.

Radfox appears to have fallen in with a bad crew. To his credit, he didn’t make it worse by bending for peer pressure, but his friends are still pushing for retaliation. Threats have already been received to Dogpatch Press for planning this report, before it was published.

I’d love to know what enabled them to slide into fandom and act like this behavior is OK while nobody told them no so far. Radfox may not know the extent of how bad the altfurries among his friends are. Can he be supported to part ways with haters?

Parties are rad. It’s not rad to get some obnoxious, selfish assholes who don’t seem to be creating art or bringing anything positive to a community full of queer nerds. And assholes who support hate are antithetical to what furry is. These things can’t coexist. Personally, anyone who thought so would be no friend of mine.

What is this even doing near the fandom? Pick one… hate or furry.

Part 2 will look deeper at over 200 screenshots showing the events, the perpetrators, and their ties to hate groups.
Part 3 will share statements and threats received from people in the story.

Reminder to anyone pushing for retaliation, who look the other way about your own group: Racist is as racist does, and like Chris Rock said –

If 10 guys thinks it's ok to hang with 1 Nazi then they just became 11 Nazis. Alt right / white supremacist it's just nazis. Fuck Nazis.
— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) August 15, 2017

About this story (Continued from Part 1:)

You’re looking at sensitive info that needs calm. For example, please don’t post event group pics by themselves to criticize event goers. I don’t support that because it’s not clear which were involved or innocent from one photo. Just as importantly, some people involved with mistakes could use support now.

This follows controversies in fandom in 2017 that peaked with the closing of Rocky Mountain Fur Con. Mismanagement and abuse of tolerance killed the con. This New Jersey event seemed to be near that ballpark. But unlike RMFC, the furry in charge was more caught up in other people’s actions, so it’s not about him so much. And Trenton (the furry who was mistreated) wasn’t making a strong statement like Deo – he just asked for respect.

The story wasn’t tipped by Trenton and he never asked for help. I was watching the chat when he tried to directly solve a problem. It led to intense peer pressure on others by haters, so it wasn’t good enough by itself. I think when haters use such tactics to recruit, it’s not solved by people just keeping to themselves if they don’t get along. Also, if hate groups are trying to grow, waiting until people leave them isn’t the only way to respond. So if there are side effects from publishing a story, there already are effects from not. The best thing that can happen with a story like this is take it as a real issue, then have a calm conversation. I think 75% of fandom drama recently is just about upholding that issues are real and can’t be trolled and denied out of existence. That’s why this article is giving sources. To be honest, I wish this wasn’t going out and it will hurt people, but it would hurt to not put it out. I’d love to see change and growth come from it.

The damage incident in the story had nothing to do with racism. It was part of a wider topic about behavior (did it remind you of another con story?) There was a request for their side first. Also, the line about Graymuzzles didn’t please everyone – sorry guys (you helped found the fandom). Same to good fraternities.

Summary of Part 1:

A small New Jersey furry group threw a party at a casino and the hotel was damaged (although it was taken care of.)
Radfox, the organizer, then decided to make it a real convention for the future.
The chat group for the party had a history of hateful posts.
Trenton (who is a black furry) complained about a stereotype meme and asked for better behavior if the chat was official for a con.
Radfox redirected offensive posting to an “anything goes” side chat, where members doubled down with racist hate for Trenton.
Radfox was peer pressured to discourage listening to “SJW” complaints, but said he was trying to start a real event and couldn’t have racism.
Members carried on attacking the concern and Trenton with neo-nazi stuff. About 6 were most responsible but others enabled.
Part 1 asked: will those members be helping to found or staff a future event, and will fandom support it?

I just wanted to share this tweet:

in complete seriousness I’m so happy seeing people starting a dialogue in this fandom on drugs, alcohol, and fun

we all should not be creating an atmosphere where people who, for whatever personal reasons, don’t partake in alcohol/drugs are looked at like they have 3 heads
— glitter skunk defends pop punk (@JUNIUS_64) February 22, 2018

Is that message forcing things on people and taking away their freedom? Does it deserve hate? Or is it just being a mature adult?

Compare it to the key moment from the New Jersey furry chat with Trenton. He criticized a stereotype, and asked them to be adults. The reason is because the “Ugandan Knuckles” meme shows a coded-black character being hung on a noose. Apparently that was so unreasonable that it deserved extreme hate.

That’s the story’s Deo Moment. Are you puzzled about what’s wrong with it? (If you really need a target to hassle about this more, use me.)

Below there’s around 200 screenshots (from TWO chats that didn’t share all members) in linked galleries. Again this is very sensitive info. People in it may deserve support for distancing themselves. To name 3 – Radfox, Koss, Kazu. If you see others in these screens, I highly recommend asking them if they support the words in them without judging until they answer. There are active requests to withhold this info and not be judged for things people aren’t going to support. Putting this out can have a long lasting impact against a very quick change of heart, and it’s a tough decision but I think it’s important to see what happened because it does exist in the community.

Can this be the start of a community thing where we’re all getting better?

Hotel Damage (main chat) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

Details of damage that opened the story. A pipe is broken and floods 12 floors of the hotel, but it’s taken care of.

Uganda Knuckles meme (main chat) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

The meme comes up and chat members attack “pussies” who wouldn’t allow it. Trenton disagrees with one post of it and is told to shut up.

Making an anything goes chat (main chat) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

Radfox redirects offensive stuff to the side chat. Trenton talks about a better face for the con, and making more effort to be funny with jokes, instead of just posting hateful stuff. The chat has more discussion about the meme being lame and old. (Member list is withheld – some were already inside or not involved.)

Reactions in the main chat – Imgur gallery of screenshots

Assigning another chat gets treated like an attack. They say “Fuck PC and all it stands for” and Trenton starts to get retaliation.

Hate in the new chat – Imgur gallery of screenshots

Extreme hate starts here. They mock “uppity negros” and Radfox for listening to complaints. “Have we lost the culture? Free speech tossed to the side by butthurt PC vultures.”

Reinforcing hate and peer pressure (1) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

More members pile on. They post zoo porn (dozens of porn posts aren’t shared here) and neo-nazi propaganda. Posts say “lynchthenigger”, “cotton pickers” and they attack “white knights” and people who want to change things. Radfox says “You can be yourself, I don’t want that to be the face of the con” and protests about the money he has spent while they attack him.

Reinforcing hate and peer pressure (2) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

Radfox tries to reason with them about the effort he made. He asks if they can behave that badly in a regular con chat. They attack him for being “Master cuck” and not leaving the chat as it was. Radfox explains that other people left and he doesn’t want it called a con for Alt Furry or to be Furry Raiders 2.0. They blame Trenton for having a more important opinion because he is POC and act like he came in new and started “slinging shit”. Radfox says Trenton was in the chat long before others and has been an acquaintance for years.

Reinforcing hate and peer pressure (3) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

The chat pressures Radfox to ignore “a small minority” who would be offended, and blames them for “slander”. They say “real people don’t give a shit” and to ban complainers. They accuse Radfox of making popularity more important than “being yourself”, “letting these faggots change who you are,” looking weak and being “SJW bitchboi”. They say “Bowing to the conformity isn’t very rad” about letting “pronoun power jockies strip away the very idea that this con was founded on.” Trenton is bashed: “slave play” and “basketball American”. Radfox says his con can’t be a platform to be racist.

