Alright, I felt I needed to clarify a bit on where I stand with this whole internet debate on bronies/anti-bronies since this is getting to be a big issue in the past year or so.
First off, let's get some definitions straight so everyone knows what I mean by these key terms:
History:
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a TV show developed by Lauren Faust and Studio B and exists primarily on a pretty new TV channel called the HUB. The show, despite the obviously girly name, has achieved a lot of success and gained a massive fanbase in the process of people you wouldn't originally expect. The show stars 6 ponies with varying personalities who are being tested on their development of friendship. It is specifically set as a family show; meant for kids to watch and parents to watch with them.
The term 'brony' originated from /b/ and is also thought of as a combo of "bro + pony" to describe a male fan of the MLP: FiM show that was out of the original planned demographic. The term 'brony' has recently opened up to include female fans who were originally called 'pegasisters'. Bronies have received both varying good/bad karma across the internet as an identity similar to 'furries' and 'weeaboos'. Bronies convey the messages of the show to heart and work to apply them so they can receive more happiness in their lives. The creator of the show, Lauren Faust, has had constant contact with bronies for a while now and has left the show to go work on another she originally had planned to create.
The term 'ponyfag' is an insult term applied to bronies usually from non-bronies with varying degrees of meanings. The most commonly accepted meaning (and the one I accept) refers to obsessive bronies who constantly go out to annoy others to spread the fandom as if it were a religion. These 'bronies' are frowned upon in the communities for doing this.
Soon, a hater fandom would quickly arise under the term 'anti-brony'. These anti-bronies have varying views of the brony phenomenon, but all of them oppose the brony fandom in some way. Some claim to hate all bronies, while some claim to hate the ones who spread it like a religion.
My Opinion on Bronies:
After having countless discussions with both bronies/non-bronies/anti-bronies all involved in some way I have came to a conclusion based on my findings I hope others will not find biased. Many bronies I have met were very nice and friendly people; a couple have been admit tingly socially awkward and a few I have actually seen to cause problems in front of me.
I have been in this fandom for months studying it and noticed that most of them don't tend to talk about ponies much outside of the fandom. However, many do wear around pony-related avatars and names. This is not as common though as I originally thought. One can say obsession of the show can be related to pony avatar/name use, but I somewhat disagree with this analysis.
Most bronies are mildly obsessed with the show, and actually seem to be rather intelligent, caring, and peaceful. I have heard many times that bronies are obnoxious, idiotic, and downright closed-minded to anything outside of their communities, but I have to disagree again with this analysis. I don't find it very common for a brony to just start hating/bashing somebody for not watching the show nor have I ever been harassed by one in any way, shape, or form.
Non-bronies seem to view bronies as weird, but I have also heard many say they like bronies personally and respect them even though they don't watch the show.
Bronies have also got media attention, have made music, videos, and all forms of entertainment based around the show itself.
Conclusion on Bronies:
I don't think bronies are a 'cancer' or 'threat' to the internet. To me, they are as much of a threat as furries/weeaboos were and those fandoms aren't viewed as anything problematic anymore now. Bronies have done a lot of good actually for the internet from raising charities to helping others cope with loss/attempted suicide. They tend to keep the more problematic members in their communities (even though this could be seen easily as a bad thing) to nurture them and discuss their problems with them. Note that communities may vary in attitudes depending on how they govern their members.
My Opinion on Anti-bronies:
Anti-bronies are varied and have incredibly different views on the fandom, but I have found many of them overall to be lacking in both argument material and non-biased viewpoints. Some of the most major anti-bronies I have met were trolls who told false stories and play on bronies reactions to them. A few I have met I can honestly say are serious; and when I say serious I mean 'scary serious'. One specifically was a fanatic who was not just laughed at by concerned bronies, but other anti-bronies as well. He would constantly claim to be a crusader on a mission to rid the world of this 'brony cancer'. He kept claiming to be older, but the way he acted and his spelling was very poor. When cornered in an argument, he would just simply tell me I am lying to him. Sadly, I wish he wasn't so serious and was a troll. I have seen traits of him in other anti-bronies who also showed signs of paranoia so I think the more serious of anti-bronies have this sort of irrational behavior as well.
One piss-poor argument I have seen used constantly time and time again is the "I see pony avatars everywhere OMG bronies are so annoying." These kind of arguments can easily be refuted in so many ways it is unbelievable.
Conclusion on Anti-bronies:
I think anti-bronies should stop these senseless hate groups as they are only causing brony pride to rise. IDC about their opinions as they vary big time, but I'd like to see their movement flattened. I don't see how any hate group can get anything good done. It's just not logical. Not to mention the fact that many anti-bronies are not-so-serious trolls who try to piss off people, this won't help them get any serious recognition anywhere.
If anything, the anti-bronies are far more problematic for not just provoking the problem, but targeting a group of people I honestly can't see are bad in any way and ranting about they are cancer. Whether they are serious or not, this is still a problem.
My Opinion on Ponyfags aka "The Problem":
Ponyfags, even though I have rarely encountered some, can easily blend into the 'brony herd'. Don't get me wrong though, their views are very much skewed and their actions can be erratic. Some evidence points to the furry fandom and other fandoms to have harbored these mentally unstable kids.
They are very much the reason why some non-bronies like picking on the brony fandom and do so just to get ponyfags to respond. I remember one time on Youtube I encountered three of these guys, one a girl, who would act as flamebait to try to get a ponyfag to respond. What's strange about this situation was that one of them admitted that she liked to watch the show (the very classification of a brony now). The other two there I was unsure of but for the longest time they spammed the comments of two specific videos (at least from what I know) with anti-brony propaganda to attract others to battle them.
Conclusion on Ponyfags:
In my honest opinion, I think ponyfags should be left alone. I think the more they are left alone, the less 'brony pride' people will be seeing everywhere. My speculation is that these ponyfags will move off to new fandoms to plague them with misfortune. I think they originally were so attracted to the brony fandom by its messages of tolerating other people; this is something a mentally unstable person would love to hear.
