New theory:
Most (if not all) Furries that started participating in the fandom after 2000 treated it as a buffer and proxy for computer mediated communication and the core of the (typical and daily) Furry experience, since the tools to represent one's identity in any manner were standard (avatar images, user names). Many furries that were active before 2000 also migrated into this because they were early adopters, so this threshold is more of a gradient than a categorizer. But for many pre-2000 Furries, this was not necessarily the "core" of the Furry experience for them as much as it is for the later set because their access to Furry was through systems that mediated communication differently than today, or by direct personal contact (and sex). This isnt to say sex is less part of Furry over time, but rather that it is less definitive of it. Someone being 'Furry' says less specifically about their sexuality than it used to. This difference in core experience is becoming more apparent over time as the language, social norms and visual communication styles of the two diverge increasingly. The main observation I have about how the Colorado furry scene is extremely different from furry scenes everywhere else I've been, is it's the only one where the transition seems to have stalled out.

Back in the late 2000's, this start of this split appeared to be between the "Inner Circles" of conventions, and the "B-Wave" kids flooding into them. Although this was not a complete characterization, since these Inner Circles were not demographically uniform enough for the assumptions about difference in culture and age to work. It was a misidentification of the parties involved, and an over-generalization of the perceived "conflict". The larger issue at work was that within the older segment of Furries, there was (and in some places, still are) fundamental differences in what is considered to be essential to "Furry-ness". For some, it is functionally the same as Furryness for the post-2000 crowd. For others, it is increasingly less the same, and this transition towards Furry being defined primarily by communication proxies and less as a "twink faucet" for finding sex could be seen as a threat. Although I dont think most would say so.

The problem is when an inner circle is over-reliant on them, and they have a way of accreting and cultivating performative furries that extend the feasability of the pre-2000 type of Furry-ness. Possibly long enough that there is no longer any reason to complete the transition, and instead, incentive to hybridize sensibilities from the past into the post-2000 Furry culture. Which makes thralls out of those suceptible to cognitive insecurity.

Substantively, the transition isnt language, politics or culture. It is only in what type of activity takes precedent among those stated to be Furry, and if they exist to serve an objective which is not by itself "Furry".

"It's called a hustle, Sweetheart"