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Current Thoughts On The Furry Community
8 years ago
Okay.
As you might remember, back in March, I posted a journal on my impression of the furry community, at that time. I wrote and posted this journal out of how frustrated I was with certain members in this fandom. One member in particular was a local fur I knew in person. After learning about what he had done, I was heavily outraged. I never even thought he would do something like this. This got me to think about other instances other members in this fandom have done that I became concerned about, and I wanted to write a message on how OUR ACTIONS affect our image, hoping this would get people in this community to make good imoressions, whether it's within our fandom, or to non-furs. You can find the journal about it in the link below.
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8147230/
Now, I'm writing an update on my thoughts about this. Even though, I felt safer representing this fandom over the past summer, I've grown worried again. I'm now going to explain who this local fur is and what he's done.
His name is Matt Adey. In furry fandom, he goes by "Danruk Rooface". His FA page is http://www.furaffinity.net/user/danruk. Back in March, Danruk was arrested for statutory rape and sexual assault on a 14-year old boy. I first learned about the incident on the Saturday morning after his arrest, while scrolling through my Facebook feed and coming across a news article with his mugshot. I was really hoping the mugshot wasn't a picture of Danruk, and that it was someone who resembled him very well, or that my eyes were fooling me, but when I read the article, it had his legal name, Matthew Adey. I was deeply stunned. I was in so much somberness after what he's done. I NEVER would think he would do something to get him into this kind of hot water.
I began searching for more articles on this case. I was hoping that, as more details on this case emerge, I would, for the love of God, hope that furry fandom isn't mentioned in these reports. Well, recently, I've learned more about this felony Danruk had done, and guess what? The Nashua Telegraph had reported his use of the fandom in this rape case.
Here's screenshots of the Nashua Telegraph article:
https://imgur.com/IEdMpW2
https://imgur.com/CqqKt2j
https://imgur.com/al8J9fq
https://imgur.com/66kdMO8
https://imgur.com/Y0ShZU4
(I had to subscribe to the Nashua Telegraph, just to get the full article.)
I am so mad right now. I can't believe Danruk would take such an action that would further damage furry fandom's reputation like this. This poor kid may have negative thoughts on our fandom for the REST OF HIS LIFE, because of what Danruk's done.
This is someone I've helped volunteer with at Anthro New England and Anthrocon's masquerades. He was staff at Anthrocon since their convention began two decades ago in 1997. I drove him over to a New England Black Wolves lacrosse game in Connecticut, as a gift, after the crap he had to put up with with two other furs. I helped move stuff of his to his apartment in Malden, MA. I've done gift art for him. I was also about to give him another gift, before he got arrested. (That gift I wound up giving to someone else, someone who's done so much better for both this fandom and outside of our fandom.) It is horrendously painful that he would do something like this.
There are people outside this fandom who view us negatively enough. Actions like these are what cement our image, through their eyes, even further down the toilet. There are furries who choose to leave this fandom because of bad decisions some people in this fandom make, and don't want to associate with the community, or be given a bad rap, because of others' bad actions. It's no wonder why people have been saying that this fandom's going to Hell in a handbasket.
I know there are still good people in this fandom. I know not everyone would sink to lows they shouldn't sink to. However, actions done by one person in this community could affect ALL of us. Even innocent furries would have to pay a price for actions they haven't done, but other furs have. I'm not even sure if it's worth the effort for me to TRY to repair our image, because someone would just come to wreck it again.
This leaves me to mention that another local fur, who I've also seen in person, is becoming a concern. I won't mention this person's name. If you know which person I'm talking about, just don't bring this person's name up. This person's uses this fandom irresponsibly in public. This person would wear this tail around everywhere she goes. She also says she wants a tail surgically fused to her, and that she doesn't think she's really a human being, but that she's a wolf. I worry she would explain this to those she comes across who aren't familiar with furry fandom. Isn't she concerned that they may look at her as strange or crazy? What's more bothersome is that she's not only making herself look strange and crazy towards these people, but since she's representing our fandom, she'd be making the REST OF US look strange and crazy as well, and WE DON'T WANT THAT. This is just like how "Boomer The Dog" would present himself to others. It's embarrassing. It's inappropriate. It makes our fandom look bad. There's really no excuse, I repeat, NO EXCUSE for this.
As I stated in my journal from March, we are responsible for our own actions. It's up to us to form a good reputation. Years of work has payed off to get our fandom's reputation in a better position than it used to be. Our reputation is much better than it used to be, but there's still a lot more work that needs to be done. This fandom's reputation isn't going to repair itself. We need to make good impressions.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that, even though we're all passionate for this fandom, we still have lives outside of this hobby, including priorities we must deal with, whether we like them or not. We shouldn't be using this hobby as a "lifestyle". I have non-furry friends and colleagues who know I'm a furry, but also know I'm a responsible human being. We may be furries, but we are HUMAN BEINGS FIRST. There's a time and a place for everything, and we can't let this hobby take over our lives that way.
You know I love this community. I'd hate to see bad things happen to our fandom, but we're the ones that need to make a good impression. As the old saying goes...YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY.
