I was in a discussion akin to this on the werelist recently. There, they'd been called "fourth wave" therians. I had a bit to say on the topic, and I still do. Below is my original reply from the werelist, edited a bit for clarity.

Quote: In all the conversations around the state of the community, I feel that we are forgetting to look at the state of the internet as a whole. When I look at what forms of connection are easily available, it's no wonder that the community has become what it is.

Fourth wave [tiktok] therians exist mostly on youtube, instagram, and tiktok. While nuance and the like can be absent in any form of communication, these platforms simply aren't built for it at all. Short-form content thrives off of quick clicks and rapid swiping. You can post all the introspection on those sites you want, but unless it generates easy ad revenue, it might as well not exist at all. This leads to all the posts and conversations that get shared to be ankle-deep at best, ergo that's what the uninformed and uninitiated make the community out to be. You may have the occasional account that gets attention for sharing real experiences, but it's a rarity. We know that social media is predatory and that children are very susceptible to it. There aren't a ton of stand-alone websites like this anymore because of how pervasive algorithm-based platforms have become.

Short-form content has rotted brains to the point where long-form content such as forums and essays cant hold attention. Then it bleeds over into other platforms like Reddit. I could easily write forever about how this probably has a lot to do with capitalism and anti-intellectualism.

Do people need to be aware of the community they're joining before they join it? Absolutely. Should we encourage positive change? Of course. There are a lot of issues that come with children and other uninformed folks joining the community en mass and there always has been. I just think we should be more aware that the environment and framework that these new communities are forming under are inherently hostile to the nuanced conversations that create good community. Growth should always be encouraged, but sometimes the soil you're planted in is pretty nasty.

I find it shallow and a bit dishonest to blame children for the issues within the new community. Most of the time, they are completely unaware that a much deeper and richer community lurks right under the surface, and tiktoks endless desire for ad revenue and attention isn't going to spur them onto these deeper conversations, it's just going to keep them on the app.

Ultimately, I think the hype will die out in time. The community will adapt, and those who turned out to be "real" will stick around and contribute. Best thing we can do is gently educate and not shame them.

Seriously, why can't people just admit that they WANT to be Therian? What's the point of acting and lying to everyone else and yourself? Just make it clear that you know you are human and that you are a Quadrobist or Otherpaw. The fundamental difference is that you can CHOOSE to be Otherpaw, you can CHOOSE to be a Quadrobist, but you can't CHOOSE to be a Therian.

Even I respect this difference. I don't fake-claim being Therian just because I want to be 'mainstream' and 'accepted in a community' although I've seriously wanted to. Instead, I was honest and I was still kindly accepted into this community.

There's no shame in being different from the mainstream culture, and Therianthropy certainly should not be a mainstream culture just because people find it really cool. Those who base their life around being socially-accepted and get all their energy from other people's attention are seriously miserable. That is one thing I never understood and never will.

But the really problematic thing is that there's literally no way to day that someone isn't a Therian. It's all in someone's mind, there's nothing physical or tangible that can be used as proof.

So anyways, those were some of my really jumbled-up thoughts about fake-claiming Therianthropy and following this mainstream TikTok and Insta aesthetic. I don't think my paragraphs were well organized but I hope my main ideas and arguments were well expressed.

I think this is one of the most believable theories around the internet. Most Therians certainly have some type of neurological or psychological flaw or struggle that cause them to feel out of place. As an Otherpaw and doubting Therian, I am pretty sure I have Autism, which somehow makes my social life much harder. Maybe because I suffer of such conditions, I don't feel comfortable with myself and I dislike myself for who I am. I believe that this is one of the main factors that affect how I experience Alterhumanity.

Your question about what it means to be human is one that philosophers have debated for millennia, and still, there is no true answer. The majority of my philosophy classes in college centered around that question, which was interesting for me as a deeply integrated therian, and it got me thinking about my own experience.