Reinforcing hate and peer pressure (4) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

The chat accuses Radfox of seeking popularity and tells him not to be scared, nobody will listen to a handful of “SJW faggots”, and to ban anyone causing problems over it. “We should be allowed to say whatever we like“. They accuse Trenton of starting it and “dindunothin”.

Reinforcing hate and peer pressure (5) – Imgur gallery of screenshots

“It’s OK because he’s black. He’s immune to all social and federal laws” – “He’s just gonna keep flinging shit and nothing is going to change” – “Not all black people are niggers, but a fuckton of them sure are.” They tell Radfox the problem can be fixed with just moderate racism so they can say what they want. “Eliminate all of the problem causing assholes like Trenton.” – “The problem really is people who’ll try to slander the group.”

Bonus: “nigger” posts from the main chat – Imgur gallery of screenshots
Some other posts against Trenton – Imgur gallery of screenshots

A few people in this made so much effort simply to be disrespectful assholes. Isn’t it really easy not to do that? And it was all about a spam-level meme – not important information, a controversial opinion about the world, or personal expression. How much more proof could you need for such activity being code for racists, than how much real racism happened in response to criticism?

Here’s some of the most active enablers. Be aware that other chat members may not have known their connections.

“Kaine the Salt Lord” AKA Kaine Orren / Konrad

Screenshot from Altfurry Discord

“big tiddy christian roblox gf” – Baden Sergal AKA @Sergalfag

this is why we need #altfurry

— (((Baden))) (@BadenSergal) September 14, 2016

Jerreh AKA Prime Breeder

Poster of propaganda in the New Jersey chat sourced from terrorist group Atomwaffen Division. It’s a tightly controlled group. His posting history in Altfurry Discord ties to outside neo-nazi influence, raising questions about how far it goes.

Tweet on protected account

Screenshot from Altfurry Discord

“Legally” AKA Remy

Here’s why “frat” was in the title for part 1. (Where’s the fursona?)

Sam

Twitter

Part 3 will share feedback from people involved. A whole group had a small handful leading this activity but maybe public light can lead to better.

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon and access exclusive stuff for just $1.

A trial run for a convention had a behavior issue. Part 1 looked at what happened and Part 2 had sources and issues. Before publishing there was a request for comments from the organizer, then others responded. Keep in mind that some of them responded before chat screens were published and seen.

That individual was banned. We have an official rules page. Check us out https://t.co/8vlRtfYVvg

I can not speak for all individuals and what they'll do. But I do not tolerate that behavior.

Here's the official con chat. Please check the website for only con associated chats. pic.twitter.com/H6Mk7NNmme

— RadFox ACFC (@ShRadow_Fox) February 25, 2018

Radfox chatted more in private message.

The con was small and humble in nature but I consider it a success with the amount of fun had. We had approximately 30 to 35 turn out. Everyone had a good time and kept within reason there were no incidents with the hotel or their security. At this time the con felt more like a big party but I am hoping to expand. I want to run it unlike a traditional con I want to run it as more of a open-ended schedule. We had 2 scheduled events. These included shooting on the beach on Friday. The other was the big group picture on the boardwalk. Aside from that we all did our own thing we adventured along the boardwalk and enjoy the amenities of the hotel including their wonderful pool casino and restaurants… As far as partying and in your words frat party we were rather tame in comparison to other furry cons we had a no drug policy. Everyone that drank in my room at least was carded and ID’ed. Nobody was overly drunk in need of an ambulance or medical attention. As the chairman I limited myself to 1 to 2 drinks per night.

The official chat was formed by a group of friends with an idea to expand. It has a set of rules as you saw in my recent tweet. We grew it by passing out flyers and telling friends to tell friends about it and add them to the chat. As for the issue you referenced, that was an individual that crossed the line breaking the rule about no racism and I told him to stop. When he refused I banned him. I, myself, and ACFC do not tolerate that behavior hence the individual was banned. There is only one official chat associated with ACFC found on the website. The other chat we broke off from ACFC to do whatever it wanted. I am not associated with it and neither is my staff.

I named some names in the story, and asked if they would be staff or part of future events, and if he could discuss their behavior in the chats.

None are on staff. Only well known friends that will adhere to the rules and promote a positive light are staff. Whatever they do outside of ACFC’S chat is up to them. I do not follow their affiliations. However, if they break my rules and they are banned as you saw.

“Are you aware of how Jerreh came to be a member of the chat? Is he friends with members?”

I am not sure how he got in but he is not in the official one (he’d be banned after seeing this). The link to ACFC is available to everyone and anyone can add anyone. Jerreh did not post in the main chat ever. But no that is 100% not allowed or tolerated at ACFC. I do not want to speculate but if I had to guess someone added him to start drama and a fight.

A reader sent this private message.

At the time, many trolls were trying to throw up a smokescreen or use intimidation to stop the article from publishing. (Later Radfox apologized and I said there was no need, that stuff is part of my “job”.) Then the article came out and some people started connecting people in a group photo to chat activity they didn’t do.

As far as I can tell @RazzaTheKanga had absolutely nothing to do with activity in the article posted yesterday. He's in this group pic and there's angry messages at people in it. Please don't do that, it's not a good way to connect to net activity. https://t.co/Jqw3rKVbor

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 27, 2018

@rileyyfox was in a group pic going around with angry messages at people in it. I don't support a group pic counting as a bad thing apart from a story. I think he had nothing to do with chat activity in the story. Sorry rileyy.https://t.co/omNQmeUWm4

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 27, 2018

There was a lot of criticism about including Koss in the story, making bad side effects he didn’t deserve. The story info was reporting about posts from a public/official chat. I tried getting more facts by asking for comments before publishing, but didn’t get any help to decide. Two reasons for sharing the info were 1) A wider topic about behavior. 2) Being thorough and showing that events did happen when there was dispute about if they did. After the article published Koss did chat and agree to share a few extra words.

You're not racist. I'm sorry for side effects. Stuff like asking for takedown is also part of attacks I'm getting to hold back news and there's at least one source in fandom that doesn't play that. If you contact a news source its worth asking for off record chat, if they agree.

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 26, 2018

Reading this over.. I had no idea it got "that" bad. Errm. I'm kind of glad this happened now I suppose. More so because the people I was defending have been defended a bit in the article too. Ive never liked this behavior, in fact it always kind of made me uncomfortable anyhow.

— Koss Kelir@FWA, EF (@KossKelir) February 27, 2018

There were requests to try reducing judgement about people in the story. Koss sent this screenshot of Kazu (who is in some of the chat screens) making friends again with Trenton.

There was much more info about people improving relationships afterward and saying good things about each other that’s personal so I won’t share it.

This was one of the hardest stories to write ever on the site. It started by request of multiple tips. The amount of preparation was significant, with research I don’t ordinarily do. There was a lot of emotional concern about people in it I won’t get into (because covering a heavy issue isn’t about making friends.) It was a big challenge to sort the info. It couldn’t easily be re-written for different approaches (like removing someone). One criticism was made about putting it out in 3 parts in 3 days, so assumptions were made after the first part. On the other hand all the questions and criticism improved the second part. Keep doing that and help me to write better (or fail better) because there’s not really anyone else doing this or a boss to rely on for it, just a fandom that I hope will keep improving.

