Hi I am an anthropology student wishing to know what being a furry means to you!

[Jamer825]

Hello I am really sorry for asking this of you on your forums so feel free to completely ignore this. I am a 17 year old student studying Anthropology at high school. Within my course I am required to do a piece of coursework which makes up the 40% of my grade and I have chosen to look at the Furry Fandom. Although I am not a furry myself the Furry Fandom are a group i have always been interested in and respect. If possible would anyone will be able to complete a 1 minute survey on why they became Furies and the impact the community has had on their life. I wish to see how the community has changed and impacted your lives. All answers given are optional and anonymous being only seen and marked by my teacher. If you are able to give your time to do the survey I will be incredibly grateful. The Survey: https://www.esurveycreator.co.uk/s/7d2d069

[Jamer825]

If anyone wants to ask questions or is willing to talk about this I will be checking this as regularly as I can!

[Kobuk]

If you want to get a better picture of the furry fandom and who/what we are, IMO, taking a survey won't help.  I'd suggest getting to know the members here, participating in topics and discussions, reading various threads and forums, etc.  That to me, at least IMO, is a much better way of understanding the fandom than just taking a simple survey.

[Jamer825]

Yeah i understand that it is not the best best way so i am planning to talk on the forum and I am also going to a convention in London. Its just it will look better (for the marker) if i have both interviews and statistics on the topic so i can give a better overview on both a personal and general scale. By looking at the numbers i can see why people are furries and how much it means to them without taking to much of everyone time. I want to get to know people but getting a few pieces of data will really help out on my write up!

[Subzerus]

Us furries tend to be pretty accepting so as long as you try to get involved and start conversations and stuff, you're going to have a great time here, you'll have fun and get a lot of info! Feel free to ask me anything via PM if you wish! Oh and why not go to the greetings sections and post something about you too? That would probably help break the ice!

[Jamer825]

Yeah thanks for the offer I will be in contact if I need to ask anything . I can tell this community is friendly and I may just go an introduce myself (although i am scared this will be seen as just me spamming the site).

[Iara Warriorfeather]

Hi Jamer825,

If you want to stick around the forums, please make an introductory post. Don't be shy--we won't bite.

Out of curiosity, why did you decide to post your poll on this forum?

~Iara

[Jamer825]

I saw that it was family friendly with alot less focus on sexualised anthropomorphic art. The people seemed friendly and it is a reasonably large group so it seemed like a great place to start. So far every one is being extremely friendly and supportive so I think i made the right choice!!

[Chipper Blu-wolf]

I think more people will open up to you if you talk with them and share some of your own ideas around the forum.  Your first post is a poll asking for information.  I'm more likely to tell you more about me or why I'm here if I get to know you too.  That being said, if you have anything specific you want to ask me, you can do it in PM, but I'll be on vacation the next few days so I won't get back to you right away (not ignoring you).

For the record, your poll is pretty harmless, and I did fill it out just now.  To do a really good job with this project though, you will likely need more from some people here than just the information supplied by this poll to learn who a "furry" is.

[Subzerus]

Uhm... why did you chose the furry fando by the way? There's probably a lot of other subjects you could've picked, so why furries?

[Jamer825]

I chose the fandom because i wanted to study something interesting that I don't have to go to some far off country just to see. The fandom is something weird to most people and this seemed like a great opportunity  actually getting to know you for the nice and kind people you all are. Its nice to be able to talk through the internet and actually become an active member of this community and with me going to a furry meetup in London in a few weeks i see this a great and eye opening experience.

[Old Rabbit]

I did your survey, but as said by others you will learn more about the fandom
talking to furries. We generally like real life animals because they live without
malice or design.

There are some who feel a kinship to real animals. Some like to draw, or look at
furry art, read stories about animals furry or not, make animal costumes, go to
conventions to see friends and trade ideas.

It's all about people enjoying a common interest.

Hope all goes well with your research.

Old Rabbit

[Kobuk]

Yeah i understand that it is not the best best way so i am planning to talk on the forum and I am also going to a convention in London. Its just it will look better (for the marker) if i have both interviews and statistics on the topic so i can give a better overview on both a personal and general scale. By looking at the numbers i can see why people are furries and how much it means to them without taking to much of everyone time. I want to get to know people but getting a few pieces of data will really help out on my write up!

Well, that's a good thing, I guess. Going to a convention/furmeet is a much better way of seeing what the fandom is all about. And as the old saying goes: "A picture is worth a thousand words.", having pics and/or video to compliment your survey statistics might make your project look a bit better in the eyes of your Professor and/or other students and will help to better "explain" what the fandom is about. Though just be careful on what pics you take and how you present your survey/interviews at the con. Some people and/or conventions are skittish about people doing surveys, interviews, and other "media relations" for fear that the fandom will get put in a bad light. Find out what the Con's rules are about surveys and interviews, etc. before you go and talk to furries, take pics, etc.

P.S. - This thread might help too.
http://forums.furtopia.org/general-furry-discussion/a-furtopian-newcomer's-guide-to-being-a-furry/

[ZHyena]

Hai Jamer I am ZHyena or Folic you can ask me anything you need to just pm me the question I am happy to help!

[Jamer825]

Yeah i went to the furry convention on Saturday and was surprised at how big it was. I didn't bring a survey or conduct any interviews because i felt as though i would be ruining the fun. I just got some good pictures and talked to a lot of people