I don't think I can be a pegasister anymore...

[Vulpy]

Seriously, I just want to know what happened to 'love and tolerate'?

Believe it or not, that was never meant to be taken seriously. It was originally just a counter bronies would throw at trolls and haters, but some took it seriously, and it was adopted as the slogan. I've seen some of the bad myself, and sometimes there is very little love and tolerance. A good example is Alicorns. If you decide to make an Alicorn original character, you will get grilled for it, as many consider OC ones Mary Sues, and the only Alicorns allowed are Luna, Celestia, Cadence, and Lauren's own OC of herself (double standard anyone?).

I can back-up the Alicorn statement. There was a young girl on DA, who made a lovely Alicorn OC. Her design was lovely and colourful, and she seemed like a great character. Unfortanutley, a few Bronies tried to shoot her down for making her an Alicorn. I defended her, and they eventually backed off.

I normally don't like to argue online, but someone had to defend her. They almost ran her off the site.

[Honeycomb]

You are a pony lover, a pony collector!
Don't let those sites and people put you off. Stay here, among friends and people who share one love.

[BrightIdea]

Just like what you like and forget about everyone else. 

[Sprinkles]

I have no problem calling myself a Brony because I know that with every fandom out there, there will be people who give it a bad name.

Take the Hetalia fandom for example, most of the Hetalia fans are OBSESSED with it and when I go to conventions, they are the most obnoxious people there. But I know that even though most of the Hetalia fans I see are like that it doesn't mean they all are. I have a friend that is a huge Hetalia fan and she isn't crazy and immature like most of the others. So I just ignore the ones I find annoying. People need to stop looking at fandoms and thinking that everyone is as bad as the annoying ones.

Same thing goes for the Bronies. Sure there are cloppers, roleplayers, and people that like to ship the characters, but there are also a lot of amazing people out there who are also part of the fandom.

The last convention I went to, Anime USA, I met some great Bronies. I cosplayed as Fluttershy and lots of people commented on my outfit and others started talking about the show. I saw some of the same people a few times and we had great conversations. At the screening of Ponies: The Anthology II, the room was FULL of Bronies and I didn't have a problem with any of them.

So to recap, there will be people from EVERY fandom that you don't like. Does that mean you should be ashamed and embarassed to say you're part of it? I don't think so. Just ignore those people and have fun

[Al-1701]

Honestly I've seen worse fandoms (like Invader Zim and other works by its creator, yeesh). Since Lauren Faust left Hasbro Studios, Bronies have started to become less pleased with the show, and I think in time they will end up losing interest completely. Some fans are in it just for Lauren Faust and not actually ponies.

I've noticed that.  The Crystal Empire got mixed reviews with many complaints landing squarely on Sombra for not being an in your face villain like the previous antagonists.  I've seen people complaining there's too much fanservice in the show like bringing Trixie back (which was supposed to happen last season according Meghan McCarthy) and Xeroxing Pinkie too many times.

[TeddyAndTex]

Well for me...honestly I can see why fans of the older generations can get peeved at bronies, and those who only like FIM. I grew up with G3, had a lot of G3 toys and have recently made fanart of some of my favorite G3 characters. There are some bronies who snap at the older toys and denounce and further themselves away from My Little Pony as a whole and say that they love G4 only. I know, there's people like this in every fandom but honestly...it makes me reluctant to call myself a brony. I'm starting to prefer 'My Little Pony fan' or 'Pony collector' as opposed to brony. Keep in mind I have met some decent bronies who aren't really opinionated about gen 1-3 or are actually fans of it but the others...

[HoustonCollector72]

No matter what you're into, there will always be a stuck up, bad attitude fan base that is cruel to everyone and think they are the God of all fans. I've learned that the hard way. Luckily, we have the Arena which doesn't have all that drama and obnoxious behavior.

It's the last internet fan base forum I actually visit. I gave up on all the others. I don't have time for drama and immaturity over things I like. Some people just take things too far. I wouldn't pay them any attention. You can still call yourself what you like. You don't have to associate with them though.

I've heard terrible things about "Bronies" but this is the only Pony forum, and fan forum for anything at all, that I go to. So I've never dealt first hand with them. But from what I've heard.. I wouldn't pay them any mind. People like that can live off in their delusional world for all I care.

