So you mean everything anyone ever says is canon?  

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I might as well should clarify another point of mine. I was being a raging idiot before, but now I will explain myself properly: When I said that Katie would be better off working on another comic, I meant that Cattle Rustlers as it currently is would have worked better if it wasn’t a FIM comic at all, but instead something more like Looney Tunes or Spongebob. You know, stuff that’s defined by “Rule Of Funny” and, particularly in the formers case, doesn’t have to worry about consistent continuity and characterization as long as it’s funny. The arc was suppose to be a Looney Tunes homage, it’s just that it failed due to…… Many reasons that everyone has talked about multiple times now.

@cheezedoodle  
Indeed, I also find great value in how the stories add to the overall picture of Equestria as a general fantasy setting.

@LanceOmikron  
@Lock247
 
And even in those comics that end up having plot holes, poor characterization, or just plain bad storylines, I, for one, still find enough to enjoy to make it worth my measley 3 or 4 bucks. New characters, new locations, great artwork, jokes, references, etc.
 
People who pirate the comics and then have the gall to get onto public forums to trash them are the worst kind of scum.

@Lock247  
I’m willing to cut a little slack on Root of the Problem. It’s not really good, don’t get me wrong, it has plenty of problems that deserve criticism. But I didn’t feel outright insulted by it like with the cattle rustlers. The story held together a lot better, and was generally a step up. It doesn’t quite put things back where they’re supposed to be, but it’s somewhat of an improvement.
 
(Side note: one characterization thing that I’m starting to become weary of is Rarity swooning over guys. It was funny maybe once or twice, but it’s unhealthy to have it happen whenever she’s not a main character. They really should put the kibosh on that soon.)
 
Though if that word about Katie is true, I will cut her every bit of slack in the world.

@LanceOmikron  
While I’m not a big fan of that episode, I agree. There were a lot of funny parts, and I don’t have any strong negative feelings towards it. I will give Katie one more chance to see if she {And by extension the other staff members} learnt from her mistakes. Although I’m not going to use that chance on the Root Of The Problem, cause that one was pretty bad from what I saw too.
 
I don’t know if this is true or not, but I heard that in the middle of her 3 controversial arcs {Reflections, Cattle Rustlers and The Root Of The Problem}, Katie recently had a child and was probably not able to focus on her stories as much. If this is true, then that might explain some of the issues. Again, I have no idea if this is true though.

@Lock247  
I absolutely agree on all three points.
 
And y’know, after thinking about it, it occurred to me that everything that they had said they were trying to do with the arc (an old west dispute in the form of a wacky comedy) had already been done much better in Over A Barrel. That one was a much less frustrating dispute, and was more obviously a wacky comedy.
 
But oh well, mistakes happen. In all likelihood they’ve learned from the experience and will do better next time. Let’s stay positive! ^_^

@LanceOmikron  
While I’m at it, I might as well point out some ways that the problems with Cattle Rustlers could have been avoided, in constructive matter.
 
1: Don’t have Twilight show up at all. The story didn’t need her, and her involvement is a good chunk of why many people consider it to be awful. She’s been absent from comics and episodes where she is not needed, so I don’t think not having her would be a problem here. And on that same note, maybe just have AJ and Rarity in the story instead of the entire mane 6, because pretty much half of the group was pointless to the story, and that’s not even getting into the other characterization issues besides Twilight.
 
2: Don’t have the “Good guys” commit blatant crimes like kidnapping an innocent pony, especially since these are characters that we know would never do stuff like that.
 
3: Either do something with Chili Pepper as opposed to forgetting about him, or don’t mention him at all and instead give AJ a different reason for coming to the town.

@Lock247  
I doubt that anyone will argue that the cattle rustlers arc is heinously written (including me, and I’m usually very forgiving). We just have to be constructive in our response to poor writing. ^_^

So looking back on these posts of mine after doing some thinking…… Wow, I was an asshole. Part of the problem is that I, like quite a bit of other people in the fandom {And on this site}, can get a little too passionate about ponies. Stuff like how poorly characterized Twilight was in The Good, The Bad and The Ponies {Or just “Cattle Rustlers”, as I call it due to not always wanting to use the long title} can really piss me off, particularly since she’s one of my favorite characters. That doesn’t excuse my behavior though. I’m really sorry about all of that. I’ll try to be more civil from now on.
 
That being said, I still stand by some of the issues I have with Katie, but I think her problem is that she’s just really bad at adventure stories. Her Slice Of Life comics are pretty good and don’t have most of the glaring flaws that her recent work does {For example, the Self-aware part of her writing is actually okay in the stuff that’s just purely goofy. It’s when she tries to use it in her attempts at telling serious/semi-serious stories that it falls apart, because it boils down to pointing out her own problems without trying to fix them}. She should probably just stick to that {Though to be fair, I can also say this about the show writers as well, given that I’m not a fan of the two-parters for various reasons}.

