Forums / Discussion / General

This one from Verbose to decide the sub-title of the next pony thread once this one reaches 200 pages. The winning one was the one you now see disapproval towards.

@Advance & Random

I don't know, I thought it was kind of punny. Honestly, none of the options were that good in the first place. Who really cares though right? What's in a name and all that noise.

This poll choosing the next Pony General title.
Here are the current standings, for those of you who don't even lift manipulate URLs.

I know I barely even post in this thread (I check it like 10 times a day though), and that name is terrible.

Yeah, that title is dookie butter freshly churned from the toilet. Not a fan of that name to be honest.

Y-you guys really don't like the deathly hasbro? I thought it was cool.

Everyone's complaining about the title I came up with.

At least your suggestion made it on the final vote…..

Actually, your title was on the list: look just below the middle of the broken image section and to the right. Twilitlord's variation Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro was more popular. Technically, this isn't the title you suggested. :\

Am I the only one around here

That still likes "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro"?

@Iamslow

To be honest, I don't like the title.

Well, don't I get credit for coming up with Deathly Hasbro? I know originally said just The Deathly Hasbro but everyone, including myself, liked the other title better.

@below

Thank you, Twilitlord. We shall both share credit for the title.

And here is a prime example of the vocal minority. I'm not going to gloat about making the complete, finalized version of the title, and I still think disturbed deserves credit for the last part – I couldn't come up with a pun for the life of me. For that matter, I nearly voted for Live Free or Twi Hard. I thought it was genius, but I had to go with my title. Still…

Your choices lost. You are the minority of the thread (or at least those who voted, you may have been able to do a teensy bit better promoting the poll, Verbose), you just look like a large number because you are the ones actually talking about it. So no, Iamslow, you aren't the only one, just the only one voicing support.

It's Twilicorn Tuesday, everyone.

@Twilitlord

SEE I WUZ GONNA GO BACK AND ANSWER THAT QUESTION ABOUT THE MANE SIX LIKE YOU HAD ASKED IN THE AMA THREAD A WHILE BACK CUZ I FELT BAD ABOUT NOT GETTING AROUND TO IT, BUT YOU HAD TO GO AND BUST ME OUT LIKE A FOOyeah, in hindsight, I only presented it once, because I assumed people would see the large Mortal Kombat logo with a small amount of text.
 
Having said that, the poll is still up, so even though I did fail in promoting it, the decision isn't final.

But if those who voted for "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro" want to change, then I can just make a new poll with the same choices and run it again. Again, me and RM can change the title of the thread at whatever point we want, so we're not really in a hurry.
 
I don't mind voting again, and I may change my mind personally based off of giving Hasbro the middle finger for what could last about a year.. However, if the vote (or a new vote) still leans toward Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro, I think that's what it should be.

Ah. That makes sense. I think it won because it was only one that really played off the "seven" pun. I actually like the Deathly Hasbro one over the others (I actually find that quite clever). Of course, I think we can produce better punnage. So for the time being, I like db's suggestion best.

I'm fond of making a reference to the seventh James Bond movie: Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

How about:
Pony General VII: Ponies Are Forever
or
Pony General VII: Alicorns Are Forever?

So many fun iterations! Anyone else have a seven/pony pun? Because I think that's definitely the direction we should go, one way or the other.

EDIT:

@Twitlord

Technically speaking, "The Deathly Hasbro" suggestion doesn't have a majority -- not in the sense that most of us 'Muricans are used to when it comes to elections. It has the most votes, but still the majority want something else.

Perhaps there should be a runoff? At least until something gets a majority, or other suggestions are offered which are more agreed upon.

Twilitlord wrote:

Your choices lost. You are the minority of the thread, you just look like a large number because you are the ones actually talking about it. So no, Iamslow, you aren’t the only one, just the only one voicing support.

That depends on how you look at it.

From a point of view of the choices we make, we are the minority as our votes ended up having a lesser total.

From a point of view of not voting for Deathly Hasbro, we are the majority, as there are more people not voting for Deathly Hasbro than did. I had a divided vote on liking, but Deathly Hasbro got the icing of the hate cake because it's just a big middle finger towards the creators.

@Bulletproof

Plenty of puns to offer there.

Technically speaking, “The Deathly Hasbro” suggestion doesn’t have a majority -- not in the sense that most of us ’Muricans are used to when it comes to elections. It has the most votes, but still the majority want something else.

Perhaps there should be a runoff? At least until something gets a majority, or other suggestions are offered which are more agreed upon.

Well, as it stands, more users want that title than anything else. It may not have more than 50% of votes, but it has far more than any other suggestion. So which idea is the best?

