User:GregariousMadness/Equestria Daily
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Equestria Daily (EQD) is a fan website dedicated to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic; it is often considered the central news site of the brony fandom. Normally, a fan site would be considered a self-published source; per WP:FANSITE, fan sites should generally be avoided for use on Wikipedia. However, EQD is special among the vast number of fan sites on the Internet: due to the substantial amount of scrutiny the brony fandom has incurred over the last decade and a half, EQD has enjoyed a massive amount of citations in mainstream media, scholarly articles, and books analyzing the fandom. Per WP:USEBYOTHERS and WP:IAR, this userpage essay will attempt to make the case that EQD may be considered a marginally reliable source for articles related to the brony fandom or the My Little Pony franchise with in-text-attribution for non-controversial statements of fact. In particular, I assert that EQD should not be used to determine notability and thus should not be used in AfDs or discussions of whether a subject meets WP:GNG. Furthermore, in accordance to how we deal with primary sources on Wikipedia, one should be careful not to overuse EQD if the statement it supports is not not published elsewhere in a reliable source, as that may constitute undue weight.
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: The My Little Pony fan site Equestria Daily can be reliable for use on articles related to the brony fandom or My Little Pony, but one should be very cautious about using it. |
Note: This has not yet been discussed in WP:RSN and this essay is not Wikipedia policy. The last time EQD was brought up in RSN was almost a decade ago with no consensus on its reliability (though the two editors seemed to agree with my overall sentiment).
The Wikipedia policies
The basis of my argument will rely on heavily invoking WP:USEBYOTHERS with a touch of WP:IAR when absolutely needed. As of September 25, 2025, WP:USEBYOTHERS says:
How accepted and high-quality reliable sources use a given source provides evidence, positive or negative, for its reliability and reputation. The more widespread and consistent this use is, the stronger the evidence. For example, widespread citation without comment for facts is evidence of a source's reputation and reliability for similar facts, whereas widespread doubts about reliability weigh against it. If outside citation is the main indicator of reliability, particular care should be taken to adhere to other guidelines and policies, and to not unduly represent contentious or minority claims. The goal is to reflect established views of a topic as far as we can determine them.
In particular, I will use the statement widespread citation without comment for facts is evidence of a source's reputation and reliability for similar facts, whereas widespread doubts about reliability weigh against it
as the motivation behind my exhaustive search. The following statement is equally important: If outside citation is the main indicator of reliability, particular care should be taken to adhere to other guidelines and policies, and to not unduly represent contentious or minority claims. The goal is to reflect established views of a topic as far as we can determine them
is the motivation behind proposing the source be considered only marginally reliable with a large amount of caution surrounding its usage. The goal of this essay is not to encourage WP:FANCRUFT or the inclusion of trivial or non-notable fandom details. Rather, it is to provide a framework for the careful and limited use of EQD while maintaining Wikipedia's standards for verifiability.
There is a policy at WP:FANSITE that says: one should generally avoid providing external links to: [...] Blogs, personal web pages, and most fansites (negative ones included), except those written by a recognized authority. (This exception for blogs, etc., controlled by recognized authorities is meant to be very limited; as a minimum standard, recognized authorities who are individuals always meet Wikipedia's notability criteria for people.)
Note the wording most fansites
. This is understandable because most fan sites are self-published sources that can be written and published by anyone on the Internet regardless of their credentials, so chances are, they have not undergone the scrutiny that determines whether they are reliable or not; they are almost certainly not notable enough to be regularly used in peer-reviewed journals or reputable books. As I mentioned above, however, I assert that EQD is an exception to this. The general wisdom that fan sites should be disregarded should itself be disregarded when discussing articles about the brony fandom per WP:IAR: For articles related to the brony fandom, It makes no sense to deem unreliable the central brony news website that was even deemed important enough to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation.
Finally, WP:NOTFANSITE applies as well. Just because something is written in an EQD article does not mean it is always appropriate for Wikipedia. Also, when editing a Wikipedia article, we should be careful in general (not just with EQD) to not do any original research that the source does not explicitly state.
