@ Verbose and Opspe leaving
I probably don't have much of a say in this matter, since I haven't been around as long as the rest of you have. However, I think the likely reason for their departure from the thread is, as said before, the drama that occurs here. I recall Verbose stating he was tired of the drama that sometimes takes place here on one of the Synchtube's chats. Hopefully, they weren't referring to the Derpy drama, because we didn't really respond all that badly (as has been said before). Some of us did over-react (myself included), but generally, most of us were OK, and I think the majority of what we did was over-react to a brony over-reaction, rather than the actual scenario.
Or, it could be that they're simply tired of having long-winded discussions about ponies. It can be hard to come up with topics of serious discussion, and so they could have simply meant that they might be posting less.
Regardless, they have their reasons, and they're most likely valid ones. As said before, they'll still be here on KYM.
@ Derpy message
Personally, I think they were right to change Derpy's voice and name (I know this is ironic, considering the previous part of this post). Even if it was a minority offended, people were still offended, and that is a big deal when it comes to a show that's all about tolerance. We must remember that we are the unintended audience, regardless of whether or not we are the majority, and so if something even remotely offends or could possibly offend it's intended audience (and it's unintended audience), then they should take action.
That being said, however, Hasbro really should have done a better job at communicating with the community. I don't mean to strike out at Hasbro or anything, but with something this important to the fanbase, they should have explained their actions sooner, rather than let the fanbase speculate and fight amongst itself for a month. It was an honest mistake, but I think they underestimated just how important Derpy is to the community, and they probably should have done some more research. They (or rather the VA) did get the gender mixed up, for example (once again, I'm trying to sound neutral here).
This isn't the first time a fanbase has overreacted due to a lack of communication. For example, if you were to take the Valve fanbase, there is a good deal of turbulence (for a lack of better words) going on over Half Life 3. At one of the E3's (I forgot which), Valve said they were going to release info on the game, but they didn't. Rather than explaining why not or apologizing, they just acted like it never happened, and so massive paranoia grew among the HL fanbase (though it's mostly died down by now).
As for why these sh*tstorms happen in the first place, my theory is that MLP simply attracts the emotionally disturbed/unstable, who are seeking some sort of support to help themselves get through their strifes (this included myself a while back, but I'm not going into that). These people are usually seeking to belong to some sort of community, and by nature, the community is generally very friendly and supporting (mainly because it correlates with the message of the show).
As such, when something happens, these people are likely to respond in a highly emotional way as opposed to a rational one. This is just my theory though.
Edit: Verbose posted while I was typing this (I spent 15 minutes typing this), and this would probably sound much clearer if I wasn't so tired right now.
Also, I hope I'm not being one of those guys that are here just to post in this thread. I do generally go into the other threads every so often, though I may be guilty of having the majority of my posts in here.
Double edit: Are you sure you want to pay for a site that only about 7 of us (give or take) will use? I'm not trying to sound mean or anything, it's just that you will be paying for it.
Triple edit: Dang it, this is at the end of the page. Nobody's going to admire this philosophical post I spent 15 minutes on. That is, if anybody reads posts that take 15 minutes to type.