The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: LightingElectricDream on December 17, 2018, 01:14:13 PM
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Hey guys is it just me of is the forum dying?
Seems to be less people around.
Maybe facebook is to blame?
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Right before Christmas is always slow online.
But yes there has been a massive exodus to social media recently.
Not good since buying/selling/trading now has little repercussion.
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I also think it’s a little slower around Christmas but the Arena is still active and a fun place to be. :) I’m usually here everyday but sometimes don’t have time to post as much as I’d like to.
Ponyfan
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Nah, the Arena's decently active. It is probably less so than normal at the moment because of the holidays though.
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I hope not? I like it much better here than on social media.
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I don’t think it’s dying. The arena, as long as there are ponies, cannot die. Is probably due to the holidays. People are spending more time than usual with family than on the arena. This happens every year.
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I wouldn't say the Arena is dying, but I do think MLP collectors have diversified onto other platforms to the extent where it's not "the center of the collecting world" anymore.
Which is a good thing, because you don't want to have everyone on one platform, in case it goes down. You never know what life will bring.
I do think forums in general are a dying breed, and the ones that are surviving are the ones that have a large userbase from when they were at their height. It would be very hard to start a new forum and get it to gain users and stay active. I think people in general are moving away from "one thing" specific sites. Like, they would rather join a Facebook group about stamp collecting than join a stamp collecting forum.
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Nope.
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I never noticed that much of a change. I think I also agree about places slow down too during the holiday rush.
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Lady Moondancer nailed it pretty well!
Definitely blaming the holidays for the slowness, too. Although it's certainly livelier here than other places I've seen.
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I hope the Arena is around for many, many moons. I love FB and am in a number of groups but it's just so hard to keep track of topics, finds posts etc. This is so much easier in a forum.
It's a pretty great group in here I'd say with no drama. It's a feel good place to be. <3
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I've noticed it has slowed down recently but echoing what others are saying here, I think it's temporary.
I know I've been active quite a bit less because I'm moving in a month and won't be able to take my ponies with me right away, they will be safely boxed up and stored at my mother's for a few months and I'm really going to miss them. :( I've been withdrawing from pony stuff ever so slightly just so I won't be so sad when I have to leave them. Ice Crystal is going to come with me but I'll miss the rest of my little ponies in the meantime! It'll be okay, I had to do it once before and was without them for two years... Our love will never die, they'll return to me! 17 years together, they always do! xD
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I don't think it's dying (I certainly hope not) but yes I agree it has very much slowed and I think FB is totally to blame.
A couple of years ago this place was really busy, everything from the corral to sales, but I think people are more inclined to share pics/comment on facebook now. It's what I've noticed, anyway. I think it's much easier (just generally speaking - I'm not speaking of behalf of everyone!) for someone to hit a 'like' button on fb than make a personal, meaningful comment, which is part of the charm here.
I personally find all the fb pony groups hard to keep up with although the reach, because of the high migration, when you need a quick answer or ID sometimes is just (sadly) easier there now. Comments here in that regard are sometimes like getting blood out of a stone I've noticed.
I wish is wasn't so, because the arena has always been my favourite pony home :sad: And I miss a lot of the mods who used to comment frequently, particularly in the corral. Where did you guys go? :what:
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Seems fine to me? But I don't frequent FailBook, or any other social media platforms. Not interested in being the product.
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I don't think it's dying (I certainly hope not) but yes I agree it has very much slowed and I think FB is totally to blame.
A couple of years ago this place was really busy, everything from the corral to sales, but I think people are more inclined to share pics/comment on facebook now. It's what I've noticed, anyway. I think it's much easier (just generally speaking - I'm not speaking of behalf of everyone!) for someone to hit a 'like' button on fb than make a personal, meaningful comment, which is part of the charm here.
I personally find all the fb pony groups hard to keep up with although the reach, because of the high migration, when you need a quick answer or ID sometimes is just (sadly) easier there now. Comments here in that regard are sometimes like getting blood out of a stone I've noticed.
I wish is wasn't so, because the arena has always been my favourite pony home :sad: And I miss a lot of the mods who used to comment frequently, particularly in the corral. Where did you guys go? :what:
i feel the same way... no idea what's going on over at facebook and i've only done like.. a few things in one group. i'll stick here, even if it's slower.
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I hate social media. I hate sitting on a train and seeing people unable to look up from their phone for ten seconds, or being pulled into commenting on really stupid pictures or whatever because they have to keep up with whatever. I have it but only to keep in touch with people I can't see often in real life. The few pony friends on there are those I've known for years in real life, but I only really use it to message people, I rarely post otherwise. I couldn't imagine doing transactions through it. Facebook doesn't do a great job of protecting its users and their information and there's very little protection. I don't want to post about ponies with my real name out there and my location and whatever else.
Forums probably are somewhat outdated, like mailing lists were when the forums came about. But that doesn't mean they're a bad thing or necessarily dying.
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What everyone else said :nod: the Arena won't die, it's usually slower around this time of year anwyays, but also I agree with what others have said about peeps spending more time on social media in a number of groups :awake:
Personally if I want to talk about ponies or buy ponies, I much prefer the Arena. Social media is a good way to keep up with friends/family but for something specific like this it's nowhere near as good as a forum :lovey: Plus I don't like the idea of doing transactions via facebook, or the fact that I;ve seen banned dodgy members from the forums are active on there.