(Incomplete) list of WP:RS that cite Equestria Daily without comment for facts
Peer-reviewed academic journals
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 299: Lauren Faust, the creator of the new My Little Pony concept, admitted that she was initially incredulous. But she soon became “riveted” by the burst of creativity that it inspired. “Just how it kept growing and growing and growing and how it seemed to inspire a revolution of kindness on the Internet! It never ceases to amaze me” (Faust 2011). |
———. 2011. Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust. Equestria Daily, September 16. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html (accessed May 1, 2013). |
Yes |
Page 300: Lauren Faust, however, pointedly stressed that the new My Little Pony series was never intended to appeal to a secondary adult audience, but simply to challenge existing simpleminded models of fantasy-based animation for young female audiences. She commented: “My specific dreams are still to make great entertainment for girls. . . . When I think of something I want to say or an experience I want to share, my ideas are usually innately feminine because I’m female—and I refuse to believe that something being feminine by nature automatically means it isn’t worthwhile. If I can put the tiniest dent in the perception that ‘girly’ equals ‘lame’ or ‘for girls’ equals ‘crappy,’ I’ll be very satisfied” (Faust 2011). |
———. 2011. Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust. Equestria Daily, September 16. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html (accessed May 1, 2013). |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
| Uses the whole interview in the article | ILLUSTRIOUS Q. “BABSCon Interview: Lauren Faust (MLP FiM Show Creator).” Equestria Daily, 2 June 2016, Expect the Unexpected: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Creation o... Transatlantica, 2 |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
4chan is noteworthy as a generator for memes (like LOLcats) and a hub for internet culture in general, therefore when FiM was brought to the attention of /co/ it was fed right into the bloodstream of the geek community. Between October 2010 when the show first aired and February 2011, the pony-related threads on /co/ went from around 200 daily posts to over 6000 a day (/co/ Pony Posts break the 6000 mark, 2011) |
/co/ Pony posts break the 6000 mark (2011) Equestria Daily. Available at: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/02/pony-posts-break-6000-mark.html (accessed November 2012). |
Yes |
Fundamentally, FiM and its fandom are anthropocentric in their outlook. While the ponies are integral to the Bronies’ emotional investment in the show, this relationship says little about the relationship of humans to horses, except perhaps the obvious problems with the dichotomy of horses for boys, ponies for girls. It is more an affinity between humans and human-like animals, not non-human animals, that the Brony fandom represents. Many Bronies have confirmed that they are not ‘horse people’, for example, one says, ‘I honestly never liked horses or ponies, and I still don’t. These ponies don’t really look like their real counterparts at all, which is probably why I like the show so much’(Do 32 International Journal of Cultural Studies 17(1) you like equines IRL?, 2011). |
Do you like equines IRL? (2011) Equestria Daily. Available at: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/poll-results-do-you-like-equines-irl.html (accessed November 2012). |
Yes |
Lauren Faust has emphasized that FiM was about ‘making quality entertainment for girls’ by avoiding the conventional aesthetic which she describes as ‘overly bright, garish, oversaturated and plagued with waaaaaaay too much pink’ (Exclusive Season 1 retrospective interview with Lauren Faust, 2011). |
Exclusive Season 1 retrospective interview with Lauren Faust (2011) Equestria Daily. Available at: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html (accessed November 2012). |
Yes |
There are plenty of reasons to watch FiM, but many Bronies praise the show as a powerful affirmative force. One Brony testified (What draws YOU to FiM?, 2011): Over the past few months of watching this show, I swear my life has significantly improved and I’ve become more happy with things. It’s a show that’s made me forget my hardships in life and to embrace the friendships I have now. |
What draws YOU to FiM? (2011) Equestria Daily. Available at: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/discussion-what-draws-you-toward-fim.html (accessed November 2012). |
Yes |
The personification of the ponies in FiM allows viewers to identify with their flaws, strengths, challenges, and achievements. Their anthropomorphization enables much of the humor to work, the look to achieve its high level of cuteness, and the fantasy land to be conceptualized effectively without the interruption of human characters and the explicit social hierarchy that would ensue. When asked whether they would like the show if it featured humans instead of ponies, many fans answered in the negative. One respondent succinctly summed up the feedback: ‘Ponies are cute as hell, humans are boring and rubbish’ (Would you watch FiM if it wasn’t ponies?, 2011). |
Would you watch FiM if it wasn’t ponies? (2011) Equestria Daily. Available at: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/08/discussion-would-you-watch-fim-if-it.html (accessed November 2012). |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
As the largest community site, Equestria Daily, noted “the usual discussions about how cute Twilight looked in a snow suit or what Luna’s backstory was quickly turned into religious debates” (Sethisto 2013). |
Sethisto. 2013. “15/66 days of pony: Feeling Pinkie Keen.” Equestria Daily, October 2. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/10/1566-days-of-pony-feeling-pinkie-keen.html (accessed October 15 2014). |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
