I recently read a reply on Equestria Daily from a fellow "brony" who's both a fan of MLP:FIM and the older generations to me. She doesn't find enjoyment of this fandom nor likes bronies one bit due to them "always" acting like kids such as being overzealous, occasionally respond passionately negatively to older generations like G3/G3.5, etc.

This is is a response to both her and various other bronies who feel similar. (The quoted passages are similar to what I responded to, but paraphrased to make the blog more general.)

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When I see bronies, I see nothing but immaturity and childlike behavior from them.

Quite frankly, you're not looking at all the places. We have Equestria Daily, YouTube, DeviantArt, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, 4Chan, various forums like the MLP Forums, and so on. The fact is that the brony fandom is so widespread, and not all the bronies follow these places so extensively to the point where they become extremely active participants.

There are so many outlets of the brony community that we tend to have both the good AND the bad blended together, but the fact of the matter is that the passionate, yet overzealous, portions of the community tend to be the loudest, but they're also amongst the smallest. There are so many great contributions to the fandom that break from this stigma and make this fandom as great as it can be. We've got fanfiction, fanart, music, plushies, customs, 3D prints, analyses/essays, pins, traditional art like canvas painting, communication between fans and the staff, reviewing (both professional and amateur work), presentations, convention organizers, brony charities, etc. Some of us are really active in one or more of these categories, but many of us aren't fully active at all and occasionally dabble here and there. But even with the occasional drama doesn't change the fact that the majority of the community is hardworking, loving, and want to show how much they adore the show to this fandom. And a lot of these works are good, great, or AMAZING; and they all by far outweigh the bad.

And I say this with experience. Some of the griping here or there is NOTHING compared to other places I've seen. I'm a part of the Sonic fandom, and I both keep an eye on it and participate in it constantly. What you see here is NOTHING compared to there. The Sonic fandom is easily more divided (with fans of some specific outlets; the franchise has exclusively fans of the comics, games [some only a fan of the Classic Era from 1991-1998], cartoons, Sonic X anime, etc.), and it's literally ten times more cynical and fierce. However, despite the fierce cynicism, the fandom itself is passionate and just wants the franchise to be extremely great. Beyond the testy wall, it's a great community, and it deserves that rightful respect. If the Sonic fandom, with all its division, deserves its respect, then the brony fandom deserves respect in return with the even less occasional drama it carries.

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But because of their immaturity, I find myself always scolding bronies to the point of being a fandom nanny.

Contributing to promote the community is great, but doing it the way you're doing is the improper way to go. At times, it is appropriate to criticize some actions of the community and coach the community to sway more to the positive direction, but only at an extremely rare situation when you have an extremely good reason. But when it gets to the point of being a "nanny" repetitiously, then that's actually a problem. When you act like a "constant nanny" in the fandom, then you take the little drama that's there and suddenly increase the chance of amplifying the tension on all sides. Instead of dispelling it, it makes you look like you're badgering; it worsens the drama, resulting in making the fandom look much worse than it objectively is, and that's NOT what this fandom needs.

That's why the communities and Tumblrs highlighting the sour side of the fandom are so bad and not worth the time joining, following, or commentating in: They hypocritically amplify the drama. Many of these places are run by fellow "bronies" to make themselves look better and saner than the rabid (and sometimes prejudice) bronies they highlight and mock, and several other bronies follow them by association to make themselves look better. They follow and sometimes join the fray to make themselves look more mature when all it does is show the opposite. Remember One Bad Apple, and how Babs Seed, under peer pressure, bullied the Cutie Mark Crusaders and how the CMC tried to pay her back by sabotaging her float. It merely made the CMC look like bullies. That's what those anti-rabid brony communities look like. They see something bad and either get mad or laugh at them. They claim to be the "saner," "better" bronies, but all it does is make themselves look like bullies, and more often than not, they'll look worse than the people they mock.

If you really want to contribute positively to the fandom, there are many other better ways to do it. Examples include going to conventions, conversing casually to other bronies (and instead of scolding them all the time for going too far, coach them into doing the reverse and help them feel good about themselves and give solid, constructive advice on how to handle their own as a brony better), writing fanfic, drawing/painting fanart, contributing to charities, collecting, cosplaying, writing long analyses, and so on. Positively influence the brony fandom by promoting the artistic and upbeat qualities of the fandom rather than highlighting the negatives all the time. They don't have to be extreme contributions to the point of making you look like a die-hard fan, and you can choose whichever your preference, but they must collectively have more impact that what you're displaying at this point.

As for being a "fandom nanny," I suggest taking that and putting it at the very bottom of your résumé. Only do so as an extremely last resort. And if you're a follower of the anti-rabid brony "lulz" places, sign off of them and pretend they don't even exist. It'll alter your overall viewpoint of the fandom for the better and make you feel much less cynical.

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I'm a fan of the show and other MLP franchises, but I'm not a brony because I don't get involved in the brony fandom nor follow/enjoy the brony fanon.

I hear this reason all the time here and in other fandoms, and my answer is always the same whenever I run into them.

This reason is ridiculously flawed, because you're seriously overthinking what makes a brony a brony.

You don't need to be a heavy contributor to the fandom nor follow all the common fanon ideals religiously to be a brony. Most bronies here aren't even heavy contributors, but they do whatever it takes to better themselves and show why they love to be a brony. My contributions, for one, are anything but heavy. They're extremely light compared to what we see here in this fandom all the time. But I'm a brony because I love the show; the community is a welcomed bonus.

For the latter claim, I'm a Sonic fan who doesn't conform to the general ideals of the fans of the Classic Sonic Era, one that is considered to be the peak of the franchise and fandom. Almost three years ago, I wrote a whole essay supporting the post-Classic Era. However, just because I don't conform to most of the "basic" Classic Sonic fandom politics doesn't make me any less a fan of both the franchise and the fandom nor does it mean I have to give myself an extra haphazard label to constantly stand myself out amongst the rest of the fandom. I'm still a Sonic fan nonetheless.

This applies to you. A brony is nothing more than being a fan of MLP:FIM. If you're a fan of both FIM and at least one of the older generations, you're both a MLP fan AND a brony. You don't need any other labels to separate yourself from the thousands of "other" bronies. If you do, however, you look no less pretentious than some of the overzealous members of the fandom you supposedly confronted.

Every single fandom has a huge group of positive contributors as well as its fools. My three other fandoms — Digimon, Sonic, and the railfan/busfan hobby community — have them. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has that, too. They have their overzealous members, and they also have some sub-divisions. Some of the more overzealous crew will mellow out and realize how silly they look; some of them will use their zeal more wisely; others may prance to another fandom to play with. I see them, too, and I won't lie — it gets annoying. But like I said before, the fandom is full of absolutely loving and caring people who do nothing except express their passion for MLP:FIM. There are so many people who desire to contribute to the fandom, and it'll do nothing except make the fandom grow into something even better than what it was yesterday. It was a great fandom two days ago. It was a great fandom yesterday. It's a great fandom today. It'll be a greater fandom tomorrow. It'll be even greater than that on Saturday. You get the gist.

Look back at that what the brony fandom was just over two years ago — it was only a small subset. Now it's a pop culture phenomenon full of people all over the world in varying countries, religions, and cultures, all spreading via social media. It's highly possible we may never see anything like this again. So enjoy it while it lasts, because one day, it'll end, and you'll look back and regret not enjoying it when it was at its peak.