To suggest other ideas at this point basically puts at square one. And we can do that: a poll is a simple thing to put together. If it makes the most people happy, then lets do that.

Imagine how those 9 (I think) feel when their properly voted upon idea gets shot down. Note that no one had a problem with this (or no one spoke up) when their own idea was perceived as having a chance. I believe the time to say "I don't like Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro" or any suggestion was about two weeks ago. We had a couple of pages discussing it. And two pages takes about 3 or 4 days to get through.

Or more simply, sour grapes in fancy language.

The problem with understanding what makes the most people happy is that this requires an organized effort in itself (i.e., another questionnaire.) I don't disagree with the logic presented here, but when weighing logic and popular preference in regards to the title of a thread, I'd strongly lean towards "popular preference."
 
 
So what do we do? If we decide to wait, then we need to agree upon what to do.

But by the above logic (not being smart allecky here,) the decision needs more than 50% of the votes before we could do anything.

I'm really fine with any other option besides Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro, that's the only title I didn't like. Maybe If we had the choice to downvote as well as upvote one of the possibilities, more people would be happy. Personally, I don't want to post in a thread for 200 pages if it has that title.

edit: I'm all for RandomMan's idea (the post below)

I know I barely even post in this thread (I check it like 10 times a day though), and that name is terrible.

I wanted to edit it cause it sounds kinda mean. Sorry about that.
I couldn't edit cause I got distracted and the 30min went by.

So what do we do? If we decide to wait, then we need to agree upon what to do.

As I stated before, the only reason I dislike that title is because it's just a big middle finger to Hasbro. A hate topic is never a good thing. If something like that could be avoided, I couldn't care less about the topic. Electric Scootaloo was a fun pun with no real event references, why can't we go back to those days.

Sure, if the majority wants it, go with it. I might suggest a second poll, but knowing how votes are divided it would not gain anything. If you want to be super fair, you make a poll for the other 5, pick the two most popular out of that, and then let those two and Deathly Hasbro compete against each other in a final poll. This would lower the division issue amongst those disliking Deathly Hasbro. If the winner out of that is still Deathly Hasbro, you are hereby given the right to throw it in my face.

Twitilord the Alicorn Princess wrote:

Your choices lost. You are the minority of the thread (or at least those who voted, you may have been able to do a teensy bit better promoting the poll, Verbose), you just look like a large number because you are the ones actually talking about it. So no, Iamslow, you aren’t the only one, just the only one voicing support.

It's not a majority, it's a plurality. When you have more than one option in a vote, majorities are usually impossible to achieve. Technically, The Deathly Hasbro is a minority just as much as the other options. Congratulations, you're being a vocal minority.

Now, in a less assholish demeanor:
Verbose, I had concerns when the post was first put up. I just didn't think it had much of a chance in the first place, so I didn't want to start up issues prematurely. It's my fault on that end, as my arrogance made me think others would share the opinion. The title just feels like something I'd see in JFF, not General.

Anyway, at this point a group of people are going to feel stepped on either way. I agree with RandomMan's idea of taking the other five to vote on, then stripping down the one/two most popular and throwing that against Deathly Hasbro.

Another option would be to follow the same poll style as the first one: Allow us to vote for all titles we like.

I never really liked the current type of poll. It forces you to make one decision when your actual preferences are divided amongst multiple. This poll follows the thought pattern that the option people vote for is the one they want to happen, not that it's just one they're ok with amongst multiple.

A poll where we can vote for multiple titles wouldn't hurt Deathly Hasbro. The current voters for it would still check it in the new poll, plus it adds others who had to do a coin flip in which Deathly Hasbro lost the first time. The option that ends up having the most votes is the one that most people are ok with, even though it might not be the one those people want the most, but still the one the least wouldn't be ok with.

Regardless of the poll you choose from here, please remove the caps for "YES ANOTHER ONE, DEAL WITH IT". Caps are just annoying to see on the thread list on the forum, and in the context of that title just seems like we feel superior to the rest of the site.

I'm about to fall asleep, but answer me this:

When I had that last item in the past two questionnaires (i.e., any problems with the survey?), why didn't anyone say anything?

That's the main bothersome thing. If the set-up was flawed, then no one said anything until the option they didn't like was shown to be the favorite.

I can address why the two suggestion have their own problems later.

Most of us probably felt like a minority seeing how we lost. Speaking against that one specific title more were in favor of felt like an already lost battle to begin with. Advance just was the trigger that showed others they weren't the only ones with dislike to that specific title.

Sure, there was the option to tell our dislike in the poll, but unless you know how to manipulate the URL to see the results beforehand you wouldn't know much. I never expected Deathly Hasbro to be the winner when I made my vote, but when I noticed it was winning it was already too late as I had already voted.