Update

In response to @DogpatchPress regarding ACFC, I wanted to issue a statement and apology regarding the handling of an incident in our chat. I will own up to it and more importantly fix it. pic.twitter.com/58KxDuWpdL

— RadFox ACFC (@ShRadow_Fox) March 1, 2018

Founder of Neo-nazi website The Daily Stormer praises Nazifurs and Altfurs as good examples for his wider movement.

One defense of Nazifurs I’ve heard over the years is that they’re just adopting fascist fashion to get a rise out of you, or even that they’re mocking real Nazis. This doesn’t hold up well to me, as ones I knew in 2005 who said they were joking are mostly taking their act seriously now.

Something about staring into the void, I guess. Or maybe I was a shitty judge of character when I spent time with them as a naive 20 year old? It could be a bit of both. Friends of mine have looked on former mutuals with horror when I’ve pointed out how far some have gone.

But people still claim that we’re being ridiculous if we take this seriously. They say that real Nazis could never be – or accept – Furries.

That denialism gets weaker and weaker when real Nazis look at nazifurs and love what they see.

Who is this dude thats promoting Foxler and saying that Nazis should embrace Nazifurs? None other than Andrew Anglin, founder of the premier Neonazi website “The Daily Stormer“. Anglin is the real deal. Nazi, white supremacy, the whole nine yards. Here he is promoting the worst our community has, and holding them up as examples to his own.

It could be a PR move to shame his own people into acting. After all, since people have started confronting these racist assholes, attendance has been dropping at their events and their movement fracturing. I guess it turns out confrontation is the best way to address these people.

Shaming members to act by upholding altfurries, while privately regarding them as disposable tools, would be consistent with history. Gay nazi leaders were powerful until they were purged. (The most consistent thing about fascists is being two-faced for power.) But it’s not like intentions make it any less malignant.

PR move or not, this real Nazi has treated Altfurs as true Aryan Brothers. Altfurs are reaching back and responding positively. In fact, we know they’ve been trying to get nazi leaders attention for a while. Anglin, in current responses to his followers, is taking them seriously and at face value.

Maybe it’s time for the Furry Fandom to do the same.

Note from Patch: This isn’t the first furry connection to The Daily Stormer. Furry-troll turned neo-nazi Andrew Dodson, who participated in violence at the Charlottesville rally in August 2017, reached out to associate with Weev (the Daily Stormer web admin) and Sam Hyde (a funder of the site). Dodson has since been active at cons and with altfurries.

(CONTENT WARNING – discussion of sex and abuse.)

Zaush is one of the bigger stars of furry fandom. He’s one of the top most followed artists, who cranks out copious amounts of porn. It’s drawn to a pro level and earns him a full time income on Patreon, with high demand from an audience of furverts who couldn’t find it at a friendly neighborhood porn shop. It’s a perfect niche if that’s what you’re into. Or maybe it’s a corner Zaush has painted himself into – judging by concerning practices that have come to light.

I’m not that familiar with his stuff. Personally, I’ve avoided it because that kind of porn turns me off. That’s not because of being judgemental to fetish. It’s more like cute cartoon animals doing sticky gang bangs could use all the cute and not so much sticky, in my opinion. And I wish established Disney characters weren’t getting bent out-of-character. But my main dislike is for the stories and power dynamic in them. I love furry art for showing more warmth and feeling than live human actors; but this art gives me bad feelings. The stories seem to reward bullies taking sex from prey like taking candy from a baby.

This brings up common jokes about his characters getting younger and younger over time.

At one point in mid 2017, I even had a dispute with someone about that – and now let’s cut to the chase. That gut feeling got vindicated. Private messages with a commissioner on Zaush’s personal account have leaked, and warning: 1) they can be described as catering to pedophilic interest. 2) It’s not just art – there’s real pics of little kids in bathing suits used for art reference. 3) There’s also actual porn of the “barely legal” genre.

WARNING AGAIN: THIS CONTENT IS VERY BORDERLINE. IT APPEARS TO BE LEGAL ACCORDING TO KNOWN INFO, BUT YOU SHOULDN’T CLICK IT IF BORDERLINE IS RISKY TO YOU.

Image 1 – explicit images of adult actress Sammie Daniels
Image 2 – another explicit image, claimed to be mainstream
Image 3 – chat
Image 4 – images of kids in bathing suits
Image 5 – images of kids in bathing suits
Image 6 – images of kids in bathing suits

What followed deserves credit; there wasn’t effort to lie, and that helps a lot for an honest discussion. And, even if borderline-legal, there’s a LOT to discuss.

Please send me a DM here or on telegram (@zaush for both) if you have questions. pic.twitter.com/gwvFRhj3RE
— Zaush (@Zaush) March 6, 2018

To break this down, the borderline content is the extreme of cub art. Here’s what I last posted about that – it’s arguable that people who role-play as being kids are doing something harmless and even therapeutic or positive. Boozy Badger, a fandom lawyer, said similar stuff about AB/DL acceptance being harmless or good (for example, supporting people with medical incontinence.)

But there’s a difference between that and using pics of real kids to produce porn of imaginary ones.

Where do you start with what that difference means?

Arguably you could say a fictional depiction of an underage person, like a cartoon, is violative of the law. However, while this could theoretically happen, prosecutions to conviction on such a provision (Federal here, PROTECT Act) are rare. /1
— Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) March 5, 2018

Legally, it’s murky; you could start with calling cops, but they probably won’t do anything about it.

But you don’t have to stop with calling cops. Communities don’t run by having people arrested, if there is even a technical violation – and that’s a last resort. Relying on technicality is unlikely to solve a problem; it’s what “borderline” stuff is made to evade. Of course, on the positive side, there’s parents, families, organizers, and institutions to encourage good stuff. This community largely lacks those – but it doesn’t lack people who make effort to create their community.

That’s why we get to talk about it.

Zaush appears to be catering to an audience with a lot of money flow. When I see the talent he’s using, I feel a bit disappointed. If this is the top art furries support, why not aim higher? Good writing should be able to succeed whether or not it involves sex. OK, but I framed this as a problem – if it does good business and people want it, what problem?

Well, that demand comes from a community that gave Zaush a platform – without cons, and publishers, and websites, and users for them, he doesn’t have his niche. That reminds me of hearing (unverified) that Zaush isn’t accepted as a client by the main fandom publishers – but more to the point, Furaffinity appears to bend rules for his art that others don’t get to bend. Rules against explicit art that is depicting underaged characters – which Zaush does all but semantically (since they’re just “labeled” as not underage.)

Furaffinity content policy

As seen in those PM’s, that semantic exemption is hard to claim any more. Support for such rule bending (because people want their porn) suggests a community double standard for popularity.

That’s why we get to talk about it.

There’s precedent for regulating this content. Softpaw Magazine was banned from several cons and the Ursa Major Awards, and FurAffinity was unable to make payment processor relationships due to porn. It arguably restricted fandom growth into a niche. Wanting freedom for this is a double edged sword that cuts into other freedoms. And it’s not just about whether Zaush’s stuff is harmless or not – what about relaxing standards so much that actual illegal stuff gets mixed in? There’s precedent for that too, such as a Softpaw contributor arrested for illegal images of children.

