i'm going to come down hard on mlp hate. it's vicious, spreads like wildfire if you don't nip it in the bud, and could derail our culture of no hate and minimal snark, which has been one of my primary agendas in the five years I've been here.
You really don't get it do you? Report to your profile on the double.
1) I'm not speaking in defense of MLP fans. In case you didn't notice already, I'm policing this matter as a moderator, and regardless of what content I'm personally interested or not interested in, all I really care about is upholding site rules. There's no special rule about MLP-related content, nor should there be, because we already have content rules prohibiting obscenity etc. that are sufficiently legal for the site's PG-13 status.
2) The "stop forcing MLP everywhere" argument is a load of rubbish and implies that you've conveniently forgotten how a forum works. As per 1), if a post is valid, then you can either read it, or not. You don't have to if you don't want to, get it?
Perhaps a few parallel examples may help: for example I personally object to Twilight and anything Justin Bieber related. Do I forbid discussion about it, or ask that it be forbidden? No, that's unreasonable. If asked about the matter I will state my opinion once, and that's it. Because my taste isn't the same as other people, and being a fan of Twilight or Justin Bieber isn't breaking forum rules so people ought to be free to discuss it. I just won't read those discussions unless I have to.
What I won't allow, same as everything else, is if somebody starts derailing other threads in order to make it about MLP. If that happens enough, that becomes "forcing MLP everywhere" and if it proves to be a systematic issue then yes, we'd have a problem*. But I don't expect that to happen now, do I? Because we've got a thread right here where people can talk about it, and that's cool, right?
It has rules kept straight by a paid (?) stuff of members.
A mix. Admins are paid staff, mods are volunteers (i.e. unpaid, so technically not staff).
there was actually a huge (nerdy) flame war between bronies and haters that eventually ended with 4chan banning anything pony related
Which I think is retarded. Both the flame war and the outcome. Which is why I appear to be making such a big deal of being present around here. We like to keep things reasonable around here without mad hating going on between deez nuts.
TBH on the other hand not having a load of brony-related content here is good for the peace, I can think of a few places where it gets a bit excessive and can therefore understand why some people think fan activity is intrusive. But since that's not the case here I'm all for encouraging people to feel free to do whatever.
I understand that this community rarely talks about MLP. I understand that you(staff) want this forum to be a nice experience in general. I understand that you are doing your job. I was voicing my opinion, and not a very hard one. Delete my posts if you don't want anypony to get mad, really, because people in this forum are that sensitive. I am not coming back to these forums.
Personally I like the pure joy and lack of hate that the show, well, shows. I also LOVE the fanbase. There is so much musical talent in the brony community, for example: MandoPony, Living Tombstone, Prince Whateverer, AcousticBrony the list goes on.
2. Why do so many people like the show?
It's actually a really good show. It's well made has interesting characters and good animation. It's also the (like I said) lack of hate that the show and fanbase emits.
3. How did you become a person that liked the show?
I saw a bunch of memes and was just like "what the hay" watched like four episodes and now a year later I've seen every episode at least once and try to support the fanbase as much as possible XD
Delete my posts if you don't want anypony to get mad, really, because people in this forum are that sensitive.
Given you're not the only one who has such a strong dislike of MLP fans that you'd forget the rules in order to voice it, one may yet appreciate why I'm being this strict.
This isn't any different from anything else. We've had to discipline people who made hateful posts about Bieber and Bieber fans for example, but it turned into a deluge so it was quite a piece of work. I don't want that happening here or elsewhere.
To paraphrase, a common objection is directed at the apparent mismatch between the show's intended demographic and the fanbase, which often (but not always) is part of a more general belief that adults should watch adult stuff and not animated cartoons. Which I personally disagree with, because I've never seen a convincing argument (or even an argument at all) for why one ought to watch "age-appropriate" material as an adult.
My own theory is that the significance of the online MLP fanbase is a sign of the times: a generation of internet keyboard warriors raised on snark and false bravado and pretending to be better than everything else through cynicism. Compared to this, MLP:FiM is like a breath of fresh air of everything nice that these hollow, brittle warriors secretly needed all along. You can imagine what this makes the haters, then.
I attempted to watch the show to understand the phenomenon better, but I struggled to maintain any interest. From a technical standpoint (animation and showcasing what Flash can do with competent artists) it's good stuff, and the pop culture references that any enthusiastic adult creator will inevitably put in there can be fun, but by virtue of the target audience I felt like I was getting very little out of it: the Aesop's fables layout and the way things played out felt very obvious and contrived, which, when it comes to educating 5-10yo kids about writing and the value of friendships, is actually not a bad thing, but I need something a bit, uh, either more literary or less straightforward to get me going.
Geez Strop claiming to not like the show but then laying down the law in the fans' defense. Anyway, since me, and people like me, are implicitly not bound by the same rules that apply to you plebs, I'll go ahead and hate on the fandom for everyone else.
I don't like the fandom. I dislike most fandoms, really, because I'm me, but I find this one particularly offensive. Probably just because it's near me, I don't know. I don't like the fandom because it becomes way too excited about the wrong things and spends no energy on the right things. I don't like the fandom because it tells people that spending a lot of time and energy generating fandom-related content is okay, but it really isn't (most especially fanfiction, but to a lesser extent fanmusic, and a little bit of fanart.)
I don't like that people pay more attention to endless regurgitation of fanbase memes and favorite quotes from the show than original content. Moreover, they also pull focus from analyzing and discussing the literary merits of the show and related media in an original fashion.
And you know what I hate the most? The fandom is ruining the show. No, not because it's coloring my perception of it. I don't mean that the fandom is ruining it for me. I mean the fandom is actively causing the show's downfall. The creators clearly listen to fans and throw nods to them, and otherwise allow the fans to have a voice in the creative process. This is stupid.
It led directly to the Derpy Hooves disaster, which was thankfully rectified. And I believe it's a primary factor in the degeneration of the writing and characters, from well-rounded to one-dimensional in-jokes. This is because the fandom, by in large, represents a population that has little knowledge of how to create good television, and, more pressingly, little knowledge of why it likes the show in the first place.
You don't like Rainbow Dash because she said 20% cooler. You know the phrase, but what does it mean?
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(In case you're curious, my post focuses on stating concerns about the fandom and the ideas surrounding it as well as how they interact with the show, not on the quality of individuals in the fandom itself, and doesn't seek to insult anyone. That's why it's okay by the code of conduct/general manners. NOT because the rules don't apply to me. Well. Not JUST because the rules don't apply to me.)
