• Poll Results: Favorite Story Type Reborn!

    I'm curious.. below is the old poll below from February 12. 

    Did we attract an armada of shipping fic readers or something?  Normal won by such a huge margin last time.  That's honestly surprising. 

    Well luckily there isn't a shortage of it for the main audience!

    62 comments:

    1. HA. we win :P

      although i must say it was a close tie for me between shipping and grimdark

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    2. Boo... There was no "none of the above" option. Oh well.

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    3. Normal, is fun, but the word could technically mean anything.

      Shipping, is cute, but the word inevitably means cuddling, kissing and hugs all around.

      Grimdark "Nothing will ever top CUPCAKES", that said we'll still try to make some pony's life completely miserable.

      Sad, is exactly what is says on the tin, sad doesn't mean grimdark and some people don't understand that. There's plenty of things to be sad about without someone dying or getting injured.

      Crossover, if people could get off the Doctor Whoof thing for one minute we could have far more crossovers, like Pinkie entering a mortal kombat tournament... where nobody dies at all because of Pinkie's bizarre nature. Broaden the spectrum in this area, we need to intermingle more worlds and do it with interest so that it doesn't just follow either worlds normally set plots.

      Random, people don't know the meaning of chicken, why if I had the sausage for everytime I turkeyed! I'd be a mongoose and churro's would be eighty five cents as minimal convience lawyers that are highly effective as is a cake for drowning the buckets of minotaur sweat out... and then Pinkie formed a Naruto style harem with all the main cast members, it turns out they are all actually lobsters in the end but you know what I mean right? In tomatoes, nobody can even begin to 'DJ-Pony' the surface of Random.

      I voted Shipping because I like watching Ponies nuzzle each other, specifically Big Mac and Twilight.

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    4. "Normal" up 3 times and "Shipping" up 7. Ah, the wonderful, confusing world of statistics.

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    5. @Anonymous

      Main reason Why Dr.whoof is so good is because of how easy and self explanatory it can go into anything, any game or movie you can have Dr Who

      I've figured ways of having crossovers from Halo to Starwars, thinking about it they aren't that different... anyway

      I mean Anything can be a crossover, just Dr Who is SET UP to be easy I mean Language barrier, location, set All pre-explained and all tangible

      Il have a go at diffrent cross-over starting ideas and fulfill you wish of a less Dr Who crossover Ideas, also anyone can take these ideas if you want I can't write them out, Horrible at it

      HALO- MC crashes in equestria (A forerunner world), get rebuild into a pony by the sentinels.

      X-Files- Mulder ans Scully find way into equestria when investigating suspicious sightings
      of Aliens

      James Bond 007- Licensed to kill, Manes Bond is an Agent for the princess taking down the evil of .... Dr.Pie

      Mass Effect- Commander Shepard finds ancient Prothean tech, His team is transported to Equestria

      Inception- Does his ... Inception thingy-mo-bob and I don't know, Guess he dreams of ponies, but which one is real? Pony or human?

      Well my point is Sort of agreeing with you, HEY FANFIC WRITERS have a Dr.whoof now and then but try something else I mean reading the doctor Complaining that he's not Ginger gets a bit old after the 10th Time

      But it's always fun reading them, I always read them, there are so many Ideas not Touched yet I mean some are staring at you in the face I mean come on guys VASHTA NERADA Tree? Library? connect the dots (I started on the Idea but gave up on it) Now I'm working on Dr Whoof Yes I'm a hypocrite I'm making Dr Whoof fan fiction, but go ahead Write your Ideas down You can use those Ideas if anyone wants them

      Also Just scratch the Vasta Nerada Idea I might get back to that....



      Also good work on the random, Couldn't have said it Worse Yourself, Talking Piece of Toast.

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    6. There should have been an option for those of us who don't really care for fan fiction.

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    7. @Anonymous

      There is a button

      Its called not voting

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    8. Can't hit a reply button because I only have Internet Explorer at work.

      Analysis anon up there, you like cuddling Big Mac and Twilight? I assume you didn't like The Three Notes, amirite?

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    9. @Anon 5:06

      Three Notes wasn't bad, it was just sad that neither of them could come forward with their feelings.

