wow congratul ations

I knew that fursuit was old but I did not know it was THAT old.

I'm pretty sure it's in a photo I took at the first Albany Anthrocon in 1997.

Well you predate me by many years. I found the fandom in 03 and my first furcon was FC04

It was my first con. I think there were only about 500 people there, though it felt like a lot more. I sometimes wonder how many of us are still alive.

It does seem like furs die real young. But it only looks like that is the case. When a fur dies its reported all over social media and with the vast majority of furs leving the fandom before their 30th birthday it does seem like furs are cursed to die young as the furs who have died are the ones we hear of that are no longer here. But in reality the great vast majority of furs just slowly lose interest in what they finaly decide are childish things and slip away quietly and no one ever notices that they ever lost interest in the fandom.

It's been a long time since I've been actively involved with other furries, but my impression is that the average age in the fandom is WAY lower now. I was already over 30 when I went to that first con, and honestly I'd say my age was in the average range. I certainly didn't feel conspicuously old, and there were plenty of people older than me. When I've browsed r/furry on reddit nowadays I seem to see all these posts from kids, along the lines of "I just discovered furry and it seems cool - how am I supposed to behave?" As if it were a some fashion or fad. When I discovered furry, the story was almost universally, "I've been furry all my life, and didn't realise there were other people like me". If it really has transitioned in this way, I'm unsurprised that people are ditching it when they grow up.

When I found furry most everyone was younger than me. I was in my mid 30s and most everyone else was collage age. Now this was at a furry convention so there where no teenager's as they could not afford to attend a furry convention. I am now in my 50s but the furs have been getting even younger. Now days seeing teenagers at a furry con is normal. A great many of the old timers have left the fandom as their interest have changed.