Closing the FiM forum

[Loa]

The forum always evolves. We always monitor things to see how its going, how things move and what drives members crazy.
I contemplated changing this into a "all cartoons related to MLP" but considering how little is ever discussed about the other shows it would just roll back into a FiM forum.

[Taffeta]

The forum always evolves. We always monitor things to see how its going, how things move and what drives members crazy.
I contemplated changing this into a "all cartoons related to MLP" but considering how little is ever discussed about the other shows it would just roll back into a FiM forum.

I guess that makes sense. It would be for fans of other generational media to make a push to show they wanted to discuss it more, I suppose.

I just feel there's a risk of that happening in the Corral, with FIM shutting out the other generations in what is already a very limited space for that discussion. I think the FIM discussion should be here, but I worry about it being in the only part of the forum that G1, G2 and G3 mainstream discussion can take place.

[Bekuno]

This forum is all absorbing, and I've had mods quit and have panic attacks over it. Good people going white haired! Bekuno was a teenager when she started working in here, and now she's a octogenarian.

I can confirm. I'm pretty sure this forum is giving me white hairs 

Please understand, it's very hard for us as mods to take care of a forum like FIM. The discussion is still welcome, but the reputation this forum has, has made it increasingly difficult to handle. We wanted to give you all time to discuss the closure and how it will be handled, so the announcement was made. We think it is the best choice, and I can say I stand by it more than probably any other mod here!

[Al-1701]

FiM is the vast majority of pony media anymore with more episodes coming at least until the end of the next year.  How much can we discuss the 28 stories of the entire Dream Valley continuity, 26 11-minute episodes of Tales, and a smattering of direct-to-tape/disk G3 stories?  Even throw in the G1 comics which still finite.

A multimedia forum for the creativity section would be nice to have, though.

That said, I'm fine with the forum closing now that I think about it.  If it's causing that much trouble for the mods, close it.  This show isn't worth it anymore.

[Sunset]

Wow, I didn't even know there was a thing such as moderated status.  And I'm sorry that this forum has been such a headache to the mods.   I do completely get that this forum can get contentious and my thanks to the mods for keeping it in check.

I do hope that a couple of the stickied threads mentioned are a general episode discussion thread and a movie discussion thread.  I'm a long time collector and a long time member of the arena. I'd like to discuss the current media here (on the Arena) cause I don't feel comfortable in Brony-centric places.  And besides this is where I keep up with all of my pony news and discussion.

[Al-1701]

Wow, I didn't even know there was a thing such as moderated status.

This was news to me as well.

[Taffeta]

Wow, I didn't even know there was a thing such as moderated status.

This was news to me as well.

That's because the mods respect the members involved and thus treat that status with discretion. They work hard not only to prevent those members getting involved in other confontations but also protecting those members by not letting on to the community that they are being moderated.

Because they do that, people immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was spite against FIM. Unfortunately that is the lot of the moderator, because their job is to act in a way that isn't constantly visible and intrusive in order that the forum can continue to run.

I don't know how much discussion can be had about the original series, but I know other people mooted having the ability to do so more. I personally just don't want to lose the Corral as it currently is.

Or maybe a suggestion that might be possible - if there are to be set threads (maybe like Sunset suggested) for the FIM, would it be possible for the mods to condense discussion about new G4 toy releases into one or two threads rathr than the several there are on the same subject right now? I am guilty of creating one of those threads but there are a bunch right now and they are all talking broadly about the same release - movie toys. The Out now and Coming Soon thread also exists, but if we had them combined into a thread for, say, Movie Toy Releases and Sightings, then that would be cool.

Maybe ditto regarding pony meet threads going into the Pony Fairs area?

If it's all gonna be in the Corral then we're all going to have to think about making sure the Corral is more efficient in order that the changes don't stifle out the older generations.

