[historical] The day the furry fandom died.
146 2017-03-30 by snallygaster
The year was 1997, and the furry fandom was largely still family-friendly and heavily focused on anthropomorphic art and cartoons. However, the actions of Mark Merlino, one of the seminal figures in the development of the fandom, was causing this to change. According to allegations, the man wanted to add a sexual element to the subculture. To realize these dreams, he advertised the fandom in alternative sex communities and publications and distributed recruitment material filled with furry porn at sci fi gatherings. This brought an influx of people to the fandom who were more interested in using it to fulfill their sexual desires than they were in anthropomorphic cartoons.
Merlino had a house in Southern California that he promoted as a place for people in the furry fandom to gather. Eventually these gatherings left the Merlino's house and blossomed into a formal convention, the first dedicated furry convention in fact, called ConFurence.
By the time 1997 rolled in, the Confurence had been held seven times, and old-time furries were beginning to grow weary of the direction that Merlino was taking the subculture in. By the time ConFurence 8 was held, people were willing to speak up about their dissatisfaction with the sexual elements creeping into the subculture. The debauchery that occurred at ConFurence 8 confirmed and elevated their fears:
sexually explicit material and "alternative lifestyle" pamphlets in the Dealers' Room and Artist Alley
selling bootleg tapes
playing "freak the normals" with extreme displays of PDA
semen on the elevator wall
selling dates/companions (including at least one underage furry) in the "Pet Auction" with the expectation of sex while news crews filmed
LOTS of openly-worn bondage gear and underwear (see here and here)
public flogging in the hotel registration line
lapdances and simulated sex dancing
a security worker wearing drag
numerous fire hazards created by the con organizers
numerous alcohol law violations (selling without a license, selling to minors, open container)
high levels of drunkenness at the hotel (made the last con seem like a sobriety meeting according to an attendee)
Although some of these things are now commonplace at furry conventions, the happenings came as a shock to furries who had appreciated the previously family-friendly, cartoon-focused nature of the fandom. As such, they took to Usenet's alt.fan.furry, the biggest furry hub at the time, to report what they'd seen at the con and air their grievances:
Of course, as we all now know, they fought a losing battle. Merlino's influence cemented the sexual streak within the furry fandom, and the fandom is now strongly associated with sexual deviancy. As alternative lifestylers continued to flood the fandom, many of the original furries quit, and the subculture as we know it took shape.
110 comments
n/a SnapshillBot 2017-03-30
Providing a Safe Space™ from SRD since 2009!
Snapshots:
This Post - archive.org, megalodon.jp, ceddit.com, archive.is*
Mark Merlino - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
"Ed Klein's Letter" - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
"Confurence 8 Observations" - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
"An Appeal to Mark Merlino" - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
"Afraid of the truth?" - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
"Confurence Public Affairs (what is... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
"ConFurence 8 -- Hotel Notes" - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is*
I am a bot. (Info / Contact)
n/a PM_ME_MOD_STATUS 2017-03-30
http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Mark_Merlino
n/a notagiantdolphin 2017-03-30
Oh god. It's like someone plucked the perfect caricature from my mind. He even looks like he's breathing heavily.
n/a Nomadlads 2017-03-30
If I saw this man anywhere near an elementary school, I'd call the cops.
n/a MG87 2017-03-30
Is that supposed to be his best picture? Jesus.