As for the poll, we went with what worked in the past, because there it was always one title that clearly dominated. Now, amongst a lower amount of options, possible dislike for the winner is shown more easily. Which brings us to the current issue.

Sure, all voting systems have their flaws, I agree with that. But the current poll adds an element of force, whereas the multi-voting keeps it to an option of choice. My first suggestion was related to something they often do on tv shows. Crown an early winner, but let the losers compete against each other again and then let the winner of that stay in the show, removing a bit of the diversion issue.

@All the voting stuff

Okay, it looks like we're looking at a problem called The spoiler effect where a strong majority of the vote actively disliked the name "Deathly Hasbro," but their voice was diluted because they wasted their vote on a number of other names, leaving Deathly Hasbro the strongest minority. This can be solved with an alternative vote. Why don't you guys give this a shot?

I'm with RandomMan that the only reason I don't like "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro" is because, while it is just a joke, it still has an underlying negativity about Hasbro's addition of Twilicorn into the series. Really, I didn't want any titles having to do with a negative view on Twilicorn put into the title because A.) It is a thing that will be ancient history by the time the new thread reaches 200 pages and B.) Having a title based on a negative opinion just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not trying to step on any toes by saying I don't like this title, I actually really like the Harry Potter reference. I personally would tweak it to say something like "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Elements" (I think this suggestion might have already been made? Oh well) because it doesn't show any immediate distaste towards the creators and it leads to what I think is a pretty good reference.

Overall, if the title ends up going through, I will live. I barely ever read the title of the thread anyway. I would prefer if we either took this option out of the poll due to many people's distaste for the negativity, or reconstruct the poll like RandomMan suggested.

I-if that's ok with you…

Whoa, I just had to get bogged down with work today, didn't I?
Well, here goes…

@Bullying
I guess most people have moved on from the topic, but just felt like throwing one more anecdote into the ring that I recalled while everyone was discussing the pros and cons of violence.
I said before that i managed to avoid most bullying myself, by I definitely witnessed my fair share and, in my experience, I never saw violence solving anything.
If anything, it only made things worse.
The most distinct example that I can remember was actually pre-high school (7th or 8th grade, I think).
Basically, there was a relatively awkward kid who became the popular whipping boy for all of the popular bullies.
I was probably one of the only people that he might have considered a 'friend' and even then he managed to get on my nerves at times.
Well, he had a bit of a temper (probably from years of teasing) and it led him to throw the occasional punch or shove.
If he missed, more taunting.
If he connected, no one was 'taught a lesson,' the bullies just ended up doubling back for revenge.
In one case, one of them went way out of their way to violently tackle him during a game of flag football (a.k.a. no touching allowed) and by 'out of their way' I mean 'He didn't even have the ball at the time.'
Snapped his collar bone right there on the field.
Obviously my personal observations are far from scientific, but all I've ever seen from schoolyard violence is escalation.
For me, the kinds of bullies that stop picking on a kid who 'stands up for himself' or 'fights back' with fists exist only in movies and TV shows.
I don't doubt that it could work under the right circumstances, but I would never recommend it as a course of action unless no other options exist.

@Equestria Girls
I tend to see myself as an optimist when it comes to media, giving the benefit of the doubt to new shows and such until all the facts are in, but Equestria Girls…
I really don't know.
I'm still holding out hope, but I keep seeing too many frankly 'baffling' decisions that it is getting harder and harder to stay overly cheery about it.

The whole 'human' thing took some getting used to, but I do sort of like the designs and, depending on how they are animated, I could see it looking decently good.
Turning Spike into a dog however, seems like a fundamental misunderstanding of his role on the original show and makes me thing that he's really getting shortchanged.
Someone else brought up the other good question of what this means for the other side characters like the CMCs, Big Mac, Granny, the Cakes, etc.
Will they all be humans too, or will some of them find themselves as different species (or will they appear in the new show at all)?

More worrying though, is the fact that it seems like the original MLP cast and crew will not be involved with EG.
Someone asked Tabitha St. Germaine if she would be working on it and this was her response:

That's her finding out about EG for the first time just a week and a half ago.
As she says, it's pretty unlikely that they will be involved.
Say hello to another major hurdle that the new show will have to overcome…

@Thread Name

I didn't vote for the currently contentious title, but I don't really see it as all that offensive.
I haven't read the books or seen the movies in a while, but the Deathly Hollows were not inherently evil, were they?
They were just powerful and capable of evil when placed in the wrong hands.
I never really read into the name beyond it being a silly little movie/book pun.

