Meeting Furfags IRL

[PastryOfApathy]

How bad do they smell? Is autism contagious?

There's a stupid con I may or may not go to and I want to make sure I buy enough febreeze.

[DrGravitas]

Yes, no, and 3 liters should do.

[MuttButt]

Conventions have a pretty wide variety of attendees usually. I'd say that for the most part, the majority of the people that you wind up interacting with will be pretty cool. Most furry con goers are just introverted geeks who are probably using the con as their one opportunity to socialize, party, and escape the mundane routine of every day life. The result of that is a very intoxicating atmosphere where even the shyest of wall flowers come out of their shells. Being in a place with 1000+ people who are all down with your weird hobby that you usually keep to yourself and probably has some level of shame attached to it is kind of a natural high. If you're anything like me, you'll wind up playing silly card games with random strangers at three in the morning, make a whole lot of new friends, and probably just party non stop until you leave. There will undoubtedly be mischief, sex, and drugs, but those are typically the kind of thing that goes on behind closed curtains, that you only have to deal with if you actively seek it out. The worst thing that will happen to you is that you'll probably get aggressively hit on at some point.

[Zeke]

They smell pretty bad. Don't use Febreeze. Use NI-712.

 

[Onnes]

I think the rules are the same for all large gatherings of odd people.

Do: Hang out with people you know or that seem relatively well-adjusted

Don't: Hang out with people who look like they spend their days riding the subway back and forth and screaming.

[PastryOfApathy]

Conventions have a pretty wide variety of attendees usually. I'd say that for the most part, the majority of the people that you wind up interacting with will be pretty cool. Most furry con goers are just introverted geeks who are probably using the con as their one opportunity to socialize, party, and escape the mundane routine of every day life. The result of that is a very intoxicating atmosphere where even the shyest of wall flowers come out of their shells. Being in a place with 1000+ people who are all down with your weird hobby that you usually keep to yourself and probably has some level of shame attached to it is kind of a natural high. If you're anything like me, you'll wind up playing silly card games with random strangers at three in the morning, make a whole lot of new friends, and probably just party non stop until you leave. There will undoubtedly be mischief, sex, and drugs, but those are typically the kind of thing that goes on behind closed curtains, that you only have to deal with if you actively seek it out. The worst thing that will happen to you is that you'll probably get aggressively hit on at some point.

Stop giving actual answers like this is a real thread. Gosh...

[MuttButt]

Stop giving actual answers like this is a real thread. Gosh...

my b

uuuh

furfags am super smelly

don't accept free hugs or you'll catch the gay

[PastryOfApathy]

my b

uuuh

furfags am super smelly

don't accept free hugs or you'll catch the gay

Thank you.

[Azu]

A high concentration of autism and bad hygiene in a small contained area is unhealthy for any living creature

[RestlessDreamer]

There's a local meet-up group for furries in my area that meet once per month. Part of me wants to go, but then I remember I'm also a geek who can't stand other geeks. I seriously doubt I would have the patience to deal with others.

Does that make me antisocial? I guess it does.

But then I have a few select friends who are furries and they act very laidback, drink beers with me, and talk about games and whatnot. But then you have your type of people that go around dropping memes and glomping (I know a guy in his 20s who still glomps and it's HIGHLY unpleasant). 

Edited November 5, 2015 by RestlessDreamer

[Jerry]

I still didn't take my butt to a furmeet yet. Does this mean it's not too late for me to step back? =D

[Sourdough]

I'm still not convinced furries really exist, having never met one in real life. Part of me hopes it's all some elaborate hoax.

[Revates]

I'm not sure about the smell I haven't met a furry irl. As for the autism, yes autism is EXTREMELY contagious.

[RestlessDreamer]

Less so contagious, more so magnetic. Birds of a feather and all that. Socially awkward people tend to gravitate towards other socially awkward people.

I fully believe this is how hobbyist conventions started in the first place. That and a lack of ways to find people who are into your hobby on a mainstream level.

[Sidewalk Surfboard]

Furfags are a myth, just like unicorns

[Azure]

ive met some furfags irl

its a mixed bag really

then again i always was attracted to the most insane elements of anything ever

i had lots of fun though, being a regular guy who talks about regular things

im not sure id go over well at a convention though

i have no filter and im fairly sure some insane drivel will come spilling out of my mouth and trigger ever weak necked turkey fucker in the place

can i fight that many people?

im willing to take that chance

[Zaraphayx]

I would make it rain to watch some loud asshole get into a fight with a bunch of doughy nerds in MLP shirts lool

[Calemeyr]

Comikaze was super chill, didn't run into freaks. Just the occasional awkward guy. Didn't smell bad either. Anime Expo will probably be different. I saw "fursuits" at Comikaze, but I don't know if theu were furries. Maybe not, they weren't attacking passerbys with porn sketchbooks and fox dildos.

TBH, I'd be kinda hesitant to meet furries, well, anywhere. I mean, do I want to be seen next to a poorly-made neon orange sparklefox fursuit while at a con? No.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Calemeyr

[Badlands]

I dont know what its like in the US but all the meets ive been to over here are just a bunch of geeks meeting up in a bar, Getting slightly drunk maybe a spot of fursuiting, then more drink and playing cards against humanity

[Mikazuki Marazhu]

They reek of sweat, saliva and semen. >=3

[Kellie Gator]

Gerat job, you guys, now you've scared me off of going to Nordic FuzzCon. D:

To be fair, I know people who are NOT furries who smell or don't shower. Too many, in facts. They're all nerds, though.

Nerds are scum. >:[

[DrGravitas]

Gerat job, you guys, now you've scared me off of going to Nordic FuzzCon. D:

To be fair, I know people who are NOT furries who smell or don't shower. Too many, in facts. They're all nerds, though.

Nerds are scum. >:[

You'll have fun. I just dipped my toe into physical meets with the last day of a small con in my area last month. It was fun! Was there the occasional sweaty nerd smell? Yes, but the pool water smell was much stronger

Edited November 6, 2015 by DrGravitas
capitalization and missing words.

[Sidewalk Surfboard]

Don't forget to make a big yiff pile

[TrishaCat]

I've never been to a con but I've had mixed results with furries IRL.

I've never met any that smelled,  but so far I've met one really chill dude who just liked cartoons with such characters and drew them, one guy who was super enthusiastic about it but was otherwise really cool and drew, two super weird girls who don't know how to talk to people and are extremely socially awkward, and one person who's extremely outward about it that's also socially awkward but doesn't care in the slightest. They all have tails in public except for the really chill guy.

Overall its likely that you'd run into a lot of weird people you might be uncomfortable around, but you'll probably run into one or two people at such a con that you'd probably want to be friends with IRL.

[Umbra.Exe]

I've never been to a con but I've had mixed results with furries IRL.

I've never met any that smelled,  but so far I've met one really chill dude who just liked cartoons with such characters and drew them, one guy who was super enthusiastic about it but was otherwise really cool and drew, two super weird girls who don't know how to talk to people and are extremely socially awkward, and one person who's extremely outward about it that's also socially awkward but doesn't care in the slightest. They all have tails in public except for the really chill guy.

Overall its likely that you'd run into a lot of weird people you might be uncomfortable around, but you'll probably run into one or two people at such a con that you'd probably want to be friends with IRL.

I've been to comic cons, but never fur cons. (And speaking of comic cons... @Calemeyr , I think I might have spotted you at Comikaze.)

I have met furries at my community college, though. So far my impressions of them have ranged from the "I didn't even know she was a furry" to "oh geez please get away from me." I've made friends with a few of the ones I've met who seemed chill. Of the ones I've befriended, I only knew that one of them was furry before I started talking to him (saw him drawing anthro stuff while waiting for a class to start).

Of my friends, most of them are just... "Normal." They draw anthro stuff and some of them are really good artists, but they don't mention furry stuff much unless the topic comes up. One friend of mine is outgoing, and a pretty nice guy, but sometimes a little embarrassing with his furry-themed shirts ("Oh Murr!" and "Yiff!" being two of them), and willingness to talk about weird furry stuff with random people. But he's pleasant to talk with most of the time.