It relates to “group ethic” that was in my article: R.C. Fox arrested for child pornography, furries question fandom connections. That can make slippery slope arguments I disfavor (I don’t think tame cub art leads to child abuse), but a group can still have consistent standards.

As far as Zaush being harmless… that’s also a point of contention; briefly, in 2010 he was accused of rape and predatory behavior. He gave a long answer that leaves many people unsatisfied, with no explanation for what a putative victim had to gain by lying – especially since the story came to light from private messages and wasn’t told in public.

So did the contents of Zaush’s PM’s. How a reader treats those (and if he gets favored) vs. how they treat private messages of a woman talking about rape (and if she doesn’t) may say something about their standards.

When I had a gut feeling about content of Zaush’s art hiding a deeper problem, and got vindicated for that… it’s a feeling many others have about his behavior. Cops don’t arrest for feelings, thankfully. But on the flip side, an average abuser has many victims and gets away with it for years before getting caught.

That’s why we get to talk about it.

Another issue that followed this.

About me, my experience includes years of fighting powerful abusers few people know about; and by relationship, another such fight that pulled a family apart. A side supported an abuser, and a side wanted justice but couldn’t get it because statutory limitations ran out before the problem could be spoken – but a civil judgement was ultimately won. The costs for that are terrible and often only the lawyers win.

That’s why people don’t talk about it. It’s frustrating as hell and has insidious effects.

Another affecting thing is I most likely have a sleeping disorder and do all writing between midnight and dawn. Dealing with frustration on sleep deprivation should be avoided. And I’ve been religiously replying to all Twitter contacts, but followers keep rising so much it’s good to stop trying (love you all though!)

This was some context for charging in to defend a friend, not even looking at who I was replying to and posting some overreactive stuff. It got this feedback:

(them) Hey patch, i was trying to defend your efforts to expose zaush earlier, and i just gotta say you did a really piss awful job of handling the shit you stirred with it. i really don’t get why over a misunderstanding you needed to go for the kneecaps bringing up someone’s dead husband like that. I really had to ruminate on saying something to you for a while, I’d be lying if i said the way you carry yourself into these things really inspires my trust. It’s one thing to need to straighten out some idiotic bullshit whining about drama and the inconvenience of calling out harmful garbage in the fandom, like, i’m with you 100% on that. And, sure, maybe not everybody uses the word “condone” that way, I did have to look it up myself, but the insinuations you made by bringing up someone who’s literally been dead for two years as if their widower has a vested interest like you did was totally uncalled for, you had absolutely no fucking reason to hint at that conclusion, it was honestly juvenile and really lays bare the sort of exaggeratedly divisive attitude you bring into issues like these. I figured it was better to bring this to you directly to give you the opportunity to consider it yourself. You ought to know that even someone with a wide tolerance to raising hell for the right reasons, like me, has been cringing at the way you do things from time to time and just scoffed at that low blow you decided to take there. Take this from somebody who genuinely wants you to do well and achieve something for this community… i have nothing to gain from saying any of this to you. Please don’t make me regret it. Godspeed.

(me) Bringing up a guy’s dead husband “in the moment” was a horrible idea. It’s not that simple however and would be a mischaracterization to call that an attack, I didnt name either person or direct it at them. It was a general comment to friends of mine who were being aggressively brigaded from off site. Which a person did before blocking and couldn’t have been expected to see a no name comment. That doesn’t make others involved innocent, and although it was totally unfair of me to talk about one person from the past, it’s a current topic with others that’s constantly brought up about who is defending who and why. I don’t fault anyone for defending offenders as people either, I don’t want people to be sent to live under bridges.

(them) We’re coming from the same place but how we handle it is super important, and if you want to avoid the perception of being a shallow shit stirrer it’s even more important. The best approach is just to lay out why there’s a problem with that attitude and let it be, digging in like that never goes well.

(me) The whole drama boils down to a friend of mine was unfairly brigaded over a “do nothing” expectation and I overreacted in tone. My friend btw is far from immature or reactively social-justicey about this stuff. In fact i think she’s military and a super clear communicator. If she was upset about being mistreated, that really told me something was wrong.

(them) you’re in a position where tone management is key to success. not necessarily an enviable position.

Laying out what that silencing effect is and does can be more useful than just characterizing them for creating it. I always try to use collaborative language as well:

“I know how much anxiety it can produce to see people in our timelines going on about something like this, but we can’t prioritize our comfort and convenience over other people’s safety” – “When we’re saying ‘leave it to the police’ and shutting down other methods of recourse, we’re not only abdicating social responsibility to communicate a danger to people who may run into this person, but failing to recognize how high the bar is for something like this to become legally actionable — if we wait to meet that threshold, perhaps nothing ever happens and people keep getting hurt.”

Material outcomes > personal dynamics. Collaborative linguistic structures > direct characterization and indictment.

I definitely don’t write this stuff to make friends or I’d stick to safe stuff. You win some and lose some, but I can try to learn from it.

From wikipedia:

The alt-right, or alternative right, is a loosely-connected grouping of white supremacists, neo-Confederates, neo-Nazis, neo-fascists, and other far-right fringe hate groups.

The “alt-lite” is frequently contrasted with and compared to the political alt-right, with which it shares some features, but the alt-lite remains distinct from the alt-right in that it claims to reject identity politics—including the white nationalism and racialism of the alt-right—though they share other key features and beliefs.

Learn more from the Anti-Defamation League – From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate.

Below is a guest story sent in by an unnamed furry, shared for awareness about how hate groups gain influence in a subculture like furry fandom.

– Patch

A springboard into the alt-right.

Reading your article: (A deep dive into the Altfurry mission to “redpill” fandom with hate) motivated me to speak up on a similar topic. There’s a bigger number of “conservative” furries, and their less vocal communities, which often serve as a springboard into the alt-right. Those groups often distance themselves from the altfurs because they genuinely don’t like (some) extremist viewpoints of the altfurs (to a degree). But despite that, the membership gets caught in an echo chamber that slowly pushes them towards more and more extreme views.

This is a ground level report. My experience wasn’t in actual altfurry, but I ended up within circles that shared similar sentiment and beliefs about the SJWs, trans people, Jews, “globalists and leftists”, and similar. People often believe that they would manage to spot those and avoid them, but that isn’t true. I did, but still ended up as an active member. Many in those groups don’t fall into the “stereotypical” picture of the alt right. There are often liberally inclined people, gay people, or even trans people. That often conceals the much more extreme members, and makes it seem as a “neutral” place, and sometimes it’s easy to disregard the extreme members.

But constant bashing on certain topics from extreme members and tons of “information” that get dumped onto you, with lack of proper opposition (more vocal people against it get kicked out), slowly distorts perception. Many people stay “moderate” right, but I have seen many pushed into extreme beliefs.

It took me some important self realizations to finally get away out of that cursed echo chamber. I believe it’s important to demystify it and make the community aware of how easy it is to end up, or get pushed into such groups.

It takes time and support to get rid of distorted views.

Before everything, I’m asking for a bit of understanding. I’m not writing to argue, defend or excuse anything, but to give insight in how things like this can happen. I’m still neutral/ambivalent to some things because of how long I’ve been exposed, but I’m trying to get rid of them. Being surrounded by people like those distorted my views. It takes time and support to get rid of them, and it’s been just a couple of months for me, after being in it for a few years.