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
Sweet baby Jesus
n/a chaosakita 2017-03-30
Wouldn't be surprised if this guy had raped someone.
n/a OffendedPotato 2017-03-30
He looks like a serial killer/pedophile from the 70's who definitely owns a white van.
n/a respaaaaaj 2017-03-30
I was hoping this was a joke about the time someone unironically tried to gas a furry convention, but this works too I guess.
n/a PoorLilMarco 2017-03-30
I can't wait for the inevitable day where some dude actually succeeds and furries get national attention
This would happen across all major news networks
n/a old_grumpy_grandpa 2017-03-30
That would turn them into martyrs tho, and I would rather not have that
n/a PoorLilMarco 2017-03-30
Nah, they'd still be a laughing stock. Pretty much everyone pointed and laughed when 20 of them were hospitalised
n/a Senator_Chickpea 2017-03-30
Never forget The Fur Ball
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
A real American hero, tbh
n/a flipkt 2017-03-30
I made a post about it a while back with bonus hilarious video.
n/a downerabuse 2017-03-30
betero
n/a OiBoiFloyd 2017-03-30
🅱️etero
n/a MakeAmericaSageAgain 2017-03-30
betaro
n/a UraniumDildo 2017-03-30
Meirl
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
lol what the fuck does this even mean
n/a 77pollu 2017-03-30
It's right there you degenerate.
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
Like that even remotely makes sense
n/a 77pollu 2017-03-30
True.
n/a AreYouFuckingHappy 2017-03-30
I hope you have bad dremes tonite OP
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
that's not a very nice thing to say!
n/a AreYouFuckingHappy 2017-03-30
😄😙
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
I had a couple of nightmares last night asshole and I blame YOU.
n/a glmox 2017-03-30
never have i wanted to know something more than what a fucking advice column in a motherfucking 90s bestiality zine consists of
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
oh god same
the publisher is ded and there are no archives online, so I guess we'll never know. :'(
n/a giroth 2017-03-30
Not with that attitude. Don't let us down, Snally.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
I've actually found some leads. :3
n/a ScootR- 2017-03-30
n/a defiantleek 2017-03-30
"Dear Barbara, recently the new stud at my farm has been giving me the bedroom(barnyard?) eyes and I've been wondering how I can best prepare myself to accept his coupling and show him just how interested I am in being his partner.
Ps Barbara, I distribute my art under the name Mr. Hands, if you have seen it mind giving me a friendly critique?
n/a DistortedLines 2017-03-30
what did he mean by this?
Also snally you are the best poster in this subreddit, how the fuck do you even find this shit?
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
I was checking vivesector for any new happenings and stumbled across verification that Rainfurrest (the con with a bunch of babyfurs that got a ton of attention a couple years back) was permanently cancelled, so I looked it up for more details and stumbled across this post with this comment about ConFurence 8. From there I searched "ConFurence 8" in alt.fan.furry on Google Groups (which has all usenet posts) because it was the central hub for all things furry back then and came across all this stuff.
n/a pigeondoubletake 2017-03-30
o
n/a Masturb_Chyiff 2017-03-30
Are you planning on doing a retrospective on RF2015? Because that shit sounds hilarious!
n/a PoorLilMarco 2017-03-30
Here's an archive of what went down on that fateful day.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
Could do, though I imagine someone's already done a write-up.
n/a MG87 2017-03-30
Or you can admit that you flick the bean to furry porn.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
murrrrrr~
(jk)
n/a ason 2017-03-30
I like the one that says "at the fox yodeling panel" and it's just a gaping asshole and scrote. Best. Panel. Ever.
n/a OffendedPotato 2017-03-30
What the hell is a babyfur and why were they shitting in diapers at the con?
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
A babyfur is an adult baby/diaper fetishist who's also a furry. They were shitting at the con because that's what they get off on, and somehow the event was perceived to be a place where they could be openly kinky.
n/a OffendedPotato 2017-03-30
http://i.imgur.com/qnniC.gif
n/a AntiLuke 2017-03-30
It's saying that the desire to have a clean furry fandom is driven by Disney. "The Mouse" is used to refer to Mickey whenever people want to make jokes about totalitarian Disney.