I can't speak for the other mods, but I've been through a rough few years and have had less time in general to join in more fun stuff... there have been a lot of life changes that messed me up but I'm hoping to be around more again soon :)
The thing with photobucket really messed up my ability to share pics here for a few years as well. That's sorted now ...so ..I'd like to get back into pic spamming :P ;) :happy:
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The thing with photobucket really messed up my ability to share pics here for a few years as well. That's sorted now ...so ..I'd like to get back into pic spamming :P ;) :happy:
i loved reading your picfics! :P
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I'm still on here Mon-Fri, I don't post nearly as much as I used to. I have good reason, computer blew up and we went into the dark ages with no internet...
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I'm in some of the fb groups and I have an ig account which is fun, but NOTHING could ever replace the 90's forum magic of the Arena :pillow: The swaps rock my world, plus the unparalleled Nirvana content; this community is a wealth of knowledge. The Arena quality is more enjoyable to me than the "quantity" of users on other social platforms.
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Seems fine to me? But I don't frequent FailBook, or any other social media platforms. Not interested in being the product.
Neither do I. Nor Twitter or anything else like it.
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A couple of years ago this place was really busy, everything from the corral to sales,
Sales on the Arena have slowed down significantly for me too, except in cases where I'm selling a HTF mail order or a Mountain Boy or something. I would guess the main cause is that most people who are on here have been collecting for years, and already have most of the easier-to-find ponies they want in their collection.
eBay is where I get the most buyers, followed by Facebook.
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What has contributed to me personally using the Arena less both for conversational posting and buying/selling is how annoying it has become to post photos vs on social media.
I know its not too complicated to find free image hosting and use the img links but its certainly more of a hassle than quickly uploading images to Instagram right off of my cell phone camera roll. So for example Brag posts- I pretty much exclusively post that content over on Instagram.
Lots of sellers dont bother posting direct image links any more either, and as a buyer I want to see at least one photo before I have to contact asking for more so that also draws me over to Facebook for the sales groups.
I love the Arena and would certainly prefer it stay the predominant force in the MLP community, but the inconvenience factor of image posting in comparison to how convenient social media is has definitely affected my usage.
just my 2c
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The thing with photobucket really messed up my ability to share pics here for a few years as well. That's sorted now ...so ..I'd like to get back into pic spamming :P ;) :happy:
i loved reading your picfics! :P
Aww wow really?!!! thank you so much!!!! you made my day :hug: :lovey: :hug: :lovey: :hug:
:cheer: :frolic:
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What has contributed to me personally using the Arena less both for conversational posting and buying/selling is how annoying it has become to post photos vs on social media.
I can't kind of relate to this because I am a pony dinosaur. By which I mean I come from the age of the online community in which posting a wantlist on the trading post involved emailing a list to Jenn and waiting for her to post it or by joining a mailing list. Pictures were rare, and when they existed they were either photos you had to take, get developed, scan in and then attach (via dialup) or use ad-saturated free hosting sites...or you had to put the pony in the scanner and create deformed terrified pony prisoner images to send to people via the same method.
Given that, I find that the fact photobucket has died and thus it's harder to add pictures to the forum kind of irrelevant. I feel like convenience has taken over rather than the sense of community, because social media is never a community - it's what Baby Sugarberry said, with users as a 'product' constantly targeted by ad spam and with very little protection. Inconvenience is not having to find a different place to store and then link images. Inconvenience is having to wait several days and pay for a hard copy image of a pony which you then have to scan in and find a place to send without using all your data and thus adding to your bill...meaning it was probably only possible to upload at weekends anyway. It's all about perspective. I have webspace but on this PC I often upload pics on a pic hosting service. It takes all of ten seconds.
In addition to what was said about scammers operating in those places but not on here, I also remember how much we policed the community by watching and identifying scammers, sharing information and how much work that took. Now it's way too easy for a known scammer to slip into a social media site and scam someone with absolutely no protection. Plus, you just gave some personal information to a scammer, despite the fact that the community (again, that word, community) has spent ages tracking down information to protect people from that kind of incursion.
I wouldn't sell on social media. If that means I end up taking my pony doubles to a carboot sale then I'll do that, I guess. But I would rather sell them here. If at a push I have to, they'll go to ebay, because even though current ebay is horrendous, it's still preferable to social media.
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I think things have been a bit slower because of a Christmas. Are there less posts per day than there used to be? Probably yes. But I prefer the Arena to social media when it comes to discussions, sharing brags, swaps etc. Instagram and a Facebook just seem so impersonal compared to here which is our spiritual pony ‘home’.
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Communities can absolutely arise on social media and offer a different experience than on a forum. Not inherently better or worse, just different.
But also, not everyone is looking for "a community". Some people are just looking for MLPs to buy because they collect solo. My personal feeling is that a sale is a sale. If people buy from me here, on Facebook, or on eBay I am equally happy to be sending ponies into their life. :)
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I'm in some of the fb groups and I have an ig account which is fun, but NOTHING could ever replace the 90's forum magic of the Arena :pillow: The swaps rock my world, plus the unparalleled Nirvana content; this community is a wealth of knowledge. The Arena quality is more enjoyable to me than the "quantity" of users on other social platforms.
Totally agree. I actually left a whole bunch of pony Facebook pages cause they are to fast past and information just doesn't stick around due to the Pace. Facebook pages actually became a stress on my life but here will always be fun :)
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I'm in some of the fb groups and I have an ig account which is fun, but NOTHING could ever replace the 90's forum magic of the Arena :pillow: The swaps rock my world, plus the unparalleled Nirvana content; this community is a wealth of knowledge. The Arena quality is more enjoyable to me than the "quantity" of users on other social platforms.