[Carrehz]

I like your ideas, Taff I can see both sides of it.. I definitely see that moderating the FiM board would be too much, I know things could get out of hand often. So I understand. It does suck for the people that used it often, buuut I think as long as there's still a general episode discussion thread (maybe there could be one per season?) and a movie discussion thread then it'll probably work once everyone gets used to it. It's a shame but if it's this much trouble (and I don't mean that to sound negative, please don't misunderstand me; I completely understand how much trouble moderating things like this can get) then it's honestly not worth it, you know?

[Leave a Whisper]

I've also moderated forums before and can understand where the mods are coming from. They're not saying they're banning all discussion of G4 or the show. It feels like some of the comments here feel like G4 fans are being pushed out, but there is SO MUCH discussion of G4 stuff all over the arena and probably always will be. Only one section is closing.

And that's what we think. We're not banning discussion, we limiting the discussion on the nit-picky "ZOMG DID YOU SEE THAT ELBOW OF A PONY IN A  FREEZE FRAME IN SEASON 42, EPISODE 12, SECOND 92?!1!!!"  . We're not pushing fans out - we want them to branch out themselves!
This forum is all absorbing, and I've had mods quit and have panic attacks over it. Good people going white haired! Bekuno was a teenager when she started working in here, and now she's a octogenarian.

It is VERY stressful moderating forums. I've never modded anything as big as the arena. You all deserve all expense paid vacations. I think closing one section to ease your load and try to integrate fans so we can become closer as a community is a win/win for everyone here. Thank you for all that you do.

It is. I have modded a site which was actually worse than the Arena, both in size and behaviour, and seriously, never again.

I think it would be nice if some of the people who post about FIM came and joined in discussion on other shows and other stuff and included themselves in the outside area. I feel like it's more a case of people complaining the site isn't inclusive because their exclusive limited area of the site might go, rather than actually exploring beyond the limits of that space.

I am still worried about FIM in the Corral and how that will work. I suspect there will be threads posted that have to be removed or merged and the same issues with transpire in those threads that exist in the FIM forum. The only difference is that it will be all over the Corral, which is frankly the ONLY place on the forum where anything mainstream G1 can be discussed. I am fine with an intergenerational Corral, but I think that it would be great if the mods looked at a potential space for intergenerational media discussions going forward.

I think there is a rationale for that to exist and it would open up possibilities of sharing media across generations. FIM discussions could still exist but to a more controlled degree. G1 and G3 media discussions could also exist there. People making multimedia like lostpony was talking about could also go into that kind of a section. Discussion on TV commercials too, perhaps. Who knows?

It might not work out, but given that the Corral is already so busy, is there no possibility of this being considered as a "thing" going forward? The Arena stands out as an intergenerational site where all are welcome. To that end surely an intergenerational media discussion area with strict guidelines on threads would be something that would give the FIM people their space as well as inviting more G1 media stuff and crossovers?

That would also allow the Corral to be more involved with the toy aspect of all generations without putting anyone's noses out of joint.

Can the mods be bribed with cookies to consider this in some capacity going forward?

I've got shortbread.

I've also moderated forums before and can understand where the mods are coming from. They're not saying they're banning all discussion of G4 or the show. It feels like some of the comments here feel like G4 fans are being pushed out, but there is SO MUCH discussion of G4 stuff all over the arena and probably always will be. Only one section is closing.

And that's what we think. We're not banning discussion, we limiting the discussion on the nit-picky "ZOMG DID YOU SEE THAT ELBOW OF A PONY IN A  FREEZE FRAME IN SEASON 42, EPISODE 12, SECOND 92?!1!!!"  . We're not pushing fans out - we want them to branch out themselves!
This forum is all absorbing, and I've had mods quit and have panic attacks over it. Good people going white haired! Bekuno was a teenager when she started working in here, and now she's a octogenarian.

Makes sense.

[Bekuno]

I do hope that a couple of the stickied threads mentioned are a general episode discussion thread and a movie discussion thread.  I'm a long time collector and a long time member of the arena. I'd like to discuss the current media here (on the Arena) cause I don't feel comfortable in Brony-centric places.  And besides this is where I keep up with all of my pony news and discussion.