n/a The_Reason_Trump_Won 2017-03-30
Til furries weren't always degenerate
n/a pigeondoubletake 2017-03-30
http://www.confurence.com/CF8/pics/costumes/010.jpg
u sure bout that
n/a riemann1413 2017-03-30
that's from Confurence 8 you fucking mong
n/a wisty 2017-03-30
CF4 - http://www.confurence.com/CF4/pics/costumes/51.jpg
Here's the crowd in CF4 - http://www.confurence.com/CF4/pics/misc/27.jpg
Yeah, it's always looked like a /r/Drama meetup. Maybe CF8 went overboard a bit though.
n/a WholeLottaToughLove 2017-03-30
Something doesn't have to be sexual to be degenerate. Would you tell your friendly neighborhood Gestapo officer that you have an avid interest in "anthropomorphic art and cartoons"? No? Then it's degenerate.
n/a Delicateplace 2017-03-30
These non-sexual furries are way more confusing to me than the gross ones. I can comprehend being sexually degenerate. But why the fuck would you be so into anthropomorphic animals otherwise? What do they get out of it? I don't understand
n/a BasicallyADoctor 2017-03-30
Wow bro you really typed lots of words 😮 neat drama though thanks!
n/a addmeontinder 2017-03-30
I still don't like you
n/a Imgur_Lurker 2017-03-30
I was shopping and I found this today Tin Sign. Right next to the Farmers/Firefighters/Truckers are the backbone of America Sign and Elvis fixen the Nascar with Monroe
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
what were you even shopping for to stumble across that?
n/a Imgur_Lurker 2017-03-30
Gurl.
Gurl a Redneck Furry isn't even in the running for what I saw this shopping trip.
The Bear was just in normal Tin Store tacky shirt store "I'm a white women and I love Wine" , Nascar Tin, Comic Tin stuff.
This other stuff is on a whole nother level.
http://imgur.com/a/gobxb
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
oh my god, where can you buy those?
n/a Imgur_Lurker 2017-03-30
DecemberDiamonds
http://decemberdiamonds.com/Scripts/PublicSite/?template=ShowCatPublic&cat=424600
https://twitter.com/hashtag/decemberdiamonds?src=hash
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
thanks, gonna throw away some money today
n/a OffendedPotato 2017-03-30
Get /u/Imgur_Lurker to buy one and send it to you. i want you to have this.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
good idea!
there also seems to be shops that sell them in my area, so might make a visit.
n/a Imgur_Lurker 2017-03-30
http://www.kkringl.com/ is the store I saw them in.
( Also sells African-American Elfs and Santas and Indian Nativity scenes)
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
Thanks man, that's actually within driving distance.
n/a Imgur_Lurker 2017-03-30
Leavenworth has some neat stuff, Bavarian Themed tourist town.
The Soup Cellar has some neat decor and sausages.
Lots of Tourist things like taffy, imported Swiss Chocolate.
Worth a trip even if you don't go skiing.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
Good to know, sounds like a good day trip. Thanks!!
n/a Works_of_memercy 2017-03-30
Why no nipples? Were they afraid of seeming lewd?
n/a crefakis 2017-03-30
god i feel like I need a wash
n/a fingerpaintswithpoop 2017-03-30
The levels of autism in that post are off the fucking charts. Holy shit.
n/a sovietsleepover 2017-03-30
Snally, this is a lot of shit to read about sexual degeneracy. I am reluctantly giving this a go only because of your good name, definitely not the title.
Please let this be good.
n/a sovietsleepover 2017-03-30
Oh dear god what is this
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
sorry
n/a old_grumpy_grandpa 2017-03-30
Hell
n/a Tophattingson 2017-03-30
This is too high effort for /r/drama
You should become an internet historian. This could be extended in detail to match or exceed the internet historical epic The Ms.Scribe Story
Provided you can stomach enough furry shit.
n/a Tophattingson 2017-03-30
You should become an internet historian. This is too high effort for /r/drama.
