Man...very deep stuff. All I can say after reading this is, thank you for maintaining such a friendly and sunny disposition around here, even whilst fighting tooth-and-nail to defend your favorite pony's honor. This place really could really benefit from having more people like you around for a forumwide positivity boost, to counterbalance the negativity that's been radiating off of people like myself lately. Your will to uplift others in spite of your own problems reminds me of who I used to be around here, before I allowed stress and feelings of abandonment to overcome me. My only advice would be not to follow me down the same pit...for the love of all that is good, keep being the awesome person you are. We all really need it.

The fact that so many people feel afraid to say that Rarity is their favorite a bit disconcerting but I suppose as an Applejack fan I can relate somewhat. I never got hate PM's or trolling directed at me and I didn't see any Applejack fans being trolled but there is the enduring perception of her being "boring" and there are a few people that don't give her a chance as a character because of her accent or rural background. I haven't witnessed any direct hate toward Rarity fans, but was aware of its existence though wasn't aware of it being this bad.

While I have never had anyone troll me for liking Applejack except for those ridiculous topics by a certain user playing up racism, incest and other hillbilly stereotypes that did not apply to her in the slightest which seemed to be directed toward upsetting AJ fans in general. I have been trolled and bullied over other matters in the past (not on here) and can attest that yes if someone is doing it to you than they probably are doing it to someone else as well and it is for that reason that I can say that your approach of being civil yet passionate in your defense of Rarity and trying to keep a positive attitude in general while reporting trolls and flamers is indeed the right one.

The fact that so many people feel afraid to say that Rarity is their favorite a bit disconcerting but I suppose as an Applejack fan I can relate somewhat. I never got hate PM's or trolling directed at me and I didn't see any Applejack fans being trolled but there is the enduring perception of her being "boring" and there are a few people that don't give her a chance as a character because of her accent or rural background. I haven't witnessed any direct hate toward Rarity fans, but was aware of its existence though wasn't aware of it being this bad.

 

While I have never had anyone troll me for liking Applejack except for those ridiculous topics by a certain user playing up racism, incest and other hillbilly stereotypes that did not apply to her in the slightest which seemed to be directed toward upsetting AJ fans in general. I have been trolled and bullied over other matters in the past (not on here) and can attest that yes if someone is doing it to you than they probably are doing it to someone else as well and it is for that reason that I can say that your approach of being civil yet passionate in your defense of Rarity and trying to keep a positive attitude in general while reporting trolls and flamers is indeed the right one.

I've done more than just defend Rarity

This whole blog was about my experiences, both on and off this site in the past 2 months, and how much it's helped me

Regardless, I think her detractors are just much more vocal than other haters of other ponies. She seems to be pretty well liked amongst the fandom

Glad to see you have a great light at the end of your road pal.

I too enjoy rarity, she's my favorite and best character to me, and anyone else who knows she is, so glad to see your a big fan as well.

Also, glad you had a pleasant experience, and nice to meet you dude.

That was a pleasure to read. I too felt a bit neglected when I first joined and I wondered if being older than most of the forum members had something to do with it. But I persisted and by, say, my five month anniversary, I was getting much better results. There's just something about this place. I've made two of my closest online friends in years here.

And, yes, Rarity is a great pony and she has plenty of fans here. Even though she's not my personal favorite, I do like her very much.

Sorry to hear about your medical issues but I'm happy to hear you pulled through on that and even relied on your friends here for support.

Thanks for laying all that out for us. I found it very inspirational. 

Welcoming new people is something that we all can and should do. Back when I was a regular Joe (I technically still am, but you know what I mean) and a Community Steward, I did it more often. Somehow I let it fall by the wayside. Easy enough for me to do since the idea of welcoming people in a dedicated welcoming section was foreign to me. The place I left when coming here didn't have one. You just dive right in and get to posting. Which is precisely what I did to great effect when I arrived at MLPF. Hearing that it had a significant impact on your sense of belonging and desire to stay makes me want to reform that old habit of greeting every new person I can. Thanks for that.

You and I share a heart condition. Never knew that. Probably a different one, but interesting to know we both have faulty tickers. Not sure what my problem is though. People in my family have been known to spontaneously drop dead of heart attacks before the age of 30. Heart problems run rampant on my mom's side. Mine has done a few weird things and fluttered erratically before. Don't want to get it checked out though. I'll take life as it comes and try to make the best of things. I'd rather not get stamped with an expiration date or have to rely on some contraption.

As for receiving hate because you love Rarity, can't say I've ever experienced that as a guy who's best pony is Twilight, nor with Applejack as my second. Being hated for where I come from, how I speak, what I look like, or any other ridiculous reason is something I can relate to, so I'm not going to criticize someone else for liking something I don't or am at least not as passionate about. Rarity fans are few in number, but I'm certainly glad to have you around.

Dedication like yours to making this a better place and persevering through our sometimes glaring shortcomings means more to me than you could know. Stay classy.