Here are answers to these questions about kinning, answered here because twitter is terrible for sharing long things of text. But hey, maybe other folks here may find it useful, too!
https://twitter.com/goodgirIsavage/status/1326670474923937792?s=19
“QUESTIONS ABOUT KINS/KINNING/KIN CULTURE PLS ANSWER ////GEN”
1) Someone who is otherkin identifies as nonhuman in some way. If you identify as the thing you "think you kin" (and that thing is nonhuman), then you are (or at least, may choose to call yourself) otherkin! Being otherkin can be spiritual (such as believing you have the misplaced soul of the thing, or were that thing in a past life), psychological (such as believing you imprinted on that thing when you were young and took on that identity, or feeling you fixate on things to the point of taking them on as identity), a combination of those, or possibly other things I do not know about!
2) Yes. That is actually the original usage of "otherkin" - it was people who identified as mythical species other than elves (who were "elfkin"). Someone who identifies as a specific character usually identifies as fictionkin. They are also otherkin if that character is nonhuman. Some people consider all fictionkin, even those who are human characters, as a subset of otherkin, though that is debated.
3) Yeah! Though if you are consciously choosing the identity of the thing you are fixated on, it would be more accurate to call it "otherlinking" rather than "otherkin". Both "otherkin" and "otherlinker" describe someone with a nonhuman identity (or that of a fictional character), and the difference is that otherkin is involuntary and otherlinking is by choice. If you strongly take on an identity after consuming media about it but only for a short period of time, you might feel more at home in the "flicker"/"fictionflicker" identity than "otherkin", though! I know little about that community, but it is made up of folks with that experience of "taking on" the identity of things from the media they consume for a little while.
4) You can trigger "kinshifts", where you feel more like what you 'kin. You can also acquire 'kin identities you did not have before, with the specific method behind that varying depending on your relationship to otherkin. If you want to consciously develop an 'kin-like identity, you can also do that, but rather than "otherkin" that is called "otherlinking"!
5) This is somewhat contested, but as otherkin is involuntary, the general consensus within the otherkin community is "yes". The specific ways to navigate that identity are discussed. It is important to not claim the experiences specific to that race or disability as something you understand and have experiences of, as your current life and body has not had those experiences.
6) "'Kin" as a verb is slang and can be misleading, as "otherkin" is something you are rather than something you do. It is common enough that people understand what it means, though. Some examples of ways people communicate their identity are "I am [species/character] otherkin/fictionkin", "I am [species/character]kin", "I am kin with [species/character]", or "I kin [species/character]."
Here is an abridged timeline of the "otherkin" identity: http://frameacloud.com/nonfiction/otherkin-timeline-abridged/
Here is a glossary of some otherkin-related terminology, with useful links: https://alt-h.net/educate/glossary.php
Here is a discord for discussing alterhuman identities (with otherkin being a reason one may consider themself alterhuman and many of the folks active in the discord being otherkin) if you want somewhere to talk to more people who might know more things!: https://discord.gg/6txGpp7984