I will say that I did vote for 'Live Free or Twi Hard' which was also my second choice for the last thread name, beaten only by our current Star Wars pun.
The ability to start a new thread with 'Yippy-ki-yay, motherbucker!' is just too fun.
Wrong pony, but still awesome:

I didn't know the technical name until Fifth's video, but I've always preferred alternative voting schemes over 'single choice' ones.
I know I saw it used in a favorite pony quiz once, too.
By allowing everyone to rank the options rather than picking a single one for best and worst, a lot more interesting data can be pulled and used to make the most agreeable choice.
(For example, I think the best pony quiz concluded that Rarity and Rainbow Dash were the most polarizing characters with lots of votes for best and worst with few in between. In most polls, the two of them end up high on the lists because of this whereas with the alternative approach, I think Fluttershy was able to squeeze into the upper rankings by being generally liked all around even if she wasn't the absolute favorite of as many people.)
I have a feeling that we are massively over-complicating something that is largely meaningless anyway, but what else is this thread for? =)

Alex Mercer should make a thread simulator that discusses the topic about what is happening right now.

I mean srsly guise. It sounds funnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

@Deadparrot

You know, I can't help but feel your entire attitude towards the whole bullying thing is part of the problem. Not you specifically mind, just that general attitude of "What is the best way I can minimize my pain in this instance?" Where is the concept of honor, of not being willing to take a taunt even if it means you might get your collar-bone snapped or Verbose is going to unleash his berserker rage on you? I mean shit, I understand it's a lot to be asking from high school kids, but it doesn't seem there's even a concept of honor here to be considered.

I suppose that is my greatest resentment of our modern times that it seems to have reduced men to animals who only care to satisfy their baser needs. 'All that exists are the pains and pleasures of today, of this moment, and this moment dies, so what does any of it matter in the end?' That attitude is unbecoming of the dignity I firmly believe the rightful place of the human soul. If people don't care about their own dignity, if people have so little value for their sense of self that they aren't willing to risk a little pain, then why should the bully care? Bullies pray on weakness, and that is weakness.

So yes Deadparrot, it's unlikely that the kid who stands up for himself will fair quite so well as the one on TV does, but sometimes the action itself is more important than the consequence.

@Equestria girls

They're not having the original cast work on it? I think I have to officially reevaluate Hasbro's alignment from "neutral evil" to "chaotic neutral". I just…don't get it.

Okay, look. If TSatDH doesn't get a full 50%, then I am totally okay with a runoff. I didn't totally expect to get the vote anyways. I'd even be okay with Live Free or Twi Hard, the only one to get 12 votes in the primary. It's all up to you guys. However, I am not okay with changing it just because three users dislike it if it gets a true majority, even if one is a mod. That's not democratic in any way.

Also, since there's controversy, let me give you my side of the argument: It's just a stupid pun, and to be honest, I never intended for it to be a stab at Hasbro. Twilight Sparkle is good at magic, like Harry, and her name has the same number of syllables as Harry's. Hasbro was just the best word to replace Hallows, in a pun-related sense. I tried Deathly Elements, since they have a similar purpose, but it sounds awful. db came up with Hasbro, which fit. If you can find a better pone-related word that fits just as well, then go ahead. I'd like to hear it, if only to get this controversy to blow over.

Also, Bulletproof, I've already said this, but submissions closed two weeks ago. It's not fair for the people who passed round 1 if more get added.

On the topic of whether or not fighting back can actually stop bullying, I have a little story for you guys about my father. My father is a small man (about 5'5'', I am just a bit taller than him) and because of this, my dad was picked on by guys who thought they were bigger and tougher than him. My dad is the type of person that doesn't take shit from anyone. There was one time when some jerk shoved him in a trash can and while the guy was turned around high-fiving his friends my dad crawled out and threw the trash can at him which ended up putting him in the hospital. My dad is a pretty good fighter, so he usually didn't have to fight the same guy twice. Even if my dad "lost" the fight, he usually beat a guy up enough to scare him away from ever picking on him again. The point of my story is, at least back in the 70s/80s, fighting back can be an affective way of getting rid of a bully. Although, this would only be effective if you could actually hold your own in a fight (unlike what the kid in DeadParrot's story seemed to be capable of). Obviously, violence should not be the first answer, but sometimes there is no other option and you have to show your bully that you're not gonna take their shit, and yes that can get very physical and end up in a broken collar bone or two.

@Brownmane and the sharing of life stories:
My sincerest sympathies, as I know only too well the weariness of which you speak. As you say, you do have all the appearance of a generally pleasant person, and in spite of what you have revealed of yourself, this notion is unlikely to change, at least for me.

