>>145129I feel you on people not meeting you halfway. I was doing the lion's share of the flags for the flag creation thread, and after a while, it kind of tapered off. Seems like the people here just tend to give up, after a while.
And while I can appreciate the autism you invested into those two threads, and will definitely give you a thumbs-up where it's due, I need to make something absolutely clear to you. Those two, while certainly fun and entertaining, were never going to garner much success, for one simple reason: they rehashed old concepts, and pandered strictly to our pre-existing, parasitised userbase. This isn't to put you down, friend, it's just my take on it, from experience.
It wasn't trying to 'ride the lightning', as I put it: it was trying to tap into an already drying aquifer.
Look, I love MLP. The fandom, the images, the stories, the porn, whatever tickles my fancy. But with the latest seasons, and G5 looming over the horizon, it'll take a miracle to revitalize the fandom, and it's not the wisest thing to bet on happening.
Put simply, we need something new. Something different. That's what I mean, by 'riding the lightning' of a new internet phenomenon.
A new fandom for a new show could spring up overnight. A new game, a new book, whatever it may be. And in today's current political climate, if it wants to leave it's mark at all, this new thing is almost assuredly going to lean towards the right.
Right-leaning new content + left-leaning establishment = conflict. Conflict we can tap into.
Alternatively, recall MLP's formation, for example, from the first threads on /co/. That wasn't a conflict of politics, as much as it was a conflict in tastes between mods and users. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what came of that little sticking point.
My suggestion, is that we keep a close eye on any developments like this, whether they be on chans, or off. For whatever reason, a new big thing will pick up huge amounts of steam, because Streisand demands it to be so.
If it matches criteria that we deem desirable to have, like kind of out-there views, and aversions to places like Reddit, we should make every effort possible to make this new big thing our own.
If it's getting banned wholesale on major sites, we open our doors to them, offer them an enclave. We give them an outlet, a home, for their particular brand of content.
Put simply, one site's trash is another site's treasure. If they don't see the value in this big, new happening, we'll take it for ourselves, and make fools of them for throwing aside something with that much sheer potential.
MLP:FIM has lasted for seven uninterrupted years, now. People thought it was a fad, something that would fizzle out.
But it didn't. /mlp/ FIMfic, Derpibooru, fuck, even EQD and Ponychan still stand, all these years later, producing new things.
I want us to be shrewd enough, wise enough, to see the next big thing, and capitalize on it to the fullest extent possible. I want our mark left on this next big thing. Not for all the world to see, hopefully, but with enough of a presence to be a permanent part of it's history.
If we have that, we'll last as long as, and finally be independent from, /mlp/. And with any luck, we'll induct plenty of new members into our ranks, and forge a wonderful new relationship from it all.
Friendship is magic, after all.