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
/r/furstorians
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
I don't think anything will ever come close to the MsScribe story, especially now that most internet communities are super impersonal so you don't really get to know users well enough to document their drama. There is the Onision saga, but that's more infuriating than funny like MsScribe.
n/a Tophattingson 2017-03-30
There has been a shift from interpersonal drama to group vs group drama. Reddit itself is an example of plenty of the latter. Still, plenty of it is worth recording. Although technically already "recorded" in primary sources, the true job of a historian is to make sense of primary sources to produce a secondary source.
Clearly the narrative you've presented in this post is massively incomplete.
At the very least i'm interested in whether Mark Merlino is singlehandedly responsible for the incredibly skewed demographics of the furry fandom like being only 25% heterosexual.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
This is very true, but sadly we're not at the point where anybody would pay for somebody to make secondary sources on internet history, unless you're talking about places like Vice that report heavily editorialized versions of weird events as shock material.
Oh, definitely. You'd need to interview a lot of the old-timers and gather a lot more primary resources (though who know's what's even left) to get a real picture of what happened and how it changed the fandom.
It sounds like his influence was pretty significant; in many of the posts people mentioned that he was recruiting from the gay community in particular. It probably snowballed through networking after he recruited enough people.
n/a Akilroth234 2017-03-30
snally, were you a christorian for any span of time?
n/a chaosakita 2017-03-30
There are some weird things in that survey. Like 5% of respondents identifying as Native American, but only 3% as black. lmao
n/a Lurking_Grue 2017-03-30
He wasn't most people don't really understand the underground funny animal comic culture the fandom grew out of.
This is from Vootie in 1978: NSFW: Duck Tits! Wooohoo
n/a FreeRobotFrost 2017-03-30
Maybe it's time to start tracking down and interviewing people. I can tell you that plenty of people in those communities would love to give a verbal account of the bullshit that happened in their private corner of the internet.
n/a BigDaddy_Delta 2017-03-30
That's dedication
n/a fingerpaintswithpoop 2017-03-30
Snally I swear to God, you are like some sort of Internet archaeologist with all this old drama you manage to dig up. How do you do it?
n/a pigeondoubletake 2017-03-30
y
n/a skeetsurfing1984 2017-03-30
So, wait, this is distinct from the other house for unevictable internet weirdos that you posted about before?
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
Yup, that was a house for Stickam whores
n/a Dirty_Urchin 2017-03-30
I have read this post, and it sent me to some places I've never been. Spent another three hours wandering the internet, researching a subject I had zero interest in. That's how good your post is. So damned satisfying.
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
What did you find?
n/a SamWhite 2017-03-30
Uh, what?
n/a riemann1413 2017-03-30
that's hurtful tbh
n/a riemann1413 2017-03-30
this is something of a sad story, honestly. i'm just imagining a sad weekender furry who lost his hobby because of these people
n/a PoorLilMarco 2017-03-30
It makes me wonder what would have happened to the fandom if Merlino didn't exist. Would they have stayed as overly eccentric Disney fans or would it have only delayed the inevitable?
n/a riemann1413 2017-03-30
that's a good question. i wonder if there's a comparable fandom that resisted the alt-lifestyle types better than furries
/u/snallygaster, do you know?
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
we all know Bronies didn't
n/a PoorLilMarco 2017-03-30
The brony fandom was first started by furries on 4chan's /co/ board, it was doomed from the start.
n/a Ikea_Man 2017-03-30
Why does everything evil originate on 4chan
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
hmmm, good question. Maybe some of the bigger subcultures by virtue of the fact that there aren't enough alt-lifestylers to take over even though they make up a part of the community, like New Age or some of the nerd groups. The ren faire community also has a lot of alt lifestylers while still remaining family friendly for the most part. There are also a lot of subcultures that were never really hit with alt-lifestyle elements. It never factored into the otherkin and therian communities even though there were certainly many alt-lifestylers, which is kind of strange if you think about it because the vampire community (which has a lot of overlap with the otherkin/therian community) got hit HARD.
n/a Ennui2778 2017-03-30
One of my favorite authors is Iris Chang, the historian who wrote The Rape of Nanking. It was the last book she published before she an hero'd herself in a car outside her house, because the subject matter was too grim, and got to her too much.
