>>3422
>Those old bastions would most likely now absorb what is left and maybe in questionable trouble themselves post gen4.
they have already absorbed those little branches mostly because there was no reason to continue. Just focusing on the little grain inside those pillars, keeping them active and get the job done. Do you find attractive reasons to leave them? I can hardly find arguments for that.

>I am far from a doomsayer and some sites could adapt and I could see their being small circle jerks for pony art lasting quite awhile. Perhaps even gen5 and Equestria Girls will sustain the fandom for a time, but where does it leave us?
that´s like playing dices whenever gen 5 occurs. It´s always nice to have some sort of backup if Derpi´s policies get out of hand and the sites get shut down all of a sudden (even though I have read somewhere that Derpi´s archive is pretty easy to mirror and carry it somewhere else if any emergency happens)

I suppose that´s where Canterlot Avenue and The Roundstable come to play. The merch site always has to report the news even if no one is watching them. They have to act as if nothing happened to their popularity, their purpose is delivering the information at the time and for archive purposes. If the first one fails, the latter will come sooner or later.