Therian Incident
From RationalWikiWiki
The January 2009 Therian Incident was a tempest in a teapot, that engulfed "CUR"'s attention for approximately twenty-four hours, on the subject of "therianthropy"[1]
Hints at the coming storm appeared during early January in content disputes and edit wars over RW's article on "furry fandom", during which ConservapediaUndergroundResistor (CUR), identifying himself as a "therian", objected to various comments and jokes within the article.[2]
On 21st January, CUR posted a thread on WIGO:Conservapedia talk about asking Andrew Schlafly's "policy" on therians. Other Rationalwikians were nonplussed.[3] Shortly afterwards, TheoryOfPractice, possibly unaware of the thread on WIGO, started a discussion at the Saloon bar about an article he had read on furries and "otherkin". CUR responded on behalf of otherkin and therians.[4]
The discussion rapidly mushroomed, being moved to a separate debate page, but also engulfing at various times the articles and talk pages on "therian" and "otherkin" (which were written as a result of ToP's Saloon comment and the debate), a couple of user talk pages, RationalWikiWiki, and a therian forum called the "Werelist". CUR wrote several epic posts (described by him as "Lenski-esque") defending his beliefs, which failed to persuade other editors. By the end of the debate, two members of the Werelist (named Foreverchagrin[5] and Anuolf[6]), having been alerted by CUR to events at RW, crossed over to participate in the debate.[7] Both were reportedly offended by the attitudes and treatment they received at RationalWiki (Foreverchagrin more visibly).
At this point, the aftermath is not completely understood, but:
- The Werelist and RW know of each others' existence. Whether this knowledge is exciting the Werelist is unknown, but the attitude at Rationalwiki might be generously described as enthusiastic indifference.
- RW has annoyed two prominent members of the Werelist. (Something which, no doubt, has RW editors losing lots of sleep).
- Therians were accused of various things, such as "recruiting", though this was quickly denied.[8]
- CUR may feel he is trapped in the middle, as he maintains he is both a rationalist and a therian.
- CUR has been called the resident wingnut.
- Toast told CUR to have his head looked at if he believed this.[9]
- CUR has become more prominent on the Werelist [Evidence needed], and even more irritating on RW.
- CUR and TheoryOfPractice are at odds. . . again.
- It has been clarified that some RationalWikians think therianthropy is comparable to a religion, while CUR, at least, thinks it is a secular philosophy. [10]
- CUR has succeeded in being threatened with the vandal bin. A unique and memorable achievement for a sysop.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ If you don't know what this means, follow any of the links here to find out.
- ↑ See various threads on the talk page.
- ↑ See this archived thread.
- ↑ ToP's Comments. CUR's reply.
- ↑ User creation log for Foreverchagrin
- ↑ User creation log for Anuolf
- ↑ See contributions by Anuolf and Foreverchagrin.
- ↑ See this thread.
- ↑ On Weaseloid's talk page.
- ↑ His opinion is based on this
