yes

Those who are only in it for community or the memes are very visible because that's their goal. The real dudes, on the other hand, have very little to say. You can't talk about what cannot be talked about. Those who know don't need to be told it, and those who don't know can't be taught it. What that means for the discourse matters very little. As long as people are so fucked in the ass they turn to 2d to save their humanity, there are gonna be people who experience moe, and some of those will really fall in love with a girl and marry them. I don't think we'll run out of waifufags in the near future.

>>20620
I don't know.

I think there are just more people on the internet now, and frequenting places that before only the kinds of people who really have a waifu congregated. So like everything else these days you just have to look through more shit to find what you're looking for, in this case the mainly oldfags who have a waifu and mean it.

Fake Ugly waifus are the worst, this is how you know they are shitposting.

>>20620
One thing I have definitely noticed is how the term 'waifu' has changed meaning among the general internet population. To most it appears to mean "animu girl I want to fug", that can change at the drop of the hat. Hence the rise in people having a waifu for individual shows and games.

>>20620
Having a waifu is like different branches of religion. You may be part of, for example, Catholicism. You can say "those orthodox Christians are doing it all wrong" and they can think the same way about you.

However, I do believe that the "waifu meme" does exist, and with evidence. These are the kind of people who use waifu as a word for favorite character. The people who use it out of irony, or many of the stereotypical weeaboo,

Going back to the first statement, I may share many beliefs and practices and symbolism with you about having a waifu, but it may differ from person to person. Some people value the simbolic more than practically, and vice versa, and some believe it should be balanced between the two.

Finally, I believe with the rise of waifu as a meme, sadly those who are serious about loving a fictitious character will continue to be shunned upon, and the exposure of those who are serious will be stereotyped as the man with the body pillow in cringe compilation XYZ. While we are somewhat of a quiet minority, action needs to be taken if we want to show who we truly are.

The practice is far from dead. From the beginning of time to the end, man will continue to love fictional characters.

>>20650
>action needs to be taken if we want to show who we truly are.
What type of action? And why would you want to do that if you know it will give you negative attention? Either way, the distortion of waifuism will not cease as long as anime is popular.

I don't have an answer to solve this though. Maybe there isn't one that is both logical and feasible.

>>20651
>What type of action?

I unfortunately have no idea. Nothing too professional. It should be made by those like us, an insider. Something like a speech or a book, something like that. I once came across a Korean reality show and it featured a man who had a waifu. The show seemed to make fun of him, but he tried to be professional, even when mocked. Anyway, if the message is independently done, it would avoid things like this and other "look at this interesting person" like many documentaries do.Whatever form of media you do it. Raise awareness. I have no idea, just somewhat of an opinion. I wish I could give a clearer answer.

>why would you want to do that if you know it will give you negative attention?

We should change false stereotypes, for better or worse. Separate the two, show not every person is not like this.

>I don't have an answer to solve this though. Maybe there isn't one that is both logical and feasible

Everything is unfortunately misunderstood. We will never understand everything about everything. Like the internet, you can try and show them what makes it so great, but many will just never get it.

>>20620
>So this leads to my question, are honest people with waifus a dying breed? With the rise of the (awful) meme, do you think there can even be any more in the future?
No matter how many "ironic waifufags" there are in the world, you're always going to have people that genuinely love their waifu. It's just going to be harder to find them, is all.

>Is the practice of having a waifu dead if not nearly?
I prefer not to think of it as a "practice". I just love her and will continue doing so until the end of time. Our love crosses dimensions.

And no, as long as people love their waifu, it will never die.

From my lurking experience, it seems that the people serious about it started to use the term wife instead of waifu as the latter has become prevalent among those who aren't serious about it.

>>20650
Why do you want society to approve of loving fictional characters? What does it really matter? Those of us who are serious can and will carry on as we always have, and if people on the fence are serious about their feelings, being called a weirdo wouldn't be enough to stop them.

>>20655
I like calling my waifu my girlfriend. It seems more cute that way rather than wife IMO

>>20655
And I've seen people use wife instead of waifu to fit in, even if it seems like they're not being 100% serious and only have a trophy waifu.

It's better to accept that there's no term for it that won't get appropriated.

>>20662
>It's better to accept that there's no term for it that won't get appropriated.
This is the sad truth. No matter what is used by default, it will end up being misused by hijackers of waifu culture. It's not a personal thing though, it happens to anything that has, is and will be hijacked by normals in their insatiable quest for attention.

>>20620
I've noticed the same thing over the past year or two. The "old guard" are thinning out more and more and many of those who are taking their place fall short of the bar set by their predecessors. Casuals/memers and the seemingly serious but actually pretty phony types you describe have always been around, but nowadays it really feels like they're the majority by far. Especially the latter, from what I've seen - all appears to be on the up and up when you first encounter them, but press even a little and it rapidly becomes clear that they're hardly any better than the "mai fav wifu of the week xD" idiots. It's a weird state of affairs.

