"That's all it takes to become a furry? Their pseudo-elitism had me assuming it took more."
First off, I've been in the furry community for going on fifteen years, so I can tell you with certainty that if you've come across (pseudo)elitist furries, they were part of the minority and it sucks that they gave you a bad impression of the fandom over all, because most furries aren't like that. In fact, far too many of them are self-deprecating to a fault; it can be quite obnoxious.
Second, no, joining a furry site doesn't make someone a furry, lol. The fandom consensus is that "you are a furry if you call yourself a furry", that's it. In my opinion, though, denial doesn't bend reality, so to me, being a furry is being a fan of animal anthropomorphism while being an active part of the furry community, whether you can admit it to yourself or not. Nothing more or less.
To be honest, every person I've ever heard that acted like there are hoops to jump through to be a furry were people who don't want to be associated with "furry". These people have a furry persona, regularly draw furry artwork, and are actively engaged in the furry community on a daily basis- but don't like the stigma of "Furry", so they pretend you have to masturbate to furry porn under the light of a full moon in a pet cemetary or some shit, just to be considered one- anything so that they "don't count" as furry and can live in denial.