If Prof. Chang had to do Snally's job, her book never would have even made it to press.
n/a Akilroth234 2017-03-30
Think she might have had schizophrenia.
n/a Ennui2778 2017-03-30
Probably. It never manifested itself before, but I guess she was around the age where she was at risk for it. It made me mad sad tho, unironically.
n/a Chicup 2017-03-30
I tell my wife thats 'our song' all the time, she doesn't seem to agree, but this Fury woman seemed to be reaching here.
n/a guyjin 2017-03-30
Damnit snally, now we have all this furry shit in my Web history just as congress legalized my ISP selling it. The furry death squads are surely coming for us now!
n/a Pepperglue 2017-03-30
Snally delivers again. This thing is about 20 years old, wow.
They got really busy within one year.
Jesus Christ. Within one year the guy can change so much about a fandom tells me that the fandom might have not been so innocent after all, or it was just really small?
n/a snallygaster 2017-03-30
Merlino had been changing the fandom over the course of a few years, and there were some alt lifestylers who found their way in without his help, so it wasn't too immediate. ConFurence 8 is just when things came to a head due to a much larger amount of open debauchery compared to the previous cons.
n/a imaginarycreatures 2017-03-30
I can only speak from my own experience, but having gone to a few "furry parties" at sci-fi conventions in the early 90's, there was always a sexual undercurrent, but they were still really good at keeping it in their pants, as it were.
I actually met Mark on one or two occasions, when Confurence was still getting off the ground. He was definitely passionate about his interests, though he never really mentioned anything sexual to me. Of course, I would have been in my teens at the time, so....
n/a PoorLilMarco 2017-03-30
You could have prevented all this
n/a wisty 2017-03-30
Have you been any similar groups? I haven't been in a Society of Creative Anachronisms, but I knew people who were. There's always a large gay / libertine / BDSM / swinger whatever contingent who run orgies just out of sight in these things.
The problem wasn't the degeneracy, it was that they put the degeneracy front and center, and invited a film crew to put it on TV.
Like, do you really think Mark Merlino just got to the top of the Furry totem pole without anyone knowing what he was about? Do you think he didn't have a few supporters? Sure, it's a niche fandom, but it was serious business to them, and anyone who got to organise conferences must have been involved for a while.
n/a LovelyLeahMarried 2017-03-30
I can't decide if the guy on the left is really short, or if he just looks that way because he's not in a costume.
n/a ason 2017-03-30
Your post reminded me of this fucking adult Peter Pan guy for some reason. Thanks a lot, jerk.
n/a LovelyLeahMarried 2017-03-30
Why are furries so disgusting?
n/a 39flws 2017-03-30
Here's some details about Mark's ties to early anime fandom.
TL;DR he was in the CFO and was one of the first people in the LA fandom to have a VCR.
n/a Dirty_Urchin 2017-03-30
Not finished yet, waiting for the weekend, a couple of beers. It really has the feel of one man changing a whole fandom simply to fulfil a fetish. It had a feel to it that it was a reason for some awkward dudes to have a reason to get together and bang. Definitely what appears to have happened at RF. l can't imagine how bizarre that crossover would have been, families with kids, men in fur and diapers. It's a really interesting cross section of people. I also want to know what happened to that guy, the one who kind of started the whole sexualisation of the furry community (I read it two days ago, it's Friday afternoon and my brain is fried). You've provided such an awesome snapshot of a particular time in that community. I love that it's made me so curious.
n/a Lurking_Grue 2017-03-30
Always family friendly? What crack are you smoking?
It was never family friendly and the subculture grew out of underground funny animal comics.
Did you ever read Omaha the Cat dancer?
Here is footage from the first convention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymFjgpcapx8