Otherlink Memes

Like a name of the blog says, memes about/related to otherlinking are posted here!

Basic rules: no discourse, no spreading hate, no fakeclaiming.

If you don't follow the rules, you will be blocked!

Stances:

Pro-endo

Pro-physical alterhumans

Anti-KFF

Anti-radqueer and anti-transID*

Pro-para, anti-contact

Anti-censorship

*I do not really care about harmless transIDs like "transblueeyes", though. If you have questions, feel free to ask them. I'll try to answer them, but I don't promise to answer all of them.

or is just like against the like phrasing of term since kin is pretty by definition something thats not a choice?

KFF stole and has been misusing 'kin terminology. They use kin to mean "relate to", while otherkins *identify as* their kintypes. Also, KFF were harassing otherkins & fictionfolk. Here's a fragment from The Dragonheart Collective’s Testimony on the KFF Phenomenon [link]:

KFF, or ‘Kin for fun’ is a term for those who claim that ‘kin is only for fun and a choice and means identify with/relate to instead of ‘identify AS’ and the culture the people who said this built on their stolen word. Ie- The group of people above and the ensuing culture they created built on top of misinformation, a stolen word, and the harassment of fictionfolk. The term is one that the KFF chose for themselves after a fashion, as they claimed they ‘kinned for fun’ rather than like all us ‘serious otherkin freaks’. It was not the otherkind community who came up with the term in the first place, we just started abbreviating it because it was clunky to type otherwise. KFF is a word for people who are being revisionist about our history and our words, who are trying to push those who have always been in the community out, and in the face of evidence will often double down and attack those who use fictionkin by its actual definition- usually in ableist, anti-spiritual, or saneist ways. The word ‘delusional attachment’ was in recent years aggressively pushed on actual otherkin and fictionkin to further their attempts at stealing our word- doing damage to both psychosis communities (as it spreads misinformation about what a delusion is) and ‘kin communities alike. People started using the phrase/term KFF because they needed to talk about the people who suddenly came in and started asserting a definition contrary to years and years of history, who started trying to push out the people who built the community to make a pale mockery of the community in its place. They needed a word and well, the KFF chose the label themselves after a fashion. Its a word that people who are not fictionkin and who were there back then often do not understand the full gravity of- what these people did to our spaces and the aggressive bullying and trolling people who claimed they ‘kinned for fun’ meted out to us. People who weren't there often don't quite comprehend the damage they did to our spaces and the damage they continue to do. The aggressive gatekeeping and bullying they do to us freaks because they want to continue to steal and ‘normie-fy’ our word. KFF reached critical mass and breached Tumblr containment to wider fandom culture, and now many people who count as KFF (as they think kin means the above and has always done so) are simply not aware of the history of the term and that it originally had a different meaning.

What's the difference between otherlink, marrowtype (I think that's the term??) and heartlink?

I'm most likely strictly otherkin but I'd really like to learn lol

Otherlink/Copinglink (contrary to popular opinion, copinglink and otherlink are synonymous. The "coping-" in the name of copinglink came from "copingkin" which is precursor of both copinglink and KFF) is a term for those who consciously chose an identity.

here's the definition from original coiner (@/who-is-page):

Copinglink, n. (Tumblr comm.; Coined by Who-is-Page/Stormygio) [E. coping referencing to the early use of “copingkin” + E. link create or imply a connection between. Pl. Copinglinks.]

A non-human identity (or in some cases, relation) which is consciously created. The creator is able to change and pick who/what they identify as/with as need dictates. This identity can be created by anyone, and thus, is not dictated by one’s mental health.

A consciously created coping mechanism which centers around knowingly, willingly, and actively identifying as (or in some cases, with) the user’s choice of a non-human entity.

(2017) A (fictitious) human identity which is taken on as consciously created coping mechanism.

This is pretty hard one question. I'll try to give some answers, but since I've been a part of alterhuman community for a relatively small amount of time, I might not know everything and please do not take things I say as a gospel. I do not know much about choicekins, so I can't say much about it, but I think the problem with 'good faith KFF' is that they still call themselves/associate themselves with 'KFF'. And the problem with KFF is that KFFers misuse the term "kin" and a lot of KFFers were harassing fictionfolk.

