I mean, as a writer on it’s own he’s great, he (usually) knows how to write a good story.
 
But as a story editor there was a lot of retarded bullshit he let through that led the season he ran get a lot of heat, and made me hope that he could see what he got wrong and fix those. This response makes it feel like he didn’t do that

If they heard to Twitter people the show would be some kind of BvS-tier grimdark at this point. People that have the “greatest” ideas ever desperately blast tweets at the staff just to have their head canons put into the show.

Smart man.

@Ihhh  
Apparently some people are more worried about the staff not pandering to fans than about the staff going too political.

Why the downvotes? He’s right.

Just ignore 4chan-/mlp/ and you will be fine

@Minus  
Considering the sheer lack of quality when it comes to most popular fanfics, he’s completely right to not accept criticism from this cesspool.

@Minus  

 
We are not even close to his peers. The percentage of the fandom that actually writes something both high quality and creatively useful for the show is extremely low.
 
None of the writers listen to us outside of generic concepts that we mostly agree on because we are terrible at defining as a group what we want from the show. And I don’t blame them one bit. If they took everything we said to heart, they’d have all given up on MLP ages ago because so many of us complain about things we don’t like.
 
And there’s a difference between complaining about things you don’t like and legitimate criticism. Some of us do not understand that a negative opinion isn’t criticism.

Sometimes I think the show being as big as it is among this demographic is bad a thing, sometimes not.

@Minus  
I’m glad somebody is allowing us some self-esteem.

I’m half-half on this. While Haber has a good point on focus groups & sometimes a lot of fans see how things should go differently, on the other half, sometimes criticism is nice if it’s not complaining but if it’s constructive feedback it’s fine.
 
Haber’s not 100% wrong nor 100% right imo.

@raakamagna  

 
This.  
The show became popular because it was targeting the family, with the focus being little girls. And made with quality and care.
 
If they focus too much on the adult fanbase, they risk losing the magic that made the show great in the first place.
 
Yeah, fans can have good ideas at times. But when most of the feedback is just from the most vocal of complainers. It’s best to not pay much attention to them.

@TheOtherPinkiePie  

 
 
Best comment of this post already.

@Background Pony #0986  
Yep. My argument in fact. Some of the loudest fans want things I bet could lead to parents complaining. Parents complaining are a suicide in this brand.

@Minus  
This  
There’s no denying the quantity and quality of fan-content this show has bred. Okay, to be fair, some of it is crap, but that’s endemic to internet-based communities. Derpibooru, Fimfic EQD and /mlp/ are living proof.

@The Toaster Repair Pony  
No. I did read some fans saying it would have been better for Flurry Heart to never exist or to end up in something horrible. It was on a facebook group, in case you wonder.
 
I like things the way they are. In fact, while I have some opinions on how things should be, I would rather not have them heard lest they damage the integrity of the show.

That’s… A really bad response. Especially when your fanbase is this creative with books of fanfics actually being made and sold. Daily comics of great quality. We ARE your peers Haber.

@wolfnanaki
 
I agree with everything you just said.
 
There’s an old saying in showbiz that says, “Give the audience something they didn’t know they wanted”.
 
I think that saying HEAVILY applies to Pony.

@raakamagna  
Are you fEFFing kidding me?

@The Toaster Repair Pony  
No. Half of the fandom has terrible ideas, and the other half is either content with the show or has sexual ideas. I don’t think pandering to the fandom is a good idea. I would rather see the show trying to please little girls than some of the crazy people in the fandom.
 
I am pretty much sure Flurry Heart probably came from a little girl saying it would be nice if Cadence and Shining Armor had a baby. Meanwhile I know some fans would have preferred a miscarriage to make it “deep” and “inclusive”.
 
Better keep the fans away from canon writing, leave that to fics.

@wolfnanaki  
The show is about as tonally consistent as Adventure Time or Steven Universe, so that shouldn’t be a f||EFF!||ing problem  
This being the show where we go from an episode featuring a monster that can kill with one look to a botched talent show performance.

Well you have to consider: sometimes what fans want isn’t exactly what’s best. I’ve seen plenty of people saying the movie would’ve been better if one of the lead characters died. And I’m just thinking “…Really? Would it have been?”
 
Sometimes things fans want and what creators want do align, and then great, memorable things happen. But 90% of the time, fans are throwing around plot points and cliches from other shows that just wouldn’t work. What fans REALLY want, and what’s best for any body of work in general, is a show that sticks to its core message and tone while staying entertaining.

@PonyPon  
My guess, low.

I’ve worked on collating feedback from focus groups and from active userbases for game development. First of all, “focus group” is a very broad term that encompasses things like questionnaires, interviews, guided prototypes, full demos, etc., not just quick trial sessions. As for user feedback (ie. fans), what’s really important to understand is that the loudest feedback is often from a passionate minority that wants something that the majority doesn’t want or doesn’t care for.
 
Basically imagine what the show would be like if they listened to someone like Titanimal, because it’s people like him that dominate the volume of fan feedback show staffers get.

@The Toaster Repair Pony  
A stale piece of bread would be a better consultant than this fandom