Compared to your article about alt-furry, my experience was much more grounded, and the groups I was a part of didn’t have that recruiting. I even met some higher ranking members in them personally, and they have shown me what is going on in the upper hierarchy. The groups acted more as a “safe space” for members, rather than a recruiting ground. Some were just alt-lite, and some were alt-lite furries, or had hidden/separate channels for furries. They had a better grasp of real life than what the alt-furs have.

This is just a story of what my experience was, and it is not, and should not be reflective for others. The communities that I was in were more moderate (on average) than the full blown fascist/sexist/racist/xenophobic alt-right ones. But there are still many malignant people in those alt-lite groups, who are just not as extreme as the actual alt-right. I have never shared the ideas of the alt-right. There is nothing nice to say about them.

When I felt unwanted, their community drew me in.

As a quick profile of myself, I was always voting for socially aware parties, participating in some protests for social and minority rights, and actively working to help people during the massive influx of immigrants and refugees that we had a few years ago. At the same time I was already somewhat participating in right-leaning groups. It wasn’t that I shared beliefs with those people, but their community made me stay.

I understand and feel for the sexual, ethnic or any other minority parts of the furry community and their issues, but the discourse was alienating. It was generalizations like “the whites are again at it”, “cis people don’t understand”, ”they’re a cishet male”, etc. The constant stream wore me down. Trying to raise concerns about it was rarely met with understanding. I never cared that I was straight, cis, and white. Those weren’t an important part of my character. There were nice people who let me know that they weren’t referring to me in those posts, but it made me feel unwanted. So I just gave up on the regular community.

I started interacting with other furries who weren’t bringing up politics, or going somewhat against the regular community. It felt better, as I stopped seeing the blame for something that I wasn’t even guilty of. With time, I started joining alt-lite furry communities. They made me feel welcome. I could talk about things that might have been controversial and ended up in a callout fest. People there were disagreeing with me but also discussing. They seemed more reasonable and despite politics being an often important topic, people were talking about other things too. It felt good.

These groups weren’t large, but they were spread out, with members in multiple groups leaning towards the right wing. I had time to get to know some of the members more personally, and it was a more varied bunch than I expected. It wasn’t just straight white dudes, but there were gay people, women, variety of skin colors and even some trans people. I was intrigued about how they joined, and I realized that many had similar experiences to mine. They felt unwanted for a variety of reasons, and these communities accepted them. Some were doxxed and received death threats because they were disagreeing with the general community, others were betrayed by close friends and lost support, some were ridiculed for their beliefs in completely unrelated topics, or were disregarded because they weren’t a part of some minority. A decent number of them didn’t join alt-lite groups because of their political or social beliefs, but because those groups welcomed them and offered them acceptance. I was one.

Again, it’s not my interest to defend any of it, but to give an insight and understanding into how these things happen.

Debating or ignoring extremists

Of course, it wasn’t all nice. There were a certain amount of extremists who were alt-right and full blown fascists or bigots. I was cautious of arguing or calling them out, because I didn’t want to get ostracized again, especially knowing how the alt-right can be hostile. But other people were arguing against them. It was something that I hadn’t seen before, so I started participating too. Most of them didn’t share my views, but they didn’t kick me out.

Not many people in the community looked favorably towards the alt-right, maybe agreeing in some broad strokes, but mostly considering them man-children. Most had favorable views towards topics that I found distasteful at best, abhorring and disgusting at worst. It went from conservative beliefs to creation of an ethnostate, denying trans rights, heavy opposition to what they considered SJW’s, hostility towards non western european / american nations, and global / jewish conspiracy. It paled to the degree of what the alt-right does, but it was there. I kind of ignored them because there are always maniacs in all groups.

An important rule in many groups was no stirring up drama. It was mostly used when people got personal during discussions, and wouldn’t drop issues. It was supposed to apply to everyone, but eventually there was more leeway for those right wing oriented ones. For a long time I ignored that because I was privately laughing with some of the alt-right, having the impression that they were community buffoons.

The danger of a safe space that welcomes extremists

After being a part of such groups for a while, your beliefs still stay the same, but you start giving leeway to those you disagree with more and more. Using a variety of insults and phrases becomes more and more acceptable, you start ignoring more and more of the extreme views, because you stop considering them as worth of talking about. You stop minding topics that you’d vehemently disagree with before. The topics brought up almost always end up with some of the more extreme members joining in, so you ignore them. And you don’t notice how your perception gets distorted.

What you’d argue against before, you stop caring, slowly some of the arguments and “information” that you see start having some sense, or at least worthy of being considered. You get assaulted by tons of data that you have to sort to find what is the issue in it. By the time you finish taking apart one thing, three more get thrown at you. You still go against over-exaggerated narratives that they throw at you, but some of the data starts chipping away at you. The more you dig into it, the less you see the whole picture, and the godawful bigoted narrative that they present.

This starts affecting interactions with people outside of the groups. Before you were just pushed away, but now you start getting defensive, which in turn makes people even more upset with you. And you have no clue why, because in your perception, you didn’t change. It pushes you even deeper into alt-lite groups, as they offer also other content than politics. You stop caring about the general population. The longer you’re in those groups, the less you care about what you disagree with, and more about what you have in common. Art, movies, series, games, food, nature, whatever. You avoid politics, thinking you won’t be affected by it, and feel cozy in the situation.

“No drama” rules = weak defenses

Now the more extreme ones are still tossing awful shit at you, and you don’t care any more. Sometimes a newcomer may argue, and they get kicked, and you don’t care. You just see some leftist arguing with the local extremist who you don’t pay attention to.

When you do take up discussion, both inside and outside those groups, you do it weakly, because you know that its just going to be a constant stream of dumb and annoying things. You stop caring about those topics, as it becomes a self maintaining circle of apathy and not wanting to be involved (again) in something that is too stupid to argue against. You hope that people understand that some of it is inherently bad, so why should it be even talked about. If you try, you have to go against what the alt-right extremists are throwing at you, muddling the whole picture.

The biggest danger of such groups is not realizing that your experience and worldview is being distorted, and being slowly pushed more and more towards apathy, despite their beliefs going against it. Those groups don’t do it intentionally, as the alt-right ones do, but it’s a side effect of constant exposure. It doesn’t matter if someone is social-democrat, labour, conservative, liberal, green, centrist, unaffiliated or whatever other political party they might be. Being in such alt-lite groups affects everyone, some more, some less, and it distorts them.

It becomes hard to get out of those groups. People argue for or against your beliefs without too much drama, and you feel appreciated without being insulted, you are set with what you have and become complacent and lose empathy to those outside. You lose motivation to try, and nobody is there to point out what is happening. If I hadn’t met one amazing person, I probably would be still stuck in those groups, having my perception slowly distorted to be more and more favorable towards the alt-right.

A wake-up call

One outspoken person stayed a bit longer on one server, and didn’t get kicked as fast, so I had time to get to know them. They were somewhat similar to me when I joined, just much more vocal. It felt good to have someone who shares the same social awareness as I do. Up until they got banned, I ignored and dismissed when newcomers were getting kicked out, and cared more about the regulars. But now the “management” and some other regulars were trash talking them and it was straight up awful. It broke the image that I had.