You didn't know this before, but back when I was a new member and yet still a lurkling, I read a post of yours that seemed almost tailor made for me, despite that it was addressed to others. At a time when the true weariness of the world did set in, like such dark tendrils what slowly turn dreams to nightmares, the folly of my arrogance made to come crashing down on me, yet so unwilling to give up the illusion I made for myself (Supreme: contrary to what my recent introduction may suggest, my username was not born from the "Supreme Dalek" character, but is the very name of the illusion of myself that I created. It persists now, but only to serve as a reminder, that I may never forget my folly and keep myself humble), your post appeared before me and helped me realize what needed to happen to save myself from myself (And it has been a very interesting character transition for me). And for the small but not insignificant part you played, it was decided that you would be the first user that rookie user Supreme would choose to follow.

And so it makes me sad to see one I so admired say that they would choose not to empathize with humanity's unworthy. It is my conclusion that those who deserve kindness the least have greatest need of it. And that, rather than people who are deserving of kindness being denied it the most, like a sick joke of probability, people become more deserving of kindness for the fact that they persist in wanting to be a good and worthy human being, to themselves and others, in spite of being consistently denied this kindness by circumstance and other human beings. But then why do they persist at all? Why do they continue to give of themselves to a world that seems to give nothing in return? Because these good people empathize with all those human beings who, deserving or not, are denied this kindness by the cruel hands of fate. This empathy is why we can look beyond past transgressions and forgive, because at the end of the day, we're all people having to deal with a cruel, wearisome world, who just want to be happy. It is because of this empathy that I can forgive humanity for its constant failing. We all fail at some point at least a little bit, but we never seem to stop trying to reach that happiness, even the most unworthy of us. I don't think humanity has truly failed thus far, we just keep stumbling. I don't think humanity will experience true failure until good people give up on the "unworthy", because the good are the best we have. It's probably right that you should be disappointed in humanity's failures, but please don't let that stop you from empathizing with those who are unworthy of your empathy; it makes it that much more important. Persisting despite what society gives you in return is what makes you that good and worthy person, and I'd hate to see our numbers dwindle.

Mrrrrg…It's late and my stream of conscious thought appears to be deteriorating. Gonna stop with life story/philosophical rambling by saying thank you for being so inadvertently helpful to me, the pony regulars probably know me a bit better, and hey, it ain't too late for the world, don't give up on it.

@New Thread Title:
I, too, approve of runoff until clear majority.

zzzzzzzzzzzz……

Fifths wrote:

Where is the concept of honor, of not being willing to take a taunt even if it means you might get your collar-bone snapped or Verbose is going to unleash his berserker rage on you? I mean shit, I understand it’s a lot to be asking from high school kids, but it doesn’t seem there’s even a concept of honor here to be considered.

I'm sorry, but this is all I think about every time you talk about the importance of honor:

You make high school sound like medieval Europe, and bullying like a matter of chivalric code.

Anyone's first and foremost concern in those situations should be their own well-being -- physical and emotional. Self-esteem matters more than the esteem of others, meaning honor. I mean, seriously, what does "honor" even mean in a high school setting? Pretty much the person you were in high school doesn't even matter after you graduate, so after questing for honor, what really do you achieve?

I don't think it matters -- not even to high schoolers, but really to anyone at least as I understand "honor."

@Forum naming controversy

As a loyal Twilicorn supporter, I'll say I voted for The Deathly Hasbro. Not to spite Hasbro, but because it was a pun on a Harry Potter book, much as this forum's name's a pun on Star Wars. I kind of doubt that people are so butthurt over Twilicorn they'd go and "stick it" to Hasbro by picking the name. More then likely, they choose it for the pun.

@Equestria Girls

If it's true that the VA's haven't even worked on EG then I'm washing my hands of the spin-off. Different voice actors is a major jimmy rustler for me (glares at post-4kids Pokemon). Even if the Va's are the same, I'm still predicting a massive clusterfuck. I've ran a number of scenarios through my head and they all suck. I'll watch the pilot/movie, but with every new piece of info I get about about it, it's sounding worse and worse.

Just leave the poll up, and we'll check on it in another 21 pages.

Though I think that "Are you a Princess, too?" is a perfect title for four reasons:

a) Twilicorn controversy reference
b) Hasbro-approved quote from their impeccably show-accurate toyline
c) Inviting to outsiders
d) Everything's better with princesses

Alright, I've slept, and I can see a little more clearly and with less (but still present) "You still should have said something earlier, especially if you out-and-out feared a certain outcome" sentiment.