I'm really sorry I had to write all this, and I do appreciate the time you took to read this. I'm not here to try and start drama.
I'm writing this journal as a WARNING to this community. Hopefully, this message I'm giving out will help others in this fandom understand the importance of the state our community is in.
I'm going to leave this journal open for comments. If you want to share your thoughts on this, feel free to do so. The only thing I ask of you is to, please, keep the comments civil.
Thank you for your understanding.
(P.S. To those wondering what Danruk's prison sentence will be, he'll be serving a 17 year prison sentence, followed by a 10 year supervised release.)
(EDIT - 10-17-2017: Well, well, well...Word about another member of our fandom in trouble with the law, this time, "RC Fox" of Aliquippa, PA. Honest to god, I'm seeing a pattern starting to form, and it's making me even more worried about the state of our community.
http://www.timesonline.com/db0105ea.....98bf53528.html)
As you might remember, back in March, I posted a journal on my impression of the furry community, at that time. I wrote and posted this journal out of how frustrated I was with certain members in this fandom. One member in particular was a local fur I knew in person. After learning about what he had done, I was heavily outraged. I never even thought he would do something like this. This got me to think about other instances other members in this fandom have done that I became concerned about, and I wanted to write a message on how OUR ACTIONS affect our image, hoping this would get people in this community to make good imoressions, whether it's within our fandom, or to non-furs. You can find the journal about it in the link below.
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8147230/
Now, I'm writing an update on my thoughts about this. Even though, I felt safer representing this fandom over the past summer, I've grown worried again. I'm now going to explain who this local fur is and what he's done.
His name is Matt Adey. In furry fandom, he goes by "Danruk Rooface". His FA page is http://www.furaffinity.net/user/danruk. Back in March, Danruk was arrested for statutory rape and sexual assault on a 14-year old boy. I first learned about the incident on the Saturday morning after his arrest, while scrolling through my Facebook feed and coming across a news article with his mugshot. I was really hoping the mugshot wasn't a picture of Danruk, and that it was someone who resembled him very well, or that my eyes were fooling me, but when I read the article, it had his legal name, Matthew Adey. I was deeply stunned. I was in so much somberness after what he's done. I NEVER would think he would do something to get him into this kind of hot water.
I began searching for more articles on this case. I was hoping that, as more details on this case emerge, I would, for the love of God, hope that furry fandom isn't mentioned in these reports. Well, recently, I've learned more about this felony Danruk had done, and guess what? The Nashua Telegraph had reported his use of the fandom in this rape case.
Here's screenshots of the Nashua Telegraph article:
https://imgur.com/IEdMpW2
https://imgur.com/CqqKt2j
https://imgur.com/al8J9fq
https://imgur.com/66kdMO8
https://imgur.com/Y0ShZU4
(I had to subscribe to the Nashua Telegraph, just to get the full article.)
I am so mad right now. I can't believe Danruk would take such an action that would further damage furry fandom's reputation like this. This poor kid may have negative thoughts on our fandom for the REST OF HIS LIFE, because of what Danruk's done.
This is someone I've helped volunteer with at Anthro New England and Anthrocon's masquerades. He was staff at Anthrocon since their convention began two decades ago in 1997. I drove him over to a New England Black Wolves lacrosse game in Connecticut, as a gift, after the crap he had to put up with with two other furs. I helped move stuff of his to his apartment in Malden, MA. I've done gift art for him. I was also about to give him another gift, before he got arrested. (That gift I wound up giving to someone else, someone who's done so much better for both this fandom and outside of our fandom.) It is horrendously painful that he would do something like this.
There are people outside this fandom who view us negatively enough. Actions like these are what cement our image, through their eyes, even further down the toilet. There are furries who choose to leave this fandom because of bad decisions some people in this fandom make, and don't want to associate with the community, or be given a bad rap, because of others' bad actions. It's no wonder why people have been saying that this fandom's going to Hell in a handbasket.
I know there are still good people in this fandom. I know not everyone would sink to lows they shouldn't sink to. However, actions done by one person in this community could affect ALL of us. Even innocent furries would have to pay a price for actions they haven't done, but other furs have. I'm not even sure if it's worth the effort for me to TRY to repair our image, because someone would just come to wreck it again.
This leaves me to mention that another local fur, who I've also seen in person, is becoming a concern. I won't mention this person's name. If you know which person I'm talking about, just don't bring this person's name up. This person's uses this fandom irresponsibly in public. This person would wear this tail around everywhere she goes. She also says she wants a tail surgically fused to her, and that she doesn't think she's really a human being, but that she's a wolf. I worry she would explain this to those she comes across who aren't familiar with furry fandom. Isn't she concerned that they may look at her as strange or crazy? What's more bothersome is that she's not only making herself look strange and crazy towards these people, but since she's representing our fandom, she'd be making the REST OF US look strange and crazy as well, and WE DON'T WANT THAT. This is just like how "Boomer The Dog" would present himself to others. It's embarrassing. It's inappropriate. It makes our fandom look bad. There's really no excuse, I repeat, NO EXCUSE for this.
