Swoop

Well, with over 300 posts in just over 24 hours, I think it's about time we give this whole ordeal a bit of closure, considering that most have had the opportunity to convey their opinions by this point.

Still with us after all this? Well done you if you are; logging on to be met with a distinct lack of a chat, in addition to a handfull of back and forward debates isn't the nicest thing in the world. It's understandable that many folks see it as quite unaccommodating of us to pull the plug on the chat, taking into account not only it's popularity, but also it's functionality. Being able to strike up fun and interesting conversations on a whim was what made the chat work, regardless of how serious or frivolous a topic happened to be.

While I wasn't a chat 'regular' perse, by any means, on the occasions I did pop in, the conversations I was a part of were enjoyable and entertaining. To say that 'nothing of value was lost' as a result of closing the chat, is a bit of a flawed assumption - the right people and the right atmosphere led to killer discussions, and it truly sucks to see that go.

The main underlying issues associated with the chat didn't present themselves until one looked at the whole picture (ie: the 1,423,100 messages that were logged over a 127 day period; a figure that was continuously rising). By examining the logs, one could easily see that there were recurring times where behaviour and chat conduct, overall, was downright shitfull, and by this I'm not referring to light hearted, jovial conversations, but rather a disarray of senseless messages, which in turn led to the quality of the chat being lowered to a standard below that of which we aimed to uphold.

This issues uncovered in the chat logs were directly representative of the sheer number of chat related reports we received, many of which were ambiguous in nature, leaving us feeling quite ambivalent as how to address each given incident. Much of the time, it just as much of an issue to be able to administer a warning to the right people, at the right time, for the right reasons, and with the right interpretation of what occurred, as it was to resolve each influx of reports within a reasonable period of time. Again, many may claim that such issues never occurred during their time in the chat, however bear in mind that a comparatively small sample of time, is not representative of a chat that is active over a continuous 24 hour period.

On top of this, comments received from both the forum survey and feedback indicated that we were unable to practically maintain and uphold a quality chat for all.​ Not because we didn't wish to moderate it any longer (considering that we initially recruited a handfull of chat monitors for that sole purpose), but rather because of the equivocal nature of chat conduct - Regardless of the warnings and suspensions we were able to reasonably issue, poor conduct would forever be a perpetual problem that was troublesome to manage at best.

Moreover, the fact that this website is predominantly focused towards improving and maintaining forum related aspects, as apposed to the likes of IRC-centric websites such as Canternet, adds to the many components we considered before deciding to give the chat the boot.

The MLP Forums chat was implemented on the 5th of December 2011, as a small, barebones feature aimed at providing minor discussion in addition to forum activity, for those who did not wish to utilise the Skype room, as well as a perquisite for reaching a total of 500 members. Over the past months, it grew into something we never intended to become prevalent within our community. We attempted to accommodate for its popularity by means of moderators, terms of service and feedback. In spite of all this, we feel as if the feature has outgrown it's practicality in terms of maintaining a forum wide standard of quality.

If you wish to converse by means of instant messaging, by all means opt for the use of the Forum Skype Group, our weekly Synchtube events, or exchange IM details with those you wish to converse with. The chat may be gone, but other methods of communication will forever exist.

TL:DR - Go back and read it you lazy bugger.

But isn't a chat room suppose to be about chatting about random stuff and not about the show? Just curious about that. They take it down due to the fact we didn't focus on the show in there. I find that kind of strict if you ask me. A Chat room is suppose to be about having fun and goofing off and talking about random stuff about your day or what else happened not about the show. Very strict and kind mean that they did this.

There was never any restriction placed on the chatroom that forced members to talk about pony related topics. The chat was predominantly removed due to the overall poor behaviour that was occurring in there on a daily basis, causing a whole range of recurring issues.

Really???Remove it completely??? Sigh i dont know what to say....

 

So because you werent able to help others and be good you decided to completely remove the chat so few people wont have problems so you wont need to save them and they ll be happy.... Good job you are good people now in your mind...

 

Sigh after finally making the decision to join another forum and trying to ignore the wierd tight internet rules i didnt expect mods/admins would cause me such a problem again...

 

So anyone know any other chat? to have ass main mlpforum unofficial chat

 

There's the Official MLP Forums Skype Group, which has been around long before the implementation of the chat.

