Hello. I have a problem. For reasons I have yet to determine, I am developing a habit as a serial thread killer. While threads always tend to have a sudden drop dead time, this is now happening to me too often to be a coincidence. Two recent egregious examples stand out. The first one was “5 reasons you love your favorite pony”.

http://mlpforums.com/topic/47958-5-things-you-love-about-your-favorite-pony/

At first, all the posts were short and sweet. But then very long, meticulous posts started to appear. Thus the bar was raised for future five reasons article contributors. Most people continued to make concise entries. Others, including me, felt motivated to write larger, more touching five reasons posts. Thus there was a trend towards an increasing number of elaborate entries. So what happens when I put up my big ass essay?

The thread immediately drops dead and I get just two brohoofs. Also, those brofhoofs came from two of my bestest Brony buddies. I’d never take my friends for granted, but sheesh, I was hoping for a little more feedback than that. Fortunately, I take rejection better than some people. Or ponies.

I spent over two hours working on Five Reasons. It has literary gimmicks like similes to add life and draw the reader in. I wanted people to feel for Fluttershy. This was an opportunity for them to see inside the head of the oft-misunderstood pegasus. So, to post it and have it turn out as an almost complete flop with the members made no sense to me. It even caused me to question my abilities. I don’t presume myself to be a good writer; there is always room for improvement. But maybe my piece was utter crap? I was plagued by self doubt so I submitted Five Reasons for review by a forum proofreader. His conclusion: My fine points can use work, but the fundamentals are sound. I already knew that, but due to my nagging anxiety, I needed an impartial observer to reassure me.

The other problem thread is “Which Ponies Have The Most In Common?” http://mlpforums.com/topic/48332-which-ponies-have-the-most-in-common/ Guess what? I figured out the one thing, besides possessing the Elements of Harmony, all six ponies have. I wasn't sure how to proceed because throwing out something EVERYPONY has could bring the dialogue to a screeching halt. On one hand, I thought about waiting until the thread was dwindling down, so as not to undercut the nice discussion already in progress. OTOH, I didn’t want to wait too long and risk somebody else beating me to the punch. I also thought using pseudonyms for the ponies would add some entertainment. Instead, this was a disaster. Not one brohoof. Not one quote. One intrepid soul attempted thread CPR, but to no avail. “He’s dead, Jim.” I can see two reasons why this post turned out to be a killer. One, some may have taken my tone in the second paragraph to be condescending. Two, I unwittingly put my fellow members in a no-win situation. For the thread to continue meaningfully they would need to identify other assets all six ponies have and there aren’t any! I’ll proceed more cautiously the next time I come up with an idea that has the potential to derail a thread. In the spirit of “5 things you love about your favorite pony”, I will now list five possible reasons for why my work is being overlooked:

1. I’m not that popular here. It seems that the way to truly make a name for oneself here includes activities like role play participation, making videos, or posting tons of cute pony pictures. I don’t do any of those things. Maybe I should?

2. Fluttershy isn't that popular here. Even though she tops popularity polls elsewhere, that doesn't seem to be the case in this forum. Since my latest big posts were Fluttershy heavy, there might be something to this.

3. Blame it on my age. The forum's young membership probably expects to see quality writing from grown ups. Therefore, even if I write well, people still find me boring. Gee, I hope this isn’t the case. :/ And what could I do about it? Lie about how old I am? No thanks.

4. Everybody was so blown away by my stuff; they forgot to leave brohoofs and comments. As delightful as that self-aggrandizing thought sounds, I’m not quite that delusional.

5. Everybody finally got tired of reading enormous Five Reasons posts. Folks can only devote so much time to one thread. This may be the most likely and rational explanation of my Five Reasons problem. Too bad it doesn’t say why several other threads fizzled out.

In closing, please don’t mistake this blog as an angry rant or whining. I’m not mad, just baffled. This forum has been so much fun for me and I hope things get even better in the future. My larger posts used to get a nice reception but lately they’ve been ignored. When I take the time to write anything substantial, my hope is always to spur conversation, not stifle it. And maybe, just maybe, I'm having a long streak of bad luck right now. But until I sort this out, I’m not wasting my time with any more oversized posts. For now, I feel like Rainbow Dash when she has those crazy monologues wondering why her fellow citizens don’t revere her any longer in The Mysterious Mare Do Well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toFhxVmzn4A

I couldn't find the exact clip I was looking for, but this does convey RD's inability to understand why she's not popular anymore. If anybody has some ideas on my dilemma, don’t hesitate to give me a holler!