I forgot I was a furry, kind of. When I was in high school it was really big and important to me. I stopped making it immediately noticeable when I noticed people bullying and insulting furs on facebook and in other places. I already felt hesitant to speak, but I didn't want to work up the energy to do so only to have some rando insult me and dismiss whatever I said because I had a profile picture of a cartoon animal. Anyway,

I found a nice discord server for people who share one of my traits. It was a new home after my original one on an actual website was destroyed by terrible people. It was nice. But then they started saying dumb and rude stuff about furries. I had just remembered I was one and had a great conversation with a kohai about my characters and art. But those people were rude. There were too many of them for me to speak, and when I tried I was ignored.
So many people, so much ignorance, and I couldn't say anything to explain or defend what they were admittedly not sure about. They didn't seem like they wanted to learn, though. It felt bad to have people I thought liked me (who I liked as well) insult something I cared about like that when they didn't even know if what they were saying was true. So I stopped speaking. Not unusual for me. Anyway, after a few weeks I was thinking of coming back, but then I see them saying something similar :/ It probably isn't worth it. At this point I won't be able to feel comfortable there anyway.

I don't have the time to chase after their raucous conversations or small-talk with them when they finally quiet down and the only ones around don't know me. I just don't feel cared about there. It's overpopulated. I don't know what I expected. I'll congratulate myself for participating as long as I did, but it just isn't something I can do long-term. The sense of community is inconsistent and it's hard for me to feel like part of a group as it is. I drown in crowds. I never did well in the furry "community" either. Groups just aren't for me. I can't exist in a group.