What makes/is a therian? What makes them not fake?

I've seen a few tiktoks (I don't have TikTok but I have YouTube so I can see TikTok compilations) recently where tiktokers are claiming that fake therians aren't a problem because you can't ever know if anybody is faking it since it's internal.

I'm not really sure what to think of this. Anybody here have an opinion on this?

My personal opinion is that TikTok is not worth much of anyone's time. I might not be entirely fair here, but from everything I've heard, especially regarding therian misrepresentation, TikTok is not a good place and I avoid it at all costs.

As far as this actual opinion goes I also don't think its worth too much grief. Yes, people spreading misinformation is problematic, but so is intensive gatekeeping and constantly accusing others when no one knows for sure what is going on with them internally or in their personal lives. The very definition of faking is claiming something you know to be wrong. Feeling you are a therian but then deciding later you're not is not faking and no one should get persecuted for that. They have a point in saying that you can't know 100% if they are intentionally faking and they are entitled to their own opinions, but the true problem that I see is the harmful misrepresentation that paints us in a bad light, whether that be by a faker that is just mocking us and giving us a bad rap, or a human with an unfounded bone to pick.

@little wolf
I agree, TikTok has a mad representation of therianthropy. I also agree that fake therians are a problem... but not as big as people make them seem. Also I have noticed at lot of people claiming people are fake when they just wore the identity for a bit to see if it was them. I don't think people should get harassed for this, as long as they weren't consciously "faking" it. There's nothing wrong with trying on labels to figure out who you are.

As was said earlier, faking is intentionally making a claim you know is not true. I am strongly of the opinion that the most dangerous thing for our community is dishonesty. Now how one might go about rooting such a thing out is another can of worms entirely. It is of the utmost importance we be sure we are being honest with eachother and especially our selves, and that means there is no shame in admitting you were wrong. In fact I would say admitting you have realized otherwise is one of the most important things someone can do if they reach that point.

Its funny, the TG is here to help stop misinformation, and provide a place for therian to interact and learn. As long as people properly do their research (as they should) misinformation should slow with in the community.
(sorry if this post made 0 sense I'm running on no hours of sleep in the last 24 hours :') )

(2024-03-06 10:21)Siris Wrote:  As was said earlier, faking is intentionally making a claim you know is not true. I am strongly of the opinion that the most dangerous thing for our community is dishonesty. Now how one might go about rooting such a thing out is another can of worms entirely. It is of the utmost importance we be sure we are being honest with eachother and especially our selves, and that means there is no shame in admitting you were wrong. In fact I would say admitting you have realized otherwise is one of the most important things someone can do if they reach that point.

This is actually some of the best advice for therians of all ages, everyone should be told this.

I learned about therianthropy from pintresrt and I did a lot more research on other sites, such as here. I think that people posting stuff like quads is ok but I think that more people are seeing therianthropy as a trend and people think that all therianthropy is behaving like an animal. I completely agree that YouTube shorts/tiktok "therians" are hurting the community. I'm grateful my mom has kept me off of there

I'd say fake therians are not a problem as much as tiktok where young therians usually meet, not even counting the haters.. I am sure fake therians are ok as long as theyre not forcing others into believing into their fake beliefs. I honestly couldn't care less about them but I'd avoid tiktok at all cost if it meant to do research about therian community. I hope this message makes sense I wrote it too quickly.

(2024-03-06 11:55)StormyPica Wrote:  

(2024-03-06 10:21)Siris Wrote:  As was said earlier, faking is intentionally making a claim you know is not true. I am strongly of the opinion that the most dangerous thing for our community is dishonesty. Now how one might go about rooting such a thing out is another can of worms entirely. It is of the utmost importance we be sure we are being honest with eachother and especially our selves, and that means there is no shame in admitting you were wrong. In fact I would say admitting you have realized otherwise is one of the most important things someone can do if they reach that point.

This is actually some of the best advice for therians of all ages, everyone should be told this.

I have a whole thread about it here, but sadly as the search feature seems to be rarely utilized and as time goes on it is likely to be buried.

Everywhere I go, I see people saying things like "Fake therians aren't a problem", "Misinformation is not as big of an issue as people say it is", and "How do fake therians even affect you? Let kids be kids!" I strongly disagree with all of these things, and I'm going to be going over my arguments for why.


"Misinformation isn't a problem" and "Fake therians aren't a problem"
Misinformation has been spreading like wildfire within the alterhuman community, and it shows no signs of slowing down. At this point, I believe that more than half of the people who identify as therians do not even understand what an alterhuman truly is. I'm worried that the amount of misinformed humans who think they're therians is only going to grow exponentially as misinformation continues to spread.
Why is misinformation a problem? Because it leads to fake therians; but why are fake therians a problem? Before I answer that, I have to specify my definition of a "fake" therian. In my opinion, a fake therian is anyone who falsely says they are a therian. It does not matter if they are misinformed or if they are doing it by accident, I still consider them to be faking. Having so many fake therians in the community changes and influences the community as a whole. Real alterhumans have been put in the back seat of their own community, all outsiders see is TikTok kids who claim to be therians and push false information. What outsiders believe a "therian" is is changing, and not for the better.

"How does this even affect you? Let kids be kids!"
Therian spaces exist for a reason. If alterhuman safe spaces are suddenly flooded with humans pretending to be them, what happens to the real alterhumans? I don't think its ok to just let them do this because they're "misinformed". It doesn't matter the cause, they're still affecting the therian and alterhuman community as a whole. I'll use a personal experience as an example of how this is harmful.
One time, when I was still fairly new to the community, I joined a "therian" discord server. These people were constantly mean aggressive to me, for reasons I still do not understand. It came to a head when we got into an argument over what therianthropy is, and I told them the real definition. They said things like "That's so weird!", "Nobody actually thinks that way!", "What's wrong with you?", and I was then swiftly banned. As someone who was new to the community, how do you think that experience made me feel? To be so harshly thrown out of a space that was supposed to be full of people like me, after I'd been looking for other therians for so long? After this happened, I no longer felt safe in the community. I still don't fully trust the critters around me to not turn around like this and call me crazy and ostracize me for simply being a therian. I've learned that it doesn't matter where I go, humans will always invade alterhuman spaces.



I hope that this post gets across why I strongly dislike fake therians of any kind, as well as why I specifically dislike the given phrases. I may edit this post later, as I have more I'd like to say, but I've already spent over an hour working on it.

-Connor