I suppose since so many people dislike it, then I should explain my previous reasoning:

• The end result was to have a simple process where one well-liked option could be chosen.
• So I asked which options everyone liked without any limit.
• From those that had a lot of support, everyone could pick one that was already determined to be well-liked by previous users.

I believed it to be relatively simple to execute. I believed it to not put all of the emphasis on choosing one over all of the others (i.e., limiting the options to six based on what users…not me…said.) I believed it to be a combination of good attributes while limiting negative ones.

Because no one said anything, I didn't know people disliked it. People went along with it, so I believed that this was a good option.

But I will recognize that if people truly are upset, then regardless of the "good option" I came up with, it won't matter if the end result is a title that nearly half of us like and a quarter of us hate.

• So many people like "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro."
  • But many people specifically don't like "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro."

The issues with the previous process (in order of appearance):

1. Advance doesn't like it.
   • Near overthrowing of the entire KYM FiM community aside, I'm not sure if that's a good reason to make a change of any sort.
2. The option is disrespecting Hasbro (and will likely do so for about a year at the going rate of KYM PG VI.)
   • I would like to ask RandomMan (I still love you, bro) to not assume that we chose it to spite Hasbro. Please believe that as much as I dislike Twilight's princess status right now, I'm not going to go out of my way to spite them. I think you respect the logic and maturity of most of the users here, as I do. I think we have the best combination of logic and maturity in this set of users than we've ever have. I hope you don't think I'm that petty, but perhaps I've shown myself to be previously? I believe we chose it due to the reference to the seventh thread and the magnificent wordplay.
   • I will add that this could potentially run off new users from joining the thread. I like the size and variety of users who contribute here right now, but if people (and reasonably so) see the thread title, then they may immediately think that we're super critical of Hasbro when in fact we are not. RandomMan and others came to that conclusion, so with their thinking, I think it's reasonable to expect that other people will think similarly. We don't want to run those potential newcomers off before they decide to post (Serious Business ninja'd me while I was typing this. Good point, Business Man Not Human.)
3. It's going to get old (over the course of the suspected year it takes to complete the thread.)
   • Perhaps. We don't know what's going to happen with Season 4…but we also don't know what's going to happen in Season 4.
   • Do note that "V: We Just Don't Know What Went Wrong" had the same issue, but it wasn't much more brief that KYM PG VI (i.e., V lasted for about 4 and a half months, and this one will likely last for about 9 months.) Also, since most of the current activity is about the title of this thread, the thread may get slower until Season 4 starts, and if Twilight's ascension isn't highlighted/Hasbro isn't "interfering" as much as the title might imply we think it is, then yes, it will become anachronous.
4. Some people missed the links.
   • That was my own fault for not promoting it on each page. One person's vote never really matters, but my intentions were to make everyone feel involved, and missing one user due to me not being diligent defeats that purpose.
5. The end result: Is not as widely liked as other options may have been.
   • Indicating that "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro" may have been the best "contender" for this process but may not be the best option for those who frequent the thread.
     • However, if that's the case, then whatever method we choose (if anything else) probably shouldn't even include "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro." Even if it can garner 50% of votes, you'd potentially have at least 40% of people disliking it, if not all out hating it.
6. It doesn't hold a true majority (i.e., 50% of support)
   • Well, there's the assumption that 42% like the vote and 58% dislike it. It could just as likely be 42% liking it, 29% disliking it, and 29% not caring one way or another.
   • But like I said before, even if it got half of the votes, there'd still be a lot of people who just plain didn't like it. This isn't a political election, so if we can get the highest number of people who don't hate or dislike the chosen title, then perhaps the method to best get to that end result is the best option.

I think I've gone through all of them. And in enumerating them, like RM said, I don't think any other title got this much heat before. And I don't think it's such a small minority who dislike the title as was previously though.

But the problem I still maintain is that we'd have to come up with an approach that everyone agrees to (and by the same logic, has a true majority.)

And we can totally do that. We can make a list of the methods (I like Fifths' idea, but a method that allows people to say which ones they loathe as well like Advance suggested would work too.) But don't we all need to agree upon the method before we even get to choosing the title?

Whatever we do, please tell me if you have a problem with any future polls I do? It actually didn't take long to put together, but now I feel like an idiot for not getting it right.

Hay guise, long time no face. Errrr…. Since you were talking about the title of the next Pony General Thread, I just had to log in and dig up this gold nugget by StarGazer.

That's the best tilte for a thread there ever was, or ever will be.

Don't lie to yourself. You know it to be true.


That's pretty much all I had to say.

Yes, I'm still stuck here like background radiation, and come out only if there's something I need to say, or if I have something worth adding to the conversation (especially art related).

