My mother didn't react too badly. I got the idea she didn't really grasp it. My brother was surprisingly accepting. I didn't tell my father until he asked. He was on his death bed. He accepted it pretty well. My nephew was tickled to have a Werewolf for an uncle.

I'll make allowances for telephone (and, maybe Skype calls. At least you have a voice to associate with the name). Actually, I think it's possible to befriends you've met online, but don't be too surprised when you meet them in real life if you're only friend with an online persona and the real life person is distressingly different (or, perhaps, even a much better person).

Have you ever had a bad reaction to telling someone? My sister has found out twice, once after going through my skype conversation and once after reading through my texts on my phone. Both times I lied my way out of it rather than come clean to her. The first thing she did after the second time was run around telling all her friends that I have a mental disorder. I lied my way out of that too. I'm not sure about my parents. I'd love to be open about it, completely. I don't think it's possible for me though, right now.

And BlackWolf, that sounds great. There's hope out there XD Some people are decent.

Hey Wolf! Long time no howl

xD haha :p how ya been?

Sounds pretty good to me- I've gotta get down to a Howl sometime! I'd love to hear more about them
Well,  I graduated and now I've started my first year of university. I developed more allergies, unfortunately- but I can still eat meat!....(Actually, that's ALL I can eat now.) I'm working a couple jobs now-blasted economy does NOT help with tuition costs- and I went to China over spring break. Glad to be back though! Missed you guys

True enough! It could be worse, I could be restricted to *shudder* vegetables

The offline community is banding together. I'm quite happy with the way things are going and I'm not compelled to rush things.  I don't think anything needs to be different - things are pretty much moving in the right direction.

I don't think every Were needs to be doing everything. There are Weres that are focusing on community building and there are separate colonies that are tied nicely together by many very mobile Weres.

We're also attracting the attention of academia. There are some studies in the works. It's slow now but these things tend to be exponential in growth, starting very slowly and building in speed. Once things catch on and we figure out how things work, growth will pick up.

And you're right. We need to "manage" our public relations. We're good for society at large but there are certain facets of our lives that look like maybe we're not. People need to understand us before they know all the little details of our lives.

It's like the old TV ad - "Get to know us; you'll like us."

We've tossed around the idea of a conference but we just haven't been able to figure out what one would look like. One of the problems is that the typical Were is so chaotic, a Con might not even be appropriate for the Were community. The best I've been able to come up with is a sort of Megahowl which offers vendors and information booths - sorta like a renaissance fair type thing. I'm just not sure. Perhaps that's something for some enterprising pack to play with.

I would love to read some more academic studies on therianthropy, I think it'd be fascinating. I suppose I just have to be patient for that. Yeah, I guess that is the general worry - that people will get the wrong idea or a sterotypical idea of Weres into their heads that's massively incorrect. I'd love to be present at conventions, but I really don't have the money to go to America right now, so I have to stay UK focused for meetups.  Potentially, I'd like to raise enough money to become more of the travelling sort.

I agree Blood, I'd love for the therian community to be more recognised offline, but I guess that's going to come with time.

A MegaHowl sounds fun, especially seeing as it wouldn't be so focused on meeting one Were's ideas, but rather everyone would be comfortable (or close). I'd assume that would probably be held in America, for convenience's sake. I think if there was one large meetup like that though, I'd be more likely to attend, as it would give me something to save for every year.

Wolf, if I get any more Ideas, I will let you know.

Okay, I will do that as soon as I think of something.

My Pack is me and 2 other people and well we just hang out and stay to ourselves whilst having a fun time lol. there is only one rule No Harming-Killing anything (especially Humans). we live in a small town. and the sad part is we have several fake packs around us

Cold? Did someone say "cold"? I want some of that. Could you box some of that up and send it to Alabama.

Heh, actually, I'm moving to Colorado soon, anyway, but Alabama still needs some cold. Send it on down here.