That said, here's the thing that has been touched on many times here: humans and animals are not as far removed and separate as most think. Humans are animals and thus share core instincts with other living creatures, even if those instincts may seem dulled in the human world. So, how did I determine I was a therian in light of this? I look at all my instincts, urges, experiences, etc. and compared them to what I learned over time is typical of most humans. I was born a therian, so certain things I thought were normal in my early life I quickly learned were not typical at all for humans.

Also, I looked at my experiences and compared them to my knowledge of other animals: do I share this trait with a wolf that humans don't share or don't experience in the same way? Plus, the phantom tail I feel on a constant basis is a bit of an easy giveaway.

Necessary caveat here that the ""line"" I'm about to discuss is individual, and while collectively most people would probably agree on this, it IS still unique to each person. I'm mentioning this here for you to take and then evaluate where you feel you fall along this spectrum as you see fit. I'm no expert, I'm just coming in here with my own experiences and observations from having been in the community for the last 13 years.

I think if we start from the assumption that everyone feels an alienation from humanity at some point in their life, it provides a good baseline. Going further, you find people who have moments where they wish they weren't human, but again, that still falls under the disillusionment, and a step beyond that is likely wish fulfillment. I think anything beyond this is what tips into therianthropy. Because at this step, you have someone who actually feels nonhuman. Most people who simply feel disillusioned or want a break from being human do not seriously go "I would actually consider being a nonhuman animal full time," like, if really pressed on it. Going to make the gender comparison (credentials: I'm trans LOL) and say that even people who are frustrated by the expectations of their gender roles or their anatomy don't necessarily want to transition. Think of all the cis women out there who can't stand getting periods, for instance. I do want to say that this is where that ""line"" is, and I put it in double quotes because even this is a grey area.

This is the point where you ultimately have to decide for yourself if you feel as though you are animal enough to be nonhuman. You have to look to the clues your body and brain are giving you, listen to your gut. Follow the train of thought if you are to seriously consider yourself nonhuman and see if it makes sense, feels comfortable, and then sit with it for a while. The truth has a way of revealing itself to you. Would I, a jaguar therian, consider being one full time for instance? No, I would not. But "wanting to be a nonhuman animal" is not the only metric by which you should judge your nonhumanity. The reason I pulled it as an example is because it's an easy one to use for comparison, and also I'm entirely aware that a lot of therians would in fact choose to be their theriotype without thinking twice about it.

That's why I say to listen to the clues your body is giving you about your nonhumanity. You have to decide if they are a strong enough indicator that what you're experiencing deviates enough from what your average person experiences to be considered falling under therianthropy. No one's going to throw you out if you don't experience shifts, if you don't want to physically be nonhuman, or don't have a theriotype nailed down. We only really care that you're authentically talking about your experiences (to the best of your ability). In my opinion, the fact you're here tells me that there's something notable about what you're experiencing, and that what you've read about therianthropy so far resonated with you in some fashion. I'd start there and interrogate further.

(2025-11-18 7:36)AriVB Wrote:  

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  A person who has never had shifts. They don’t think much about being an animal. They recognize a certain animal in some, but not all, of their traits. They find comfort/joy in telling themself they are a specific animal and engaging with that part of themselves. They feel no significant disagreement with humanity, but agree with the idea of being that specific animal instead of, or alongside, being human.

Is this how you feel like yourself?

Yes, although I didn’t say so because I didn’t want the conversation to be entirely focused on me.

(2025-11-18 11:38)DustWolf Wrote:  

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  Hi there! This is a question I’ve been meaning to find the answer to and haven’t found anything… clarifying. The question is, to what extent must you feel animalistic to be a therian?

Is a therian ‘made’ by involuntary experiences like shifts, belief in having an animal soul, or a strong knowing somebody has about the nature of their self? I know therianthropy is a personal identity that people can’t really tell you, so it’s hard to say what’s ’therian’ or not, but I kinda just need somebody to say something detailed on the topic.

Yes.

Well a therian isn't "made", you either are or you aren't. The reason people show up on these forums is because they have some experience that feels like something described here and they are hoping that talking to other people with the same experiences will help them understand what they feel.