Then there's... the "open" furries. The ones who don't seem to realize (or maybe not care, though I don't think that's the case) how awkward they are... One girl I kept noticing around campus constantly wore bunny ears, kind of hard not to notice. I later had her in a class, and oh boy was she awkward. She would often meow or make "pika-pika" noises in class... And whenever she heard me and a friend talking about Pokemon, she'd either butt into said conversation, or get up from her desk and stand way too close behind us until we either acknowledged her or ignored her long enough for her to lose interest. One time she put one of her Pokemon toys on my shoulder (she carried some Pokemon or pony plushes around sometimes) and that startled me. I felt like yelling at her, since I do NOT like people touching me if I don't consider them a friend, but.... Like I said, I think she just wasn't aware of her behavior making us uncomfortable. She's probably a nice person, just.... Suuuper awkward. Thankfully though, I haven't met anyone as bad as some "horror stories" I've heard.

 

TL;DR: In my experience, the nicest furries I've met were ones I didn't even know were furries at first. The ones who are super vocal about their interests... I tend to distance myself from them, to be honest. I'm not sure how this would apply in the context of a convention, though.

[willow]

it's just a general rule of any (nerd) con that at a good percentage of the attendees probably did not shower before showing up. you should just hand out mini deodorants instead of bringing a whole bottle of Febreeze tho

[Badlands]

Cons are just alcohol fueled mass gatherings of social outcasts.

 

Pretty good fun

[Azu]

For real though. I have no experience in actually meeting furs.

There are some cons here, but I don't really know many furs in Australia, to be honest.

The last thing I'd want to do is go to one of those cons alone :v

[Calemeyr]

@Umbra.Exe Were you cosplaying? I was the short dude in lavender fur. Suit didn't work out...Shoud have started the wings sooner and not rushed them.

Comikaze: super chill. Didn't run into creepy furries suiting as their yiffsona.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Calemeyr

[Aouzy]

To be fair, I know people who are NOT furries who smell or don't shower. Too many, in facts. They're all nerds, though.

They're the same thing.

[Umbra.Exe]

@Umbra.Exe Were you cosplaying? I was the short dude in lavender fur. Suit didn't work out...Shoud have started the wings sooner and not rushed them.

Comikaze: super chill. Didn't run into creepy furries suiting as their yiffsona.

Sadly, no... :c Didn't get to finish my costume in time, maybe next year.
I think I saw you in a "Writing for Videogames" panel or something like that. My cousin noticed you first and pointed you out as "Spyro the Dragon," haha. Lavender fur, orange belly, no wings.

Also, I think I saw one other furry besides you (assuming that was, in fact, you). In the kid's cosplay contest, there was a kid dressed in a white fox partial. Either the kid's a furry, the parents are furries, or *gasp* they're all furries. My friend said the costume was cool, though. Maybe there's hope for me should I ever get around to making a suit. :b (Dunno that I'd wear it to a comic con, though. I'd rather go as something people there might recognize.)

[Calemeyr]

Sadly, no... :c Didn't get to finish my costume in time, maybe next year.
I think I saw you in a "Writing for Videogames" panel or something like that. My cousin noticed you first and pointed you out as "Spyro the Dragon," haha. Lavender fur, orange belly, no wings.

Also, I think I saw one other furry besides you (assuming that was, in fact, you). In the kid's cosplay contest, there was a kid dressed in a white fox partial. Either the kid's a furry, the parents are furries, or *gasp* they're all furries. My friend said the costume was cool, though. Maybe there's hope for me should I ever get around to making a suit. :b (Dunno that I'd wear it to a comic con, though. I'd rather go as something people there might recognize.)

Yup! I was at that panel.

 

Ya know...cons aren't so bad. At least Comikaze. Furry cons scare me. The shit that went down at RF...ack. BLFC sounds decent, though.

[ArctoBear]

Please tell me you guys are kidding.  Autistics are not awkward because we choose to be.  Are you going to walk up to someone in a wheelchair and make fun of them as well?  Sorry if you're actually doing some kind of Poe's Law thing here, but making fun of people with disabilities is kind of a pet peeve of mine.

[Onnes]

Please tell me you guys are kidding.  Autistics are not awkward because we choose to be.  Are you going to walk up to someone in a wheelchair and make fun of them as well?  Sorry if you're actually doing some kind of Poe's Law thing here, but making fun of people with disabilities is kind of a pet peeve of mine.

