User talk:Autumnfox

Hi there, Autumnfox, and welcome to WikiFur! Thanks for taking the time to tell us a little bit about yourself. Let me know if you need any help not already provided. :-) --GreenReaper^(talk) 08:02, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! I'm still learning the wiki code, but I hope to be an avid contributor soon. Thank you also for formating my page. :-) --Autumnfox 16:36, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Welcome, Autumnfox! Wikicode might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it becomes much easier once you get the hang of it. Here's one of my tips: if there's something you don't know how to use, take a look at the code of some other pages that use it. It's worked for me. KaloFoxfire 16:58, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! That's usually what I do as well, learn from others and build up skills from there. :-) --Autumnfox 02:07, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Feral disambiguation

While I ap-paw-laud the intentions, unfortunately we already have not one but two wikifur articles that Feral (body type) would describe: Non-morphic and Non-anthro, both of which are categoried in Category:Anatomy terms. Any way to disambiguate the disambiguation? :p --Chibiabos 04:50, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing out the anatomy categories. This is difficult as apparently, each of these terms (feral, non-morphic, non-anthro) are each used to a large extent by different groups within the fandom. My immmediate suggestion would be to choose one term, then redirect the others to such. I would recommend the term non-anthro (literally "non-human", specifically referring to the physical form), as terms like "feral" are ambiguous, and others like "non-morphic" (literally, "no-form") are unintuitive. Autumnfox 05:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Non-morphic I thought meant literally "not-changed" but I'm not an etymology expert. The wikifurrians who created the articles seems to differentiate them by "non-anthro" being animals in both form and behavior with no sentience; "non-morphic" referring to animals in form only but possessing humanlike intelligence. I don't wholly agree with those definitions (especially the seeming assertion that only humanlike intelligence can be sentient ... actually that's an issue dramatically explored in a novel I'm writing), but don't really have any evidence I can reference to support changing those articles.

"Feral" was used by other furs to describe some of my physically non-anthro characters and/or fursona, as well as my general preFURence/affinity for physically non-anthro characters. On Meadows MUCK, where all of the characters are physically non-anthro (with the exception of the farmers) it has a different meaning closer to the general definition: the domesticated farm characters (especially the farm dogs) describe the wild characters (such as the wolves, foxes, etc.), wild character mixes (wolf-dogs, etc.), and domestic breeds that live in the wild without human ownership. Its comparable to how American settlers, up until the 19th century or so, described Native Americans insultingly as "feral," synonymous with "barbarian." --Chibiabos 13:52, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Indeed, apparently the term has seen much usage in various different ways, but of course as these words develop a "furry usage," they do indeed change according to the whims of the fandom. Purely from a standpoint of convenience then, I suggest we keep the existing terms, "nonanthro" and "non-morphic," primarily for descriptive purposes, as these terms will of course be interchanged often in casual usage. I've edited the "feral" and "non-morphic" articles to include references regarding my experiences with the "feral" term, and hopefully that shall suffice. --Autumnfox 22:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)