>>/6528/
> Friendship + magic?
I wouldn't exactly claim that bold statement so loudly but I would certainly say that it has an effect in practice.
You know, I recall Bridgefag saying to me that the MLP community feels like a little nation and I have to prove him right. Perhaos the world is really hostile out there but it's way less scary in comparison to the early 2000s (the fear towards the internet) and now, all the edge remains on two things: politics (conspiracies) and the Deep Web. One of the things that has softened quite a bit this wild open area called the Internet has been...well, video games.
However, MLP goes even further than that. No matter where you go, you know that the people who are posting on those faraway places share on common interest and thus, even if the anon name appears on the cover, even if you throw garbage among yourselves...you are all fans after all, so you have that sense of warmth because you consume the same franchise.
Video games might have softened the tone but MLP creates its own bubble of comfort somehow, so this means that the world becomes smaller and you are simply finding other fans of the community. Even when you mix it with politics, /mlpol/ has also proven that the edgy political topics can become quite laid back, creating an atmosphere that wouldn't happen with the normal version of /pol/. At the end of the day, they are fans (in their own way) and can potentially contribute to the community.
Same here and in any other place really. No matter its location, the familiar tone manages to appear sooner or later. So, MLP basically on the internet, guarantees you what you are going to deal with at the end of the day...and hostility (unless you mix it with politics in a bad manner) is quite rare to find.