I do have some sympathy for the next gen of internet users, because I feel like with social media sites dominating their internet landscape, they never had to learn the same things we did. I mean, I learned very basic HTML stuff like < i > for italics because I couldn't just click a button for it, you know? They never had to learn how to host, upload, and code in a photo like we did. If you never had to make your own webpage (like yours Taffeta, that is so cute and nostalgic to me!! that's the kind of site I grew up reading!), you don't know how much work it takes. All you have to do to upload a photo on Twitter or Instagram is to click a button, and it's up! You can even crop and add filters if you'd like! Which is awesome, and I appreciate that so much as a feature, but it doesn't really teach you how to work on a forum, you know? So I feel like there's a lot of generational knowledge being lost, from one set of tweens/teens on the internet to the next, and I feel bad for them. (But then I figure they've learned a lot of stuff I might not manage to pick up without a lot of hard work, like how to identify AI art at a glance!)

I also feel like, unfortunately, there was a certain brand of 'Tumblr culture' that dominated the site for the past ten-ish years or so, which very much encouraged this kind of oversharing of personal information - or even mandated it. With so many arguments happening there, if you were on the social justice posts at all, it was almost mandated that you 'out' yourself for whatever trauma or social issue you'd faced, or else you were treated as if you didn't have the right to speak on that subject. (And I didn't even really notice it, until I saw a post pointing out just how messed up that is! As if you have to share every trauma with strangers on the internet just to have a conversation?) So I think that, by extension, users felt they had to discuss all of their other possible 'risk factors', including their ages - like, 'don't be mean to me, I'm a minor,' when in reality the opposite would probably happen, and they'd be an easier target! So again, I find it hard to blame the users themselves, since it was the culture of the site that encouraged that kind of behavior. I think now we're seeing folks moving away from that, at least I hope so. It's good to find people similar to you, but not at the expense of your safety, you know?

It's sad because there's been a real death of child-friendly (if not child-safe) sites, and a lot of the early My Little Pony fan pages were that for me, as a tween/teen. IG and other social medias are DEFINITELY not safe for kids, but where else is there for them to go? I hope we'll see some kind of societal/governmental change where there can be child-friendly places for kids to explore, but until then, I hope we see more internet-safety classes popping up in schools, or somewhere. Maybe some kind of 'hey, don't put your real age or name or location!' popup on social media sites, or something! It feels like common sense, but it's not so common anymore.

Does your pony have pink hair?

(btw, happy birthday! )

Quote from: Leave a Whisper on Yesterday at 07:09:49 AM

Quote from: Taffeta on Yesterday at 12:52:48 AM

I'm wondering how we figure out which ponies sold over here were made with poly and which were not (basically I can't get at 90% of my G3 at the moment, so I can't just go through and do the hair wash test, not that I'm brave enough to do it!) Some of my G3 also did come from the States so I don't know if they were in bonus packs or if they weren't. I can't remember if I had Petal Blossom and Rainbow Flash with the babies or the babies separately...but all those ponies are currently wrapped up in acid free tissue and stored away.

I've never had the Avon ponies but I also remember them being the first and it was a long time ago they were flagged. But I hadn't realised so many that I consider regular release ponies here may have had bonus releases over there...

I have December Poinsettia in box and I intend to keep her there...but it is making me hesitate about wanting to acquire any more of that set if they might be at risk down the line. They are a bit expensive.

The only pony right now that I know has this issue is actually a G1 Butterscotch, probably a Mail Order though I am not 100%...whose hair was full of conditioner and so dried up and is now so delicate I cannot brush her, or even put her in the cupboard. She's lived by my sink for the last decade or so. Since I am presuming G1 Butterscotch had nylon hair, I'm wondering whether products used on ponies has had any impact on hair breakage (speeding it up) in G3.

Lady Moondancer mentioned earlier in the thread that if the hair soaks up water, it's neon. If it doesn't, it's polypropylene.

Yeah...but they're in boxes in the attic, so that's not a test I can really run rn

I did go through my doubles box today and gave each of the pink sections a little tug, everyone's fine right now.

That's good to know

Post Merge: Yesterday at 11:45:49 AM

Awww man, not more additions to the list Every time this thread gets bumped up I hope it's because someone's found a fix for it or something

At least there's rehairing 

So just to emphasise the 'old people attitude' to privacy, yesterday I legit edited out our living room sofa from the background of a photo of some ponies because it's our sofa and the internet doesn't need to see it. Literally nothing personal in the photo. Just not sharing the sofa. Nope.

I've done the exact same thing!

Again I 100% agree with everything you said Image uploading is easier than ever (except when my site host starts playing me up, like it was the other day *shakes fist* ) and we've even got a tutorial on how to do it... I must admit the complaints about it do make me giggle/roll eyes too.

And I love that old ver of your site, such a blast from the past!!

BC - I think (hope...) Tumblr users are starting to wise up a little about those things, and not share quite as much info etc... but some of the stuff I saw back in the day was truly shocking I mean, certainly I've seen people share personal things in that vein way before social media too, but usually it was in private areas, or maybe in a journal entry/forum post/etc that would get lost amongst other posts over time (so still public but not easily accessible)... not organized in a neat little list and linked on the side of their blog for all and sundry to see, you know? Gah.

Minty Magic, the mirror looks great! the whole space looks really beautiful

i want to go do something fun since i'm still on PTO. but i'm tired everything i can think of to do involves walking and driving a lot.