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  A person who has never had shifts. They don’t think much about being an animal. They recognize a certain animal in some, but not all, of their traits. They find comfort/joy in telling themself they are a specific animal and engaging with that part of themselves. They feel no significant disagreement with humanity, but agree with the idea of being that specific animal instead of, or alongside, being human.

Why are they here?

Every therian also has non-therian traits. Not everything you do in life absolutely needs to be explainable with therianthropy. People are here to get help with the experiences that are related to therianthropy, but they do have other experiences.

Fooling yourself into something that you don't genuinely feel, even if it brings you joy, is not what therianthropy is about. The point of places like TG is to help understand what you do experience. There might be other sites where roleplaying as an animal is the goal.

Being misanthropic (anti-human) is not required or related to therianthropy, though personally I am a therian who is misanthropic.

(2025-11-18 0:57)SilverKitsune Wrote:  Any deeper info and corrections I'll leave to the true experts, should they care to comment, but for myself those are my own thoughts, beliefs, and experiences.

There are no experts in therianthropy, it's a subjective experience.

LP,
Dusty

Thank you for the detailed reply! I greatly appreciate it. I recognize the mistake on wording with “made,” and I hadn’t intended for it. I’m not here to roleplay or fool myself. This is a topic I’m interested in regardless of whether I belong in the community, even if only to understand it better. And much of the time, understanding something works in relation to your own self. I won’t say I’m on here just to understand other people, but by now I’m resigned to not being a therian. Plus, I believe even while not being a therian, understanding the topic can still be beneficial. One thing I think about is that if I’m not majorly something else or other than human, what does it mean to be human? Is ‘human’ simply the vast norm and therianthropy the outlier, or does being human require something more than a lack of therianthropy?

So I’m here to understand things both to know myself and what the community actually is. I take an agnostic stance on a lot of things, particularly on my own identity, so I take things slow and see what happens. Regardless of who I am or might be, I am really just here to learn.

(2025-11-18 11:38)DustWolf Wrote:  

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  Hi there! This is a question I’ve been meaning to find the answer to and haven’t found anything… clarifying. The question is, to what extent must you feel animalistic to be a therian?

Is a therian ‘made’ by involuntary experiences like shifts, belief in having an animal soul, or a strong knowing somebody has about the nature of their self? I know therianthropy is a personal identity that people can’t really tell you, so it’s hard to say what’s ’therian’ or not, but I kinda just need somebody to say something detailed on the topic.

Yes.

Well a therian isn't "made", you either are or you aren't. The reason people show up on these forums is because they have some experience that feels like something described here and they are hoping that talking to other people with the same experiences will help them understand what they feel.

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  A person who has never had shifts. They don’t think much about being an animal. They recognize a certain animal in some, but not all, of their traits. They find comfort/joy in telling themself they are a specific animal and engaging with that part of themselves. They feel no significant disagreement with humanity, but agree with the idea of being that specific animal instead of, or alongside, being human.

Why are they here?

Every therian also has non-therian traits. Not everything you do in life absolutely needs to be explainable with therianthropy. People are here to get help with the experiences that are related to therianthropy, but they do have other experiences.

Fooling yourself into something that you don't genuinely feel, even if it brings you joy, is not what therianthropy is about. The point of places like TG is to help understand what you do experience. There might be other sites where roleplaying as an animal is the goal.

Being misanthropic (anti-human) is not required or related to therianthropy, though personally I am a therian who is misanthropic.

(2025-11-18 0:57)SilverKitsune Wrote:  Any deeper info and corrections I'll leave to the true experts, should they care to comment, but for myself those are my own thoughts, beliefs, and experiences.

There are no experts in therianthropy, it's a subjective experience.

LP,
Dusty

There might not be any true experts, but you definitely know a heck of a lot more compared to what I do in the general physical knowledge category. I would consider that "expert" or "high level".

Before I ever actually looked into therianthropy and the true meaning, definition or any type of knowledge confirming my own experiences, I literally went off my own instinct.

