When it comes to someone who's not in the fandom, the vagueness of using the word "furry" sometimes results in the creators saying, "Look, what I've created may have characters that you call furry, but it's not made with the fandom in mind, and I don't participate in the fandom." Although some them aren't so polite about it, sadly.
The good news is that whether it was created with the fandom in mind or not is irrelevant; Furry is defined as anthropomorphic animals, not anthropomorphic animals created by or for people in the fandom. (I've always found the claim that it's only Furry if the creator "intended it to be" a rather useless and unworkable definition because it requires one to be psychic, but it's always entertaining to watch the folks who say it's unfair to label these works Furry without knowing contradict themselves by saying if we don't know we should assume they aren't.)
Perhaps a little history/perspective is in order: The argument that Furry fandom is only stuff created by/for the fandom was one that was put forth more than a decade ago on alt.fan.furry (remember alt.fan.furry?) by a troll named Random. Can't say I really know why it's gained traction in recent years, although given the growth of the fandom in the last ten years maybe new fans simply don't know any better.
The bottom line is that Furry is about anthropomorphic animals—all anthropomorphic animals—whether created by someone just learning to draw or a team of professional animators in a Warner Brothers animation studio.
The good news is that whether it was created with the fandom in mind or not is irrelevant; Furry is defined as anthropomorphic animals, not anthropomorphic animals created by or for people in the fandom. (I've always found the claim that it's only Furry if the creator "intended it to be" a rather useless and unworkable definition because it requires one to be psychic, but it's always entertaining to watch the folks who say it's unfair to label these works Furry without knowing contradict themselves by saying if we don't know we should assume they aren't.)
Perhaps a little history/perspective is in order: The argument that Furry fandom is only stuff created by/for the fandom was one that was put forth more than a decade ago on alt.fan.furry (remember alt.fan.furry?) by a troll named Random. Can't say I really know why it's gained traction in recent years, although given the growth of the fandom in the last ten years maybe new fans simply don't know any better.
The bottom line is that Furry is about anthropomorphic animals—all anthropomorphic animals—whether created by someone just learning to draw or a team of professional animators in a Warner Brothers animation studio.
Xydexx Unicorn
Furry Fandom Infocenter