@Darth Sonic  
Well. i do agree that fans are capable of giving a proper critique. I just feel one, as a writer, should care less about people who tell them “Write this” and more about people who say “I noticed this continuity error”.
 
Haber is flawed, but I can not disagree entirely on it.

@Background Pony #B775  
That’s why I never start a story unless it’s planned out totally!

@Darth Sonic  
You’re not allowed to lift contents from said fanfiction though or you’re going to have a bad time from some copyright troll who’s going to sue you for kicks and money

The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen is a good book to read and relate to this tweet

@raakamagna  
I’m a writer in training myself, so I do understand where you’re coming from to a point.
 
But I guess I’m a bit more Post Modern about this than you I guess. A good idea is a good idea is a good idea, and critique should not be ignored even if the critic is cosplaying as one of your characters instead of a suit. I mean, practice critical thinking of course, but that applies to all feedback, fan or professional or otherwise.
 
And as I said, outright pandering is perfectly OK as long as you keep it contained and away from the meat of your work. Stuff like Episode 100 and Who Mourns For Morn? are perfectly fine for an episode or two.
 
Also, damn the legalities, I have every intention of reading fan fiction of my own stuff. I just love fan fiction too much.

@Darth Sonic  
I miss Larson. T_T
 
I do not hate all the fandom. I just don’t like, really don’t like, certain parts of it. Nearly all bronies dislike one or more factions. If I may say, the “we” includes me too. I mean, as I pointed, I do not like Haber’s treatment toward the fandom despite my belief that hearing to the fans is often a bad idea, and I do consider listening to me as a fan would be much worse than not listening to fans at all, so I include myself on the not listening to fans part.
 
I just… Well… I am a writer, and I know one thing about writing. If you write listening to the fans most of the time, you might risk losing quality. That is the difference between nods and downright pandering. Do you think George R. R. Martin listens to fans? He was allegedly forced by his wife to not kill Aria! Liking your fans is the right thing to do (And where Haber goes wrong), respecting them, being friendly to them and having a healthy interaction with them is necessary. But letting them take the lead, or have relevant influence, is a risky move.

@raakamagna  
Or MA Larson! :P
 
@raakamagna  
Also, based on some other conversations we had, I know you don’t like the fandom, and I think that is biasing your opinion. You don’t want to admit that a lot of the things you love only exist because we exist.

@Darth Sonic  
You are somewhat right. True. But such acts of pandering need a bit corporate meddling to be possible. Pretty much Hasbro makes sure things work…

@raakamagna  
Pandering is fine in controlled doses. Things like Episode 100 were pure Panda Paradise, and it was fine as a celebration of the show and fandom.
 
And things like Amending Fences probably wouldn’t exist otherwise. I’m sorry, but Moondancer is most assuredly NOT modeled after the target audience.
 
Trixies sudden prominence would simply NOT exist without the fandom falling in love with her, yet her relationship with Starlight has done much in the way of elevating Starlight’s character after the last two minutes of the Season 5 finale.
 
And then there is background in-house joke. Those are fine.
 
It’s when Episode 100 and Fame And Misfortune become the average where we have a problem.
 
@raakamagna  
Also, Ian Flynn. And most Transformers writers. Kinda puts the kiboosh on the idea that fans should never write canon in an official capacity.
 
@Background Pony #9D2C  
How’s the stratosphere? Hell of a high horse you got there!

@Background Pony #1D62  
I agree. In fact I saw some rather political tweets he made which imply he is spiteful toward fans who disagree with his views.
 
He is not a nice guy.

@raakamagna  
I hope his statements bite him back. I don’t like his tone with fans. I don’t think he likes nor cares about us compared to McCarthy and Larson.

@Background Pony #1D62  
Yup. McCaarty and Larson were certainly superior to Haber, and a lot friendlier.
 
Haber sometimes acts in a quite hostile manner. In fact, while I agree with his view on the matter, his tone is quite hostile and could be interpreted as dissing his superiors given how he comments on focus groups.
 
Eventually Haber’s statements might bite him back.

@redweasel  
That explains his behavior with them on twitter. The guy has an ego. I miss McCarthy and Larson. Hopefully Joanna and Kristine will stay as co-story editors for Season 8.

why wouldn’t criticism from a focus group be useful?
 
“I only accept criticism from people I like” is the very definition of a hugbox.
 
@Background Pony #4505
 
he’s saying criticism from fans isn’t useful. that means he doesn’t use their criticism. that means he’s not listening to them.

@TexasUberAlles  

The funny thing is, he’s not even saying that he doesn’t listen to fan criticism at all. I suspect most of the writers and artists for this show will respond favorably to a well made point or complaint. His point here, however, is more that fan criticism is often too diverse to be entirely useful, which is probably incredibly accurate given the wide array of competing interests, ideologies, and “headcanons” that exist in this fandom.

@Background Pone #0000  
Yup. I cringe everytime someone in the fandom thinks what they want to add would make the show better. Of course, given the political and ideological connotations of most of such statements I have often been called a bigot for saying “That is not a good idea”.

@raakamagna
 
Actually, this whole conversation reminds me of the moral of Suited For Success. You try to apply every little change from people who just THINK they know what they want - whether or not it’s a good idea - and you get nothing but stress and something that sucks.

I’d like to point out that a big problem with feedback from the fandom: by the time we see an episode from one season, it’s already far too late to help with any episodes for the next season. Maybe it might help for the season after. I’d expect that the scripts for the next seasons are probably locked—or are well on their way—by the time we see anything air.
 
The hard reality is, as far as children’s TV shows go MLP is a rather exceptional outlier. I really don’t think fandoms (if they given exist for any given cartoon) factor into the typical production nor feedback model, and I can’t see them (Hasbro and whichever animation companies they contract, like DHX/Boulder Media) making an exception for the one cartoon that does have a fandom.

@Background Pony #0986  

QFT
 
@The Toaster Repair Pony  
Nice of you to reveal your opinion of the show’s target audience.
 
@Minus  
More like the top 5% of the creative end of the fandom could be considered peers of those who work on the show. So maybe 0.2% of the fandom?
 
@Background Pony #FC57  
I remember when most of the fandom at least pretended to share that view. Ah, the good old days…

The furious, seething butthurt this tweet is going to generate from the kinds of people who absolutely cannot even the idea that their complaining is not being taken seriously at all by the creators they’re complaining about…  

@Gamesadict  
^This