I'm pretty sure the posts in this thread are just playing around. It's basically the same level as asking whether "the gay is contagious". That's not to say I don't think people have problems with how they portray things like autism spectrum disorders, but that's a topic for either another thread or a more apt jumping off point.

[PastryOfApathy]

Please tell me you guys are kidding.  Autistics are not awkward because we choose to be.  Are you going to walk up to someone in a wheelchair and make fun of them as well?  Sorry if you're actually doing some kind of Poe's Law thing here, but making fun of people with disabilities is kind of a pet peeve of mine.

Did you sign up just to say that you don't know what jokes are?

[ArctoBear]

Did you sign up just to say that you don't know what jokes are?

I know perfectly well what jokes are, but it's hard to tell simply with text whether someone is joking or being serious. 

 

Actually I just now found this board.  I was on the original forum, but did a lot of lurking.  I did not sign up specifically to comment on this thread.  It's just that when you're the socially awkward person who tends to get obsessed with stuff and you've struggled with it all your life and have been ridiculed for it or had people walk away from you because of it, reading posts like this kinda hits a bad chord.

[PastryOfApathy]

I know perfectly well what jokes are, but it's hard to tell simply with text whether someone is joking or being serious. 

 

Actually I just now found this board.  I was on the original forum, but did a lot of lurking.  I did not sign up specifically to comment on this thread.  It's just that when you're the socially awkward person who tends to get obsessed with stuff and you've struggled with it all your life and have been ridiculed for it or had people walk away from you because of it, reading posts like this kinda hits a bad chord.

Oh.

Well sorry to get off on the wrong foot, I (and I'm sure everyone else) didn't necessarily mean to offend anyone. I know there's people here on the spectrum so it's all in good fun since I mean, it's hard to be a furfag without occasional self-depreciation.

Also welcome (back I guess) to our lovely shitposting thunderdome. <3

Edited November 20, 2015 by PastryOfApathy

[Brass]

Haha Pastry you just got shut down dude.

[PastryOfApathy]

Haha Pastry you just got shut down dude.

u w0t

[Azu]

Please tell me you guys are kidding.  Autistics are not awkward because we choose to be.  Are you going to walk up to someone in a wheelchair and make fun of them as well?  Sorry if you're actually doing some kind of Poe's Law thing here, but making fun of people with disabilities is kind of a pet peeve of mine.

It happens a bit around here, but it's all in good fun. Try not to take it seriously.

[ArctoBear]

Sorry for being hyper-sensitive *hides under the piano*.  I'm usually pretty good at laughing at myself, but I guess I had a bad day, and now have made a complete idiot out of myself.

[Brass]

u w0t

You wana fight 

[Azu]

Sorry for being hyper-sensitive *hides under the piano*.  I'm usually pretty good at laughing at myself, but I guess I had a bad day, and now have made a complete idiot out of myself.

Didn't know we had a piano, tbh

[Spot]

I know one thing for sure, real life furfags are better than Internet furfags. 

[PastryOfApathy]

I know one thing for sure, real life furfags are better than Internet furfags. 

Is it really? I mean at least unlike real life, their stupidity is hidden behind a username and they don't have to associate their face with their creepy shit.

[Spot]

Is it really? I mean at least unlike real life, their stupidity is hidden behind a username and they don't have to associate their face with their creepy shit.

Yeah but in real life they don't have a screen to hide behind to act like an asshole, so they're generally more behaved.

What about internet furfags you meet in real life?

 

As above.

My last experience was actually fairly decent. Out of all the participants I didn't come across one that I wanted to beat with the get the fuck away from me stick.

[Sidewalk Surfboard]

I know one thing for sure, real life furfags are better than Internet furfags. 

[Spot]

Oh, but I'm an asshole anywhere, everywhere. I'm just a lovable asshole.

Hey that's my shtick, no stealsies. >:V

 

Come visit my salt mine. 

[Spot]

You're how old?

Old enough to be considered a "gray beard". :c

[Spot]

Yes, but do you have actual gray (or in my case,white) in yours?

Good god are you that old? D: