On PR, negative stereotypes, and furry fandom

[giza]

 
Public service announcement time, folks.

If you keep shouting about negative stereotypes of furry fandom and "that's not what we're all about", well... all you're doing is bringing attention to those stereotypes. They'll still be associated with furry, regardless of what you as an individual do. Right now, we are doing a better job at promoting negative stereotypes about ourselves than any troll could ever hope to do.

Wanna do something productive? Try talking about positive aspects of the furry fandom. Mention how nearly every convention is a non-profit, how furry conventions have raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity, talk about some of the cool fursuits, or some other positive way that furry has impacted your life.

We can't control the trolls. But we can control ourselves, and what we say. Let's make the most of it.

Comments

[zealianbadass.livejournal.com]

dare I ask what rot-ridden discourse brought this on?

[giza.livejournal.com]

Someone made a post elsewhere asking about how they should tell their parents about furry. Okay, that's legit. The usual helpful responses came in.

Then someone posted, "You should remind them that furry is NOT about any of the following:", and proceeded to list 5 stereotypes which had not been mentioned previously in the thread.

[zealianbadass.livejournal.com]

ah. Got it. If they don't know the bad, don't tell them the bad, even to refute its validity.

[nikvulper.livejournal.com]

Your post makes a lot more sense in that frame of mind. I almost replied earlier about how all the good in the world won't change the opinion of the trolls, but it felt too negative. If you're starting with a clean slate it is better to focus on the nice stuff, saying what something isn't is a pretty dumb way to explain things.

"Can you tell me about this car?"
"Well, it won't rape you in your sleep, and razorblades don't shoot out of the vents!"

Explanations like that make you think those things might just happen.

[giza.livejournal.com]

That made me choke on my Coke Zero.

And has me strongly considering the possibility of a furry version of bash.org (http://www.bash.org/). I think I'll mull about that for awhile.

[nikvulper.livejournal.com]

Thanks, guess my humor mojo is working today. Took out a line about it not being a horse, but in retrospect I think I should have put razorblades first and the rape at the end.

I think I'd enjoy moderating a site like that :)

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Or make you think that it *would* rape you in your sleep and shoot razorblades out of its vents if it weren't for the retrofitted homebrew suppression mechanisms installed to keep it from doing that, and then make you worry about how reliable those mechanisms are.

"Call 911!" "Oh, razorblade suppressor gave out, eh?"

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

I don't think you need to tell your parents about anything as long as its not something like, "If you don't hear from me in three days, they found me." That's about it. Anything else is just asking for trouble.

[giza.livejournal.com]

From a convention organizing standpoint, we'd really rather have minors tell their folks where they are going.

Getting a phonecall from a panicked parent saying, "My kid ran away and I think he's at your convention" is never fun.

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

I think that happened at Furfright this year of sorts. At least it seemed so when I was badge monitoring and ones mom and sister needed to find him, and I kept thinking, "oh my... what they must think just walking in here. Even I think its pretty weird, and I like it."

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Over $100,000 in the last two years (http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Charity#Timeline_of_charity_donations).

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a great chart!

Selfishly, I'd like to see a chart accounting the auction-only totals so I can compare how I'm doing. The ones in that chart cover the overall contributions from all sources, including the sizeable checks that several conventions hand over at closing ceremonies (I have no idea where all their extra cash comes from). But I think I'm the only one who publishes an annual accounting breakdown of donations, so there's not much other data to work with.

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, we don't have auction-only totals, though the information you're looking for may be available for some conventions via the source links at the bottom. Some conventions have a habit of at least rounding up to the next thousand if they have the money spare.

As for where the cash comes from, the financial details of the three largest furry conventions are all available on the pages about the yearly (http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Anthrocon_2006#Financials) instances (http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Further_Confusion_2007#Financials) of that convention, or (in the case of MFF) the page about their organizing body, Midwest Furry Fandom (http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Midwest_Furry_Fandom%2C_Inc.#Financials). We link to their public financial filings (Form 990) as a source, which you will probably want to use for more detailed information. FC attaches copies of its entire budget to the filings. MFF does not, but a summarized of information is available in the form itself. A more direct way to get these forms is through Foundation Finder's Form 990 search (http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/esearch.php).

To summarize: Anthrocon currently has several expenses that appear relatively larger than those incurred by smaller conventions, even when accounting for size (larger venues cost more, and this cost scales in a non-linear manner). It also seems to have maintained its registration and sponsor fees at a low level relative to the features it provides - or, specifically, the expenses incurred for them - therefore, it has less money available for other things. I see this as being in line with its official organizational status as a social club (whose duty is to give the members the best experience at the lowest price), as opposed to a charity (where you might expect some of the organization's own money to go directly towards such pursuits).

I really need to do an in-depth news feature article on convention money management at some point, as it is an interesting topic.

[lockemaison.livejournal.com]

it's funny you should mention this because I was just talking about this to someone.

The reason I dislike the fandom so much is not because of porn, lifestylers (or whatever you call them, or whatever bad things furry seems to be known for. The reason I have spoken out against the fandom in many cases is because of how poorly the fandom handles its own image. It's to the point of where furries harass you. It's obnoxious. I left the fandom due to simple boredom but I was okay with furs for *years*. I only started to dislike the fandom because they shouted so much and make this situation so bad that I realized there was no turning back on it. It's turned into such a debacle that you just can't look at furries seriously anymore.

I think what you and Kage do, especially with Anthrocon, are *quite* commendable but you probably understand the fandom turned people like me off with this very attitude you are describing. At first I wanted to defend the fandom, and I did. But it was so bad.. i'm just turning into a skipping record.

On the flip side, it's blaringly obvoius that people are taking this advice way too far. On one forum I was in a while ago the furries were "creepily" friendly. Trying so hard to be good that it was beyond obvious.

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

The reason I have spoken out against the fandom in many cases is because of how poorly the fandom handles its own image.

Just to see if I'm reading this right: you feel that the fandom handles its image poorly. Your response to this is to speak out against the fandom, further trashing it's image.

Do I understand that properly?

[lockemaison.livejournal.com]

yes, you are correct. but I mean talking to my friends, personally in real life. not on the internet. I'm not on cyd or sa or anything like that. See, I avoid all of that stuff. I did show up on those places about 2003ish but those guys were so messed up i couldn't hold a real conversation with them. See, you are assuming I am furry-friendly. I am not.

that very fact, the way the fandom handles itself in terms of its image, pisses me off. I went from 'on the fence' to not liking them so much. It's a deeper reason than i am letting on, it has to do with my feelings on persecution and racism. it doesn't mean i hate furries, it just means the whole situation is so messed up and handled wrong and I personally feel it's their own fault. I'm sorry if it's not the truth or if i'm misinformed, but that's how i feel.

[simbab.livejournal.com]

Meh. I don't concern myself with fandom PR. I find myself alternately amused and annoyed with people who regard furry as some kind of issue that they just have to have an opinion on. I just don't say much of anything. It is what it is.

Frankly, I think the fact that people think we need PR in the first place is the problem. Treat it like a big deal and people will think it's a big deal. It's not. I think the proper way to handle any external inquiries is to ignore them to the extent possible (e.g. "no comment"/"not interested"). If you can't do that, act like it's no big deal, saying as little as possible (less is more, you know). Act like you've been caught masturbating by your parents when you are asked about the fandom, and people will think you have something you are guilty of.

Furries need to stop acting guilty about being furries. Then people won't sense that there's something wrong with being a furry when they ask about it.

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

For many it's not an act. To them, furry fandom - or some aspect of it that they participate in - is a guilty pleasure. They cannot help but feel bad for violating societal norms, and it shows.

I do not believe this is going to change overnight. It will have to be OK for people to look at furry porn/roleplay as a fluffy squirrel/run around in a fursuit/spend hours watching puppet shows every Sunday night for people stop feeling guilty about it.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

I think this is a good insight, even though the causes of it are slightly (not entirely, but slightly) baffling to me. I've seen many discussions over the last decade or so of my time in the fandom which are framed as, "So when did you come out as a furry?" To me, the interesting question is the one behind that question: "When did being a furry start being something you 'come out as,' and why?"

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Being furry is not generally believed to be cool. It's like being gay in the times gay people were the creepy guys who held hands with one another (while secretly murdering people by dropping scorpions down their backs, a-la Diamonds are Forever).

As for when it started . . . the word "skunkfucker (http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Skunkfucker)" has been around since the foundation of furry fandom itself. No doubt a few people back then were rather sensitive about getting this kind of label, and would conceal their interest until it became impossible to hide it.

