There's no such thing as a "real" furry except among elitests. You don't need to be active in the fandom, draw or commission art, attend conventions or anything like that.
I beg to differ, to consider yourself a furry you have to actually be a
fan of anthropomorphics. If you aren't interested in the fandom, drawing, commissioning art or attending conventions then I wouldn't be so quick to consider yourself much of a fan at all, sounds to me like a casual interest. There's no furry television channel. It's all about an individuals involvement in the fandom that makes it endure year after year.
Granted this may be my malicious ''elitist'' standpoint talking, but if the fandom got rid of all the phony furries (yes, there is such a thing as a ''
real'' furry) the fandom would be much,
much less impressive as it now stands, speaking specifically of its presence on the internet.
Furry is bordering on becoming nothing more than a scene for young, outcast teenagers with social issues to feel like an individual in contrast to all the ''mundanes'' at school.
I don't know any baseball fans that don't watch baseball nor any comic book fans that doesn't collect/or at one point had comic books. The same way people shouldn't call themselves furs if they don't have an active interest in anthropomorphic animals. Anyone can take 10 seconds to create a 'generic' fursona and go under the guise of furry even if they don't have that base enthusiasm which for the greater part are the same people that ruin the fandom since they do such a terrible job of pretending to be something they're not.
Let's say Dennis thinks wolves are cool, that doesn't mean Dennis is a furry, he just thinks wolves are neat.
Now if Dennis's brother Bob thought archetypal werewolves were cool I'd say that is a typical furry attitude as werewolves have anthropomorphic traits. Wolves by themselves do not.
Most unseasoned furries are similar to Dennis which is where it all goes horribly wrong
I claim that I'm not a real furry because I have no interest in the furry society or in conventions, or even in commissioning art. For me it's like pretending to be a Christian: I get the benefits of enjoying furry art, and engaging in furry roleplay, without being burdened by furry drama. Others claim that I'm in denial, and still others think I'm not furry enough.
The point is, "furry" is just a convenient label that encompasses many things. You don't have to worry about "being a furry" just because you share some of the same tendencies. Just roll with it.
The fandom would be in a much better state (not that it's failing, at least from an elitist perspective) if more so called 'furry fans' were like DLGrif and Dash who have the maturity to admit they're not a furry, but still have a mellow attraction.
As it stands we have 14-18 year old kids running amok on the internet calling themselves furries who detest ''evil'' human society, genuinely believe they're wolf/demon hybrids with devil/angel wings, who have magical powers and a scar running down one eye. Waving the rainbow FURRY PRIDE 4 EVAR! flag giving all furries a bad name. Blah to that.
I'm not interested in debating my perspective considering I'm not about to change it.
I just beseech all those thinking about joining the fandom do just a little research before jumping on the bandwagon so you know what you as an individual will be representing.