Post by Zeno on Aug 17, 2007 1:09:43 GMT -5
I will go on ahead and say this, I haven't been in the therianthropic community for too long, but what I am attempting to do, is to come to terms with what I have noticed and or found within the online therian community.
I first joined the online therian community in March when I joined werelist. The community seemed great, and without any flaws. Needless to say, I learned quickly. The first thing I noticed is that no one can agree on anything! This isn't necessarily a bad thing because everyone has their own opinion, and this adds variety to the community. This, however, seemed to create some confusion, especially
among newbies, who were just looking for basic information but could not find any do to the mass of disagreement. As I said before, different opinions on different things in the therianthropic community are a good thing, but for newbies this can be even better. Variety can be good for those newly awakened therians because it teaches them that there is no such thing as "core" therianthropy, and it also teaches them that there really is no conformity in the therian community, and it teaches them to develop their own opinions and philosophies.
The second thing I noticed upon joining the online community is that therianthropes seems to have two main enemies, posers, and what I like to call "haters". The first are easy to spot out. They usually claim to be p-shifting wolves that hate humans. People like this give therians a bad name, in the fact that they make non-therians look like complete loonies. The later or "haters" are people who think therianthropy is ridiculous and think therians are either role playing, or delusional. These people hurt the community for the simple reason that they are annoying and intolerant. Of course this isn't as bad as the posers, at least in my opinion
One last thing I've noticed among the online therian community. There is a great deal of personal therianthropy websites out there. Now not only that but there seems to be a 1:2 ratio of personally owned therianthropy sites that are either therianthropy 101, and personal experience sites. The therianthropy 101 sites often contain the basics, such as what therianthropy is, to what soul searching is. These supposed "newbie" sites can often be useful, even to therians who have been in the community for a long time, however I prefer the later. I find personal therianthropy site very interesting. I always like to read about other people’s personal experiences. These experiences usually contain information about the individual’s experiences from which they first discovered therianthropy, to point where they discover their theriotypes. These animal- people are prominent members of the therianthropic community that newbies often go to advice to and for some reason or another, don't wander around the message boards much, which, in my opinion, is a real shame.
I can really only compare the therianthropic community to one thing, a tie dye shirt. Now you’re probably wondering "Why the hell is Zeno comparing the online therianthropic community to a tie dye shirt?", well I have an answer. A tie dye shirt is composed of many different colors, and all the colors are in a different pattern on every shirt. Not only that but there are different sized shirts to fit on differently sized people. So basicly, what I am trying to say is that even though everyone is different, and has their own opinoins about things, therians share a common trait, we are all tie dye shirts, or in plain english, we are all animal people.
So far these have been my observations in the therian community so far. I have observed the therianthropic community for six months, and have been a part of it for five months. In the past six months, I have matured, and discovered more about myself than I have at any other point in my entire life, and I owe a great deal of this to the therianthropic community. I know I will learn more, and as I learn more I will write more. Now I have no idea where the online community is going, it could go for the worse or for the better. I guess it's just the way you look at it.
I first joined the online therian community in March when I joined werelist. The community seemed great, and without any flaws. Needless to say, I learned quickly. The first thing I noticed is that no one can agree on anything! This isn't necessarily a bad thing because everyone has their own opinion, and this adds variety to the community. This, however, seemed to create some confusion, especially
among newbies, who were just looking for basic information but could not find any do to the mass of disagreement. As I said before, different opinions on different things in the therianthropic community are a good thing, but for newbies this can be even better. Variety can be good for those newly awakened therians because it teaches them that there is no such thing as "core" therianthropy, and it also teaches them that there really is no conformity in the therian community, and it teaches them to develop their own opinions and philosophies.
The second thing I noticed upon joining the online community is that therianthropes seems to have two main enemies, posers, and what I like to call "haters". The first are easy to spot out. They usually claim to be p-shifting wolves that hate humans. People like this give therians a bad name, in the fact that they make non-therians look like complete loonies. The later or "haters" are people who think therianthropy is ridiculous and think therians are either role playing, or delusional. These people hurt the community for the simple reason that they are annoying and intolerant. Of course this isn't as bad as the posers, at least in my opinion
One last thing I've noticed among the online therian community. There is a great deal of personal therianthropy websites out there. Now not only that but there seems to be a 1:2 ratio of personally owned therianthropy sites that are either therianthropy 101, and personal experience sites. The therianthropy 101 sites often contain the basics, such as what therianthropy is, to what soul searching is. These supposed "newbie" sites can often be useful, even to therians who have been in the community for a long time, however I prefer the later. I find personal therianthropy site very interesting. I always like to read about other people’s personal experiences. These experiences usually contain information about the individual’s experiences from which they first discovered therianthropy, to point where they discover their theriotypes. These animal- people are prominent members of the therianthropic community that newbies often go to advice to and for some reason or another, don't wander around the message boards much, which, in my opinion, is a real shame.
I can really only compare the therianthropic community to one thing, a tie dye shirt. Now you’re probably wondering "Why the hell is Zeno comparing the online therianthropic community to a tie dye shirt?", well I have an answer. A tie dye shirt is composed of many different colors, and all the colors are in a different pattern on every shirt. Not only that but there are different sized shirts to fit on differently sized people. So basicly, what I am trying to say is that even though everyone is different, and has their own opinoins about things, therians share a common trait, we are all tie dye shirts, or in plain english, we are all animal people.
So far these have been my observations in the therian community so far. I have observed the therianthropic community for six months, and have been a part of it for five months. In the past six months, I have matured, and discovered more about myself than I have at any other point in my entire life, and I owe a great deal of this to the therianthropic community. I know I will learn more, and as I learn more I will write more. Now I have no idea where the online community is going, it could go for the worse or for the better. I guess it's just the way you look at it.