You can still summon me if you have a nice little sacrifice for me though (if you dare).

Okay, crazy guy no-one remembers signing out for now. Bye.

@Bulletproof brony

Here we have encountered a semantic misunderstanding. You believe honor is the esteem of others, I believe it is the reason others ought to esteem a person. It's a very important distinction. Zuko didn't abandon his honor in the end, he just realized that having true honor doesn't mean praise from your corrupt as fuck family, it comes from serving a higher good.

You say the High school student should be worrying about their self-esteem? I agree, and I think sometimes the only way to keep a healthy self-esteem is to be willing to defend yourself.

@Supreme and Brownmane

With all due respect, I think you guys are just feeling youthful angst as opposed to real world weariness. The world weary aren't quite so wont to loquaciously pontificate on their woes, they just kind of want to die. Like I said to Brownmane, just live a little, odds are it'll get better.

@Thread title

Seems we've gotten quite angsty and existential of late. I propose we name the next thread "Thus Spake Princess Luna"

(I hope that wasn't too obscure)

>Simulating discussion which includes fucking walls of text
Have an eternity to watch?

@Supreme

And so it makes me sad to see one I so admired say that they would choose not to empathize with humanity’s unworthy.

Well, it's as they say, never meet you heroes. The reality is rarely as rosy as the illusion.

It is my conclusion that those who deserve kindness the least have greatest need of it. And that, rather than people who are deserving of kindness being denied it the most, like a sick joke of probability, people become more deserving of kindness for the fact that they persist in wanting to be a good and worthy human being, to themselves and others, in spite of being consistently denied this kindness by circumstance and other human beings.

I think you've got it backwards. I have all the empathy and respect for the downtrodden. Thieves, drunks, drifters, perverts, whores and other such dregs of society I consider to be far better people than the so-called "respectable" folk. They're the ones who refuse to give kindness and would rather pretend the "undesirables" don't even exist. The ones that sit in their ivory towers, investing our lives in their schemes and their powers are the ones that I despise. Well, of course the reality of it is quite a bit more complex than that, but that's the gist of my world-view.

Why do you think Fluttershy is my favourite? Well, besides the fact that she's very much like me in terms of personality (right down to the outbursts of rage), it's precisely because she's so very kind. And very few people seem to appreciate her for that.

It is because of this empathy that I can forgive humanity for its constant failing. We all fail at some point at least a little bit, but we never seem to stop trying to reach that happiness, even the most unworthy of us. I don’t think humanity has truly failed thus far, we just keep stumbling.

Loathe as I am to admit it, you're right. That still doesn't excuse the millennia of inadequacy, however. See, I'm a knight in sour armour so I have no illusions about humanity's failings and very much doubt we'll ever transcend them. But it's not like we've a whole lot of choice in the matter.

But thanks for your concern all the same. I often get the feeling I'm just an invisible observer who occasionally blurts out something most folk pay little attention to around here. Even if I know that's quite untrue.

@Fifths

I wouldn't call this angst. I long ago became largely numb to the pain. Now it's just the lingering resentment I feel towards the world and the people that let it happen, myself included. And I'd indeed much rather die than live in a world like this, which is why I seek solace in solitude and other, nonexistent worlds. I also hold onto the vain hope that the world will change for the better. Hah, with my luck I'll be a senile old fool by that time.

And again, if I were to "live a little", society wouldn't take kindly to it. Given that I don't quite have to funding to live independent of the plebians, I am forced to hide behind a mask of cold indifference. Best I can manage is to be a snarky asshole about it.

I think you've kinda got nihilism and existentialism mixed up, you know. Sure, both of them posit that the universe is a cold, uncaring place and that there is no inherent reason for existance. But where nihilism takes this as an excuse to be an apathetic shithead about it, existentialism just tells you to suck it up and figure out your own reasons to live.

@Brownmane

You're not a nihilist. A nihilist doesn't believe that there is a sort of ethical standard for humanity to fail to live up to, that's why they're nihilists. You want nihilism, here's some fucking nihilism for you.

"Don't confuse me with those who claim to hope. I enjoy describing how things are, I have no interest in how they ought to be, and I certainly have no interest in fixing them. I sincerely believe that if you think there's a solution, you're part of the problem. My motto: Fuck hope."-George Carlin

And I'm sorry man, but I just don't think you're on George's level yet. You keep saying you're world weary, that you have no faith in humanity, and that you want to die, but I just don't buy it. Just sounds like sour grapes to me, like you're trying to make an effort to pretend at nihilism and failing at it. If you want to be a nihilist, quit pretending that humanity's failings are anything more than a vague curiosity in an empty universe, abandon any hope or desire for things to change for the better, and conclude that there is no such thing as a "right" way to be, so you really have no reason to complain about the way things are.

