put this together a couple of weeks ago; a loosely-directed discussion with 3 other bronies over Skype


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reply to Grameramera:



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reply to Only_Posts_GIFS:



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reply to Grameramera:



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reply to Only_Posts_GIFS:

gif unrelated



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reply to Only_Posts_GIFS:



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reply to Only_Posts_GIFS:



Step it up.

So, on-topic. Don't go to Equestria Daily, but I'm familiar with Sethisto. Once the show runs its course and the fandom dies down, isn't that guy screwed? I mean, if it's his source of income now, what's he going to do when he searches for a new job and all he has for his resume is "I ran THE site of the pony fandom"?

I dunno, guy seems screwed. I'd check out your video if it wasn't an hour long!!!

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Sinsie wrote:

Step it up.

So, on-topic. Don't go to Equestria Daily, but I'm familiar with Sethisto. Once the show runs its course and the fandom dies down, isn't that guy screwed? I mean, if it's his source of income now, what's he going to do when he searches for a new job and all he has for his resume is "I ran THE site of the pony fandom"?

I dunno, guy seems screwed. I'd check out your video if it wasn't an hour long!!!

screwed? hardly. It's not his full-time job, or even his area of expertise; it's just cash he makes on the side thanks to others who donate their time, content, and resources.
I'm finishing up a parody of the situations discussed in this video - probably more your speed. I will probably post it some time in the next couple of days.

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reply to Grameramera:

Did you just insinuate I don't have the proper mental faculties to handle your video you YOU YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU



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reply to Sinsie:

We can't all be perfect, right?



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Watched it. I liked the parts with facts and statistics. Not a brony though so I couldn't get invested with the issues.

I've heard things like EqD being self-aware of their status and picking and choosing who they want to publicize and join their ring, stuff like that. Guessing no one really had experience with those rumors if it wasn't brought up.

Also the bashing wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Except for Midnight Shaft. Was interesting to see the complaints and concerns for the site anyways.

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Sinsie wrote:

Watched it. I liked the parts with facts and statistics. Not a brony though so I couldn't get invested with the issues.

I've heard things like EqD being self-aware of their status and picking and choosing who they want to publicize and join their ring, stuff like that. Guessing no one really had experience with those rumors if it wasn't brought up.

Also the bashing wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Except for Midnight Shaft. Was interesting to see the complaints and concerns for the site anyways.

Ah, well - glad you liked it!

I wouldn't say no one's had experience with the self-awareness issue, but it's practically impossible to debate. That's why I tried to keep focus on the effects of EQD rather than causes (for the most part). Or, to put it this way... I don't think anyone would say that there aren't artists with "preferred" status who get things posted just because they are who they are. But we wouldn't be able to do more than guess at how or why they achieved that status or how much emphasis is put on it.

If it were just about bashing the site, I wouldn't have asked for anyone else's input. You might have noticed that I hardly bothered to give my own opinions on anything other than statistics. :P

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Oh yeah, introducing me to the Gulf Coast Bronies made me think of something else: since Equestria Daily seems to function as a hub of sorts for news meant for bronies to be intrigued by, shouldn't at least one of their goals be noting and listing all the different sub-groups that make up the whole brony community and putting how to get in contact with them/where to find them?

Like, say you haven't introduced yourselves yet. You notify EqD, share your group's name and details, show that it's a big enough group with also enough activity to be worth listing, and then EqD could add to the site on a huge list of sub-groups yours along with your location, main interests/focuses, etc.

To someone who's spectating from outside this, it only makes sense to me that a website thats main function is to take other pieces of information and link it to its main audience would serve as a way for brony groups to find and attract new people who would fit in with them mostly and manage information on all these groups. They could expand on this by having the groups update their pages on the site with current events going on, projects they may be working on, neat and useful things like that.

If they already do have something like this then just ignore me.

Wait no don't ignore me I swear after waking up from my cat-nap I saw a pony walking around this site. Am I delirious or did Daisy the background pony really start walking all over my screen...

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reply to Sinsie:

Actually, that's why a lot of people are not very pleased with EQD, because they don't do any of the things you just mentioned. At best, a group might get a tiny shout-out, if any mention is made at all, never mind actual information to go along with it.

Wait no don't ignore me I swear after waking up from my cat-nap I saw a pony walking around this site. Am I delirious or did Daisy the background pony really start walking all over my screen...

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So I'm interested in this but I don't know when or if I'm gonna get around to listening to a whole hour of discussion on it; I skimmed around it a bit, though.

The thing is, EqD is certainly an institution in the whole fandom and it really always has been, since quite early on -- it's a site everyone knows, *THE* site people go to for FiM, and it DOES post a ton of news and interesting things. The only things I've personally found detestable about it are:

1) As mentioned, lots of very important/interesting/noteworthy things, sometimes even moreso than things that get major, headlining posts on the site, are shoved inexplicably into the 'nightly roundups' no one reads, if that; and
2) some of the staff are... pretty nuts. Kinda like that one guy with the terrifying OC I saw the bit in the video about. And how, despite being the ONE pony site that should take itself pretty seriously and post meaningful things, very often you'll see things like Cereal posting just, a picture of Rarity. As a major headlining news item. Or worse things, like the time I'll never forget when Phoe posted a half-baked fanart of her OC as an Eevee (so, completely non-pony-related) as a HUGE headlining post, on a Saturday afternoon during an active season (i.e. THE MOST ACTIVE time for the site) whereas that very night something really very interesting was shoved into the nightly roundup -- I forget what. That kinda stuff... just, ugh, man.

But yeah, still, overall, it's like, a very... important site, I'd say. It's a hub from which fans of this pony thing can find all kinds of interesting things they may want to see or read about. It's too bad that there's so much wrong with it apparently, but what can be done? -- Much of the fanbase are younger people who tend to be quite sheeplike, and get hopelessly attached to key sites. See: Derpy Hooves News being basically Equestria Daily but better, but NO ONE uses it. See also: http://twentypercentcooler.net/ serving the exact same purpose as Ponibooru but being objectively superior in every possible way, but NO ONE uses it. At least Derpibooru is a step in the right direction, but still....

Overall, yeah, I dunno. I suppose all that can be done is more bronies discussing the wrongs of the site to a point at which, perhaps, they think about changing; I'm not sure of a whole lot else that could be done about it. It IS funny that they get $$$ for the whole thing, though. I'm not sure how I feel about that...

And Sinsie, you imply that pony will EVER die down that much at this point. I do think it'll soften up a bit and not be the GARGANTUAN FAN-EMPIRE it is right now, and *hopefully* that'll mean shrinking a bit toward the better state I feel it was in early on before everyone and their dog wanted to be a part of it because 'it's a fresh new thing' and not for the right reasons (though that's a whole 'nother discussion); but it's become quite a... thing. If The Big Lebowski can have a convention that runs every year and is still popular, I see the pony community being around for eons -- and let's not forget that future iterations of the show and brand at large will *probably* want to keep these new, passionate fans interested.

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Good point.
































That's it.



Oh, fine.


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