This website and its future

[Ezynell 2,036]

Now that some big wigs (Stephen Colbert, Notch, Deadmau5, and Yogscast) have joined the Brony community, what do you think, or more importantly hope, will become of this website? Personally, I love it just the way it is and don't really want a ton of new members. It would be good for the site and beneficial towards its growth, but I feel more part of a community here. Whenever we get a new feature added to the site, or do livestream events, I feel as if I'm close to you guys. If we get a ton of members, that feeling will fade. Also, we wouldn't be able to do alot of activities that makes this a fun place. The (soon to come) Minecraft server would need alot of maintenance to keep track of, trolls would take over, and people like me, ProjectRKA, and Fluttershy wouldn't be able to do events like "Free Signatures Everypony" or "Christmas Avatar Special" because of the sheer number of people. Most of all, if this was a huge site, I would loose personal connection to all the active members, because everypony would be an active member. Thoughts, Ideas? I love everypony. Thats all.

 

TL; DR- what do you hope for the future of this site? Why?

[Finesthour 7,286]

Don't even bring this up.

 

Every fandom dies, at some point.

 

I don't even want to think about this fandom dying.

 

I will enjoy being a brony now, and if this site does die, I will always remember it.

[Derpy.H 177]

The (soon to come) Minecraft server would need alot of maintenance to keep track of, trolls would take over

 

Whitelist. Sorted.

[Lyra Heartstrings1 53]

Omg! I'd love this to happen! Well, all us bronies on this site would... It would get this website even more popular, and think about Notch's tweets! *Dies* And he'll probably give this site a shoutout! Imaging if he added ponies to the game... Omg. *Dies* ...Again

[Ezynell 2,036]

Don't even bring this up.

 

Every fandom dies, at some point.

 

I don't even want to think about this fandom dying.

 

I will enjoy being a brony now, and if this site does die, I will always remember it.

 

I was more thinking about what would happen if the site expanded, but yes. I agree. I love being a brony. Even if it become mainstream.

 

Whitelist. Sorted.

 

I forgot about that

 

Omg! I'd love this to happen! Well, all us bronies on this site would... It would get this website even more popular, and think about Notch's tweets! *Dies* And he'll probably give this site a shoutout! Imaging if he added ponies to the game... Omg. *Dies* ...Again

 

Have you seen the "Mine Little Pony" Mod? It adds ponies to the game.

[Lyra Heartstrings1 53]

I was more thinking about what would happen if the site expanded, but yes. I agree. I love being a brony. Even if it become mainstream.

 

 

 

I forgot about that

 

 

 

Have you seen the "Mine Little Pony" Mod? It adds ponies to the game.

 

Yes, I made a post about it And it doesn't add, we become one :3

[Derpy.H 177]

Have you seen the "Mine Little Pony" Mod? It adds ponies to the game.

 

I think he was talking about adding CPU ponies.

[Lyra Heartstrings1 53]

I think he was talking about adding CPU ponies.

 

Correct. :3

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

Possibly one way to keep the community close knit after expanding (if it does) is create new separate seniority boards (in addition to the normal forums now) where members who have been around longer can interact closer again in their own space. Kinda like how Gamefaqs has user levels (New User, Vet, Ancient, Legend, etc) with their own special boards *shrugs*

[Colon Leftbracket 971]

I've seen talks on getting celebrity on this site... this displeases me. This would most likely become a cancer to the forums!

 

It would be better if someone from the forums becomes a "celebrity" in the brony community.

 

However I just wish this forums stays calm and active for months (if not years) to come!

[AppleShy Sparkle 311]

It would be fun with a little more members, but you are very correct that on this level everypony has much more personal contact. If we had about 5000 members, it would be extreme amounts of spam, we would be flooded with pointless posts and status updates like ''i just went shopping som bananas''. And most importantly, i think all the active people here who enjoy discussing and having fun with the other people here would become split up due to all the new activity here. And i wouldn't like that

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

It would be fun with a little more members, but you are very correct that on this level everypony has much more personal contact. If we had about 5000 members, it would be extreme amounts of spam, we would be flooded with pointless posts and status updates like ''i just went shopping som bananas''. And most importantly, i think all the active people here who enjoy discussing and having fun with the other people here would become split up due to all the new activity here. And i wouldn't like that

 

Do you like mmmmbananas? Lol I had to because you mentioned them. But yeah, I agree with this.

 

Maybe the # of members gets capped at a certain number then make registering an exclusive event, like open up registry a twice-a-year sort of thing.

[Zoop 8,384]

Now that some big wigs (Stephen Colbert, Notch, Deadmau5, and Yogscast) have joined the Brony community

I wouldn't say that throwing out a single (or otherwise infrequent) mention of bronies or MLP in general qualifies as being a part of the 'community', really.

 

Truthfully, I think you're worrying a bit too much; you're not going to wake up one day and find that the site has outranked 4chan and Reddit in terms of incoming traffic... also, keep in mind that any massive increases in traffic will be gradual enough that the administration will have time to prepare for and cope with it. They may have to bring on a few moderators or whatever in order to keep potential trolls/spam under control, but that's not really a huge deal.

