Hello Furtopia!

[OceanBacon]

Hii! I'm so glad to join this forum! I'm new to the furry fandom and I'm very excited to join! I like to make art and I love role-playing and telling stories.
My fursona's name is Silk, they're a gender-questioning hybrid of a spider and a butterfly. They like to knit and sew and making plushes. I'd love to meet all of you guys! Also, you guys have any advice for navigating the furry fandom?

[Mister Initial Man]

Hey there!

My advice is Proceed With Caution.   

FurAffinity seems to be the Big Boy in the furry world now, so that's a good place to start.

[Varg the wanderer]

Hello and welcome to furtopia! 

Here is a short starter to give you some information on the forums as well as help us to get to know you.

Here are some introductory questions you can answer if you like:
Mind telling us how you happened upon our friendly community?
How long have you been a furry / known about the fandom?

What interests you about the anthropomorphic (furry) fandom?

Hope you enjoy your stay! Be prepared for an onslaught of warm welcoming hugs and pounces from fellow members! If you don't want the hugs, just let us know and your wish will be respected! Click on any of the gold-colored links above or below for further information.

We also have an IRC chatroom you may want to join (when it's running again). Just enter your fursona name and start chatting! If you need help on accessing the Furtopia IRC, please see this thread here: How to use an IRC client

Please take the time to read the Furtopia Forum Posting Rules. This is a PG rated "family friendly" forum. Please also take the time to post your topics in the most appropriate section - it will be greatly appreciated by all. If you have a question or problem, or if you need help with anything on the Furtopia forums, then feel free to contact an Administrator or Moderator via PM (Private Message) or use the Report to Moderator button found in every post. Please let the Admins and Mods handle any problems that arise.

When I read you were part spider, part butterfly and then that you liked to knit and sew I thought to myself "Of course! How could they not be?" 

As for advice: You've already done a great job by checking out Furtopia. These forums were my introduction to furry, and they were a great place to meet furs and learn about different things. The staff here work very hard to keep the forums family friendly, which for a young canine out exploring on his own was a good thing. Out side of these forums I'm with Mister Initial Man on proceeding with caution. The Furry Fandom is really big, and by big I mean huge, and not all of it you'll find enjoyable (as is the case with fandoms that are really big). Nearly every fandom I've explored (and I've poked around a fair number of them) has some dark corners that make you cringe, and furry is no exception. Being able to be interested in the parts of Furry you enjoy while leaving the rest is an important skill to have, since I don't think there is a single furry out there that enjoys everything included in the furry fandom.

Fortunately, furries are typically awesome, inviting, and accepting people. I've always felt welcome wherever I went, despite having atypical views, beliefs, and preferences compared to the rest of the fandom, and I try hard to extend that same acceptance to every other fur I meet. After all, we're here to be ourselves, and as long as nobody is being hurt, who are we to judge someone else as being "weird"?

[OceanBacon]

So yeah, I'm very new to the fandom, but I've always loved animals, and even role-playing as animals! I've known about it for a while, but was in the trend of making fun of it. Like a lot of people it seems. But more and more I started wondering why I was hating on it so much? And I looked up some videos of furries and they said that it was actually pretty neat and harmless. Just people representing themselves as animals and exploring who they are. I though "wow that sounds fun and amazing!" I'm at a space in my life where I can't explore myself fully, so I thought, why not give this fandom a shot? And so far of what I've seen, a lot of it seems really nice. I know there are some dark spots, but I'm excited anyway.
So far I only know of the role-playing side of it, what other parts are there?

[Varg the wanderer]

So yeah, I'm very new to the fandom, but I've always loved animals, and even role-playing as animals! I've known about it for a while, but was in the trend of making fun of it. Like a lot of people it seems. But more and more I started wondering why I was hating on it so much? And I looked up some videos of furries and they said that it was actually pretty neat and harmless. Just people representing themselves as animals and exploring who they are. I though "wow that sounds fun and amazing!" I'm at a space in my life where I can't explore myself fully, so I thought, why not give this fandom a shot? And so far of what I've seen, a lot of it seems really nice. I know there are some dark spots, but I'm excited anyway.
So far I only know of the role-playing side of it, what other parts are there?

Drawn art is huge, as is writing. There is also animation, music, and (of course) fursuiting, which I would call performing in various flavors (dance, roleplay, acting) both live and in videos. There is also construction of fursuits themselves (truly an art on its own), sculpting and other crafts. Basically, if it's an art, there's a furry version of it out there. And that's just the arts aspect.

There's also the community aspect. Many people make friends with other furs, and those friends enjoy "non-furry" things, so you'll get groups of furries going on camp outs, hiking, playing gaming tournaments, going to the gun range, cooking out, working charities, going bowling, so on and so forth.

I'm just touching the surface here, but I'm sure others will fill in what I missed.

[Firelight]

Spider and Butterfly? That's very interesting and partly spooky 
Welcome to Furtopia! The friendliest furry hangout.
I'm Firelight the folf.