I started looking into other groups and noticing the same thing. They were straight up awful to anyone who wasn’t a part of them. More and more extremist voices were being tolerated and supported. I realized that I had lost the human touch I had before I became a full time regular member. With time, I slowly started interacting less and less, finally leaving all of them them.

It’s been a couple of months and rejoining the regular furry community takes a while. Getting rid of distorted worldviews isn’t simple, and there are still issues that pushed me away the first time, but I learned how to deal with those to a degree. I know that I don’t want to end up back in those alt-lite groups. If I could share one important lesson about it, it would be how to discern people who are misled, from those that are malignant alt-right, and how not to push them into it.

Good defenses.

People can be misinformed, have bad or old information, and use it to argue. At the start that was often me, but instead of being offered information I felt alienated. Also, being honest to oneself about different information isn’t simple, and people often miss it. Looking back now I see a lot of similarity between what people similar to me were saying, and what the alt-right are doing, but there are some important differences.

The alt-right forces you to argue little details, and they want you to do it publicly. They intentionally ignore requests to go back to the general topic. They start swapping phrases and terms as if they’re all the same thing. They always counter whatever is said and don’t back down or accept being wrong, but always try to one-up it. The purpose is to annoy and upset you.

Don’t cede them the spotlight. Call them out for doing something wrong, and if they don’t step back, they’re doing it intentionally. When that happens, don’t waste any more of your time to let them share their views.

When people toss out some generalizations, ask them simply- do they have any questions about it? Good meaning people, and those who are misled, will have questions. Their tone will change, and they won’t stick to single talking points. They’ll raise issues they might have, be polite, and ask questions. Don’t be hostile towards them just because what they said had might have bad implications. If nothing else, don’t feed the hate. (Also, please avoid “the cishet white males” posts. It’s hard for me to have sympathy when phrases like sound similar to stuff that the alt-right says.)

A bit of understanding can bring a lot of change – but don’t waste your time if there is none. Thanks to people who offered me a chance and understanding, I managed to get back into the furry community.

Thanks to this guest for their story. Get in touch via the About page to submit guest posts. – Patch

[Note from Patch:] Thanks to Summercat for this guest post. It’s a follow up to: Ever hear that Altfurries are just trolls? A real Nazi leader is taking them seriously. More than a few commenters had a mistaken impression that Dogpatch Press was original poster for a photo of “nazi furries”. We weren’t. That was a screencap, and it wasn’t posted to endorse the contents. An automatic feed to Twitter made it the cover image there.

Summercat continues:

We’re creatures of the internet. We all know that images and photos can be ripped from their context and spread around with new interpretations that show them in a different light than intended. Context matters, even for items that appear to be clear cut.

A prior article I wrote about Altfurs includes a photo shared by Neo-nazi Andrew Anglin. It shows three fursuiters posing happily in front of a Nazi flag.

I’ve seen this picture for years. I’ve heard many stories about it – that it was someone’s home, it was a Nazi museum, or that it was photoshopped. I’ve thought poorly of those who were in the photo, disappointed in all three and especially towards one of them, who I had admired up to that point.

The truth of the matter is fairly innocent. The picture is real and not photoshopped – but resharing it has stripped away the crucial context.

[Patch:] Here’s examples of the photo being used to represent Nazi furries. These bring up other interesting info too.

An article at TheRooster.com makes it cover image for the story of the Furry Raiders ruining RMFC.
A Geek.com article has the photo (also reposted to the Hatewatch twitter account with 76,000 followers.) The article was written by a former admin of Portal Of Evil, a site devoted to cataloguing the worst of the internet. It was from the bad old early 2000’s “yiff in hell furfags” time. Portal Of Evil spread hate and debate about fandom members like 2 Gryphon, who joined the Nazifurs Livejournal group. The Geek.com article gives background about the Second Life troll group “Furzis”, without getting to the part where the Furry Raiders spun off from it. The NaziFurs on Livejournal claim to have invented the “pawstika” armband, and want no connection to Furzis or the Furry Raiders. Hilariously, everyone involved sounds like they would be first in line to be executed by fascists AND each other.
Incidentally, you may also notice a famous “Furries for Trump” image that I’m told also misrepresents the furs in it.

In response to the article on Altfurs being taken seriously, Beetlecat spoke up about the provenance of the picture – and identified herself as one of the three suiters. In 2009, they were among a group of six furries who visited the Alberta Aviation Museum. Beetlecat, RavenWolf, and Amran were in suit. They spent time posing for personal photos of their fun trip, never expecting to be immortalized for the wrong reason.

This was taken at an aviation museum in Alberta in like 2005 when you could make a Nazi joke without people getting seriously concerned lol
— Adum (@HorseWengh) August 22, 2017

It was taken at the Alberta Aviation Museum. And yeah no one in that photo holds any Nazi views.

Source: I'm on the left.
— Beetlecat Originals (@Beetlefursuits) March 9, 2018

These photos were provided by Amran (the foxcat suiter with the red marking), from the same trip. This is not a Nazi museum or someone’s home shrine, but a Canadian museum and an unfortunately taken-out-of-context pose. According to Beetlecat and Amran, none of the three hold Neo-nazi viewpoints. Amran has even stated that the photo was uploaded without their permission.

@foxcats (Amran) wrote:

Hello Dogpatch Press! Someone pointed out to me your article showing an image of three fursuiters posing with a display of WWII artifacts at a museum. This photo was taken at the Alberta Aviation Museum in 2009 with a group of six, including myself, who had gone for a short tour there. (In the photo are Beetlecat, RavenWolf, and Amran – myself). Unfortunately someone had uploaded this and other photos without our consent. It took off quickly afterwards. I’m linking you to a few other images from this outing to help show that it was taken at the Aviation Museum. I’d like to confirm that as Beetlecat said, this was an innocent tour. None of us hold views aligning with how the photo has often been misinterpreted.

Context always matters. Nearly a decade ago, not as many people on the internet were as sensitive to the appearance of Nazi symbolism as today. Social media wasn’t as much of an organizing center for the kind of hate group activity that came together in Charlottesville in 2017. At the time I was still thinking that most Nazifurs were either trolling or doing it as mockery of Nazism. It would still be a number of years before I realized differently.

What was intended to be a silly picture got removed from the original context and made into some sort of pro-Nazi Fur image, against the wishes of those pictured. Hopefully this clears some things up, and though I never expressed my disappointment, I own an apology to Amran for thinking ill of him like that.

UPDATE:

An interesting response came immediately. The photo itself needs context, but not so fast about relieving the local community, says an Alberta furry.

Sick of local furs acting like it's okay to be obsessed with nazis as long as they don't hold the views. Sending you some more info on this that I think was purposefully left out.
— Akira DevilDog (@TheraAkuma) March 14, 2018

I’ve been an Alberta Furry since 2011 and there is a lot about the local community that I think is being covered up to save their reputations. I’m not here to say they all have nazi views, mostly I think they’re enablers and I’d be extremely skeptical of them saying Alberta Furries are anti-nazi at all.