 

I don't know if creating special boards for people that have been around for X amount of time is a great idea, to be honest. While it would serve to keep the community oldies together, it would also serve to keep them separate, and could lead some people to develop an ego trip over how long they've been registered on the forum. Overall I think it could cause more discord than harmony, as a community, in my eyes, shouldn't have exclusive clubs, nor should it be an exclusive club in and of itself.

 

Given the quality of what Kurtiss and Feld0 have tossed together here I think it's only natural that it will continue to grow - but - I don't necessarily think that such growth will be a universally bad thing... only time will tell on that.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Zoop

[Ezynell 2,036]

I wouldn't say that throwing out a single (or otherwise infrequent) mention of bronies or MLP in general qualifies as being a part of the 'community', really.

 

Truthfully, I think you're worrying a bit too much; you're not going to wake up one day and find that the site has outranked 4chan and Reddit in terms of incoming traffic... also, keep in mind that any massive increases in traffic will be gradual enough that the administration will have time to prepare for and cope with it. They may have to bring on a few moderators or whatever in order to keep potential trolls/spam under control, but that's not really a huge deal.

 

I don't know if creating special boards for people that have been around for X amount of time is a great idea, to be honest. While it would serve to keep the community oldies together, it would also serve to keep them separate, and could lead some people to develop an ego trip over how long they've been registered on the forum. Overall I think it could cause more discord than harmony, as a community, in my eyes, shouldn't have exclusive clubs, nor should it be an exclusive club in and of itself.

 

Given the quality of what Kurtiss and Feld0 have tossed together here I think it's only natural that it will continue to grow - but - I don't necessarily think that such growth will be a universally bad thing... only time will tell on that.

 

You're probably right, but I like the personal level that everybody has now, and wouldn't be present on a community with alot of users

[FLARE 951]

Yeah, I like this community because its small, everyone knows everyone and that makes it nice.

[Spock 91]

This site will soon overtake Google, we all know ponies will take over the world.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,521]

The primary concern I'm seeing here is that some of you fear growth, because you feel it might detract from the wonderful tight-knit community feeling we have at the moment. This is a valid concern and I understand where you're coming from. But I'd like to clear up a couple of misconceptions:

• Forums thrive on discussion - that is the primary type of content they offer, but what is it that keeps discussions interesting? After a while, talking to the same set of people day after day, week after week, and month after month can and will begin to get uninteresting. A constant stream of new members means a constant stream of new ideas, new opinions, and new cultural backgrounds that diversify the very discussions you love. Artificially limiting registrations for the sake of excluding people from the forum in an attempt to deliberately keep it small (let's face it - that's what is being suggested) is simply unsustainable.
• Excluding people from sections of the forum will only segregate the community. Zoop hit the nail on the head there.
• Having 5000 members doesn't mean we'll be overrun by trolls or spam. No matter how large the community grows, I promise you that we'll have tight enough moderation to roughly maintain the quality of posts you see now. Kurtiss and I also strive for absolutely zero trolls. I've seen so many forums die off from such problems, I know well enough not to let it happen to any of my own communities.
• Even though the chances of gaining a thousand members overnight are second to none, we're ready to deal with a "worst-case scenario" at absolutely all times. Trust me - Kurtiss and have handled much larger forums than this one before, and we know what we're doing.
• "Bigger is not always better" - likewise, smaller is not always better, either.

I've seen talks on getting celebrity on this site... this displeases me. This would most likely become a cancer to the forums!

 

It would be better if someone from the forums becomes a "celebrity" in the brony community.

 

That is my ultimate dream - to make MLP Forums a hub for talented bronies who need a home for their projects where they can expect to have an audience, receive honest feedback, and grow side-by-side with the community. How cool would it be if the next Fighting is Magic kicked off here, going from a simple forum post to one of the most anticipated projects in the fandom?

 

I'm a big believer in ambitious fan projects and even have plans for a couple of my own. It's the reason I allow such generous attachment uploads - because I want to spare people the trouble of fumbling with filesharing sites that turn a profit off of every ad-laden download they serve. It's also the reason I'm actively developing a brand-new site for the purpose of hosting pony fan music.

 

Now that some big wigs (Stephen Colbert, Notch, Deadmau5, and Yogscast) have joined the Brony community, what do you think, or more importantly hope, will become of this website?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I see a direct correlation between Notch becoming a brony and MLP Forums experiencing exponential growth.

[Ezynell 2,036]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I see a direct correlation between Notch becoming a brony and MLP Forums experiencing exponential growth.

 

It's more of the fear that with more popularity, the MLP franchise will become more accepted. My Little Pony's fanbase is so kind and welcoming because only open minded people, that aren't afraid of being judged, and are willing to express their beliefs become part of it. If that were to change, and it became completely accepted to become a fan of MLP, the community would become like any other. That's just my two cents, I'm not an expert on psychology.