Totally agree. I actually left a whole bunch of pony Facebook pages cause they are to fast past and information just doesn't stick around due to the Pace. Facebook pages actually became a stress on my life but here will always be fun :)
Awk... Facebook has made it's self stressful on purpose sometimes... I won't digress down a human rights politics tangent here... but this is just an FYI Y'all in case they toy with your hearts in the future:
https://slate.com/technology/2014/06/facebook-unethical-experiment-it-made-news-feeds-happier-or-sadder-to-manipulate-peoples-emotions.html
Me, I feel the arena is a safer space most likely. :grouphug:
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I have also though this site has slowed down! But then I come on this site each day! Or at lest I try to come on each day.
I used to post a lot and share lots of pictures on here! But its so hard and take a long time to get pictures on this site anymore. So I have stopped! I don't buy as much on here either. I do all of my buying on ebay anymore.
I also have a lot more luck selling on pony facebook sites! Have not had any luck on here anymore. I do have a sales post that I will bump time to time if I have ponies on ebay! But that also is not the best place for me to sell anymore either! The fees are getting so high!
I don't want this site to ever leave! That would be a sad day!
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I don't use Facebook or Whatsapp (owned by Facebook) for the abovementioned reasons and some others o my own. Ebay has it's problems. I'd much rather buy and sell on here however I've had the same ad in my sig for a year and no-one can help. I think my needs are a bit more on the specific side.
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I really enjoy forums, maybe it's the way the internet was when I grew up but I feel this is a very nice communication system.
I come to the Arena everyday because I like the discussions and the in-depth knowledge that is shared all the time. Very unique and sometimes esoteric topics come up sometimes. There's also well managed swaps and art activities.
I go to FB and Instagram when I want to see some brags, hauls or pics quickly. There's no discussion or really useful information shared. I have to see "what are these ponies names and value?" And "what is cancer, does my pony have it?" Everyday on the FB groups. It's not topics that draw me in.
In general I feel like the internet has become shallow, profiteering and homogeneous. So I like how creative and unique the Arena remains.
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SaraMari - don't forget all the "is this pony a Hasbro pony?" question 10 times a day XD Not to be disrespectful - we've all been new to collecting, but facebook groups can be grating imo.
The forum isn't going to die so long as people keep coming here and posting. It's not going to just die suddenly one day, and I really don't think it has slowed down to the point where it's close to dying. Again, it's in the middle of Holiday season, and it's always slow around this time.
Also, this might just be me, but I don't find it a hassle to upload photos to the Arena. Photobucket does work again (if you can deal with the huge watermarks), Flickr works, Imgur(? is that the one?), dA Stash.... and nowadays a lot of them have apps too so it's not really an issue when posting from your phone either. For me, I don't feel like it's more difficult than a few years ago? I mean sure, it's easier uploading directly to your post on fb for instance, but I don't know... I prefer this format, and I guess it just doesn't bother me ^^'
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I sure hope this forum doesn't go anywhere, I love it here! Even though it may not be quite as active as social media platforms, I think the arena serves its own purpose by being a good place to have in depth discussions. I follow a couple pony pages on Facebook, but I never interact much with them because I never see any really interesting discussions happening.
I'm just not a fan of social media in general though, especially Facebook. I like that the arena allows me to keep some level of anonymity. It's not that I'm embarrassed about collecting ponies, in fact pretty much everyone I know knows to some level that I like My little Pony, but it's just so nice to be able to post on here and not have every family member, friend, or co-worker I know see what I'm posting about. Sometimes you need a space away from your normal social circle! The sense of community here is also way stronger than on any social media platform!
Also, I love that the forum layout shows most recent topics first! Not to get off topic but why on earth do Facebook and Instagram think I want to see my feed in whatever jumbled order their algorithm thinks is best?? If I ask for most recent posts first that's really what I want to see!
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I sincerely hope the forum doesn't die because I think it was hugely instrumental in my recovery from a mental breakdown :huh: The idea that Facebook might have been an an alternative 'safe space' for that kind of situation is laughable really.
I sure hope this forum doesn't go anywhere... Sometimes you need a space away from your normal social circle! The sense of community here is also way stronger than on any social media platform!
Definitely!
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I think, along with other social media, the fact that G4 is trailing off is another reason for less activity here on the forum. I imagine that when the next generation of toys and show is debuted that there will be another influx of users, just like what happened with the release of FiM.
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The arena has slowed down in the past several years. It's due to various things, not just Facebook even though that does factor in. Some of the big MLP people that were on these forums have moved to other hobbies or life gets in the way.
I got to say though... personally for me I don't post as much here any more because I hate posting unfinished work on any place but FB. However, a couple of years ago I did a little experiment with my own pony art/customs that were completed. I found it highly discouraging to post here when I only got 3 comments out of 100+ views compared to posting to groups on FB and getting a higher reaction from the user base.
But my little scenario there also applies to other places. People will go to where there is more of a chance to get some sort of interaction. And when MLP picks up again, the forum may pick up again as well.
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To be honest, we are letting in more and more members daily! However, since the Brony sensation has died down, the forums are a little quieter.
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:awake: Like the letter press and the typewriter old fashioned ways to communicate would still flourish with certain crowds. Also, life gets busy, people come and go, and then come back now and then on the forum. In ancient MLP archive times when G3 was big I used to be Elecorn here going through my second pony childhood (G1 to G3).
I wish I could find my old posts to better remember the folk whom I used to talk to instead of just thinking again and again... 'that alias sounds familiar...', but the feeling here is the same, that's all I can say. And yeah, there's definately something uplifting about playing with your unicorns with other grown kids you don't even know out there in a safe corner of cyberspace.
