What Is It About You Makes You Feel Less Connected From Most Forum Members?

[Lisa 5,553]

I don't really engage in deep conversations, which basically leads up to me not having many close friends. I also don't RP. I've just never really found enjoyment in it. 

 

I'm also not as interested in the show anymore as I was back in 2013. I haven't even finished season 4 yet and I'm not as active in Sugarcube Corner anymore.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Flitter

[AFK 89]

The fact that I am a new user.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,383]

I have some problems with liking myself, while many others apparently really do like me, as friends of course. As well as that I have an inferiority complex and I guess I don't feel 'worthy' of others at times and that makes me feel distant most of the time. My abilities with conversations are also kinda dreadful while many seem really good at sparking conversation, for me it is a struggle. Not sure how some of you can converse so easily. >.<

[Sceethe 704]

Despite this going against the very message of the fandom, I feel that people on the site act far too kind. A lot of times it has an unnatural vibe to it, as when a lot of people act too nice, the box of hammers that is my brain tells me that something is amiss. So I end up becoming a lot more cynical when I visit the site, compared to what I would say is an optimistic nature elsewhere. So I end up isolating myself in this broken us vs. them mentality. So much for friendship being magic, I guess.

Also I don't like forum roleplay or OCs, even though I have one for that specific purpose.

EDIT: On top of that, I'd say the sheer size of the community makes it feel like there is no community, just an amorphous mass of threads and messages under a web domain.

Exactly

That´s something i have noticed, too.

Everyone acts all sunshine and rainbows, because we all love each other oh so much and hugs and kisses for everyone.

Don´t  read this the wrong way: i like a friendly atmosphere, but in this amount.. it feels like any critique is unwanted, and every insult that would be just accepted as a joke everywhere else

would probably be seen as a real insult.

 

this also makes it hard for me to start a conversation, not that i am already bad enough at starting one.

I´ve always been the kind of guy that makes light-hearted jokes about everyone.It´s just a good way to start a conversation sometimes.

[IcyHaze 594]

I stopped caring after season 1, and stopped watching halfway through season 2.

Also, I don't like the songs, or the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Edited February 6, 2015 by IcyHaze

[Naiya The Brony 483]

i am hestant to start any conversation because i am afraid that i might start an uninteresting one.. that always lead me disconnected to my friends. Even though they are online i still have a hard time starting a conversation with them because i an poor on starting one...

also i don't have that much topic to discuss....

Princess cadence is the best princess and Celestia is better than Luna

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

• I very rarely get involved with show discussion, which is why I never do post there.
• Even though I could do roleplays (it involved acting, which I am decent at), none of them seem to interest me.
• As much as I would like to create art or write fics, my brain just doesn't work that way.
• Even though I could get into some threads in the Debate Pit, I have trouble with trying to come up with enough words to fill the 100 character minimum.
• I seem to have vastly different interests than the vast majority of everyone here. There are a handful that I share interests with, but that's about it.

​All of that makes me feel very out of place around here.

Edited February 9, 2015 by HayaBROsa

[Moonbutt 87]

Probably the loneliness part. I would say I can't relate to most who already have friends and/or family. Living in solitude has caused my mindset different from most, thoughts that just aren't considered the norm. Also my age, although I won't tell because I like to remain anonymous and let my words get through than based on my age or gender. I'm not old, probably average 18-25 I will say. It seems age or gender is taken into consideration more than a person's personality, one reason why I keep it a mystery. Only those I deem trustworthy will know these things, most likely in private.

 

I feel judged based on age and gender, things I could miss out on being potential friends with if it weren't a secret. Through experience, someone would rather know if I'm a guy or a girl and my age rather than talk to me, so it sort of erases that factor, although not completely.

 

I'm also a little too straightforward when saying things, I tend to be bluntly honest but not intentionally offensive. I feel like being truthful to myself is better than hiding under a lie, even though lying could mean being approved by others but being truthful, shunned from them. 

 

I probably spoke too much already, sorry. Long sentences tend to scare most away. So many factors, so many things to think about. I just simply don't think there's only one solution to a problem when the mind is constantly changing and learning, no right or wrong.

[Pineapple Bloom 511]

I'm a 16 year old girl.

It seems like most people on this site are men older than me...

 

Also, I'm not a perverted type of person and it seems that many people find ponies sexually attractive but I don't. :l

[Radiance64 7,053]

I don't like roleplaying in a text format, I understand a lot of the community does but that's just not something I do.

