I'm going to start off by saying there's no real point to this journal entry - people will either nod their heads and mindlessly agree whether their behaviour reflects it or not; they'll -actually- agree in theory and in practice and didn't need to hear a dumb lecture about it; or the trolls and drama queens will TL;DR it and continue on their trolling and drama queening ways.

This journal will change nothing, but I'm writing it anyway.

I simply cannot stand drama. I loathe it, and I generally avoid it like the plague it is, spreading and infecting normally reasonable people and rendering them into gibbering, useless morons that are very likely only perpetuating the very problem they're arguing about.

I hate to sound cliche, but one must take care when fighting monsters lest ye become a monster - it's all good and well to stand up for what you believe in, to take a stand for a friend, but it's no good if you're just going to take up name-calling and verbal nausea composed largely of swears, or not even bother to understand the issue you're so fervently arguing about, and it's certainly no excuse to degenerate into an immature unreasonable idiot, no matter how righteous or justified your beliefs are.

* * *

There's a lot of drama that goes on here, a lot of hatred and trolling between different groups thinking other groups are a disgrace to everyone, you furs make us furs look bad, and so on and so forth.

There's this really awesome club fetish night in my city. Anyone with any kind of fetish is welcome - the rules are to dress up in the theme of the fetish of your choice, normal clothing is not allowed, no actual manual, oral or penetrative sex is permitted, the usual no-harassing/abusing-others, and, oh, by entering these doors, you agree you're happy and accepting and cool with whatever you might see inside. If you don't like what you see, you're free to leave. It's very successful, and as far as fetishes go, very popular, and a lot of fun, simply because you can be whatever, and no one cares, and will just smile supportively at you.

FA is a little like that. The furry fandom encompasses an enormous variety of sub-fetishes and sub-cultures and sub-types. Some people complain about some of those sub-categories being a disgrace to the fandom, but whether they are or not is a little beside the point. The point is for all furries and people who like the fandom/art/whatever to feel welcome and, a little like the club, safe to express themselves within a reasonable limit.

The club had limits. You can't go around biting strangers just because you have a vampire fetish, but by all means, have a vampire fetish! Just keep it to yourself, and practice it where and how it's acceptable to practice it. Similarly, there are rules here - the art and stories here are assumed to be just that. Taking it to reality is considered sketchy and inviting of drama and discourse, and thus there are rules regarding what can be talked about in order to keep the peace. Keep the things that don't fit into the rules to yourself, and practice it where and how it's acceptable to practice it.

Don't QQ when you break the rules and then wonder why the admins are picking on you. Similarly, don't go around trolling the groups you don't like just because you think the inflationist furries are disgusting while you personally think vore is completely hot - it's just silly calling the kettle black in this case.

A lot of furries don't like the way they're seen by the rest of the world. Maybe it's because of all the drama and ridiculous infighting and immature behaviour? While it's of course not entirely to blame, I'm very certain it doesn't help in any way whatsoever.

The next time you go to bad mouth someone for making "your kind" look bad, just think about it for a few minutes first.