Otherkin and Therians regroup on Tumblr: too FAT to be an Elf!

[a pigeon]

If you visited portal of evil in the early 2000s you might remember otherkin along with therians, elves &c.

As that decade came and went, and especially as livejournal/usenet declined and the forums (tomorrowlands?) where they gathered fell victim to natural wastage, they became less visible or at least that is my perception.

However, they seem to now be re-grouping on Tumblr and even attracting new blood. Although at heart it is still the same lame old Fuck you I'm a dragon with a sad admixture of mental illness, marginalisation, alienation, wanting to belong to a group and too much RPGs and fantasy fiction.

In fact, otherkin seem to be so closely identified with Tumblr now, that some of them feel the need to protest that they're not "a tumblr thing":

1. Otherkin are not a “Tumblr thing”.
The word “otherkin” started in the mid-1990s. Before that, the Silver Elves were writing about being elven in their “Magical Elven Love Letters”, a zine that was first released in 1979. This is before Arpanet was the internet available to people outside of military, meaning that otherkin in the modern sense, existed before the internet. Of course people in many cultures always identified this way, but, did not use the word, “otherkin”.

http://swanblood.tumblr.com/post/14943572483/ten-otherkin-truths

But the truth will out:

You know you’re otherkin/therian/nonhuman when…

Someone you follow reblogs from a blog that has your species in the URL, and you have to check out the blog, just to find out if they also are one of you…

http://swanblood.tumblr.com/post/20499705766/you-know-youre-otherkin-therian-nonhuman-when

As a human ally, if you reblog a post by otherkin and try to teach people about us, people will be more likely to listen to you. Use ally power to spread sensible information about otherkin. If you can reblog the posts of people who don’t get it, and reply with sensible arguments, that helps a lot too!

http://swanblood.tumblr.com/post/17016597954/how-to-be-an-otherkin-ally

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A common response has always been where are all the cockroach otherkin?:

How come there aren't any cockroach- or naked mole rat-kin?

This question often comes up as a way to put otherkin in their place, so let's get it over with. Yes, most animals and mythical creatures that otherkin identify with are the "cool" ones.

There are two things to keep in mind here. First, otherkin often start on their journey to otherkin-ness by seeing a photo, or painting, or live example of their species that calls to them. Something that fills them with longing, or even with memories, and makes them yearn to live that creature's life.

Let's face it: there aren't a whole lot of chances for naked mole rat-kin to have that kind of experience. So if you want to blame someone, blame the world's artists and storytellers, for not depicting enough naked mole rats.

Second, otherkin aren't stuck identifying as the first species that calls to them. They might think they're a peregrine falcon at first, and then realize the tree swallow's closer to their heart. This doesn't mean they were wrong for choosing to identify as a falcon, earlier. It just means that they've found something more right for them. (Or even that they're both species at the same time.)

Personally, I've run across a combine harvester "machinekin." So I wouldn't rule anything out at this point.

^
http://feathertail.dreamwidth.org/142156.html

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http://www.youtube.com/user/TheriKiNexus/
^
We are, as this channel implies, a nexus of therians & otherkin, atheists, agnostics, Christians & New Agers, from all walks/characteristic modes of travel of this life & beyond, gathered here to share with you what our beliefs & precepts mean to us, & to ask questions & answer yours ; & question our answers, or to question further questions in pertinence to contradicting answers, & otherwise vlog & rant and engage in variegated forms of discourse, rational or otherwise, seriously or otherwise, & to have fun and grow and regress & write in description boxes.

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http://felkes.tumblr.com/post/20921959198/ive-gotten-sick-of-pointing-this-out-so-im-just
^
THERIANS ARE NOT OTHERKIN

http://felkes.tumblr.com/post/17928435318/not-quite-there-otherkin-and-oppression
^
Otherkin are opressed just like LGBTQ people are

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http://theobservationsofahalfelf.tumblr.com/post/21161417157/matters-of-appearance-otherkin-and-happiness
^
“WAIT. She can’t identify that way! She’s too FAT to be an Elf!”

And the motherlode:

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/otherkin

[Pi]

On a broader scale, tumblr is full of self-constructed mental conditions. Perhaps my favorite non-furry thing is "multiple systems", where (as near as I can tell) people invent personalities in order to avoid having to interact socially. And then you get the 'otherkin multiples', who eventually degrade into blogs full of thirty-zillion self-invented reasons-why-they're-a-special-snowflake on the front page.

[Jim Demintia]

It must really suck to be David Karp (founder of Tumblr). Because you essentially inherited the chaff of LiveJournal - all the people who made LiveJournal's user base a liability to it. In this environment, where everyone is trying to get a Facebook-like userbase as fast as they can to impress Wall Street and/or potential investors in another funding round, he's been dealt just about the shittiest hand possible.

LiveJournal never made a cent off these shmucks, and you won't either. Have fun being the new El-Jay!

[Ketsuban]

It must really suck to be David Karp (founder of Tumblr).

Yeah, it's a sink-or-swim industry, and I suspect when trying to attract venture capital he might just flounder. If there's enough interest though he may just find his rightful plaice on the internet.

[camellia sinensis]

http://watchful-entity.tumblr.com/tagged/otherkin

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