Facebook is always going to be more intense because it doesn't really account for how you'd like to use it only what kind of traffic it can drive. If that errodes to bullying facebook rarely steps in. I think moderated forums are always going to have groups of users who want them to stick around, and cool little niche communities like this one.
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I'm not a super active poster, I mainly lurk, but I really enjoy going back through the search function and looking at all of the old threads when there isn't much new activity. I still like this place a lot better than mlptp, and feel this is a broader collecting community, as most mlp forums these days are G4-focused. Here I can see threads on all gens!
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I don't think it's dying at all. A little quieter, maybe, but as others have said - online communities in general tend to slow down around this time of year (I know I've been MIA from here for like 2 weeks because I've been busy with other stuff and just haven't had the time to have a proper read through all the new threads!), social media has spirited most people away (I hate social media.. especially Failbook :shakefist:)... People just don't seem to really use forums, these days. I've seen other communities for new shows, toys, etc try and make forums for them, and they just don't go anywhere. You just can't start new forums and get a good community going like you used to be able to.
Another thing to remember is, the brony fad is pretty much over these days thank god so we're not seeing a constant influx of them, and also, MLP in general is a bit quiet right now. I'd bet we'll get more members in when/if G5 comes 'round and there's a new influx of fans pouring into the fandom and trying to find out new stuff about MLPs.
Is the forum dying? Nah. Is it quieter? Maybe, but.. idk. I haven't noticed it being particularly quiet compared to previous years I've been on here. Although like I said, I've been away from the Arena for most of this month so maybe I just missed on some quietness ^^;;
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I find it is quieter this time of year due to travel to be with frineds and family during holidays.
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I'm not a super active poster, I mainly lurk, but I really enjoy going back through the search function and looking at all of the old threads when there isn't much new activity. I still like this place a lot better than mlptp, and feel this is a broader collecting community, as most mlp forums these days are G4-focused. Here I can see threads on all gens!
Truly awesome fakie pinterest you've got there Glitter Yolk! You ought to post it more prominently to the fakie appreciation thread! :biggrin:
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Nearly every website, group or forum I use is quieter at this time of the year. I don't think it's anything to worry about!
Like other people, I don't really use facebook or social media in general, so I'd hate to see the arena go. This is the only forum I still visit on a regular basis, even if I don't always post (which is mostly because I don't collect ponies like I used to). I'm hoping that when we finally get G5, we'll see more posts again.
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If we're dead that can only mean one thing:
ZOMBIE PONY PARTY!!!!
:drunk: :drunk: :drunk: :drunk: :drunk: :drunk:
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I'm actually amazed and thrilled that the MLPArena has persevered when ALL other major 80s toy-based forums (there were SO many back in early 2000s) have all but disappeared (or have very spotty participation).
The Arena is FAR from inactive! Yes the focus on MLP:FIM and bronies has died down, but there is still quite a core of plain ole MLP fans and collectors of all generations, and I'm always seeing new faces.
I think it is a testament to the dedication of Loa and mods who have not gotten sick of the place and let it fall to ruin. And of course the perseverance of MLP fans.
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I agree with pretty much everything that's been said in the above posts.
I also wanted to add how much I like the Arena and its vast resources. I enjoy reading long informative and detailed posts and have learned so much.
To all the admin and members that make this the place it is - Thank you!
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G4 hype has definitely died down and forum activity with it. There used to be discussion about nearly every single new product and episode. That slowed significantly. I expect we'll see an upswing in activity once we start to get more hints of G5. :pizza:
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This place seems fine to me. Ought to see the Lion King FanArt Messageboard these days. That place truly is dead. Except for the annual Secret Santa, the only threads that get made are by two members who like to roleplay with each other.
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Yes, please, please, please keep this forum alive! :D I'm usually here everyday, but I have long episodes of not participating. This doesn't have anything to do with the Arena, I'm like that with every forum, I don't know why.
I'm super anti social media, so if this forum ever dies, that means no more ponies for me. :( I haven't bought a pony online for years because of my budget, but when I do, I always turn to the Arena. :D
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I can only speak for myself as I drop by and then go away for several years and then turn up again and then go away again. Being 42 now my life is full of stuff that needs taking care of and hanging online is not a priority or anything I have time for. It's great to have a place to go to when you need to talk to people who actually know anything about MLP collecting but I don't really feel the same way about forums as I did back in the early 2000s. ..and..wasn't there a place prior to the Arena ? I feel like I was member at another place as well - not the Scandinavian forum, another one. Anyone recall ?..growing old and very senile :yikes:
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I can only speak for myself as I drop by and then go away for several years and then turn up again and then go away again. Being 42 now my life is full of stuff that needs taking care of and hanging online is not a priority or anything I have time for. It's great to have a place to go to when you need to talk to people who actually know anything about MLP collecting but I don't really feel the same way about forums as I did back in the early 2000s. ..and..wasn't there a place prior to the Arena ? I feel like I was member at another place as well - not the Scandinavian forum, another one. Anyone recall ?..growing old and very senile :yikes:
Was it the Trading Post? I think it was around before the Arena...
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Oh yes ! Remember that :lol: Could be another too of course as I was all over the place in the early days, Internet was new in the house back then - late bloomer.. and no Facebook of course.
MySpace wasn't much of a MLP community was it ? I was friends with collectors buy it wasn't as practical as a forum.
