Alt.Horror.Werewolves

Alt.Horror.Werewolves
Moderator(s)	unmoderated
Website	https://groups.google.com/d/forum/alt.horror.werewolves
Status	Active
Launch date	November 16, 1992

Alt.Horror.Werewolves is the Usenet Newsgroup generally considered to be the birthplace of the therian community.

History

Alt.Horror.Werewolves was created on November 16, 1992 as an extension of the existing alt.horror Usenet hierarchy.. Originally the group existed for the discussion of werewolves in horror movies and books, and more broadly in mythology. A year after its creation, in November 1993, it began to attract users claiming to be "real werewolves" and other werecreatures. Gradually this discussion took over the newsgroup, and the concept of "spiritual therianthropy" developed.

In December 1994, a windigo therian named James Harrion III suggested the term therianthropy be used as a more general term than the then-popular lycanthropy. This would go on to be adopted as the general term for the community, with members calling themselves therianthropes, later shortened to therians.

The Meow Wars

In 1996, Alt.Horror.Werewolves was attacked by a group of trolls - or, as they were known then, "Usenet Performance Artists" - called the Meowers, as part of what would come to be termed "The Meow Wars", one of the largest flamewars in Usenet history. Ironically, some of the meowers were themselves members of the early otherkin community, including Tiernan and Magpie Hrafnsdottir.

This attack rendered the newsgroup largely unusable for some time, and began the migration of the online therian community to private IRC channels, mailing lists, and forums.

External links

• Unofficial AHWW Archive (Archived via the Internet Archive.