I thought I might bring this by to you folkses.
So, Calpain, one of our very own, gone the way of Muumi, Gigatoast, and various others to have "made" Equestria Daily through their own exploits, had this post on a Nightly Roundup.
Hey guys, starting off tonight on a serious note because there are some things I would like to clear up, especially if you are a follower of my Twitter feed. After putting a lot of thought into it, I have come to a conclusion that the fandom around pony has caused me enough stress and anxiety that it is possibly contributing to my problems. As such, I have made a decision that if my stress and anxiety from the fandom does not let up by the end of season 4 I will resign from my position here at EqD and disappear from the pony fandom completely.
This is not something I am taking lightly, but after the stress from the drama caused by the season 3 alicorn drama, the EqG drama (which still continues), being called a 'Hasdrone', drama during the media wars, the 'Down with Molly' drama which effected me as I am an editor on that tumblr, and just the general complaints and whining I experience everyday… I am just burnt out. And if it continues I just don't want to be a part of it anymore, for the sake of my health and happiness.
Now if you were here a while ago, Cereal Velocity (and various others from EqD on other occasions, I'm sure) used a vector made by Advance in a banner (and episode follow-up) for Equestria Daily with no mention of Advance. What made it worst is that the only name on the banner was Cereal Velocity's.
Equestria Daily justified/rationalized this by saying that the credit would be given in a later post. The banner would have been up for a couple of days, at least, and the credit in a Nightly Roundup (which does not receive nearly as much readership according to the number of comments, but that may not be a good assessment of what gets readership) would consistently be bumped downwards.
We made a stink (not quite a "stink" of it, but we did produce a slightly pungent odor) of it seeing as Advance singlehandedly overtook KYM that time I banned him and forced (ok, everyone just did that by their own free will) everyone to take on Rarity as part of their avatars and some to take on "Advance" as part of their usernames was one of our own. And on the whole, we generally being an objective group of people, we just found the whole situation to be shady. So from that, it hasn't been a stated dislike or disinterest, but KYM hasn't really followed EqD as much since then (this news and the news I'll give in a bit being evidence of that.)
In any case, Calpain has openly stated that he's been battling depression. Being a key editor and contributor to the largest, one of the oldest, and most central fan hub for bronies in the fandom, he gets a lot of heat. In combination of his awareness of his depression and the drama from EqG and Twilight Acorn, Calpain seems to have taken things a bit hard.
…if I could be frank, then I might say, "too hard."
It's easy for me to say. Despite being easily annoyed and feeling hopeless from time-to-time, I've never been diagnosed as having depression. The pony fandom on the whole doesn't bother me. And I never got much flak at all for the two surveys (even with the questions dealing with R34 and sexuality.) But I would expect the smallest (and perceived) errors from Equestria Daily to be harped on, and I'd expect to be bombarded with silly comments and emails on the most trivial of things.
Ponydom is a fandom. Some of us are just "fans," but it's short for "fanatic." Just as we get very excited, we get very butthurt about the same show and its developments (or things we think might develop.)
But seeing where Calpain is mentally right now (I assume he's still in a PhD program which is enough of a task with or without a mood disorder,) I would suggest he just go on an indefinite hiatus and just lurk (or even bail out entirely.) Just like I have and many of us have, we've become friends with other bronies, but we may not always (or ever) talk about the show or the fandom. If he has that sort of support online (or offline,) then I think that would be the best for him.
Just like thelivingmachine02 (God rest his Pony arting soul…), Calpain has certainly "served his time." He's contributed plenty to EqD. He really owes nothing to the fandom (not that any of us do.) I'd say to simply head off until everything else is sorted out.
Some of us are really attached to the fandom and the show. If it gets to a point where it's consistently too stressful (much like anything else in life that isn't crucial,) then I think it's best to step away.
If you've got a few kind words for Calpain (I've found him to be a jolly guy on the whole,) then you might want to send a couple his way. I know a few of you can relate to depression, and you're fans of the show/are a part of the fandom.
On a brighter note:
Click for source.