The Arena will forever be my go-to place. My first signature was a photoshopped photo of me riding a MLP, wonder if I still have it ??? :lovey: That got a lot of girls going ooooooohhhhh me too me tooo :biggrin: Love the MLP community, they totally get all the madness <3
EDIT. I went to check mlptp.net and yes, I was there under my old name satannichen :frolic: I rcall how tight knit we used to be, is it still like that here among all or is it a smaller group that gravitate towards each other ? I'm trying to see old names here buy maybe I'm jusr too senile to manage as there are several from back then here but the names doesn't ring a bell :nope: *sigh*
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Maybe some of the old peeps on here seem unfamiliar since a lot of users here had at least one screen name change through the years :) mine used to be miss_tuneful :silly:
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Maybe some of the old peeps on here seem unfamiliar since a lot of users here had at least one screen name change through the years :) mine used to be miss_tuneful :silly:
Maybe you recall the old Scandinavian forum ? I don't even remember the name at this point. And the meet ups had its own thread and maybe even a website ? I used to love watching the photos and read about it. I was never able to go as my health failed and it is still impossible to go anywhere.
It never really broke out a big MLP collector community in Norway, we were two in the very early days and then there was a few more, like 4, but we never kept in touch. Sweden seemed like the place to be, hanging out watching the old MLP series and trading ponies ...ah..perfection <3
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I do, I was lil_miss_tuneful on there as well xD the summer meetups were great!
That forum has, however, died, and I dare say the arena is nowhere near as slow as it was on there when things started slowing down. :)
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Yeah, as I've been here on and off for a long time it seems the Arena is still going strong. Maybe people compare it to Facebook and as that place is packed at all times it might seem a bit slow here but it's a whole different vibe I think - the Arena is very nice and friendly but FB can get very nasty and fake.
The Arena is the internet equivalent of Ponyland and this is our home..that's how I see it anyway :relaxed: :rainbow:
I've always been impressed by the fact that we manage to keep our horses in line, if ya get what I mean.
[Post edited - Noasar]
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i guess it also come to the fact most of us collect toys- and (has it happen with the G3 line) now days all we got is 6 mane with that hairdos or mane6 with those accessories and we as collector got tired of those- there is no frash products to be excited about and share that excitment with others
also 10 years ago we had 2/5 lines to collect and now it more diverse so not everyone atrracted to say topic... like if its topics about g1 and a lot of people are g4 they may have less intrest in interacting with that say topic
but we the Arena survive for many years and i hope for many many years to come
this is a magical place for our community
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also 10 years ago we had 2/5 lines to collect and now it more diverse so not everyone atrracted to say topic... like if its topics about g1 and a lot of people are g4 they may have less intrest in interacting with that say topic
That is an excellent point as I actually recall wishing for separate sections for G1 and G2 back then...right now I feel like I'm lost in a clothes shop - I can't see anything because of all the clothes. It is getting messy.
Are there many who only collect one or just a few of the lines or do most collectors actually go for the whole shebang ? I mean, you'll need a second house..or perhaps two ! I struggle to keep my ponies in one room, and I only collect G1.
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I wonder if the upcoming "G5" will bring in a new wave of folks? I assume that makes sense right? I only joined here post/mid Brony craze myself so I haven't been around long enough to really know.
There is definitely a much greater depth of community and discussion here. Which takes a little more effort to participate in. I think social media has become so popular because it is so low commitment. You can just "like" something and move on, with some illusion of interconnection.
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I think it is AMAZING that the Arena has such diversity and collaboration amongst its members. The other social media platforms, they are designed to work with your phone, you take photos and people have instant impressions of them. It's not a long-lasting feeling. And if you are trying to use the platform as a reference tool, it can be very difficult!
There are people who collect everything. There are people who only collect one generation, or just one type of pony, or just an army of ONE pony. There are even people who collect certain merchandise pieces like erasers or plushies. There are people who really love the corporate history and manufacturing processes. There are customizers and artists and sculptors.
And yes, Cheers to the mods and admin who keep this place working! :D
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also 10 years ago we had 2/5 lines to collect and now it more diverse so not everyone atrracted to say topic... like if its topics about g1 and a lot of people are g4 they may have less intrest in interacting with that say topic
This is also true within generations, as there are, for example, G4 fans who are for the show not the toys or vice versa, and I've noticed over the years that where there used to be a lot of discussion about the G1 toys and a lot of information sharing, now there are more other kinds of posts which celebrate G1 in a different way. I like these posts but I miss the discussions on information sharing mostly because information gets stuck in a groundhog day scenario. See the same questions, same mistakes, same assumptions over and over even though at one point most of those mistakes had been erased to the point the community knew more then than it does now. That's a personal twitch of mine which sometimes makes me hold back on posting...because there's so little point in answering a question when nobody's actually going to listen to it and the same question will be asked again in a few weeks, probably with the same wrong answers being given...
MLP for me is a history project as much as a collectable, so I'm not interested in customising or that kind of stuff...but a lot of people are, and so there's that divide as well. As an information geek, though, it horrifies me how much knowledge the community has lost over the last few years :/
I feel like this community is still probably bigger than the community I remember in the late nineties and early 2000s. Albeit then we were all adolescent so there were many more big bustups and that made it feel like there were more people ;). In that sense, the relative peace of the forum is a nice thing...
But I miss the days and the many people with whom pony information discussions happened in the old days. There are still some folk here now, but it's not like it used to be. People seem more interested in pictures and less interested in getting the facts right these days...
I'm genuinely getting old xD.
But I love the Arena. Just my vaguely concealed frustration as a pony dinosaur sometimes comes to the surface, when repeating the same information that's been on my site for 20 years for the umpteenth time, knowing it will be forgotten pretty soon because I'm not the Wiki.