      There is not a story where I won't try to understand the reasoning behind why it was written. I see everything in equal amounts of gray and colors. Everythings has a place, for nothing is impossible and if nothing were possible then nothing there would. (A gender flipping story where you need two ponies of opposite gender to switch genders would be neat. Note that I do not mean mind swapping, I mean taking the gender from each pony and imprinting it on the other causing both parties involved to morph)

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    10. Since the first poll I've read a lot of shipping stories and found them at lot of points better than "normal" ones.
      So from "normal" I've switched to Shipping.

      And I need to mention - Grimdark stories in recent month are purely awesome!

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    11. I cannot lie, 'Normal' use to be my favourite but now I'm a complete sucker for these shipping stories.
      Sure the kissing and hugging is nice, but I simply adore the romance.. The whole "Struggling to express their feelings" is what I really look forward to.

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    12. I like me some Doctor Who crossovers.

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    13. I think the reason normal is lower than shipping is because last time things like sad, crossover and random were under normal than being there own tag, so yeah, if those would have still been under normal, it would be stacked against shipping.

      That said I picked normal. Shipping is one of those things that make me bitter towards fan-fiction. I don`t actually hate the concept, just that I saw too many yaoi/yuri stories and pictures that butchered the characters of many beloved franchises that it doesn`t make me angry anymore, just sad

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    14. Random only 8%

      Oh noes...

      (AND it's not because I'm from /b/ I just like to be surpraised ^^)

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    15. *sigh* only 171 people would truly appreciate Spike Nukem Forever.

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    16. I think that it might be because the number of good quality shipping stories has grown. For me it was really close between sad and normal, but normal won out.

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    17. Random. I like to laugh, and silly goofy things in general.

      Some normal fics are meant to be funny too, and even some clop tends to be comically silly or over-the-top, but usually going for the Random ones is the best way to be sure I will laugh for my time investment.

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    18. It appears that you're all a bunch of closet furries and the reason we bronies get a bad name.

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    19. Eh.

      For me, it's a matter of what I'm normally in the mood for. The vast majority of the time I can take a bite out of a Normal story, but I need to be in the mood for a Shipping sandwich, as it were. Grimdark stuff I find either hilarious or too sad to read, and Sad, well, I've avoided it since Bubbles.

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    20. @Zarkanorf

      Hey now, I voted for normal, but I'd appreciate the hell outta that.

      "I'm here to kick ass and chew rubies. And I'm all outta rubies..."

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    21. we ALL remember bubbles :(

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    22. @Anonymous
      Well sucks, but I am a furry and like shipping. Probably even if I were not a furry because of these romantic emotions that are (sometimes) delivered.

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    23. It's not as big of a shift if you consider the crossover and random votes, (and possibly some sad), to be split off from normal.

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    24. I voted for Sad after reading "Bittersweet", but there have been some great normals too. I never have, and never will read shipping.

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    25. Some of the best fics I've read were sad, I'm surprised that didn't get more votes.

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    26. Considering how much shipping you post, I'm not surprised.

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    27. This is kind of creepy but fine, be that way.

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    28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    29. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    30. I'm a bit embarrassed to say I have a much harder time getting hooked into a 'normal' story than anything other than grimdark (which I don't read). I love shipping and sad, I guess normal just doesn't immediately promise the sort of emotional hook I need to be drawn into a story.

      @Anonymous
      Using the word "brony" seriously alongside "stop liking what I don't like" elitism - I think you're confused.

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    31. /b/ joined, as a lot less 'mature(d)' people. It might also be there is much more 'shipping' than 'normal' now a days and a steady decline in writing quality: something that is much less of a problem with shipping than with any other story type.

      Opinions, opinions, opinions.

      @Anonymous

      '"Nothing will ever top CUPCAKES"'
      Oh, how I hate you; what is The Severing, Reconnection, Rocket to Insanity?

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    32. SO I put Sad into Grimdark and Random and Crossover into Normal and:

      Normal - 46
      Shipping - 36
      Grimdark - 15

      Very slight shift towards shipping. Not that I'm not, y'know, a total PinkieDash nut...

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    33. So...
      I voted the least populated option. Does that make me a hipster? Nah, just kidding.

      Anyway, I voted Crossover, since most of them are often very creative. Oh and Metal Gear Pony.

