WTF! so much bad publicity!

[Blackout]

I lol'd at the first pic.

[Somebody]

  I find it all to be hilarious to be honest, I mean its all like a very bad joke. The world loves to picture us as the perverted bad guys who like to make it with animals, these same people refer to us as the mentally deranged who need help. Its funny because their own assumptions are that of ignorance and judgement and only serves to belittle their own cause. Like trolls the media sees what it needs to see and portray hate and misinformation. What they refer to is zoophilia and most furries are in fact against such acts of cruelty towards animals. In addition there are a lot of furries who take more of a stand against animal cruelty then the average groups of citizens. The furry fandom, unlike the rest of the "civilized world" bears a lot of tolerance for people to feel free and happy to be themselves and share their passions. People of all sorts of backgrounds, ethnic groups and even sexual orientation can stand side by side and enjoy what we love. While we do have our spats just like anywhere else, where else can you find such tolerance in this world? I love how the articles taunt the fandom being filled with gay men like its some offense to the world. Where they sling mud the fandom is fairly free to express its sexual preferences. Most of the furries I know are in fact straight or bi and even the few gay furries I know are good people who just like me want to share their loves and passions.

  If this were a moral and intelligent world, us furries might instead be making fun of others ignorance and intolerance but that would go against what we are. Instead we have to live in a world were ignorance breed distaste and distrust. To let this stuff get to you is just allowing them to cut into the love you have for what you do. They will continue no matter what but if you can ignore it then you will find yourself a cut above them. I personally couldn't give the darker side of a rat's hide what they think, in the end I'll still be a raptor and they will still die unhappy in their conformative world. We all die human, but not all of us get to truly live

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

I applaud you, Tezz. You always know exactly how to say things, and I agree with what you said.

[Vamp]

uh...yeah, ditto. O3O

[Count of Cutesy]

Trolling is fun as long as it's clever, like Something Awful. The problem is, most people who do want to troll are children, and therefore are not clever.

Ya think? That guy from Deviant Art that I mentioned a while ago couldn't think of a good insult to save his life, and he was only 14, and he acted like he was 8.

Troll: Furries desearve death.
Benny: Furry haters are just trolls with big ugly noses.
Troll: Die.
Benny: I am sure everyone wants the same of you.
Troll: Die.
Benny: That's it? My baby brother can come up with better insults!
Troll: You wish you had one.
Benny: You were up all night thinking of that one, weren't you?
Troll: At least I'm not a furry.
Benny: I would rather be a furry than a troll who acts like he's 8. I am done talking to you. You aren't annoying anyone but yourself.
Troll: Prove it.

You know what I said to him? Absolutely nothing, because I was done talking to him.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Well if you act like an 8 year old then you should be treated as an eight year old. Therefore he is a child.

[Somebody]

Trolling is fun as long as it's clever, like Something Awful. The problem is, most people who do want to troll are children, and therefore are not clever.

Trolling is not something I'd ever recommend because no matter how fun you "Think" it is your always getting on somebody's nerves. If you get on peoples nerves on these boards I will not, and let me emphasize, WILL NOT tolerate it. Trolling is the province of the ignorant and I do not like ignorance cloggin' up my internet. This is a place furs can go to escape their problems and be themselves, we have enough to worry about without trolls bothering us. Doesn't matter their age because trolling is always immature

[Tyla]

I don't know... I personally find it funny to troll from time to time, and think it can be, well, funny at times. That is assuming that it isn't just overrated stuff like "lol furries" and meme stuff, and you give it a rest when it's just going over the top. As far as I'm concerned "trolling" is just another type of joke, really.

Though I do feel at times people treat all of this furry/troll business as if it's a war. I mean, everything people say will have an effect on everyone who hears it to me, and from what I've seen furries are usually the "easy target".

[artimus]

"sometimes, people treat it as if it's a war"

That's exactly what I mean by people overreacting and not exactly helping their cause. Sometimes, you have to acknowledge trolling as just that. Not particularly malicious, but something that brings someone entertainment. It sucks, sure, but here's the thing: they troll to get a reaction. Why not let their mission fail?