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I think it is AMAZING that the Arena has such diversity and collaboration amongst its members. The other social media platforms, they are designed to work with your phone, you take photos and people have instant impressions of them. It's not a long-lasting feeling. And if you are trying to use the platform as a reference tool, it can be very difficult!
There are people who collect everything. There are people who only collect one generation, or just one type of pony, or just an army of ONE pony. There are even people who collect certain merchandise pieces like erasers or plushies. There are people who really love the corporate history and manufacturing processes. There are customizers and artists and sculptors.
And yes, Cheers to the mods and admin who keep this place working! :D
This is what is so nice - the sheer diversity, and inspiration to enjoy your ponies in so many different ways.
Having so much information about restoration and history in one place is fabulous.
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I think most has been said that can be said as I'm rather late on the ball. But I can share my own reasons and views.
I'm like Taffeta, a pony dinosaur. I joined the MLPTP forum back in 1997 when I was 11 and the page was nothing more than a black background with pink dropdown links to different topics (if memory serves me right). For a long time that was the place to be. When the Arena was created the community did seem to divide somewhat and many went to the Arena instead, but both sites certainly flourished because forums in general were popular gathering places for niche interests. Personally I staid with the MLPTP out of loyalty for a long time, but the Arena did indeed seem to have a larger pull on the collectors.
Due to life I simply stopped collecting around the late 00's. My love for ponies has never died, but as you get older you get other interests, other things you need to do and so on. So there's one reason why collectors come and go and activity might dwindle. I dare to promise that it has and will continue to happen with many collectors that are here today as well.
When I came back to the MLP world at the start of the 10's the FiM craze had begun and most people seemed to have gone to the Arena at that point. With the quick rise of social media (which I hate with a passion and no amount of money or promises of ponies in the world could get me to sell myself out and register on any of those sites) forums in general were becoming redundant. Many smaller ones began to or did die.
(I'm part of a gaming community that met the same fate. We had a tight-knit community and an active forum righ up until Facebook came around and ruined everything. People flocked to that instead becasue convenience is more important than community to most. And the result was a dead forum and a fractured in-game community.)
The MLPTP sadly seemed to be meeting the same fate and so I registerd here becasue, as has been said, people will go to the place where they find most people to interact with when searching for an online community. That's kind of the whole point. I did go inactive again for several reasons and I still wouldn't say I'm actually back to any noteworthy activity. But hey, at least I'm writing this.
Now I think there's 2 reasons why the Arena might slow down over time but that it won't die as long as the mods are determined to keep it running and the old school people are still around.
1. The Arena is 'the last frontier' so to speak. The last truly active MLP forum - and those looking for a forum and not the shallowness of social media will come here for that reason.
2. Especially old school collectors will continue to come back to the the forum community because we're nostalgic to boot (that's why we collect childhood toys...) and forums are part of that nostalgia. So we're about as likely to give up on forums as many of our grandparents have been to give in and start using computers. "Back in MY day we sent letters written on paper and it still works fine! So we ain't changing nothing!" We're now the 'grumpy old people' who refuse to change :P And thanks to that the last truly active MLP forum will survive.
We might continue to come and go as well, as life and interests changes, but as the nostalgics that we are will always come back to the forums.
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I took a long hiatus from the arena simply because life got in the way for a while and things were too hectic. Before I left, I remember the forums being packed with posts about G4 & prior to that I remember when G3 hit and how crazy the forums were then. As others have stated, the rise of social media did spread out where other collectors post to.
Honestly, I love the forum format for collecting. It's much easier to search here for past posts and to get information. The way facebook is set up makes it difficult to find a previous post for a particular subject. I belong to a local car club, and let me tell you it is a pain in the butt to try and search for something someone posted even a month ago on facebook. I use facebook mainly for networking as the forum for the car club is almost completely deserted. It's refreshing to see that the arena is pretty active compared to other communities that are/were based on a forum platform outside of social media.
So - while it's not as bustling as it was maybe 7 or 8 years ago, it's still pretty active if you compare it to other collector forums. :) I still love it here and I drop in every so often to look and see if there's anything I've missed. It was a nice surprise when the 35th anniversary ponies popped up!
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I've been in the pony community since it was the Ponypeople mailing list. I think traffic has dropped off significantly here lately, but I think a lot of that activity was due to the FIM craze to begin with. Now that the show is in decline, and the toy line is in SERIOUS decline, the decline in traffic to the Arena is to be expected. FIM was inflating the traffic to this site, and now that it's dying out, the people who were into MLP because it was the latest fad are fading away, leaving only the true fans. It happens with every generation. It's very hard to say if the traffic here now is more/less/the same as the traffic to the site before FIM hit, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the general ballpark.
Older generation collectors often have problems coming up with new topics to discuss, and that issue rears its ugly head during these lull times. It's true that new information is always out there to be discovered, but with 20+ years of hard core collectors going over every scrap of information with a fine toothed comb, truly interesting new news is hard to come by. And, of course, there's only so many times a person can answer "who's your favorite pony?" before one gets bored.
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Yeah, as I've been here on and off for a long time it seems the Arena is still going strong. Maybe people compare it to Facebook and as that place is packed at all times it might seem a bit slow here but it's a whole different vibe I think - the Arena is very nice and friendly but FB can get very nasty and fake.
The Arena is the internet equivalent of Ponyland and this is our home..that's how I see it anyway :relaxed: :rainbow:
I've always been impressed by the fact that we manage to keep our horses in line, if ya get what I mean.