I dug up some old threads relevant to your recent article about the museum pic, as well as some very recent telegram messages from local furries that show they’re still supportive of nazi imagery. There’s also a couple locals with nazi fursonas, one is an artist that’s been toning it down to avoid getting in trouble. I would say the entire local fandom, at least back then and lesser now, was supportive… It’s okay to be nazi as long as you’re not “serious” about it. Ever since AltFurry came out there’s been some removal of art, retconning nazi fursonas so they’re just “German”, things like that. Alberta is a very right wing province so I’m not surprised there’s so much love for “hugo boss”.

Of the three in the photo, Amran and Beetlecat hold no nazi views as far as I’m aware. Ravenwolf mostly isn’t in the fandom anymore. His mate at the time had a book collection with nazi literature (this was a few years ago and he claims he doesn’t remember).

It’d be a shame if it was all swept under the rug because “uniform fetishists” aren’t “real” nazis. Your article is rock solid, just the reaction the locals had about it all was very shady. Let the screenshot gallery speak for itself.

Shady indeed: Messages and a “pawstika” armband photo mostly from 2009-2010, and a recent PM asking for removal of nazifur art.

CBS News: “Bizarre dating sites you didn’t know existed”

The site was key to starting a convention in Sweden.

Pounced.org, launched in March 2003, was a free, location-based service to help furries meet other furries. This long-time staple of fandom served them anywhere they exist. According to Wikifur, over 71,000 users and 13,000 personal ads were listed in 2016.

Ethan Staghorn, a Swedish furry, told me:

Ethan Staghorn

Pounced was key in making @NordicFuzzCon happen, and in growing the local fandom. Through Pounced, I found my very first local fandom friend, @MrJoelFox. A few years later, we decided to advertise a local furmeet since we wanted to make more local friends. About eight people showed up, among them @new_einstein and @traxswe, who both were attending their first furmeet. They started talking (and spoke to me) about doing a convention, which became the first NordicFuzzCon a little over a year later. They were the first two chairmen. NFC really did wonders for the local community, too. But I doubt any of this would have happened if I hadn’t seen Joel advertise on Pounced. He’s the only person I ever contacted through the site. I don’t really get personal ads, but his ad was calling out to me “this person is in your town and must be studying the same thing as you; you have to contact them!” @new_einstein knows the exact dates of many of these occurrences, since he recently did some digging for a wonderful panel he hosted at NordicFuzzCon about the history of NFC.

The site feared legal liability under a controversial new law – Fandom can’t just say no to politics.

On March 23, 2018, Pounced closed in fear of FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) – U.S. Congressional bill H.R.1865. I read the text to find out what the fear is. Previously, section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 provided legal protection to websites for content they publish that was created by others. Now, websites are criminally responsible for anything that may “facilitate traffickers in advertising the sale of unlawful sex acts with sex trafficking victims.”

Pounced posted an explanation when this became Furry News:

FOSTA “makes sites operated by small organizations like pounced.org much riskier to operate. FOSTA essentially says that if we facilitate the prostitution of another person we’re liable. If you read FOSTA carefully the bill says “or facilitate” – the problem is that “or facilitate” is ill-defined.”

I’m not a lawyer, but this seems as broad as a violation if a site user offers to sleep with someone else for the cost of a hotel room (creative con travel).

To go farther, sex work isn’t illegal everywhere, it exists everywhere, and can’t be called a universally bad thing. It may be argued as a healthy consenting adult issue, like decriminalizing homosexual sex or marijuana use where nobody gets hurt. The bill isn’t meant to stop selling sex where it’s legal, but alarmingly, it combines “sex work” and “trafficking victims” as one thing. That’s not true, as more than a few furries know, including ones using Twitter AD accounts or Fetlife groups who may even occasionally do sex work at cons. (I’m not calling it common, I’m calling it a consenting adult issue. Trafficking themselves?)

People sell sex at furry conventions. Even in cases where it isn’t sold, furries use the Internet to plan and coordinate sexual encounters at furry conventions, and since attending a convention costs money, it could be interpreted that way legally. Do you see the problem that puts websites in? The fact no actual trafficking is involved doesn’t matter; any facilitation of sex work can already get you in trouble for “trafficking”, like driving your consenting wife to a motel. – (Equivamp on Flayrah)

It’s much bigger than that too – besides a website suffering for one narrow use, all users are affected. Nobody wants trafficking abuse, but the law is comparable to using a bazooka to kill a mosquito – plus anti-free-speech, anti-business, and intrusively paternal.

“This is like a perfect example of ‘chilling effect’ by making it impossible for people to proceed with protected speech.” – Crissa Kentavr

The collateral damage to fandom started in mainstream culture when Craigslist shut down their personals section. That includes ditching all platonic friend ads and “Missed Connections” (I placed one of those ads earlier this month to reconnect about art with someone met at a furry party.) Craigslist is huge, and as the Pounced statement elaborates, the smaller the organization is, the worse the liability may be. When one small community is thrown under the bus, the reverberations can be international.

More news:

Gizmodo: Craigslist Is Shutting Down Its Personals Section
Electronic Frontier Foundation: How Congress Censored the Internet
Engadget: How ‘sex trafficking’ just opened the censorship floodgates

Ya alot of furries complain about politics being discussed, but it is really important to discuss for the sake of the community as a whole and it's long term life. This bill needs to be shut down by the supreme court
— 清流IIDX (@SeiryuIIDX) March 24, 2018

Every Sex Worker I Know: "Here are a dozen articles about how SESTA/FOSTA will kill us, please call your Senators"
Civilians: ...
Craigslist: We're shutting down personals because of FOSTA
Civilians: "OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING NO ONE WARNED US"
— *Kriss_Lowrance (@kriss_lowrance) March 23, 2018

Pounced users speak out:

This SUCKS. I met my husband on Pounced ;-; – @TimidClef

Jesus, this sucks. Pounced is the reason i have my boyfriend, and several really good friends. – Ulrick

Met some of my first fur friends after moving away from my hometown through Pounced. – @BigBlueRudder

I met my fiancé on pounced, we’ve been together almost seven years and are getting married this summer. Shame to see it go. – @Asunyra

My partner and I met on pounced and our first conversations were still in my inbox after almost 3 years. I used to go back and reread them every now and then. Sad they’re gone, as well as the site itself. :< – @MallieTheSheep

My friends met on Pounced and are getting married this summer. My cousin saw his wife on the NY subway and met her through the ‘Missed Connections’ section. – @Reweth

Pounced was the only legit furry dating service I respected, considering the others tend to be the ones riddled with bots wanting you to buy premium to reply to their flirting. That’s a shame – Venice Springs

Tomorrow: a few more thoughts about this issue and what it means.

Such a shame. I met my boyfriend of 5 years through Pounced, as well as some other awesome furs. This is yet another instance of Congress using a flamethrower to address an issue rather than a scalpel.
— Zaphod Birblebrox (@PandemoniumHawk) March 24, 2018

Yesterday’s article covered the closing of Pounced, a long-lived furry dating and personals site, out of fear of legal liability under a controversial new law, FOSTA. A statement on Pounced discussed ill-defined wording that made the law overkill; and how the smallest organizations may face the worst liability. It particularly could require administration that sounds easy on paper, but makes an untenable burden in practice.