I've put in a personal request for a MLP Movie thread. We've gathered too much info on it! And You know I eat up every spoiler I find 

[Mirnyj]

I have been away form keyboard a couple of days and hate to type messages on my phone, but what Loa said is exactly what I wanted to say too: the forum keeps evolving and when changes are made they are always carefully considered and seen as the best option to better this place in a whole.

It is absolutely impossible to please every single individual user but we need to be looking at the bigger picture and as of that, closing the specific FiM board that is in fact at the moment only catering to a small handful of people and causing a lot more trouble than it is bringing joy to the community as a whole, and incorporating FiM as a part of our daily pony lives in general is the only right option for now. We are by no means trying to drive our FiM loving members away, you are very welcome to discuss FiM on corral. Just not to this extent of critical analyzing and on a lighter note in general. We are also not intending to let FiM flood the corral, as we have not let any other specific topic do in the past either.

What comes to new toy releases, as G4 is the current generation in the stores it is pretty much inevitable that people will be excited and start topics on them and this is completely okay. When G4 finally fades out the boards will be filled with topics considering the next generation toy releases and that will be completely okay too. That is just one example of the evolution of the pony forums and community.

Just a thought: we do have different kinds of topic icons. Would it make navigating Corral easier if we got more accustomed to using them? As an experiment I went trough all the topics on first two pages and changed the icons to fit the content of each topic. Please go see and tell me if this helps.

[Dulset Tarn]

Honestly this isn't meant to help or hurt the forum's chances, but I did want to at least say that I think 90% of the "toxicity" of the board is because g4 is still going. Once it ends, the tone surrounding the work completely changes, not all for sunshine and rainbows but I'm sure a lot less effort will be put into griping about how bad things are. I can just about guarantee that if g3 were still putting out episodes or whatever we'd have the exact same thing.

[Carrehz]

I can just about guarantee that if g3 were still putting out episodes or whatever we'd have the exact same thing.

But that's the thing.. the cartoons were never a big thing in the community before FiM came about and exploded in popularity. It's not a fair comparison.

[Taffeta]

I can just about guarantee that if g3 were still putting out episodes or whatever we'd have the exact same thing.

But that's the thing.. the cartoons were never a big thing in the community before FiM came about and exploded in popularity. It's not a fair comparison.

We wouldn't have the same thing, because we've never had the same thing. I've been in this community since the 90s, including throughout G3 and there was never ever any hostility about the animation that I can remember. People either liked it or didn't.

There was a different kind of hostility in G2 but as a community we learned from that, realised that we were people and not things behind monitors without feelings. Because of that I think the community welcomed and accepted G3 and as such grew to accept G2 as well.

I love that G4 fans come here, but there is a sense of "right to rant" about this discussion which isn't really compatible with the pony community and hasn't been since the Shadows conflicts of the late 1990s. We want you guys here and we want you to be part of the community. But the mods have the right to say stop if a line is crossed. If that isn't being respected, then they have to take action.

I am annoyed that that action means more FIM in the Corral, because I feel like old generations already get shoved aside by the FIM stuff, but I'll deal with it because as Loa said, the community evolves. The people not evolving are the FIM people...the community has survived this far by adjusting to change and being flexible. It strikes me that not being receptive to the mod warnings has resulted in this, and the people responsible are the ones not following mod advice.

I feel bad for the ones not on that moderated list, who have done nothing wrong. But this has impact for all of us, not just the FIM people. The quicker we work out how to manage that together, the better we all will be.

As I said before, removing the FIM forum doesn't eradicate G4, it brings G4 to the same status as all other generations which don't have their own private discussion space and which have managed to coexist in spite of that.

[Duenia]

I have to wonder if maybe rather than closing the FIM section down completely if giving it a post requirement to be seen (similar to WYP) or if it's possible that maybe being on moderation you lose the ability to use that forum would make a difference? There definitely seems to be a lot that happens over there so I can see getting rid of it due to workload. But at the same time... I've seen some really wonderful stuff over there as well. Like others I'm also a bit concerned about what will happen to the corral once the FIM section is closed. So I have to wonder if maybe there's a way to reduce the workload but still keep the space?