[Post edited - Noasar]
I love the idea that this is our Ponyland. (And the MLPTP too.)
i guess it also come to the fact most of us collect toys- and (has it happen with the G3 line) now days all we got is 6 mane with that hairdos or mane6 with those accessories and we as collector got tired of those- there is no frash products to be excited about and share that excitment with others
also 10 years ago we had 2/5 lines to collect and now it more diverse so not everyone atrracted to say topic... like if its topics about g1 and a lot of people are g4 they may have less intrest in interacting with that say topic
but we the Arena survive for many years and i hope for many many years to come
this is a magical place for our community
This too.
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I know life has gotten in the way for me so I don't participate as often anymore. I was a caretaker for my father for quite a while and that took time and $$ so ponies got put on the backburner. Now that he's passed and I have a bit more free time again I've started to pick up a pony or two :)
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Given that the FIM fadders were mostly college are likely to re-occur in their forties. By then many of us G1 fans will be starting to think about retirement and who should eventually inherit our herds. Even in the best case scenario of the nice bronies vs. the bullies-posing-as return with bad names for Muffin etc., who wants to wait for that?
The solution to that question/theory of forum dying without G5 is simply buy less, play more! It’s not a piece of plastic or a marketing advent that should hold together an online community that people enjoy.
What I think the 80s & 90s kids started that even our parents had shied from, we didn’t simply talk about collecting, we were creative and playful and sometimes destructive with our ponies, this gen customized, and wrote fan-art, many weren’t afraid of going public in adults+toys as a cultural vs. financial statement. I think before then the only toy you might do that with and publish about were trains and legos. Even that old mainstay of collectible dolls supposedly stayed in stands upon shelves until this gen, when the net opened it all wide up and exposed another side of growing up these last two decades and the creativity blossomed and reached back in time our mothers suddenly no longer afraid to take out their own Chatty Cathy's and AG to make home movies. Now we’ve actually got 16 year olds joining the Arena.
Perhaps the bullying that came from outside was inevitable for that daring but I think we have basically changed since the early 90s what it meant to be an American adult as new gens will continue to do with or without Hasbro. When I think of how older family used to have to pretend their toys were mine in 1985, I think we are freer in our speech and less stifled than our parents gen had been. That goes far beyond MLP but the Arena is for me where I found it first. That it wasn’t just oddball me being bold enough to play on. So I doubt that overall this is basically a fad. I’d call it a shift. Even if Hasbro at last gets humans upset enough that MLP fans in droves pull out some hair (perhaps with literal pliers) and fall away, or the arena goes down with Net Neutrality, y’all will just start your own inclusive sites or meetings for unicorns at general, seriously you will. I think we all know this deep down. Meanwhile, it’s nice this is here. Thank the Mods.
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since the early 90s what it meant to be an American adult as new gens will continue to do with or without Hasbro.
I feel the need with this to clarify that it's not an American forum, and MLP is an American creation, but no longer just impacting on America. It's a global forum and many of us from overseas have been here a long time, so I like to think we've all shared cultural elements with each other as well. Rather than feeling separated, we're more united by our love of ponies while still living in different places and having different experiences. With Brexit so much in the news here at the moment, it really makes me reflect on how much I love this place being global and have always loved that aspect. I think one of the strengths of G1 that helped make this community is the fact that different countries had different pony lines and we needed to interact to get stuff not sold in our countries. I always liked trading for ponies I'd never seen, and sending ponies to people that they'd never seen as well :D
I think some FIM fans will stay, because they're actual fans. But I think goddessofpeep is probably right that there's a natural lull. The forum did lose some people when the FIM section disappeared as well. But the thing is that there were people who stuck around at the end of G1 (even if not immediately online due to tech not being quite there at that point), through g2, through G3...and there will be this time, too. People who genuinely love G4 and who have contributed to our community because of it.
We are in our thirties and forties now...but it doesn't follow that all the G3 collectors are. In fact, a lot of them have begun to rediscover their childhood ponies in their late teens and early twenties, just as some of us did. I think with G4 kids it will take ten years or so - but if they came into it as adults, and genuinely love it - there's no reason not to stay, even if the generation ends.
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since the early 90s what it meant to be an American adult as new gens will continue to do with or without Hasbro.
I feel the need with this to clarify that it's not an American forum, and MLP is an American creation, but no longer just impacting on America. It's a global forum and many of us from overseas have been here a long time, so I like to think we've all shared cultural elements with each other as well. Rather than feeling separated, we're more united by our love of ponies while still living in different places and having different experiences. With Brexit so much in the news here at the moment, it really makes me reflect on how much I love this place being global and have always loved that aspect. I think one of the strengths of G1 that helped make this community is the fact that different countries had different pony lines and we needed to interact to get stuff not sold in our countries. I always liked trading for ponies I'd never seen, and sending ponies to people that they'd never seen as well :D
I think some FIM fans will stay, because they're actual fans. But I think goddessofpeep is probably right that there's a natural lull. The forum did lose some people when the FIM section disappeared as well. But the thing is that there were people who stuck around at the end of G1 (even if not immediately online due to tech not being quite there at that point), through g2, through G3...and there will be this time, too. People who genuinely love G4 and who have contributed to our community because of it.
We are in our thirties and forties now...but it doesn't follow that all the G3 collectors are. In fact, a lot of them have begun to rediscover their childhood ponies in their late teens and early twenties, just as some of us did. I think with G4 kids it will take ten years or so - but if they came into it as adults, and genuinely love it - there's no reason not to stay, even if the generation ends.