FOSTA is meant to protect assumed victims of sex trafficking, but falsely makes “victims” and “sex work” the same thing. My article suggested that nobody wants trafficking abuse, but sex work isn’t illegal everywhere, it exists everywhere and can be called a healthy consenting adult issue. Beyond that is anti-free-speech, anti-business, and intrusive paternalism of a law that has collateral damage on stuff like harmless dating. Here’s some editorial elaboration.

Personal ads, dating, and sex in fandom

Furrtrax is still open as this posts – a free personals site offering nonprofit service for furries/by furries. Furfling, Furrymate and Bronymate are pay sites sharing ownership that were covered in one of my first furry news exposes about deceptive commercial practices targeting fandom for profit. Closing Pounced will shift activity, but will it go to a better place?

Furry dating is part of a unique community. If I told you that 2/3 of Star Trek fans were LGBT, and 80% of those in relationships found them with other Star Trek fans, you might say I’m from outer space. But that was a survey finding by the IARP about furries meeting furries. A huge amount of positive activity is being swept under the influence of FOSTA.

Many furries are into art and genre stuff that has nothing to do with sex. But sexual tolerance thrives in furry. It might be part of DIY creative expression that aligns with LGBT and other identity, on a spectrum beyond plain and average. Adult furry stuff is self generated, and often direct and indie unlike exploitative business. It’s hugely popular. The communities r/furry and r/yiff are close in age, and the adult one is bigger than the clean one. The biggest furry business is Bad Dragon. There are furry kink events in formal venues. Adult stuff is a gateway for newcomers who become some of the most dedicated and creative fans. An alternative to suppressing sex with bad laws would be tolerating free expression with healthy, safe access and education.

Peanut butter doesn’t have to go with jelly, but arguing that furries and sex don’t go together is impossible to do honestly these days. Trying to redefine it out of existence would be like shooting oneself in the foot about fixing a problem for furries and the larger culture too. A bad law doesn’t deserve to go unopposed just because it’s tricky to talk about. To the extent that trafficking is real, shouldn’t solutions happen with mutual participation of those close to it?

The wake up call is to own this issue as a community, or lose important parts of it. If “commercialization” is unwelcome to grassroots fandom, the effect of FOSTA is what it looks like. The threat isn’t companies hiring furry skills or supporting their platforms; it looks like being crowded out and having benefit shift to predatory or bigger companies, up to tech giants (Facebook, Google etc) that can afford to buy in.

It’s more complicated than “Free Speech Good, Moderation Bad,” and it shouldn’t be partisan.

When free expression comes up, there might be attempts to conflate this issue with another one, hate group recruiting and hate speech. But telling haters to go somewhere else isn’t like putting people in jail. Wearing earplugs and saying “stop yelling in my ear” isn’t punishment. Moderation for quality control on private platforms isn’t the same as censorship. There’s a difference between community policies and broad government acts. Refusing service to unwanted customers is a freedom too. Hate groups have a death toll and hate is hard to call useful for anything. Consenting adult sex work can be called a service.

Arguments to keep sex work illegal often come down to “because it’s illegal” or “it’s immoral.” Those aren’t arguments or evidence, but statistics can be. Here’s where it isn’t a liberal or conservative issue, it’s a pro or anti-sex issue that needs independent thinking and caution about trafficking statistics. Debunking bad ones is itself accused of murky politics, but there’s a lot of common sense criticism about an industry of inflating numbers and causing panic. It’s like marijuana use being accused of heinous affects that don’t exist.

More context:

Washington Post: Lies, damned lies and sex work statistics
Village Voice: Women’s Funding Network Sex Trafficking Study Is Junk Science

Where furry meets counterculture

To see how fandom overlaps with things beyond the ordinary, it’s worthwhile to look towards the San Francisco Bay Area. Silicon Valley’s relationship with furry should need no introduction, and here’s some data about it.

The Bold Italic: Map Shows SF is a Hotbed of One Kinky-Creepy-Cute Subculture

There’s great support here for furry kink events. They can cross over with subcultural circus theater, avant-cabaret, burlesque, comedy and music, and other radical subculture like Burning Man, like in this article.

It was so much fun to be in an outrageous Rap CD and a live comedy show!

The most freaky and creative stuff is under pressure to exist. To the extent that furry represents DIYness and outsiderness as a self made community, members whose interests align with kink deserve tolerance. They’re just as much fans into books and art as anyone else in it. Kinksters may be a reason fandom has independence and isn’t a corporate run Mickey Mouse club, and might deserve a special thanks for that.

Even if you never used Pounced, this is an opportunity to look at what makes the community run and what it’s about.

Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel. See their tag on Dogpatch Press for more.

It’s #FursuitFriday which means twitter floods with pictures of our fluffy creations. It’s also the time for us at Culturally F’d and Dogpatch to look back at some Fursuit History. Make sure to catch up on Part 1: Masks and start your own exploration of animal costume performance with Culturally F’d.

Actual true fact: Fursuit History was inspired by a series of articles right here on Dogpatch! Below are the original posts about Pantomime Animals that Patch and Fred graciously let us adapt to script! Once we had that started, it had us thinking “why not a full history of animal costume?” Next thing you know it’s a whole planned multi-part series that we’ve been concocting since the release of these original posts:

If there was a Museum of Furry, theatrical “Panto-Animals” would be a major exhibit.

Theatrical Panto-animals, Part 2: Feedback, history and sources roundup.

Theatrical Panto-animals, Part 3: History book reviews by Fred Patten.

Additional research for the episode narrowed down 3 fursuit pioneers of the era: Charles Lauri, who sees a spotlight in the video, and also the heavily photographed Fred Conquest, and Fred Whittaker. Of course these are only the most photographed, there were many animal acrobats and actors at the time in a tradition of stage costume that continues today.

On the next Fursuit History we’ll be looking into the next logical media of animal performance: FILM! From sci-fi giants like Godzilla, to horror classics like The Wolf Man and Creature From the Black Lagoon to childhood fantasies like The Cowardly Lion, we look at the development of special effect makeup, prosthetics and the fursuits of the cinema!

Furry Fashion (part 2): Interview with the Furry Fashion Collective.

A deep dive into the Altfurry mission to “redpill” fandom with hate – Part 1

A deep dive into the Altfurry mission to “redpill” fandom with hate – Part 2

Coming this #FursuitFriday: Animal-costume history that goes way beyond furries!

Fursuiting: A History – a video miniseries by Culturally F’d.

The Diversity of the Latin American Furry Fandom – by Rama and Patch.

Furry Ambassadors: protecting and promoting the fandom.

Furry Ambassadors – a recognition program

The Ursa Major Awards are a fandom institution, but can we fund them?

Furries, frat party, or hate group? Atlantic City Fur Con has an identity crisis.

Atlantic City Fur Con story sources and issues – Part 2.

Atlantic City Fur Con story responses – Part 3.

Ever hear that Altfurries are just trolls? A real Nazi leader is taking them seriously.

The Zaush Issue – leaked private messages make a public discussion.

Another issue that followed this.

How I Ended Up in the Alt-Lite, and How I Got Out

The truth behind a famous, misinterpreted “nazi furries” photo.

Pounced.org shuts down – international fans affected by American politics.

The closing of Pounced.org is a wake up call for fandom attitudes about sex.

Fursuit History 2: Skin Parts

2 Gryphon punches down on a critic – what can we learn from this?

A furry look at an abuse story about John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren & Stimpy.