As long as I keep on being happy with the things I like.. they can't get to me. 

exactly

I call myself a brony ,but I  have never been in any meet ups or anything else ,besides liking the tv show , toys ,equestria daily and this forum is as far as it goes for me
FIM was the trigger for me so I would always love it and to me that is what makes me a brony, maybe is not

I think I'm a Brony/Collector now since I do like all the gens

[Falconaitae]

Technically, the meaning of word "Brony" is "male fan of Friendship is Magic". Nothing more nothing less. Everything else is just an interpretation.

I don't call myself brony, but one friend calls me this way, and I don't oppose.

[NoDivision]

Technically, the meaning of word "Brony" is "male fan of Friendship is Magic". Nothing more nothing less. Everything else is just an interpretation.

There's not really a specific definition of the word, as it's not a real word, just an invented term. I don't think it just means a male fan of friendship is magic - there's a lot more to it than that. I know plenty of males who watch FiM and neither they nor I would consider them bronies.

[SourdoughStomper]

Okay, going into the definition of bronies is a shaky endeavor. As this is already a hot-topic issue, let's refrain from going that route again. Please? Thanks.

This thread is subject to getting locked due to flaming or mods getting bored with babysitting it, whichever happens first.

[HollowZero]

I of all people, definitely know how you feel.

Let me tell you a story.

I'm not gonna name names, even though I would love it if you could see the insanity for yourself. I used to frequent a forum that I thought would be pleasant. It was full of nerdy males that also happened to like pastel equines. The bonus was that they forbade "rule 34" (don't look that up), RPing as a pony, and other various weird things.

I joined. It was rather fun.

Until I joined their IRC chat and learned who was really behind the text. The mods are some of the most immature, petty people I have seen in my life. One of them got deeply offended over a videogame discussion. One is an otherkin that holds a grudge against me because I hate the pony he thinks he is. A good amount of them have collections of rule 34, while they post tirades on the forum about how "awful" it is, in order to look good to the community. A former mod of theirs runs a disgusting chatroom I won't even talk about. Another user was found to be part of a "dice game" that, again, I won't even begin to describe how terrible it is. They gang up on people if they have a differing opinion of a pony episode (like say, if you enjoy Last Roundup and majority doesn't).

The sad parts are, a lot of them are in their 20s. They don't have the "oh they're just teenagers" excuse. And the admins are decent, they just hired the worst possible people as moderators.

The worst part of it all, is that this is the best "brony" forum on the internet (supposedly). Some of you might have even signed up there at one point. Majority others welcome rule 34 and disgusting stuff, so.

It's not just that forum, either. On Deviantart I have met some incredibly depraved individuals, one even suggesting Rarity be sent to a concentration camp because he hated her just that much. Even young women are drawing pony rule 34, in order to get popular/hits on their page.

Please remove yourself from their fandom. It's full of nasty, mean-spirited people. Stay here at the Arena, the "diamonds in the rough"...these mystical bronies that are good and kind, are probably already here anyway!

Honestly, it's really disheartening though. I would like a majority male forum without all the riffraff, but that seems impossible.

[ashlyne]

As a proud and active Brony, I really, really dislike this thread. Please don't think the bad ones are the only ones who make up my fandom.

 
I can assure you there's much more to the MLP fandom than this. Much more.
 
I feel unwelcomed.

BerryPunch, I think this entire thread shows that we all recognize you good Bronies out there and you bring a lot of fun, energy and creativity to the name My Little Pony, so please don't feel unwelcome by the comments here.  Some people are uncomfortable carrying the Brony name because the bad stuff has gotten a lot of attention, while others proudly carry it because they still represent what Brony is supposed to be.  Neither is wrong and no one should feel uncomfortable here with whatever they choose to be.  It's just unfortunate that there are a lot of not-so-good people out there hurting the Brony name, and that's who we're discussing, not all you good guys.

Bronies are very much welcome here, and it's their responsibility as much as it is the responsibility of members that have been here longer to keep this forum friendly and welcoming to others 

[Sprinkles]

As a proud and active Brony, I really, really dislike this thread. Please don't think the bad ones are the only ones who make up my fandom.

 
I can assure you there's much more to the MLP fandom than this. Much more.
 
I feel unwelcomed.

I feel the same exact way. And the sad thing is, there have been many other threads exactly like this. I thought the Arena was supposed to be a place where nothing bad happened and everyone was nice. Of course, I was wrong. It seems to me that people on the Arena can be just as bad as some of the Bronies.

[SourdoughStomper]

Okay, we've reached that point again. Locking.