@Verbose

It's simple. We set up a complicated and overly complex Electoral College system. After we choose who gets to be the electors, we have a multi-billion bit election with PAC's producing dirty commercials about the different titles. Finally, on the big day, several of the electors become unfaithful and vote for the wrong title, causing the title that doesn't have the popular vote to win. A constitutional crisis ensues and is only settled by the KYM Admins who, with a majority favoring one title, vote for it. Everyone gets their jimmies rustled by the idiocy of the Electoral College and want it abolished or reformed. Nothing happens and the matter is forgotten until the next election.

Or, we could hold a runoff vote between the top two or three titles. I like the Electoral College idea more, though.

@Fifths

Indeed, I'm an existentialist. I only pointed out the difference because it seems to me there's little distinction in your mind.

Yes, I believe that there's a certain standard about right and wrong. I also recognize that most people don't share that viewpoint and will not care about my pontification of it. So I don't put a whole lot of emphasis on it.

True, I don't want to die. But were you to take away what little comforts I have, I would throw myself upon my sword. Unless, of course, I believed I could take them back, then I would fight you with suicidal determination.

Who says I want to be a nihilist? I don't much like those folk, what with them being such smug little shits about their "genius" in realizing a basic fact of existence, and then using it as an excuse to be shitheads.

I have plenty of reason to complain about the way things are. Most people would love to see me hang, were they to know of my desires and wants. Which is why I'm rather careful with revealing them. I usually prod people with the suggestion that the tamer stuff exists, and they recoil in horror. I doubt I want to find out what would happen if I were to explain the intricacies in excruciating detail.

@xTSGx

We don't do thinly veiled political commentary here, bro. I'm banning you.

Impending punishments aside, the problem is that to make a poll for what we decide to do requires an agreement on what method we use. That decision in itself requires a method in order to come to agreement. Which also requires a method which needs to be decided upon…using a method that must be agreed to. And so on, and so forth.

As it stands, there have been multiple suggestions.
 
But if I need to be practical about this, I don't think the method we use is as controversial as "Twilight Sparkle and the Deathly Hasbro." I don't think we really minded the vote as much as we minded the outcome.

So if that's the case, then perhaps a simple vote on the methods will suffice. And then the more complex method we choose will get something less controversial.

I'm watching "coverage" of the election of the Pope of the Catholic Church while typing this out, and I'm confused.

@Verbose
I fully support the Alternative Vote method due to its mathematical superiority and it is the most practical method to reach a favorable consensus.

@Tim

Very good.

Do you propose a way to determine if we all agree to that?

@Verbose:

YET ANOTHER POLL!

Oh, betcha didn't see that one comin', didya, laddy!?

We should have a poll on whether or not we want a new poll.

Exactly my point, Lasers.

We can suggest as many ideas as we want, but we have to decide on which one to use. Granted, no one's out from school/work/sleep yet, it seems, but I haven't heard anyone say how we decide which method to use. Just "I don't like this" and "Let's do this instead."

So I'll take the initiative in helping us decide what we do, even though I don't really like doing that without getting confirmation from others first.
 
I'll make a list of ideas that people have given, see what other ones people give, and run another simple poll again with the assumption that the controversy doesn't lie in the method, but the end result.

@Fifths and Brownmane:
Perhaps we keep using that word and it does not mean what we think it means, but I used it to mean what its semantics would suggest (that is, we feel exhausted, and it is "the world" that is causing us this exhaustion). Make no mistake, I have no intentions of dying either, and despite my "weariness", I am also under the firm belief that things will get better, else I would not consider making these posts as worthwhile. I feel like I intended to allude to this "things will get better" idea in my rambling post, but like I said, it was late and my thoughts were slowly derailing the longer I typed. Brownmane, there was never an illusion to be broken, I simply understand you better now. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hero of mine, but you were incidentally helpful to me at a time when I needed help but was too stubborn to let anyone, and because of this, you stood out as more interesting than the other forum-goers, whom at first glance appeared very similar to each other. I suppose I also just took this as an opportunity to say thanks. Also, if we're gonna use TVtropes (Jeez, I thought I told myself "one page" this time.) to describe ourselves, then I guess that makes me the Anti-nihilist. Also, Fifths, your concept of honor confuses me. Explain like IAmA dalek. EX-PLAIN. EX-PLAIN!

@New Thread Name:
Was it this difficult to decide on previous thread titles, or is this a new experience for Pony-General?

Well then we're going to have a poll about whether or not having a poll about whether or not having a poll.