Fae/fairy community

[Echidna]

It's more like when people begin to make up stuff.

Bet you can find loads of "guides" explaining the differences between a wizard, a magician, and a sorcerer
(mostly working with video games terms, probably), while all these names mean the same thing, just the language roots are different.

[Mermaid Enora]

I go to quite a few ren faires and have seen several male fae with wings.
They are few and far between, but they do exist. Don't have any pics to show of them though. If I ever get a future boyfriend to come he'll be in fairy attire with me.

[Lostariel Telrunya]

It is hard to find a definite line between fairy, elf, and, well, a lot of other things. I myself am a huge fan of elves, and all three of these kind of go hand in hand! I'm trying to make a dress that looks fairy-ish.

[Mermaid Kelda]

It's more like when people begin to make up stuff.

I dunno, I kind of feel like no one can really say what the true definitions are of fae/fairy/elf etc. Not only because so many cultures describe them as such different things, but because you can't really nail down a definition of something that doesn't exist. Who cares if someone calls elves and fairies the same thing or different things? Culture is fluid and changes all the time; so, too, does folklore. I'm all for people calling fairies whatever they like!

[Merman Dan]

...you can't really nail down a definition of something that doesn't exist.

Careful, there. Just because you have never seen a thing does not mean it doesn't exist. I am quite mindful of the things I can almost see out of the corner of my eye.

[Echidna]

I dunno, I kind of feel like no one can really say what the true definitions are of fae/fairy/elf etc. Not only because so many cultures describe them as such different things, but because you can't really nail down a definition of something that doesn't exist. Who cares if someone calls elves and fairies the same thing or different things? Culture is fluid and changes all the time; so, too, does folklore. I'm all for people calling fairies whatever they like!

I'm aware of the "modern" definitions, which probably paint "elves" as beautiful, tall, wingless people, and "fairies" as small insectoids
The problem with that is that it's not true folklore, but due to modern novels being very liberal with the lore for dramaturgic purposes, and influence of video games (and while fun, I wouldn't call video games "evolving folklore").

From your response, I gather you think ancient people knew both words and used them synonymously.
That is not the case.
Germanic tribes didn't use (and didn't have) the word fairy, which stems from Latin/French.
Instead, they had elves (or rather, alb), which were divided in roughly 2 categories (light and dark albs), lived underground, could be tall or small, were shapechangers, etc.

It's pretty clear it's the same thing which the latin/french speakers just called by a different name (they, in turn, didn't have or know the word elf).

What is also lost to many is the fact that "fairy" used to be a general term, including all different kinds of the folk-
from the redcap to the banshee, to the sidhe (and sometimes also gnomes).
It's a term as broad as "mammal" or "dinosaur", if you like- which can comprise herbivores, carnivores, large, small, flying, or aquatic beings.

Sorry for derailing the thread a bit here, but it bugs me when people go "who cares if we use the terms liberally, it's all imaginary anyway."
It wasn't so long ago that folklore -along with mythology- was a serious matter people believed in, and many still do.

[Mermaid Kelda]

I wasn't commenting at all on what I thought ancient people believed or the words they used. I'm no historian, and I haven't studied ancient mythology as much as I'd like, so I have no place to tell you what they were or were not called. In modern times, "fairy" is definitely still used to describe fae things in general, despite more often being associated with little flying women.

I understand your annoyance, but I just don't think it's worth trying to correct people who use the terms differently from how you'd like. These aren't scientifically studied creatures with accepted taxonomic ranks. Of course it's important to keep in mind the original folklore and mythology (even if for no other reason than because it's fascinating), but culture does change, and people do start using words differently. Personally I think it's better to encourage it. The shifting of language is a beautiful and fascinating thing!

But if course, "that's just, like, my opinion, man"; you don't have to accept anything I say! I agree that being a stickler for these sorts of things can be important, and it's fun to be accurate with mythology! Heaven forbid we ever lose the knowledge of ancient mythology just because our modern usage has changed.