As I stated in my journal from March, we are responsible for our own actions. It's up to us to form a good reputation. Years of work has payed off to get our fandom's reputation in a better position than it used to be. Our reputation is much better than it used to be, but there's still a lot more work that needs to be done. This fandom's reputation isn't going to repair itself. We need to make good impressions.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that, even though we're all passionate for this fandom, we still have lives outside of this hobby, including priorities we must deal with, whether we like them or not. We shouldn't be using this hobby as a "lifestyle". I have non-furry friends and colleagues who know I'm a furry, but also know I'm a responsible human being. We may be furries, but we are HUMAN BEINGS FIRST. There's a time and a place for everything, and we can't let this hobby take over our lives that way.
You know I love this community. I'd hate to see bad things happen to our fandom, but we're the ones that need to make a good impression. As the old saying goes...YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY.
I'm really sorry I had to write all this, and I do appreciate the time you took to read this. I'm not here to try and start drama.
I'm writing this journal as a WARNING to this community. Hopefully, this message I'm giving out will help others in this fandom understand the importance of the state our community is in.
I'm going to leave this journal open for comments. If you want to share your thoughts on this, feel free to do so. The only thing I ask of you is to, please, keep the comments civil.
Thank you for your understanding.
(P.S. To those wondering what Danruk's prison sentence will be, he'll be serving a 17 year prison sentence, followed by a 10 year supervised release.)
(EDIT - 10-17-2017: Well, well, well...Word about another member of our fandom in trouble with the law, this time, "RC Fox" of Aliquippa, PA. Honest to god, I'm seeing a pattern starting to form, and it's making me even more worried about the state of our community.
http://www.timesonline.com/db0105ea.....98bf53528.html)
Of late, there was a lot of back and forth concering the Furpocalypse theme, but matters seem to have cooled off now. I can't speak too much of what else has been going on in the community as a whole, but I've been a little more in touch with local furs when I joined Telegram in early April. I've mostly been busy working and struggling to make ends meet in the face of some financial challenges unrelated to the fandom (Bills and car repairs, yay). It's been expanded to include the local furry chat groups. As well as finding a legacy group, leftovers of people I knew from an old fan forum of a now-discontinued webcomic from the early-to-mid 2000s era.
I know what's done is done, and Danruk got what he deserved. My concern is what other members of this fandom might do, in the future, that would damage our image. Yes, the fandom would be different by the time Danruk's released. I expect it'll have a better reputation than it does now. But that'll be 17 years from now.
The term one bad apple does sometimes apply, and I'm sure it wouldn't be the fandom's first instance of this happening - nor will it be the last. It is certainly the most high profile case that's happened in this particular region that anyone knows of, a lot of that due to social media and the quick spreading of word via Telegram. In general, the fandom does draw a fair bit of attention from minors, most notably in the form of popular cartoons, video games, movies, and other various media. It was much the same way when many of us in the older generation (25-30+) got our introductoin to the fandom in a similar fashion. I don't think it will ever be a problem that completely goes away though. As long as minors are around and keep entering the fandom, some asshole is going to find a way to try and victimize said minors.
In all honesty, before I started to get to know more and more furries, I didn't have the best opinion of them. Then I met a bunch of great people in the fandom. Like you, Cyan. And Babs. And KT. Even a person who I've decided to not name. But if I knew them when I was a lot younger, I know I wouldn't have the best opinion of them.
So the fact that somebody like this would abuse somebody sexually disgusts me. And I don't disgust easily. I do wish furries got a better reputation in existance, but people like this don't help our case.
From,
Yakko
I can understand why some people can be skeptical about furry fandom when they first experience it. It may not appear conventional to them, usually. But, once someone understands the fandom's concept better, they'll feel more comfortable about it.
I haven't told my parents about this; the only other I told in person is a close female friend of mine who isn't a furry, but understands about my interest in the community and finds it rather interesting. I am afraid if I tell my parents, they will forbid me from doing anything else with furries, even though I've always been as careful as I can be, and still am. I'd follow the rules they'd set for when I go to cons, and stick to it, yet I'd still have a fun time. And my actually being at cons like Anthro New England helped convince my parents that real furry cons are nothing like the garbage they saw on that "CSI" episode. *shudders*
All of this has made me wonder in the back of my mind if I can trust anyone else in the fandom that I only met when I started going to these cons? But I still enjoy being in the fandom anyways as I can express my creative costume performance work and such here.
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/po.....1167a829d.html
"Detective Chris Olson said that after Adey's arrest was made public, boys from across the country began calling Londonderry police. The victims told police they met Adey in online forums, Olson said.Olson said that because of the calls from the boys, Adey is being investigated for sexual assault in several states, as far away as the West Coast.
At the time of his arrest in March, Adey was driving to Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a Boston-based organization that provides services for runaway, homeless and high-risk youth and young adults in Boston and surrounding communities...Allegations that Adey engaged in sexual acts with the teen multiple times are being prosecuted at the state level."
http://www.timesonline.com/db0105ea.....98bf53528.html
Other than he deserves every last ounce of punishment and damaged reputation........I'm completely lost for words.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/na.....ium=socialflow