>>3281
>MLP has an association in all of this and was a major player in my interests to this day
MLP has helped shape lives and viewpoints of many anons #MeToo

>I remember that era. Playing flash games on Lego's website
Yeah, I have some recollections from that period (2nd half of 2000's actually) as well, but they're more isolated, idiosyncratic, and had none of the social aspect. It could be described more less in lines of doing your thing quietly, while on the other side of the wall there's a big party, and years later you hear stories of how awesome the party was.
>It's an era I'd like to revisit simply because there was less centralization
Also this. Also don't know if this is correct, but I get the feel like even if there was a centralization back then, it wasn't as restricitve as it is nowadays.

>In the hacker world there was the pwnie awards and that Canada's net surveillance program was pre gen4 MLP themed.
Heh, didn't know about that. That's neat

>There certainly is notable controversies and cultural references on the site
The biggest thing that I could think of right now is Barneyfag, and that's not even an /mlp/ thing. There is this kind of problem though, that as soon as pony leaves /mlp/ into other boards, it stops being /mlp/ and is just mlp. Other than 4cc and winterball maybe 4craft as well? I can't think of any places where /mlp/ as a board leveraged much influence aside from obvious /mlpol/
>gr15 having been broken more often
Ponies are now allowed on /trash/, and if you go on /qa/ you'll notice that pony pictures aren't removed eagerly or thoroughly. If that's a sign that 8 Y E A R S posting indeed seeped in successfully into some anons' and mods minds, I don't know.