And despite closing down the chat once before as a result of poor behaviour, re-opening it with a new set of established rules in an attempt to improve chat conduct, holding a forum-wide survey to receive feedback that included getting members to evaluate aspects of the chat, responding to that feedback with a specific forum to allow users to discuss chat issues such as poor conduct and recurring chat bugs, then yes, we did completely disregard the community and closed the chat on our own accord. We are truly terrible people.

Well, the chat managed to last a glorious length of 127 days, in which 1,423,100 messages were logged. (1,245,100 Public, 178,000 private). The number of post consisting solely of 'lol', 'wtf', '...' 'Head H', '/me commands' or 'mods are asleep post X' is almost beyond the bounds of conceivability.

Trixie and I go on an epic adventure to save the world.

The Great and Powerful Trixie would likely not require Swoop's assistance to accomplish a feat so trivial as rescuing the entire world from the face of impending doom, although it would be a journey of epic proportions nonetheless.

Get mad, Tom.

Typical shipping right here.

Quality shipfics you say? Well, as luck would have it, obscure shipping fanfics tend to be the only MLP related writing I read these days. While I could rally of a handfull of decent fics I've happened upon while sifting through Fim-Fiction and the like, one of the more engaging pieces I've come across would have to be the following:

Name: Merely a Mare

Ship: Luna x Applejack ( a recherché pairing, no doubt)

Tags: Sad, Romance, Tragedy.

Global rating: 222 thumbs up, 12 thumbs down.

Personal rating: 4/5 (5/5 for its time)

Content: Luna has returned to Equestria, but she is as cold and distant as the moon that held her captive. Celestia broods on her throne, regretting mistakes made and prices paid. Twilight Sparkle contemplates betrayal, and as her faith drains away, bitterness takes its place. And in the darkness, a relic of an ancient tragedy watches, his life consumed by greivances that he can neither remember nor forget. Betrayed and betrayers all, four ponies in need of a redemption that only one seeks. Will Honesty be enough to save them? Can one hoof, extended in trust and forgiveness, mend four wounded hearts?

Why I like this fiction: I stumbled upon this shipfic quite early on in 2011 (around the time when 'A Dog and Pony Show' first aired). Consequently, a cannon persona for Luna didn't exist, and fannon dispositions were being thrown around left right and centre in an attempt to come up with a 'best' temperament of sorts. Aside from the eloquent style of writing, and interesting pairing itself, what really caught my attention with this fic was the actual depth of character and degree of intricacy woven in and around each characters nature, making the story an enjoyable read in comparison to many of the second-rate fictions being faddishly slapped together for the sake of throwing another Luna personality into the mix.

Rated: Everyone

Link: Merely a Mare

Artwork:

No ponies this month, only the Forum Skype group.

I've a long night of work ahead of me. Hopefully a bit of Post-rock will see me though it all.

You mean like every company that ever exists?

 

I'd say that FedEx, Walt Disney, Google, RPA, The Aerospace Corporation and a handfull of others would beg to differ. Then again, I suppose in the world of enterprise, negative stigmas are always lruking just around the corner for essentially every business.

Sure, the The Flim-Flam Brothers were the splitting image of modern capitalism, however just by identifying a business as capitalist in nature, doesn't make all their associated practices fair and just. What set the Flim-Flam brothers apart from the Apple family, and labelled them as the episodes antagonists, was their poor business ethics, being namely the following:

• The brothers placed social and ethical values (such as product quality and fair competition) second to that of economic priorities.

• Their business did not account for Inter-temporal sustainability (the rate at which resources were being depleted, resulting in future environmental woes).

• Flim and Flam utilised tactics similar to that of a coercive monopoly, as opposed to 'naturally occurring' control by principled means. (utilising unsustainable production methods in an attempt to crush their competition).

Because the brothers had a business code of conduct comparable to that of a used car salesman (in contrast to the Apple families principles), I think it's safe to say that they can be reasonably labeled as shoddy characters (After all, their names are a play on for the term 'flimflam', meaning to swindle someone by means of a confidence hoax).

There's plenty of us out there who are always looking to expand our musical horizons, and assimilate new generes and artists into our ever growing euphonic music collections. Unfortunately for us, music isn't always given the opportunity to speak for itself, and as a result, some really fantastic music styles are buried beneath genres that have managed to weave themselves into the established music industry. As luck would have it, there happens to be a handfull of underground music sources scattered all across the interwebs. The problem is, finding these sites can be a bit of a bother, as they tend to be as underground as the music they host and promote.

Which leads me to the purpose of this thread - Know of any quality lesser known/innovative artists, genres or sources that would be worth a listen? Post and share them all here! I'll update this post over time to keep a little directory of sources.