Not much for 1-to-1 talk either- not that I bite or don't want to, I have a very close friend I met here and usually respond to whoever wants to talk to me, I'm just shy and wary of strangers is all, maybe still not all that used to internet chat culture. Tend to wear my heart on my sleeve when posting anyway, maybe I'm just not that mysterious?

Don't really game on a computer either like a lot of users seem to do, Wouldn't hurt to try someday I suppose though, when I can.

[Thuja 3,659]

I'm not good at conversation, I rarely talk to the people on my friends list because I don't know what to say.  

 

I haven't really been invested in the show recently because the tv stations that play mlp here play episodes from seasons 1-3 instead of playing season four, so the only way I can watch season four is on the internet and the internet here isn't all that good(videos seldom load properly).  

 

When there's an interesting conversation going on in the forums about something, I feel like I want to say something but I'm not all that sure what to say, though I can post when it's just a question or...  Whatever.

 

I'm not very invested in the fandom(or any fandom for that matter) so I feel like I don't connect well with other people.

[Lucky Bolt 35,062]

• I don't play video games, like at all. I know squat about them.
• I personally think Tempest Shadow and Spitfire are the most overrated characters and I don't like them.

 

That's actually all I can think of for now. 

[Splashee 28,563]

• Missing out on this forum's popular days
• Being very late to this forum

Yea, both being related. I do feel connected to new members of this forum, but many new members that joined after me, left, even before the last episode of FIM aired!

[Oblivion 20,266]

Being a huge gun rights supporter as there are many libertarians here I'd guess a large majority of the fandom leans left....

[Envy 6,156]

As I said in my last post, I'm not a Brony. I like MLP (in general), but have never liked the term Brony, or brohoof or any of that stuff. Having an aversion to the term brohoof also has kept me from liking others' posts for the vast majority of this forum's existence. I don't understand why the gender-neutral "hoof-bump" couldn't have just been a thing. Also, my interest in FiM has declined sharply over the years since I first joined. I haven't even watched but maybe 4 or 5 episodes of the final season if that tells you anything.

Another thing is that I'm pretty old compared to a lot of members here. I used to think that there wasn't really that big of a gap between me and someone younger, until I returned to college and the freshmen felt like a completely different generation from me. A lot of members here are of that age or even younger. I know you wouldn't think you'd feel so old in your late 20s/30 (late 20s was when I returned to college), but here we are.

I'm also politically to the left, which I've seen is pretty rare among many of the top posters around here.

Then there's also the fact that I have long ago really shut down in terms of being sociable. I'm going to therapy and trying to remedy it, but there are many reasons that came about, and so I don't start conversations with others, I rarely actually reply to anyone specifically, and the "like" stuff I mentioned above? I find it convenient that I have a reason not to use the Like system here, because I honestly get anxious about liking on social media where I don't have that reason to not use it. In those cases I only "like" posts very intermittently and I don't even really know my criteria (it probably changes on a case by case basis), but it always bothers me. Because I feel like I should be liking more posts, but then I feel like it's something that I have to do with more posts and I just shut down.

[fare67t 243]

7 minutes ago, Envy said:

I don't understand why the gender-neutral "hoof-bump" couldn't have just been a thing.

Because it sounds cooler to say Brohoof...? Just because something was the word "bro" in it doesn't mean it's for men only or such. Also pretty sure Brohoof and Hoofbump are two totally different things. Its like comparing a friendly high-five, and the intense AF "hype" high fives that leave your hand numb from how hard you've smacked each other, and calling them the same thing.

 

Anyway, main thing keeping me disconnected is lack of experience / time on the forums (or in the fandom as a whole). Majority of everyone else has stocked the forums for years, have thousands of posts, and have stuck with ponies throughout the entirety of the show (for the most part).

Then you have me, signing up after the show already ended x3

[Envy 6,156]

1 hour ago, fare67t said:

Just because something was the word "bro" in it doesn't mean it's for men only or such.

I understand that's how people see it, but I disagree with the very notion that something with "bro" (which is shorthand for "brother") should ever be gender-neutral. Terms that are gendered should not be gender-neutral (think about it, that makes no sense), and when masculine ones are used as such (which is usually the case, feminine terms are typically only used in a derogatory sense when referring to men) I can't help but see it as related to a very old tradition in English where masculine terms and pronouns have been used as the default because men were understood to be the default themselves.

