Imagine this, fellow un-woke furry… On the closing Sunday of the furry convention expressly set up for us, FreeFurAll, not a single person left Tulsa that day without optimism and hope. 207 of us showed up, and yes, it may have been a small convention, but it was ours. It was unique. We had a huge marquee performer in 2Gryphon, and we had a new queen that everyone rallied around as if it were just a reflex. Both officially and unofficially, PeaceWolf was our new leader.
Fast forward about ten months, and here’s what PeaceWolf has been tweeting about lately: A scathing set of Telegram stickers directed toward her recently-divorced ex husband, and former director of the con.
Some people are cut from the cloth to lead others, and some people are not. PeaceWolf is not.
FreeFurAll ’23 has pre-registration numbers about half of what it was last year, but that includes many people, I count at least twenty, who tried to get refunded but were denied and kept on the rolls. A prominent board member from Ohio resigned, and 2Gryphon decided he wasn’t going to hang around. More than one inside source tells me that Peace has lost the confidence of the volunteer staff, most of whom are simply walking away.
FreeFurAll is a dead convention. And that’s okay.
PeaceWolf, Jasonafex and Foxler, while certainly commanding a big presence on social media, will not be able to parlay their drama-and-porno fueled social media accounts into an actual community. They have lost all credibility among people who want something in real life, and that’s a good thing. We don’t need those people.
But what’s next? Let me hoot it at you very clearly: The struggle for power and control of this little convention is over. In my estimation, it is time to focus on building on FFA. First of all, this isn’t 2021: The convention vax mandates are slowly being rolled back, and the political pogroms and fervor, while certainly still around, have cooled off.
In its place is a hunger for decency: Social spaces where people aren’t constantly exposed to filthy and degenerate behavior. A place where wholesome furries (yes, we exist) can gather and make friends, and maybe even go to church together on Sunday morning.
And how do we do that?
A bit about me: I was a very hard-edged right-wing furry, and for a handful of years, I took it upon myself to set up social spaces, almost always online-only, where right-leaning furries could organize and network. Naturally, I sought to a refuge for cancelled artists, performers, and most of all edgelords.
That time has long come and passed. We don’t need to be overtly political. I’m not sure if that was ever a great idea. Most furries these days are exhausted by that fervor, no matter which side it comes from. Therefore, new leaders should endeavor to create furry spaces which do not have political arguments. We shouldn’t cancel people, but we also shouldn’t draw attention to the fact that we don’t.
Doing this will pave the way for a more relaxed social environment in which people can make real-life connections, which brings me to the second recommendation: This cannot be an online-only community. Most of our Telegram and Discord spaces should be small, private and events-focused. FreeFurAll ’22 taught me this lesson in spades. If people can meet off a keyboard, most drama of personal destruction goes away.
And that brings me to the third and most important point: If you’re in a social cluster of furries, you must show respect to everyone there, and you must refrain from publicly calling people out. Failing to do so alienates people and causes fissures that do not heal easily. This kind of behavior is kryptonite for creating real-life spaces that decent furries actually want to frequent.
… Because that’s how we got here
To move beyond the cataclysmic drama which would cause someone to make ‘cuck-my-husband’ Telegram sticker packs, we have to be better. There is work to do here. Some time ago I noticed a prominent Christian furry account on Twitter, with an extensive following, retweet another’s post referring to Catholics as heretics.
What effect do you reckon that had? It told Catholic furries they weren’t welcome in his Discord server or artistic circle, or, given this person’s reach and reknown, that Catholic furries weren’t welcome in this space at all. That doesn’t help. It hurts, and it is but one example.
Even more destructive are the public call-outs between people in this space. Some time ago I saw a Christian furry make public some hot drama that had been previously contained in DMs. They suddenly posted on Twitter what the offending party was up to in DMs, then threatened to publicly post the conversation for all to see.
To create a social space where people can share themselves securely and make friends in real life, the immature stuff needs to stop. I’m not on a high-horse with this either. It took me years to figure this out, and in 2023 I believe I finally mastered it (knock on wood).
Two places doing it right
There are two public servers I’ve seen that are doing it right, and thankfully, those two could be all we really need. I have nobody’s permission to post links, so I will only mention them by name and give a contact.
I recommend Christian furries check out the Eventide Tribe server on Discord. The admin, an artist who goes by SweetwaterGoods on Twitter, seems to have specifically designed this server to quell interpersonal drama, and do so in a theologically sound way. The result is a very active, respectful and unique space.
Second, we actually do have a successor community in Tulsa which will replace the ailing AWOO Association. This community is made up of people who organized in the face of what was going on in Tulsa. It will be run by people who were involved in last year’s convention, but instead of it being run by NSFW artists and Furry Raiders, it will be manned by the more decent and solid crowd that tried to do something. We will be holding a new autumn event that everyone can be proud to come to. Our event and community lives in the Digitalis discord server, and Foxglove can be reached for an invite link if you are interested.
Ya know what? I actually will post an invite link, to my server, the Furry Wholesome Hangout. Admittedly, it is nowhere near as interesting or active as the above two, but it is a neat space to hang out in and I do try to apply the same principles and lessons learned from the above chats. It’s also run by me, so you know it can’t possibly be that bad!
https://discord.gg/FyCW7MhP
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