KFF, or ‘Kin for fun’ is a term for those who claim that ‘kin is only for fun and a choice and means identify with/relate to instead of ‘identify AS’ and the culture the people who said this built on their stolen word. Ie- The group of people above and the ensuing culture they created built on top of misinformation, a stolen word, and the harassment of fictionfolk. The term is one that the KFF chose for themselves after a fashion, as they claimed they ‘kinned for fun’ rather than like all us ‘serious otherkin freaks’.

source: [link], fragment of The Dragonheart Collective’s Testimony on the KFF Phenomenon

When KFF first started to kind of become a thing, therians and otherkin welcomed them into the community with smiles on our faces and our arms open with eagerness, more that willing to extend welcomes and compassion towards these individuals. Unfortunately, this trust proved to later be foolish. As we were stabbed in the back by many early KFFers. Not only did they too call us kinnie in a derogatory fashion - but they extended it by calling us other things such as delusional and laughing in the faces of spiritualkin and psychologicalkin alike whenever we shared our experiences. With their growing presence, came the phrases that many use today. Co-opting our language and STEALING it from us. It honestly, probably, wouldn't even be hated as much if these hurtful things had never happened. But unfortunately, they did, it's a reminder to many on how early KFFers stabbed us in the back, stole from us, and then tried to erase our culture from the inside out.

source: [link], fragment of one of Calico's (@/this-is-kinmisia) posts Also, I want to say that synpaths are different than otherkin. Synpath is is considered to be synonymous with otherhearted which is a deep connection with something. Otherhearted is commonly described as "identifying with", while otherkins identify as their kintypes.

-Identifying with an animal species- not as it- This honestly might be the most distinguishing feature. The description of being “fully” or “entirely” human was common, as was being a human who “acts/feels like a [insert animal]“. Overall the theme is identifying with (not as) an animal so strongly that it’s a part of who one is as a person.

source: [link], fragment of Common Themes in the Early Animal-hearted Scene

Synpath is a tidy name for something you identify with on several levels, which could be a concept that resonates really strongly with you, an animal or mythological creature you feel you act like, or a person or character you share a lot of common behaviors with, among other things.

source: [link], fragment of Synpath FAQ And when it comes to "Why can't people choose to voluntarily be otherkin?": there are some discussions about this topic. Rani (@/a-dragons-journal) have some posts about this topic and have reblogged some discussions about it. One thing is that voluntary nonhumanity has been often conflated with KFF, which is because both KFF and copinglinkers were preceded by what was called "copingkin".

I'm not one of the people in question, but as someone who also used to feel this way and has changed its opinion, my reasoning boiled down to basically - why is it that we treat this one origin for nonhumanity as inherently so different it has to be separated out into a separate label, when every other origin is considered "valid" therianthropy/otherkinity? The answer often, unfortunately, ultimately boils down to the fact that voluntary nonhumanity has historically often been conflated with what we now call KFF and has historically been called fluff or tumblrkin - people who don't actually identify as their "kins" at all and are misusing our language to discuss roleplay or otherwise a hobby.

source: [link], fragment of Rani's response to one of submissions posted on @/otherkin-confessional

Copingkin The trend of people saying they were 'kin to cope' also started happening around this time. YBC's misinformation caused a lot of people to start saying they 'kinned to cope' to try to reconcile their experiences with the 'kin outside your privilege' assertions in an effort to avoid harassment. Many people who said they 'kinned to cope' would additionally claim otherkin were ableist for correcting them on the definition of otherkin being identifying as something onan integral level. Many copingkin created a label called 'IDs', which were characters one identified strongly as because they had a mistaken idea of what being fictionkind meant. 'ID' was the precursor to 'IRLs', and in fact even this early you would find people who would say they were 'not just kin they were this character IRL' as to why they labeled that character as their 'ID'. The pre-copinglinkers (those that assume a voluntary identity as something to cope) were part of this group too, and would later end up splitting off into their own community following Who-is-page's coining post for the word in 2015. There were also a few confused psychological otherkin who didn't have the full context for the discourse that identified this way when they were fully covered under the actual definition. Copingkin are also part of why there are so many older fictionkin who are aggressively spiritual elitist- they swung hard in the opposite direction of the 'kin to cope' crowd as a defense. Again, it doesn't excuse the elitism towards those with psychological origin, but it explains it.