I’m going to dispute this idea the entire fandom was built on shitting on MLP and its fans, precisely because the people who first started doing fluffy art and fiction were MLP fans themselves. Even on 4chan
I take that allegation seriously and vehemently object to it, because there was and still are MLP fans within fluffies who enjoy MLP through fluffies, or minorly rib it. I detest this idea that fluffies exist “to shit on MLP”, because some MLP fans enjoy MLP through fluffies. This applied to Waggytail, Marcusmaximus, LordAnubis, Coalheart, Foxhoarder, Fluffsplosion and yes, even myself.
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I get that we are not a PC fandom. I get that we don’t really cater to this idea of a safe space. But this idea of shitting on other people, shitting one each other, and doing hate art of other peoples characters, especially without permission, is precisely the reason why the booru was in decline.
The signs were there. Mods were leaving or became less involved until it boiled down to one person. Creatives in both art and fiction became less involved, and many regulars so less incentive to stay. After all, what incentive is there to stay in a fandom if the only thing that people want from your fluffy OC is to see it killed?
I feel that more needs to be done to have an incentive for people to stay in this fandom. I emphasize hugbox, because I believe that being nicer to other people, and not just fluffies, is an act of hugbox. And we need that, because from what I’ve seen and researched this fandom did little to try to keep people within it. Its why I focus my attention to tributes, as well as archiving and presenting non-abuse content, which tends to be neglected.
I heard that rhetoric of not being a safe-space. Its the same rhetoric the 4chan MLP community used back in 2011, and before it became mainstream. They balked at the idea of MLP becoming more mainstream. But, and as cringe as bronies and MLP fans may be, derpibooru is still going strong, and people are proud to state that they are an MLP fan. And MLP fandom has produced notable alumni. I have not seen the same for fluffies.
I’m not saying that fluffies should go back to MLP. Far from that - part of the allure of fluffies is its independent identity. What I do think though, is that the fluffy fandom should learn from the MLP fandom, and see where the MLP fandom succeeded. And they have succeeded in making games, including spinoff games, as well as collaborations and many other projects. Hell, I’d point out that two of the fluffy games produced in the past year were both by @Foxhoarder, and she’s very much an MLP fan.
My point is, if this fandom is going to develop, it needs to put aside its history of shit-edits, schadenfreude and vitriol. Otherwise, it will only prove what LordAnubis said here:
I’ve had enough dealings with edgy teens and emotionally unbalanced manchildren to see that fluffy pony will likely never be able to properly balance its content to a net positive.
I believe this statement can be proven wrong. But its not going to be easy.