For starters, I'd recommend:

• Post-Rock Tuesdays - every week, a new interesting artist of unknown acts is featured, who nevertheless makes impressive music and deserves to receive more attention.
• Liquicity - While not underground by any means, Liquidity is a great source of liquid DnB when you're done sifting through UKF's daily music dump.
• Thesixtyone - Indie music fan? Check out a whole bunch of small time artists here, with a minimal UI to boot.
• PonyFM - Go sign up. Now.

I could go for the whole philanthropism based wish, aiming to promote the welfare of others and all. But in all honesty, I think I'd be most comfortable wishing that I could hand my sole wish over to someone else with more competent and decisive wish-making abilities.

Might as well make my solitary wish one of quality. ^^

While Ludovico Eunaudi is more of a contemporary composer of sorts, I'd say that his music would fit under the umbrella of classical. After all, a bit of breadth to a music thread is always nice. ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsGYKOu1upw

At the risk of sounding all pseudo-intelligentsia, the only goal I hold is to live a simple, knowledgeable life, without any unnecessary apprehension of the future - Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches. The rest has a tendency to follow suit.

Whenever I'm required to provide an email adress for a service that I'm only going to using temporarily, I opt for an expendable inbox service such as Dispostable.

As for everything else, I have a university account hosted through Gmail for all my academic messages, and a separate Gmail account for personal matters.

The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association have some killer tunes.

Clicks link.

Presses play.

Hears remix of rattle.

Instant success. Loved the track list.

Speaking of tracks..

I'm liking it so far. Care to provide a track list? I might wanna grab some of the songs for myself!

 

All of my yes, take it. I hope my Soundhound app can grab some of these; I'm loving the tracks in this mix

 

Here's what I could pick up from ear:

• Bingo Players - Rattle (unsure of which remix)
• Keemo - Beautiful Lie (Chuckie, Ortzy & Nico Hamuy remix)
• Unsure
• Paris FZ and Simo T - Monk
• Unsure
• Donna Summer - Hot Stuff (unsure of which remix)
• Angger Dimas & Bassjackers - RIA
• Avicii - Levels (Cazzette's Nyc Mode Mix)
• John Dahlbäck - Grunge
• Hardwell - Molotov
• John Dahlbäck's - Toolroom Knights Dj Mix - not sure of the song name though!
• Erix Prydz - Pjanoo (Unsure of which remix)
• Unsure

Inb4Spongebobquo- Oh..

My breakfast usually consists of a glass of water and whatever fruit happens to be lying around the kitchen; for the most part I find it pretty difficult to consume anything too heavy in the mornings. I just compensate with a solid lunch.

This episode has commenced airing. All related episode discussion can be posted in this thread.

Just edited the OP and calendar to include the second episode set to air on this date. Nice to see another two parter to finish off the season - I'm starting to get psyched for this one!

Also, if you'd like a sneak preview of the episode, the Hub's gone and released a few small snippets in one of the advertisements.

Warning: Spoilers!

Oh, and inb4thefunhasbeendoubled.

A Brony, simply put, is anyone who takes interest in or enjoys particular aspects of the television show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

While there's undeniably a huge spectrum of variation within the Brony community, including creative aspects, mental dispositions and mindsets, and general levels of enthusiasm for the show itself, the all-inclusive defining term really is as simple as that.

If you wish to be absolutely precise with your definition, and to accommodate for all, you may wish to add 'who is willing to be identified as such'. As some members of the community who do enjoy the show prefer not to be categorised by a particular image or idea.

A history of hip-hop...beatboxed?

Yes please.

Glad you folks like the mix; It's enjoyable to see that there's some appreciation out there for the older genres. ^^

Also, I'll be sure to have a chat with you later, Matackable. DnB and breakbeat are without doubt my preferred choices of music when it comes to anything remotely electronic - old DnB heads are certainly hard to come by!

Any old school dubsep enthusiasts out there? I sure hope so!

Considering the exponential rate at which dubstep continues to evolve and develop, It can be difficult to track down any decent full length, single file, continuous mixes of the earlier dubstep sub-genres. While not as centered towards overwhelming basslines and electronic samples as todays dubstep, I thought I'd share a bootleg mix/mashup consisting of mid to earlier artists, such as Rob Sparx, L-OW, and Benga, when the genre was undergoing its major progressions.

Dubstep Progression.

Any feedback regarding the mix is appreciated.
Otherwise, enjoy. ^^