For myself, I would say I am more "nature smart" when it comes to therianthropy, meaning I was having, and felt extremely comfortable with my experiences far before I ever decided to take a deeper dive into the "behind the scenes" knowledge.

What drove me here was pure curiosity, and I also love to help teach, and learn more, so I figured that once things in my life settled and my schedule wasn't as busy, I would check this place out, see what it has to offer, and what I can offer to this place, and in a world that is currently overflowing with misinformation, disinformation, lies and falsehoods, I wanted to get a deeper look and insight into what I already have known about myself, while being able to share with others, and bring to the table what I can while doing so.

In a word, I guess confirmation would describe best why I am here.

I will also say that although each experience is unique, individual and subjective, there are certain areas in which some therians have had far more experience, which I would personally consider "expert" compared to what I know overall.

I'm looking to expand my understanding and overall knowledge, so that I will not only be able to help other therians, but also explain things to humans in terms they can understand to a point, and direct them to where they can find out more if they want to learn more.

What you explained in this thread is also very helpful and insightful for me as well, and what you said about misanthropy is something I didn't know much about, but if it is something that I have ever come across and didn't know about or what it was, I'll definitely be educating myself on that too.

Thank you for your insight Dusty.

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  Hi there! This is a question I’ve been meaning to find the answer to and haven’t found anything… clarifying. The question is, to what extent must you feel animalistic to be a therian?

Is a therian ‘made’ by involuntary experiences like shifts, belief in having an animal soul, or a strong knowing somebody has about the nature of their self? I know therianthropy is a personal identity that people can’t really tell you, so it’s hard to say what’s ’therian’ or not, but I kinda just need somebody to say something detailed on the topic.

Yes.

Well a therian isn't "made", you either are or you aren't. The reason people show up on these forums is because they have some experience that feels like something described here and they are hoping that talking to other people with the same experiences will help them understand what they feel.

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  A person who has never had shifts. They don’t think much about being an animal. They recognize a certain animal in some, but not all, of their traits. They find comfort/joy in telling themself they are a specific animal and engaging with that part of themselves. They feel no significant disagreement with humanity, but agree with the idea of being that specific animal instead of, or alongside, being human.

Why are they here?

Every therian also has non-therian traits. Not everything you do in life absolutely needs to be explainable with therianthropy. People are here to get help with the experiences that are related to therianthropy, but they do have other experiences.

Fooling yourself into something that you don't genuinely feel, even if it brings you joy, is not what therianthropy is about. The point of places like TG is to help understand what you do experience. There might be other sites where roleplaying as an animal is the goal.

Being misanthropic (anti-human) is not required or related to therianthropy, though personally I am a therian who is misanthropic.

(2025-11-18 0:57)SilverKitsune Wrote:  Any deeper info and corrections I'll leave to the true experts, should they care to comment, but for myself those are my own thoughts, beliefs, and experiences.

There are no experts in therianthropy, it's a subjective experience.

LP,
Dusty

(2025-11-17 20:11)Barkbarks Wrote:  A person who has never had shifts. They don’t think much about being an animal. They recognize a certain animal in some, but not all, of their traits. They find comfort/joy in telling themself they are a specific animal and engaging with that part of themselves. They feel no significant disagreement with humanity, but agree with the idea of being that specific animal instead of, or alongside, being human.

Is this how you feel like yourself?

You're welcome Barkbark.

Glad I could be of some service with what little (I feel) knowledge I have.

I at least wanted to help give you a good basis.

Any deeper info and corrections I'll leave to the true experts, should they care to comment, but for myself those are my own thoughts, beliefs, and experiences.

The only thing I know for certain that I can say is true of everyone, is that we all have (had) our own experiences, and that each experience is individual and different, and that's what truly defines us.

Conferring with the community is just another way to confirm an experience, and to verify if something truly therian or not.

Outside of that, it's all you, the user. Haha. (I threw in just a tad bit of gamer humor for playful effect).