Honestly, I think that about 30% of furry site trollers are actually anti-furry. The ones who are truly anti-furry are being more destructive.

[Count of Cutesy]

Artimus, you are like some sort of genius or something. You have been hitting the mark over and over.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Trolling is not funny. It's not a joke either (at least not to those who it's effecting). It's NOT funny to make fun of people for what they like/ believe/etc. Yes, a lot of people overreact to it, but trolls know it happens and that's what they enjoy. I consider them as a form of sadist really, they just enjoy emotional pain more than physical. You just don't give people like that credit for what they do. "Oh yeah, some of it can be funny" and "It can be fun to do sometimes" doesn't help the situation any, you're just encouraging them so they'll think "Oh hey, some of them think that we're actually funny so we should keep doing this to those who don't find it funny to entertain the ones that do". It's just stupid really. And if any of you encourage it or enjoy doing it yourself, well, let's just say, I don't like you. And I don't care if you don't care that I don't like you either. I'm just saying it so it's out there.
Thing is, people commit suicide every day because of someone who is some form of a troll. Suicide is not funny. And no, me mentioning this is not me overreacting. It's the truth. People kill themselves because of people who make fun of them for who they are, what they like, or whatever reason. If you think that's funny or entertaining, you're sick. If you think that the people who take their lives are overreacting, well, some may be, but some are not. Thing is, no one completely knows everything about another person's life, so being trolled could be the straw that broke the camel's back, not an overreaction at all.

Well, I'm done ranting for now. Do with this as you wish, but you won't change my view. You might get another rant from me, but it's just a rant. I feel no anger in writing rants in this topic; it's just my opinion and nothing more.

[artimus]

Well, you're right that suicide isn't funny, but are you really suggesting that someone who would kill themselves over something as minute as trolling is such a tragic person? If someone was so depressed enough to kill themselves over something so pathetic, who's to say they wouldn't kill themselves over a comment on Youtube or a discussion with their friends.

Anyway, if you're on the internet, where you KNOW people will act in such a manner, why are you not prepared for such an eventuality like trolling? I'm sorry, but I can't give any remorse just because some guy killed himself because a forumer say "lolz furfag"

[Tyla]

I can understand what you mean by that, but I really grew up around a jokey family, so I honestly do believe that people are offended too easily, and that life needs to be less dull (the way I see it, taking everything too seriously would just make that harder), so while I do go for the occasional trolling (though if I do I won't touch... touchy subjects and just go over the line - like I said earlier, I think people are offended too easily, but at the same time, some things are just out of touch in it, which I'll avoid.). Though, keeping that in mind, I only really keep it to communities I know who can take the joke. If it's a serious problem (or a troll, but even on the most obscure community I go to there are serious things), I would give information, because while I do find it fun, I also like to help too.

On the touchy subjects... as much as death and punishments and such is something not to be laughed at from the opinion of a lot of people, I do admit that some reasons and causes can be humerous to me at times.

But seriously, the only thing to keep in mind here is: It's all in the text of the post. It's quite easy to identify when someone's being at least semi-serious.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Except it'd make more sense if you actually understood what I was saying, artimus.
The trolling wouldn't be the only factor and the trolling wouldn't be just two words, obviously. I'm not stupid.
I said that it could be the last straw, not the only thing that made the person kill themselves.

Thing is, some people say that they hate trolls but then say they enjoy trolling themselves. Which is basically saying that you are who you hate. In my opinion, trolling and joking are different things.

[artimus]

I know what you're saying. I'm not an idiot, either. What I'm saying is that if the last straw is so mundane, the last straw could be anything else. If you stub your toe, that could be the last straw! At least that hurts physically. The last straw could be a bully in real life, again that can hurt you and that's a real problem. Someone hiding behind a keyboard and starting up flame wars is not as detrimental except to the psyche of one who's unstable in the first place. I'm not completely exonerating the troll, but I'm saying that if the "last straw" was the troll, someone who any forumer would agree is a bit pathetic (no offense to present company) then the troll was just an excuse, not a cause.