[woelfisch.livejournal.com]

We need the PR to get hotel deals for furry conventions. With the growing size of many conventions it gets harder and harder to get and keep suitable venues for a reasonable price. Above a certain size they expect professional PR and a positive public image of the organization that's renting the place. Because first, this is also an indication that the organization knows their business and will keep the contract. Secondly, a positive image of the convention also leads to a positive image of the location. Anthrocon does an amazing job here. Of course, the actual strategy depends on the region or country. What works for the Pittsburgh press likely would need some adjustments elsewhere.

Sure, it probably would be the best to stay under the radar, but that's quite hard with our very agile and colorful convention culture. The media will do their reports, regardless whether we cooperate or not. But with active public relations this can be mitigated and in some cases positively influenced. Of course, that doesn't mean that we should support everything: "not interested" is a valid answer if you have the impression that it won't be a favorable report or that you aren't able to handle it properly. But before you respond to a request, please ask someone who is experienced with media relations for advice. For example, the press spokespersons of the larger conventions. There are many ways to say "no", and it depends on the publication which one to choose.

BTW, I strongly agree with the plea to "stop acting guilty." Excellent advise!

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

I wrote a post not too long ago about encouraging folks to look at the more positive aspects of the furry fandom.

By and large, I think we're a neat group of people, and we're not doing anyone any favors if we don't even think highly of ourselves.

[woelfisch.livejournal.com]

Excellent advise. Every kind of denial actually enforces what was supposed to be disclaimed. It is human nature that one does not like negations. Most people tend to miss that little word "not". You say "I don't draw pictures of Anubis", the listener hears "I do draw pictures of Anubis."

And even if a statement gets recognized as a disclaimer, people (especially journalists) start to draw conclusions. "Why is he talking about this stuff anyway? I can clearly see the smoke, where's the fire?"

[redrob.livejournal.com]

Possibly inappropriate humor, but, well, it seemed like the time for it.

That's "FurvECT!"

(see Robert Asprin's Myth Adventure series)
Alex

Only positive talk from me...

[sashatigress.livejournal.com]

The fandom has been a very positive thing in my life and I enjoy sharing with others all that is great within the Furry Fandom. What I refer to as "online furs" are often amazed at all the good a con does for charities and that when you have a group of furry friends in RL how much a family they become to you.
Heh... just a few days ago I had a fur, who is only active with furry on a furry forum, tell me that I make the fandom sound very good. I shrugged and said ... "Well yea because it is..."

(sorry if that had no real direction and was more of me just rambling...)

[elfasi.livejournal.com]

I've had these kind of thoughts percolating in my head lately and was pondering how to put them down in a coherent form. I have quite a few furry friends who regularly despair about how bad furry is, how its on the way to moral ruin, how bad the people are, just always negative.

Me, I never stop marvelling at what a positive force furry is in my life, how happy I am to be a fur, how it simply fits who and what I am. Sometimes I stop and think about how I'm living my life like nobody ever has before, in the history of humanity, with this global network of people I have a very special thing in common with, forming connections, friendships, anywhere and any time. The places I travel, the things I do, the people I meet, all because of this connection and all so enriching. Okay so people in the past did have special connections, but they never had a worldwide computer network to reach each other.

This is probably somewhat off topic by now though. I'm just happy to be a fur and take the good with the bad.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd say it's pretty on topic.

I was so introverted in years past that going to Anthrocon '99 was the first time I ever left town on my own. A month later, I left the country on my own so I could travel to Camp Feral. It kinda went downhill from there, with me leaving home more and more to attend other furry cons and local furmeets. Overall, it helped a lot with my shyness and I actually learned some useful social skills from interacting with others.

Also, no less than 3 of the jobs I've gotten are because I know furries. :-)

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

Would you hire a furry? ;x)

[giza.livejournal.com]

Sure.

Haven't been in the position to do it yet, but over the years I can think of no less than 3 furries who I helped get hired at my place(s) of employment by way of referrals.

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

I actually hired one of the few reliable furries to my job once and he worked out really well, until he became branch manager for a bank. ;x) So some are good, but especially in techy fields.

[thraxarious.livejournal.com]

Feral was sure fun. :)

[furahi.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, cool fursuits is a good subject :)