@Jarkes  
Yeah, though they could still take a break from them for a few months at least, if they bother them that much.
 
I’m not talking about the people who only hate a few issues, I’m talking about the downright-haters who act like every issue sucks, that “fanfics” are better, say things like Katie Cook & IDW are the “anti-christ,” and such. They really need to take a break from the comics…

@TexasUberAlles
 
Well, as Beau Skunky said, some of those people used to actually like the comics, so perhaps they stick around in the hope that things will get better again, but they keep finding things that they’re dissatisfied with.

@TexasUberAlles  
I’ll admit the comics have had their ups, and downs, (I’ve been accused of blindly-supporting them by comic-haters, even though I’ve tried to point out I don’t love every issue either…) but for once you have a point, Tex…  
If they loathe the comics so much, get angry over any slight liberties they take with the series, (or any joke they do) and will pretty much hate them no matter what happens in them, why continue to follow/buy them? (Or even go through the trouble to illegally download them for free.)  
I don’t understand it either, that’s like those Sonic fans who constantly complain about the games/comics, but continue to buy them.
 
To be fair, some of the “haters” used to be fans of the comic, (so the assumption that “they never liked it” isn’t entirely true about all the comics’ critics) but regardless they’re acting just like those people who became disillusioned/upset with the show, (back in the chaotic Season 3 days) but continue to watch it, just so they can complain about it constantly, and talk about how much how they hate the show now, and trying to shame those who do still enjoy it.  
We can barely even discuss the comic now on Derpibooru without the conversations being more one-sided. (And God help anyone who takes a more optimistic side on the series. I’ve taken so much heat for my opinions on the comics, that I barely even bother discussing them anymore. Plus, sense I can’t afford them, I can’t really give much of an opinion on the newer issues anyways.)
 
I’m not to keen on the whole “dragon community” thing either, (coming out of nowhere) but I’m not raving about it constantly.

@Background Pony #F1D7  
They’re not exactly making it difficult. There is seriously no other reason to keep hanging out and complaining about something they do not like and never have liked than that they just showed up to complain. If you’ve got some other explanation for it, by all means, share with the class.

@TexasUberAlles  
Pfff, you always pretend to know people better than you really do.

@Background Pony #F1D7  
Sorry you can’t read text. I’m not interpreting anything; there’s a small but vocal group of perpetual complainers who have rarely– if ever– had anything good to say about the comics, and never do anything but bitch and whine about the same exact things over and over again in the same exact way. It is patently obvious that they are not in fact fans of the comics in any way, and the only reason that’s left for why they keep showing up to complain is that complaining is the only reason they showed up.
 

@TexasUberAlles  
Glad you can read minds.

@Background Pony #E1F7  
There’s a sizeable difference between “not liking something” and “endlessly bitching and whining about something using the same tired, weak complaints and insults and easily-disproven continuity arguments over and over again like they’re all reading from the same script”. Most of the loudest complainers are people who have pretty much never had anything good to say about the comics, which makes it perfectly clear that wanting something to bitch and whine about is the only reason they’re following the comics at all. Y’know what’s also an option? Not reading the friggin’ comics any more if all they do is piss you off and all you do is piss and moan about them.

@SeraphimDawn  
In my experience, it really depends on how different the various canons are from one another. Nobody’s going to try and wedge the 60s Batman series, Batman: the Animated Series, and the Dark Knight trilogy onto the same timeline, for instance. Those three continuities very clearly cannot be reconciled with one another.
 
FiM the show and FiM the comic are a rather different case.

@SeraphimDawn  
That’s not true! Michael Bay’s Transformers is totally in canon with the old cartoon series!

Y’know. One thing that always drives me nuts, is how people cannot comprehend multiple separate canons in a series. Is it that hard to accept alternate canons in medias? Pokemon kept the game, manga, and anime canons separate.

@Background Pony #E1F7
 
Goes both ways.

@TexasUberAlles  
Because how dare anyone not like something, right?

@TexasUberAlles  

 
The sad thing about this is that barring the Anti-SJW, “Official Fanfiction,” and “Cook’s OCs” part, this BINGO card of yours ends up fitting a lot of the people who keep bitching about seasons 3 & 4 (honestly, I’m surprised that you haven’t gone off on a rant against DisneyMaster yet; goodness knows, that would be fun to see, since he completely deserves it).

@Starlight Storm
 
See, you actually give valid criticisms rather than just rattling off a list of talking points like many of the comic detractors.
 
You’re also not resorting to calling people “literally retarded” for enjoying a story or calling for the firing of various authors for offenses both real and imagined.
 
The comics fandom needs more critics like you.