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    34. I didn't vote because I just couldn't decide.
      There are too many great examples of each kind!

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    35. @Anonymous
      I never said "stop liking what I don't like." I made two statements:
      1. If you like shipping you are probably a furfag whether or not you will admit it. (yumadtho?)
      2. That's why people hate bronies in general: They assume that all of us are furfags like you.

      I don't care what you like. It's not my job to control everyone else. I even find it funny that many of you like to pretend you're not furries while spending your days reading low quality pony porn. I don't even mind the admitted furries. At least they are honest with themselves.

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    36. I'm going to guess that a lot of people got over there "OMG I hate shipping" stigma. It was pretty stupid and immature anyway.

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    37. @Anonymous
      >Implying reading/writing low quality furry porn is a sign of maturity.

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    38. @Anonymous

      You know, it's things like this that make me think that everyone is not on the same page regarding the definition of "shipping."

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    39. @Anonymous
      No, we simply started leaving. The more shipping gets posted, the less likely the people who don't like shipping will hang around. Which only leaves the shippers... who post more shipping. Repeat.

      I'm not saying there's anything wrong with shipping (though obviously there is), it's just one of those things that tends to alienate other sections of the fanbase.

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    40. I voted random, but really I like a mix of sad/random/grimdark, I can't say I like normal because the description is so vague it can have almost any story, I don't hate shipping I have just grown tired of them.
      so basically
      1.random
      2.sad
      3.grimdark
      4.shipping (although i still enjoy them)
      and normal is on a story by story basis

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    41. I couldn't really judge what genre I like most.

      It's a case by case basis, some stories I like happen to be shipping, and some happen to be normal. And sometimes I hate shipping stories/normal stories.


      Except, I pretty much never like crossovers. Sorry writefriends :[

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    42. I voted Sad.
      Not for any particular reason of course. >___>

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    43. I like stories that are well written. There happens to be a number of very good stories sitting in every category, and so I wind up reading more or less everything that gets posted for fear of missing the next gem.

      Although when it comes to actually writing, for whatever reason ships come most readily to mind. Which is what finally swayed my vote. Although even then, I want to branch out more. In the coming weeks I suppose we'll all find out how successful that winds up being.

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    44. @Anonymous
      What amazing amounts of self pity. You should go write a sad story about life in a world with shipping. It will bring the world to its knees.

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    45. Something people might have overlook is... The stats haven't really changed that much, all things considered.

      Even though the pool's population have grown by 5.3times... the differences are roughly the same.

      The relation between old and new Shipping/Normal is still around 100people.
      And after a closer look, we see that the lost of 25% from Old to New Normal is strangely equal to the sum of the 3 New categories (22%).

      Also, the lost of 7% from Old Grimdark seem to have gone to the New Shipping (+8%).

      So, we can see that the Interest in Normal shifted toward the new categories, and that grimdark lost to Shipping.

      Yes, I really like statistics. :D
      (combined my 2posts in one)

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    46. i was originally against the idea of shipping stories. they just didn't sit right with me.

      eventually, i decided to check one out. when i enjoyed it, i read another. now it's gotten to the point where i've written my own shipping fic.

      in my opinion, as long as they're kept romantic but not too graphic, it's all good.

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    47. Grimdark has always been, and always will be, my favorite genre of fanfiction in any fandom I partake in. "Sad" follows a close second place though.

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    48. @SmittyG That's just how I feel. I don't care about or want porn, but some fluffy romance always makes me happy.

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    49. @Anonymous
      Self pity? I hope you're a troll. He didn't complain, he didn't try to force anyone else to conform to what he wanted, and he didn't ask anyone to feel sorry for him. Unlike many of the 'shippers on here he simply left instead of trying to shove his preferences down your throat.

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    50. I think we've been exposed to so much shipping here that we're slowly becoming fans of it.

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    51. Not a shipping fan here I'll check one of those out once in awhile. But heck I don't see the need to ship every character under the sun with one another. Kinda the only problem I have with being part of this fandom. But other than that it's all good. That was a complaint not whining.

      I like the Normal stories as they seem to have more of a sense of adventure to them. Not to mention I can picture it bettter.
      Grimdark: not a fan but I'll try those out when I'm ready
      Sad: Will read if there are rave reviews


      Though seriously with all the shipping be submitted lately you might as well call this Port Equestria Daily (rimshot).