I had totally forgotten the kids who might as adults collect G3… would be great if there is not a wide generation gap… we have so few G2 collectors for instance, and most of the G3 people I know of today are from the earlier gens. There is also the half-gen 3.5.
International shipping restrictions need not be Brexit related, though I’m sure that’s affecting some in the EU, we all see things that don’t ship, many people are just not wanting to figure out how to ship internationally due to the regulations being unfamiliar. And (since that is wider than one country or collection of them) there are also those blocking a few places for reasons of apartheid divestment campaigns which is pretty far from Brexit in ideals.
I enjoy we are international. I also mean to remark only from my localized experiences in this case... rather not assume the social conventions regarding maturity being contrary to toy-play closer to home are global because for all I know they may not be (I hope they aren’t actually, that somewhere out there it’s always been less restricted). Did you know there were seriously once tribal governments on what is now known as Puerto Rico that actually held official ball games in lieu of anybody going to war? You might otherwise assume some conventions are universal everywhere only to find out it’s not been the case that better conditions predates somewhere else. The willingness of adults to just play seems like it might vary greatly around the globe. Thus restricting my comment about social trends to my nationality was meant to leave open for other members from own home countries to remark as regards maturity, toys, & the internet, rather than try an speak for us all.
Somehow I do not suspect even the FIM fans who spent time trying to fix problems during the crises would mostly want a sudden influx of unknowns coming back to flood us. The FIM series it was called out for using symbolic racism internationally and the bigoted bullying became so intense that infiltration of bronies in attempt by organized hate to subvert the counter-culture was deemed worth its mention in the Anti-Fascist Handbook by historian Mark Bray. I am not kidding.
Hasbro rather than addressing the insensitive things they put in the series and apologizing properly they skirted and mocked it’s seriousness after being called out which left fans including targeted minorities and young children vulnerable to the sort of people that these errors subsequently may have attracted… Hasbro’s abandonment made these FIM fans have to fight the bullies totally on their own, fighting cannon. As there were already minority members among before Hasbro put symbolic racism and ableism into the series, already LGBTQA bronies before the cis-centric bronies appeared, its wonderful some FIM fans stuck through together and hashed it out fighting these bigots online, that they practiced community in a way that eventually may have made MLP a safer more inclusive space to be online, though this was all in no way thanks to Hasbro which ignored trouble it had likely sparked whilst profiting.
So people’s comments about looking forward to the series conclusion reflect some of the burnout in FIM I think.
It wasn’t always easy and we are seeing more scary stuff like Brexit out there. If trolls in mid-life get nostalgic they’ll time to when today’s little kiddies who have FIM toys to play with go to college, look back on childhood, and are poised to challenge and confront the whole adult political world. The thought of a future online PC clash en mass over what it means for adults to love colorful little toy horses… without Hasbro growing the courage to own to and take responsibility in it’s mistakes that do obviously affect the fan-community socially… I’m not sure everyone will find it worth it to stick with Hasbro if they decide they can’t change. Not everyone is up to go round two fighting organized hate to support an unresponsive toy company in the midst of another identity crises as fans of ponies. Some are gonna go with... fool me once… shame on you… fool me twice… shame on me.
But some people may give up on Hasbro without giving up on unbranded because they do love the fan community/ or keep some MLP because they want to actively help along the next gen that were kids in FIM stand up to hate from inside fan forums. So I don’t think you have to worry that Brexit or even Hasbro itself is going to be able to harm what’s at the core of what today is here. I am not worried such forums are dying or that the bullied adults of today are going to be suddenly silent about their love of all kinds of pretty little horses. I remember offsite the bullies attacking MLP arena by name in a biased way… well infiltrators... arena still here! I think any friends who faced down the bigots together and dealt with the bullies side by side in that way are not going to be pushed aside by Brexit et all. It is a highly creative fan community that may well even reinvent itself away from brands entirely, but as to that, everything in life, it changes! :lookround:
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I only mentioned Brexit in terms of the reality for us here and for Europe of the uncertainty (specifically from my perspective, our crashed currency, and potential no deal which could ground planes and prevent international trade at least in the short term). Though there's a war waging on inside our government over this at the moment, what I meant was that things can change easily and it's also nice to know that this place is beyond those kinds of politics, even if country relationships change. Brexit is a big deal for those of us who have to live with its consequences, especially here in the UK - but I didn't reference it as a cause of the forum dying or the pony community being threatened. Just that when you take for granted international relations that have been there one's whole life, and then those relations are forcibly changed beyond your control, it makes me realise how lucky we are as a forum that we transcend borders.
The problems of the FIM community are the problems of the FIM community. I think we've all experienced them in one way or another by proxy. I also don't think that they have any bearing on the future of our forum one way or another.
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Well, I should say why I took a break. I had a severe health downturn.
Like developed 3 chronic illness downturn.
Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and ehlers-danlos. The latter I've had all my life, just in the last 3 years it's really gotten in my way haha. Oh and at the start of last year I developed pretty crippling migraines.
So a lot of money went into getting that under control. I still loved ponies and everything, but I didn't have time to deal with that as well. Thankfully I'm Australian so the government took care of a lot of it. Otherwise I would be in a lot more trouble.
I am in a much more stable place health wise now so I am able to get back here and I've got my ponies back out of the boxes they've been trapped in since I moved into this house like 2 years ago :P
It's been really hard to get everything unpacked properly while my health has been so bad.
But I am back now and will hopefully be more active, I'm doing some customising (found some prepped ones, and some half done ones that have to be redone because they are terrible)