Hey, so I've been getting more and more curious about the furry fandom, and I've been thinking about getting into it, but I don't really know how anything works. My exposure to furries are through memes and porn so far. Is there anywhere in particular that I should look as someone who is thinking of joining? Any information I should know, or, like, rules to follow, unspoken or otherwise? And lastly, are there any other places I can anonymously ask questions like this if I have questions in the future?

I went through a phase where I watched a bunch of furry youtubers. A d a starter furry video. It was a while ago but the lesson I learned was this:

First, you need to design the fursona. Dont take a picture of it, since this will cause muddy colors.

If possible, make your own reference sheet or find one online and modify it.

Get an artist to make a proper one if you want.

Then, using the reference, this is your key to the fursuit. This will make it as accurate as possible with looks and coloring.

It is expensive though, so treath the fabric nicely and brush it with a dog brush. Hand wash.

Go to artists who have good reviews and many reviews. Dont get scammed!

I think the first thing to realize is that if you want to consider yourself a part of the community, you're automatically a part of the community. There's not really any specific requirements, I can't draw for shit and I don't have an interest in a fursuit but I'm definitely a furry. There's a considerably large portion of furry culture dedicated to kink and sex culture, but that's far from the only thing to the community. It's very queer friendly, and really as long as you're not a dick you'll be welcomed!

Requirements for being an enthusiast of literally anything:

1. A genuine interest in the thing.
2. Enough knowledge about the thing to hold conversations about it.
3. Willingness to dedicate time, money and/or effort towards the thing.

1 and 3 are easy. 2 often takes years but you'll get there over time. Everything else is superficial, arbitrary and typically used by elitists for gatekeeping ("You must have a fursuit to be a furry", "Real gamers play Call of Duty", etc.) so you can ignore those.