      I'll be here all week folks try the Hay Fries.

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    52. @Anonymous

      LOL. He complained about being driven out of the fandom because of shippers- on a comments section on a post about fanfics, mostly shipping, on blog about cartoon ponies.

      Fail troll is full of fail.

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    53. @Anonymous

      Getting upset over romance themed fanfiction over, say, grimdark themed fanfiction is indeed immaturity.

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    54. @Anonymous
      >implying sexoffenders are not treated worse than other violent criminals.

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    55. @Anonymous
      Check your subjects/verbs. He did not claim to be driven out (someone else's action), he stated he left (his own choice/action). And yes, he posted here... with a theory on why the results came out the way they did. Others have posted with their own theories. The only difference is he doesn't like 'shipping.

      And yes, you are fail.

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    56. @Anonymous

      What in the...

      I've been staring at this statement for a full minute and I have no clue what it was supposed to mean...

      Anyway, everyone is aware that shipping doesn't actually imply anything sexual, right? I mean, it's basically another way of saying "romance genre."

      So...seriously, WTH?

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    57. Too many comments to read them all to see if anyone's already made this point, so forgive me if it's been said already:

      The "Normal" category has been diluted through the addition of extra categories. If Sad, Crossover, and Random are added to Normal (so the new vote is three categories just like back in February) the ratio becomes Normal 54%, Shipping 36%, and Grimdark 7%. Which only equals 97%, which makes me wonder how this thing generates stats as its rounding seems way off. Anyways, non-Grimdark and non-Shipping stories are still the overall biggest part.

      I recognize that Shipping doesn't have to mean getting down and dirty, I recall one with Fluttershy and Big Mac which was very cute. That kind of story, when well written, is just as enjoyable to read as any good Normal/etc story. The more hardcore Shipping ones are just...enngh. But hey, I won't deny those who like it, that's up to the poor guy who has to run this site in the end. :) I value quality over category, up to "late night movie on Cinemax" shipping levels.

      Maybe I'll even find something to contribute story-wise someday, only if I can finish something, look at it, run it against Cereal Velocity's writing guide, and decide it won't burn out anyone's eyes from being too awful. One day!

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    58. You know, I was really hesitant to choose shipping.. but my thoughts are this. I don't typically read fanfics at all, but lately I've been missing my ponies and feeling like reading some emotionally gripping tales in the universe of my recent obsession. Thus I'm pulled to sad and ship fics, usually favoring the positive emotions.

      I don't like to push the negative image that apparently follows shipping fans/sites, but that's my reasoning. =\

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    59. Meh, I voted normal. I'm not a huuuuge fanfiction fan...I can take or leave a lot of it...I don't tend to really like most of the shipping ones I've seen for this fandom. Random, sad, crossover, and grimdark can all be great; depends on the individual story. I've always tended to like things with the power to make me feel sad or some other negative emotions; dunno exactly why. ^^ There's all kinds of crazy cool possibilities for crossovers. And randomness is always fun. Normal was just...the easiest choice, since it's general and covers a lot and didn't force me to select just one among those others? :p

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    60. I selected normal because I think that those are usually the ones where ponies aren't completely off-character, but I had to deliberate a little bit between that one and either shipping or grimdark- mostly grimdark. At first I hated the idea of both of those kinds of stories but some of the shipping stories are really adorable (Singing the Blues) and a few of the grimdark ones are really, REALLY good. I liked MLP before the current series and "The Hoofwitch Horror" disturbed the fuck out of me. It stuck in my head for the next 72 hours, too.

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    61. When I first got into the fandom. I thought that the shipping stories were weird. I mean, its ponies making out and stuff, its borderline rule 34. And that didn't really roll with me. I mean, They're cute little ponies, why do you do this? I always thought that it might have ruined the way I view them.

      But as time went by. I realized that there was more to shipping stories then just kissing. Instead of ruining their image, it made me love the characters even more. I became a total sucker for these shipping stories because they're just so cute and lovely. Which is exactly what a cold lonely soul like me needed. I can potentially say that these shipping stories... Generally made my life a lot happier.

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