Happy Birthday, MLPForums! Seriously!

13 years old, today! You know what that means? You can finally make your own account here on MLPForums :v
Uh.. wait. wut? 

Haha, but all joking aside, on this special day, I'd like to celebrate by making a blog post in honour of online friendships and its uniqueness. I've been meaning to for a while, but never got around to it due to many distractions.

The Beauty of Online Connections/Friendships

Side note:
Having in-person friendships is very important. Online friendships shouldn't be a replacement to in-person ones. However, during the evolution of this digital age, I'd like to delve a little deeper into how I came to discover the meaningful and enriching experience of online connections. It is truly a unique experience compared to the common ones of in person meetings.

Over a decade ago, I did not believe in online friendships. Online people were creepy. They were strangers, probably wearing a mask and trying to scheme. It wasn't until I got into this online gaming platform that required coordination from an online team that I started to open my eyes and see otherwise. 

There were several people who admired me for some gaming skills, but I simply shrugged it off as mindless flattery. Again. Strangers. Ew. So, when they would message me, I'd take things with a grain of salt.

Then, one day I get a message from one of the girls. It read,
"Help me!"

I didn't know what to think. How am I supposed to help someone in another country?
Clearly, this was some sort of a prank. 

"What is happening?" I reply dryly. 

The person replies, "Smoke! All over my home! Please Help!" 

It didn't make any sense. I asked her to call the authorities and she said "I did, but they can't do anything about it!" 

Ough. Really? Totally makes sense. 

Me: "Then call your parents?"

Her: "They're not home! The whole area outside is also covered in smoke! They can't do anything about it." 

Me: Even outside the home? Oh for goodness sakes, stop making jokes about something this serious, please!

Her: I'm not joking!

It made no sense... how could I, someone in the States, help someone all the way in her country?? It was so ludicrous I was almost offended. 

Becoming frustrated with the helpless situation, I referred to one of the other leaders of the group and he said to me "yeah, we've contacted her parents. Apparently there's a smoke engulfing all of Singapore..."

I couldn't believe my eyes... I went to the news and saw it live right on the spot, frozen by the realisation...
"Wait, she was authentic? She wasn't just messing with me?"
My heart melted 1000 times and that hard protective exterior kind've cracked a little bit. We did our best to offer as much support as we could and in the end, she turned out to be okay. The friendship strengthened and it was as if something new had awakened in me.

A year later, I flutter my way over to MLPF... It's jumping with activity and all kinds of "cool kids." I was so shy and timid. But little did I know the chapter of my life would take a deeper turn in my learning about online friendships and the deeper meaning they can hold.

This site would introduce me, quite literally, to amazing friendships that have lasted a lifetime and even a person who would later come to meet me in person to save my life! What the heck?!

Online friendships, as long as you've cultivated them with time, care, sincerity and a healthy dynamic... are precious. And I took it upon myself, as Administrator of this beautiful site, to ensure that users carry that torch of forming healthy connections. Even if I myself have not been living up to my own standards, as of late. 

Ahem, regardless! 

I'd like to try to express what it feels like to make an online friend or connection. 

Especially in a place like MLPF. You start off only seeing their PFP. From edgelords offering a contrast to the wholesome, to innocent pony pics smiling in your direction.. each presentation of an individual showed you an aspect of that person behind the screen.

Then, there were the posts they made. These were like little windows into their thoughts, souls, ideas... and when you clicked, holy moly did you click!

I posted in something by mistake and a ton of people started messaging me, which, freaked me out LOL So I stopped posting after that and mainly took my connections to Skype back then. (How I miss that Skype sound when joining group calls lol)

When you clicked with a person, you could really explore to go deeper on that connection until you'd hit a wall where you're different and then you realise, "This is a real person who is not mimicking me! So they're going to be different. That is SO cool!"

Because there's no face/body language, people are forced to get to know you from the inside. LOL there is only the pure connection on whether or not you two vibe or understand each other. Of course, I did encounter some people who wore masks, but those masks can't stay on for long before it becomes itchy under the warming sun of kindness and wholesome. It is almost comical to witness. Especially in a community like this one where everyone ensures the safety and comfort of users should a stranger behave in any disrespectful way. 

This blog is getting pretty long and I feel like I've digressed. But I will definitely try to delve deeper into the abstract beauty of online friendships/communities.

For now

 A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MLPFORUMS.COM!

And thank YOU for being part of it! 

Here are some lovely new MLPForums emojis to honor the event!