I read your article and I have to agree with the first comment under it; it's very well-written but I think it better illustrates why furry is so hard to define than it actually succeeds in defining furry.
The problem is that Furry is as much a personal and individualistic thing as it is a community of people. In any other community, you could say something like, "Star Wars isn't science-fiction, it's science-fantasy!" and a lot of people would go along with that idea. But that doesn't work in furry fandom because there's too many people with a personal stake in furry and nobody wants to feel excluded from the community.
Furthermore, using definitions to try and break up furry fandom clearly doesn't work. I mean, you say that therians/otherkin are not furries but... do they know that? I mean, they're listed in Wikifur and the 2016 Furry Poll and discussed on furry sites like adjective species. I get that they have their own websites tailored to their unique interests but it seems to me like any attempt to actually separate them from furries feels half-hearted at best because there is way too much crossover between them.
When you think about it, trying to define furry is like trying to purposely start an internet meme. It keeps failing because it feels artificial. Memes spread because they are a natural reflection of the human experience, and forced memes fail because they feel disingenuous. Likewise, the way you have defined furry to me feels so arbitrarily exclusionary that my immediate instinct is to question your motivations. What do you gain by defining furry in a way that excludes me and what do I lose by being excluded from furry? And I know that's probably not your trail of logic at all, but that's how it feels to me and I reckon that's why furry fandom responds so negatively (or at least apathetically) to such definitions.
I think my personal plan going forward is to simply express myself as a zoomorphic furry (and yes, I am insisting on labeling myself furry) and see if anyone else picks up on the idea. If no one does and I end up being the only zoomorphic furry in the world, that's fine. But I think it's a more natural way to build a furry identity than to try and force a definition that excludes people.
I read your article and I have to agree with the first comment under it; it's very well-written but I think it better illustrates why furry is so hard to define than it actually succeeds in defining furry.
The problem is that Furry is as much a personal and individualistic thing as it is a community of people. In any other community, you could say something like, "Star Wars isn't science-fiction, it's science-fantasy!" and a lot of people would go along with that idea. But that doesn't work in furry fandom because there's too many people with a personal stake in furry and nobody wants to feel excluded from the community.
Furthermore, using definitions to try and break up furry fandom clearly doesn't work. I mean, you say that therians/otherkin are not furries but... do they know that? I mean, they're listed in Wikifur and the 2016 Furry Poll and discussed on furry sites like adjective species. I get that they have their own websites tailored to their unique interests but it seems to me like any attempt to actually separate them from furries feels half-hearted at best because there is way too much crossover between them.
When you think about it, trying to define furry is like trying to purposely start an internet meme. It keeps failing because it feels artificial. Memes spread because they are a natural reflection of the human experience, and forced memes fail because they feel disingenuous. Likewise, the way you have defined furry to me feels so arbitrarily exclusionary that my immediate instinct is to question your motivations. What do you gain by defining furry in a way that excludes me and what do I lose by being excluded from furry? And I know that's probably not your trail of logic at all, but that's how it feels to me and I reckon that's why furry fandom responds so negatively (or at least apathetically) to such definitions.
I think my personal plan going forward is to simply express myself as a zoomorphic furry (and yes, I am insisting on labeling myself furry) and see if anyone else picks up on the idea. If no one does and I end up being the only zoomorphic furry in the world, that's fine. But I think it's a more natural way to build a furry identity than to try and force a definition that excludes people.