Crush...Yiff...Destroy!

Computolio · Coadjutor Joined: 01 Jun 2003 Posts: 349

I've been poking around for a while, trying to come up with a decent Merlino article and I'm about a quarter of the way there. I'm a little murky on his later activities, such as the "Prancing Skilltaire" commune, the founding of FurryMUCK (which he apparently had some part in), and how he ran conventions in such a way as to turn them into pits of pure debauchery.

I know that various people have contributed info at one point or another, and stuff has been posted on Portal Of Evil at one time or another, but help me refresh my memory here.

Oh, and in case you feel inspired by Merlino's example of what The Power Of One Psychotic Deviant Man Child can do, SomethingAwful has a handy guide for you.

mouse · Coadjutor Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 662

the Yarf! Chronology has quite a bit of info on merlino...in time-line format anyway

i dunno if you looked there at all yet

http://www.arclight.net/~yarf/YARF_Chronology.html

This is an appropriate spot to address the Prancing Skiltaire in Orange County (south of Los Angeles) as the first furry fan commune. The Prancing Skiltaire has been Mark Merlino's personal fannish name for his home since before he, Rod O'Riley, Andre Johnson, and three other fans moved in September 1983 to the house at 13412 Gilbert Street, Garden Grove, California. Merlino and O'Riley have been the two permanent residents in a floating commune of (usually) four to six roomers, all fans but not all furry fans. The commune has also been active in projects in SF, comics, animé, Dr. Who, Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels, and other fandoms. It has had a major significance in furry fandom, starting around 1984 as the center of the Tiger's Den BBS, then furry parties and ConFurence; but to infer that the Prancing Skiltaire was created specifically to be a furry commune or that it has only been that, is incorrect.