Is MLP Forums the best forum you've been a part of?

[Sunset Rose 254]

Far from it, unfortunately. Fan forums like this have a number of critical flaws that limit them, mostly being in the fact that they ARE fan forums and not likely to attract people who are not fans. It's not impossible, but not likely. And unfortunately that niche makes it impossible to maintain any kind of growth or even grow in the first place, which means the user base will taper off sharply and eventually fizzle out. But also in that there is no professional moderation or administration team maintaining it on the back end. Just a group of people doing whatever they think is best. Which is about par for the course, really. But that means there is no real structure for support, and unfortunately my experience of having worked as a member of the moderation/administration team in the past has left me with a uniquely jaded perspective and there are a number of unfair and biased decisions made that lead to me leaving that role in the first place. But I won't get into that...

If I were to say what MLPF does best, it's that it's a place where pony people talk about pony things. Simple. But when it begins to generalize outside of that niche is when its own ideological sphere of forum decorum works against itself and things begin to fall apart. This is why we can't have more serious discussions and there are no things like visible user statistics. Just because of the nature of the target user base. And unfortunately that works against its shot at my and others' interest in these boards. The lightning-in-a-bottle nature of Friendship is Magic's popularity will eventually peter out and this place will go the way of all other fan sites. And I have to say because of the socio-political era that MLPF exists, all the restrictions and my general laundry list of bad interactions with users and staff alike, I can't say my experience has been particularly good on top of it.

But on a more fair note, forums just don't have the ubiquity they used to 20 years ago. Fan forums least of all. Reddit is probably the forum with the most potential longevity of all being the most ubiquitous place of discourse on the internet. At least in my opinion. As far as fan sites go, I've probably seen a little too much drama here and it could be colouring my opinion a little, but a sub-par experience is a sub-par experience. I don't log in very much anymore, only when I'm bored on my laptop in bed with no work to do and there are no interesting topics to get into on Reddit. My interest in pony topics kinda went cold when the show ended as well, so...

Edited April 5, 2021 by Sunset Rose

[Magic Note 2,748]

Several years ago, I said the MLP Forums was one of the best forums I have been to. I'm honestly not sure anymore if that's the case now.

I find it difficult to find newer friends on here the past couple years or so because of fears of being a bother to others.

[Savy 5,077]

It's probably one of the only MLP forums I frequent, so yeah I'd say it is. 

[Dreambiscuit 9,691]

It’s the best forum I’ve been a part of. I like it because it has a large, active fanbase that posts regularly and keeps new topics coming all the time. And they don’t fall into the tiresome convention that it’s somehow bad to revive old threads. If it continues to carry interest, keep it going! As long as it continues the way it’s been going, and the staff continues to be diligent, this forum should last a good long time.

[Paleopony 701]

MLP Forums is the best forum I've visited so far.

[TheRockARooster 51,198]

On 2021-04-13 at 7:17 PM, Dreambiscuit said:

It’s the best forum I’ve been a part of. I like it because it has a large, active fanbase that posts regularly and keeps new topics coming all the time. And they don’t fall into the tiresome convention that it’s somehow bad to revive old threads. If it continues to carry interest, keep it going! As long as it continues the way it’s been going, and the staff continues to be diligent, this forum should last a good long time.

You speaketh the truth, Dreamy. 

I love MLP Forums.

Edited July 10, 2021 by TheRockARooster

[dead account 2,710]

Absolutely! It has the best design and it's easy to use. And the reactions are great to show people my appreciation. As I don't always have interesting things to say, the reactions are perfect for me. Most other forums I know look more or less the same and work the same way. Like, oldschool. The only thing I miss in every forum is a list with new topics. There are only the 5 newest topics shown.

And of course, all the amazing friends and memebers!

[ExplosionMare 18,062]

It’s the only forum I’ve joined  I used to be active in the EQD Disqus, though, and while that was fun, discussions were completely random and they would crash easily since replies would come all at once.

[Lunaholic 898]

Currently yes but not the best I've ever been part of. However my opinion might change since I haven't been here for so long yet

[Splashee 28,564]

It is in fact the best forum™

[Cash In 22,313]

Probably. I'm on other forums, but this is the only one I find myself consistently coming back to.

[daviddaviddavid 776]

It's the best in terms of general friendliness/acceptance towards other users, and from a technical/design perspective the forum is quite good too (I've never noticed a bug, good array of features, the artwork here is all lovely). In terms of diversity of topics discussed here it is not the best forum I've ever been on, although since this is a forum created primarily for a specific franchise I shouldn't really be surprised.

[Slendy 2,918]

It's been one of the better ones in terms of being consistently friendly. Other than that, I've been on other forums that held a lot more significance to me nostalgia wise.

[Lucky Bolt 35,063]

It for sure has been. I'm not very active here anymore but I have memories of this place that I'll never forget. 

[Sparklefan1234 170,747]

Wow, I haven't posted in this thread yet? 

---

Yes, MLP Forums is the best forum I've ever been on! 

I've made a lot of awesome, supportive friends & that's more than enough of a reason for me to consider MLP Forums the best forum

that I've ever been a part of. 

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[Savy 5,077]

It's pretty much the only forum I've been on, so yeah I'd say yes it is the best.

[DubWolf 17,263]

I've had better connections with people here than any other forum and arguably in real life. Of course it is. My oldest friends are on here, not even IRL. Though it's arguably easier to do so anyways because you're always connected, though not everybody stays here forever either.

Edited April 19, 2022 by WWolf

[Anaclunt 6]

I don’t know yet, I just joined but it looks like a great forum and I hope to make a lot of friends here.

[Theautisticrebel 304]

I haven't been on much forums, but out of the ones I've been to yes.

[Treeglow Flicker 13,669]

I would say so.

Although, I don't have any flashy titles such as "Transitional Senator", "Commander", "Deputy Head of War", "Head of War", "War Minister", "Government Advisor", etc. Or the large scale claim to fame that I had that came with the forums that come 2nd place on my list. But those things were just mere spinkles on a dessert.

These forums are more friendly and less destructiony. 

[Cash In 22,313]

It is and I'm not just saying that because of staff. I've been on a lot of forums in the last ten years, but out all of them, MLPF has the best community by far. The only other forum I still use is GameFaQs, but even then, I only go on there like once every two weeks.

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

There's certainly been alot of memories made here and it was the first forums I had ever joined.