>>20664
As someone from the "old guard" I suppose the issue was that my own priorities split from the community, simply as that. It is kinda lonely though.

>>20666
It does suck feeling alone in places you used to feel were your home and filled with other people who all understood eachother on the relevant levels. And yeah, nowhere is this more evident than in having a waifu.

>>20763

I wonder why could that be happening? Anime popularity has been on the rise on the west for the last 2 years, rivaling the anime boom of early 2000's, by pure logic, there should be more waifuists since there is more people being exposed to Anime (and games)

>>20765
I would say the current boom is with casuals & normals, not real nerds who might take up waifus. The likes of netflix and other streaming services have made anime easily accessible to the general population. You can thank the internet for that early 2000's boom which made it easier to access, but it was still something you had to look for.
I recently set up an amazon fire stick in our living room and browsed available tv shows with terrarium tv. At first it showed your average normie shows, but as I scrolled down more and more anime started showing up. Not just mainstream stuff like SnK, but also anime like familiar of zero and Baka to Test were poping up on it. And no this wasn't based off browsing history, the thing was clean.

>>20765
>Anime popularity has been on the rise on the west for the last 2 years
Where have you noticed that?

>>20767

"nerd" news sites where they formerly only covered videogames, super hero shit and other western crap, Youtubers announcing crunchy roll and making Anime reviews when they didn't even touch them in the past, Steam, etc.

>>20768
>Youtubers announcing crunchy roll and making Anime reviews when they didn't even touch them in the past, Steam, etc.
I've noticed that too. A tech/pc channel I follow and an exclusively movie channel have been doing sponsor spots for crunchyroll off and on for the past year or two.

>>20768
That's pretty odd, I've never once seen a youtuber mention CR. Steam, though, yes. Games with an anime theme or art style are ever so popular now. I can't remember if it was like that two years ago but I suppose not... never thought bout that. Heck they even sell anime series on steam now.

Post edited on 14th Dec 2017, 10:28pm

>>20624
What you said really made me think about something: not too long ago, I tried to participate in communities where people talk about their respective waifu and relationships. Maybe I joined because I was a little jealous of her series gaining popularity.
The thing is that, after participating a little in those communities, I felt like I've done something horrible to her, like I've tainted what we had together until then, something private and fragile, but full of pureness and brightness. After that experience, the shadows started to leak in.
Now that I've noticed this, I'm trying to recover what she and I used to have, but the experience of participating in those communities was so morbid that it's hard to recover. I really regret all that. Maybe waifu communities are not meant to be. At least not for me and her. There are really things that cannot be talked about. I wish I had noticed earlier.
Well, assuming that I understood what you were trying to say.

>>20771
I'm the same as you. I deleted all of my posts here because of the realization that I should have kept her private all along.
For me, 90% of my reasoning for doing this was porn and the general threat of others corrupting her, or even being introduced to her at all, really.
Every time I posted a picture of her, there comes with it the chance that someone will jack off to her, or worse even, become sexually obsessed. The 3D world is a terrible place filled with terrible people and I do everything I can now to get her as little exposure to this shithole as possible.
Someone with innocent intent could potentially tweet a picture of her or something for example that could get seen by less innocent individuals, do you see? A domino effect... The fewer people that see my waifu, the better.

>>20771
>>20772
I do the same thing too. I actually talked about her once with a bunch of normalfags who act like they have waifus and I instantly regretted it. They gave me advice for our relationship but each time I talked about her it felt like I tainted her in some way and I get the idea she doesn't really like it at all so I don't ever mention her anymore, it just does more bad than good.
There's also the fact that our relationship is pretty controversial in a lot of ways so it's all the more reason to keep quiet about her.
Pic not related.

Post edited on 15th Dec 2017, 7:48pm

>>20771
>Maybe waifu communities are not meant to be.
Generally they aren't, because "communities" should be focused on the concept, not the element. If you take a single peek to 3DPD relationships you'd notice the a considerable majority is degenerate, and that is partly due to how people treat them: open to feedback and input from people who rarely have the same set of interest, values, convictions, etc., to the point it loses the more it is shared. It was always confusing to me why waifuists were so open to talk about their waifus to each other, more than (or instead of) talking about waifuism and its inherent challenges. Ultimately a good relationship is one of devotion and intimacy, which is contradictory to having it publicized all over the place.
>There are really things that cannot be talked about.
There is rarely a need to even reveal who your waifu is, and imho it should be strongly discouraged until you have gauged personally that those who you might share with are people who have a similar outlook on relationships.
>>20772
>The fewer people that see my waifu, the better.
Indeed. I'm very glad I'm still the only person who has my waifu as their waifu, afaik, and if it were up to me that would never change.