So I refuse to partake in the "Brony", "brohoof" stuff.

1 hour ago, fare67t said:

Also pretty sure Brohoof and Hoofbump are two totally different things. Its like comparing a friendly high-five, and the intense AF "hype" high fives that leave your hand numb from how hard you've smacked each other, and calling them the same thing. 

I'm pretty sure hoofbump was actually used in either the show or official advertisement for MLP:FiM many years back, and it was shown to just be like a gentle fist-bump which is where the term comes from to begin with.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Envy

[Prospekt 11,018]

I'm just not around a lot. I will never completely abandon this place, but I go through phases where I'm more active and less active. This happens for a variety of reasons... sometimes I don't have ponies on my mind as much due to other interests occupying more of my time, and sometimes I just don't have a lot of free time period.

3 minutes ago, Envy said:

I'm pretty sure hoofbump was actually used in either the show or official advertisement for MLP:FiM many years back, and it was shown to just be like a gentle fist-bump which is where the term comes from to begin with.

Indeed, Pinkie Pie does it during the Smile song and even calls it a hoofbump.

[Here No Longer 5,276]

Unfortunately, there's a good few things:

• That some of them are aggressive towards me apparently just for sharing opinions they don't like or deem offensive. I mean it's the only thing that makes sense to me, so...
• That some of them are more passionate bronies who are actually part of the fandom, and I'm mainly still here so I can vent/talk about things. Still have a few friends here as well.
• That the debate pit is becoming an unbearable far right cesspool instead of a place for actually reasonable conversation, like it used to sort of but not really be. At least it was more friendly back then. Now it's even more toxic than your average YouTube comments section and subreddit combined.
• That some members I will not name who are more than just on my bad side, but on a list I won't share of total @$$holes, and I bet most of them know who they are. Unfortunately, it just keeps getting longer because it seems like people in general are becoming more toxic recently. 
• That so few people on this forum if any at all play Path of Exile or Paladins (mostly the latter).
• That there are seemingly rising levels of homophobia on this site that sometimes make me feel like leaving before people like myself start getting persecuted.
• That I am finding myself increasingly at odds with certain kinds of members. Some people probably have an idea what I may be talking about here.
• That this place is becoming more and more obviously two-faced with time. Sort of goes into other parts of this, but yeah it seems like it's becoming more and more toxic while trying to appear a little less toxic. Almost seems like some gestures made by the you know who are purely symbolic and do nothing at all.

 

Suffice it to say, if I found a better community that's this sizeable I'd move there, but unfortunately, some of these trends if not most of them are infecting the internet as a whole and therefore every other forum site that can be found with an actual community.

[TBD 17,254]

That everyone here already have their username all figured out...

But honestly, I don’t really know since I’m pretty content where I’m standing. Sure there are some thing or people here I don’t agree or get ghosted but I tend not to let it ruin this “second home” for me and just let it be bygone.  
Generally, You just need to know where to find a good group people and to know where  to back away from a ugly group of people. 
 

 

[Cagey 4,248]

I don’t really get into conversations with people. And I’m pretty new. And I don’t know how to socially interact, on the internet as well as real life. 

[Savy 5,077]

I literally suck at any kind of conversation, which leads me to not have very many close friends, if any at all.

Plus I don't know squat about socially interacting with people, online or IRL. :/ 

[Sunset Rose 254]

Other users feeling less connected to me? I would probably say I can sometimes present myself as inapproachable, and I don't know if I'd argue that anymore. The desire to even be approached just isn't there anymore so I'm sure there's some 'body language' to it as well.

Me feeling less connected to other users?Age, past conflicts, actions and inaction from administrators and my increasing impatience for other people's nonsense.

[Lucky Bolt 35,062]

21 hours ago, Vegeta sama said:

Being a huge gun rights supporter as there are many libertarians here I'd guess a large majority of the fandom leans left....

I'm a huge gun supporter too and I'm libertarian.  Well...more like right-wing libertarian.   

[Oblivion 20,266]

2 hours ago, Lucky Bolt said:

I'm a huge gun supporter too and I'm libertarian.  Well...more like right-wing libertarian.   

YES! Same here and while it is true ive meant a load of libertarians here ive also got into my fair share of (somewhat unwelcome) debates about the validity of the 2nd amendment and gun rights in general....Basically a lot of lefties as well!