>>6485
>You can't deliberately create these conditions - unless you wanted to make a popularity-first site and then drive a large portion of users away and see what happened.
while there is always a chance that the clone surpasses the original, the success of 4chan does rely a lot on its unique context and its popularization prevented it from having that early feel anymore. But even then, that site was created because of 4chan, therefore, its context just by the year alone differ quite a bit. One cannot accomplish a premise like that. Perhaps the board that manages to replicate /b/ in 2003 will be one that isn´t aware of what made /b/, yet their users manage to interact like those people did in 2003. Who will do that? Definitely not Mewch.

/endpone/ cannot replicate /mlp/ because it doesn´t have a Global Rule 15 nor a golden era in which the fanbase exploded like it did in 2012. So, what we can do here is offer something different because attempting to do that like other pony boards....doesn´t work. The sticky thread makes it clear for everyone that this board for better or worse, doesn´t compete with them nor it attempts to become an exact carbon copy of them. Sure, I might have taken inspirations of MLPG with the NMAiE general but its dynamic has nothing to do with its original version.

In fact, you can instantly notice that all the important threads or generals (greentexts, the edits, the threads related to the royal sisters and Dolores, the show discussion...) while not exactly original, they don´t feel quite the same because of the users involved and the mentality within its own circumstances.

>I don't think escaping from reality is necessarily a bad thing, and nowadays someone who never escapes from reality is in the minority and rather odd.
yeah. Although escapism is certainly needed for these rough times just to forget and take a break about the world with this pandemic. I admit that there are times in which a balance should happen. Enough to create your bubble of comfort but not deviating too much into that extreme. However, you are right, that practice of avoiding reality is sustained according to the personal level that one dares to dive into it. So, the practice by itself is done because of an individualistic approach despite normalizing quite a few things that were seen as nerdy in the past but are nowadays quite surface level for more people out there (Star Wars comes to my mind)

>you'll enjoy yourself more if you stick with a community and don't leave at the first minor imperfection - you won't see as many weird and interesting little communities, but you'll have a sort of home.
yeah. Perhaps that weirdness is brought up in very spotty cases and at some point, it gets somewhat popular over time for some reason (for example, Earthbound) and then that sense of weirdness is lost over time. So, the weirdness cannot be the only factor to look forward. Instead of weirdness, I would rather use the word underground (like music: mainstream (radio hits, top 40...) and underground) just that there are several layers that cannot be easily defined.

I agree with the home factor though. Even when one community throws shitposts at each other, you even find that annoyance charming that makes it special. Despite not sharing everything that /mlp/ does, I admit that I haven´t stopped lurking over there.

>all the users will be very different in their personal lives, since if the interest relied on some aspect of personal life - well, that naturally drives away those with barely a personal life at all.