Careful, there. Just because you have never seen a thing does not mean it doesn't exist. I am quite mindful of the things I can almost see out of the corner of my eye.

Sorry, Dan, that was presumptuous of me

[seakaren]

There are lots and lots of men with wings at Faerieworlds in Oregon.

[Mermaid Kelda]

Okay guys, so I've been thinking about this for a long time, and the other day I figured, what the heck, and I made a fairy forum.

www.faenetwork.com

So I'm looking for feedback from the community - is this the sort of thing people would be after? Have I included the right sort of things? Do you like how it looks? Is it easy to navigate?

I'm not big in the fairy community so I'm not 100% sure on what info should be collated and added. I'm sure there's tonnes of tutorials that already exist but I'm not sure where to find them so I'd need help from other dedicated people who know what they're doing.

I know Iona talked about hosting a site, but was too busy, and I'm using quite a good hosting service which is free anyway. So, now I'm just looking for feedback to see if it's worth putting any more effort into.

So, what does everyone think?

[Mermaid Enora]

I joined faenetwork!

[Echidna]

www.faenetwork.com

It looks very good!
I'm not sure if a similar site does exist already- those I looked at seemed to be defunct or semi-dead-, but I'd love to see the faenetwork take off on its own!

One thing I'd change is the big size difference between the subforum titles, and their description.
The description text is tiny, I found it a bit hard to read.
I'm myopic tho, others might not feel the same way.

[Mermaid Kelda]

Thanks Echidna, the font size was something I wondered about so it's good to get feedback on that. I'll increase it by a few pixels.

Edit: I brought it up to 11px - if that's not enough, I can bring it up to 12, or even change it to a serif font as sans-serif can be difficult to read at smaller sizes.

[Mermaid Galene]

I love this! Thanks for starting Faenetwork, Kelda. I just registered.

[Mermaid Momo]

Okay guys, so I've been thinking about this for a long time, and the other day I figured, what the heck, and I made a fairy forum.

www.faenetwork.com

So I'm looking for feedback from the community - is this the sort of thing people would be after? Have I included the right sort of things? Do you like how it looks? Is it easy to navigate?

I'm not big in the fairy community so I'm not 100% sure on what info should be collated and added. I'm sure there's tonnes of tutorials that already exist but I'm not sure where to find them so I'd need help from other dedicated people who know what they're doing.

I know Iona talked about hosting a site, but was too busy, and I'm using quite a good hosting service which is free anyway. So, now I'm just looking for feedback to see if it's worth putting any more effort into.

So, what does everyone think?

Looking good! I second the small text thing though, I have a hard time reading it too Other than that, it's easy enough to navigate.

[Mermaid Galene]

It would be great to have a What's New tab or section like on Mernetwork. That's where I always head first.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Will it be possible to change the color scheme? It looks like Lavender is the only color option at the moment, and I find pages easier when the color isn't quite so pale. Otherwise, it looks wonderful!

[Merman Dan]

I go to quite a few ren faires and have seen several male fae with wings. They are few and far between, but they do exist.

There are lots and lots of men with wings at Faerieworlds in Oregon.

My wings popped out at FaerieCon East and NC MerFest... must've been the beer

[Mermaid Enora]

nice wings dan!

here's my sister's wings at Middlefaire in Texas

We call this photo 'Magnolia Fawn trying to buy shiny human trinkets'
She was too big to fit in the door, but wanted to look at the tiaras inside.

[Mermaid Kelda]

Will it be possible to change the color scheme? It looks like Lavender is the only color option at the moment, and I find pages easier when the color isn't quite so pale. Otherwise, it looks wonderful!

I definitely will look at alternative colour schemes - as it is, I just picked one and wanted to get feedback on the site before I did any more work.

[Sherielle]

I joined! Though I already submitted for a name change, lol.