However, the approach currently favored by Hasbro is not in itself neutral: the fact that fan commercialization is allowed to exist largely without interference gains capital that can be leveraged commercially. If the audience feels positively about a commercial entity, it is more likely to buy products based on that felt connection. There have also been specific occasions that triggered a backlash against what is taken to be gratuitous commercialization, where the community response is far less positive. Examples include Twilight Sparkle's transformation into a princess at the end of the third season, and the development of the Equestria Girls spin-off movie that frames the six main characters as human teenagers at high school (note 13). |
13. See the Equestria Daily article "Keep Calm and Trot On" (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/05/an-appeal-to-fandom-keep-calm-and-trot.html). |
Yes |
- [many more that need to be added]
Books and articles from reputable publishers
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 15: Among the new Earth ponies was Applejack, whose orange hide, yellow hair, and five red apples on her flank presaged her G4 incarnation, and a Unicorn named Twilight featured a stripe in her mane and stars on her flank, but otherwise bore no resemblance to G4's Twilight Sparkle. (Her design was the basis for Twilight Sparkle's mother in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" (S01E23), however.67) |
[67] Sethisto, "Lauren Faust Ponychan Q&A Compiled," Equestria Daily, last modified June 8, 2013, http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/06/lauren-faust-ponychan-q-compiled.html |
Yes |
Page 86: Buried in the endnotes, this off-hand mention kept Friendship Is Magic from being listed in the index, while to say Hasbro "revived the project" suggested the show is a continuation of either of the previous series, which it is not.4 |
[4] Tekaramity, "Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust," Equestria Daily, September 6, 2011, http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html. |
Yes |
Page 97: The most overt connection between the two was the Hub's "Equestria Girls" promo, which was not related to the eventual Equestria Girls movies but instead a parody of Perry's hit "California Gurls," sung by Shannon Chan-Kent in the voice of Pinkie Pie. A 30-second version appeared on the Hub's website on May 24, 2011,58 with a 90-second version released directly to Equestria Daily on May 27; this extended version included the word "Bronies," and the Hub described the song as having "some special lines in tribute to our favorite Pony fans."59 |
|
Yes |
Page 129: An Equestria Daily post titled "DERPY DERPY DERPY DERPY DERPY DERPY" was timestamped at 8:40 a.m., and the 1,428 comments it garnered by midnight—finally topping out at 1,573—also make a strong case that the Bronies were very pleased with both the episode and themselves.22 |
[22] Cereal Velocity, "DERPY DERPY DERPY DERPY DERPY DERPY," Equestria Daily, last modified January 21, 2012, http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/01/oh.html |
Yes |
| ...Now, I could continue this table and go through literally every single time the book cites EQD, but doing a ctrl+f on the book shows that the source is used over 100 times. So, I'll assume that the reader has gotten the point for this book. | ||
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 84: Bronies form “meetup” groups, where they can discuss topics from MLP:FIM, but also just to meet other Brony friends and find general support (Calpain 2013a). |
Calpain. 2013a. ‘Brony Meetup Group Map’. Equestria Daily, 7 April. At: www.equestriadaily.com/2013/04/brony-meetup-group-map.html. Accessed 10 November 2015. |
Yes |
Page 88: The result of this security and acceptance that Bronies derive from MLP:FIM is moral improvement: "I have started appreciating my friends more. I also try to be as close to the elements of harmony as possible. Like, I say, “would Rarity approve of this?” It is weird (then again, what’s not?), but it has helped me be a better person." (Calpain 2013b) |
Calpain. 2013b. ‘Discussion: Pony, a Catalyst for Change’. Equestria Daily, 22 October. At: www.equestriadaily.com/2013/10/discussion-pony-catalyst-forchange.html. Accessed 24 November 2015. |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 87: [Lauren Faust] wanted a character driven show that appealed to female audiences as she felt this demographic was largely neglected (Faust in Tekaramity n.p.). Page 92: |
Tekarmity. "Exclusive Season Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust" N.p. 2010. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html. Accessed 1 September 2016. |
Yes |
- A Companion to Media Authorship was published by Wiley, a high-quality reputable publisher.
- The Greatest Cult Television Shows of All Time was published by Bloomsbury Publishing, a high-quality reputable publisher.
- [many more that need to be added]
Other WP:RS (dissertations, theses, essays, web articles, etc.)
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
My Little Pony creations have taken off in other areas as well. On Equestria Daily, a fan blog that on first blush could be mistaken for a fifth-grade girl’s locker door, site curator Shaun (he asked that his last name be withheld) struggled to find a half-dozen pieces of art to post in a given day back in January. He now claims he can easily fill a post with 30 images. |
Links to https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/01/art-drawfriend-stuff-7.htmland https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/drawfriend-stuff-82.html |
Yes; Wired is in WP:RSP |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
A banda-desenhada de “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” cujo primeiro volume publicado em 2012, foi ,segundo o artista de banda-desenhada Bobby Curnow, o mais vendido de todas as bandadesenhadas da editora IDW. A série de animação e banda-desenhada continua até ao presente, mantendo uma audiência fiel (Curnow, Price, Hickey e Kelly, 2017). A partir do volume número cinquenta e um, a editora IDW estabeleceu uma relação mais próxima com a equipa da série animada de modo a criar histórias que estejam interligadas, mas desenvolvendo novas ideias e personagens, as quais vão sendo produzidas para a televisão. Bobby Curnow (2017), editor da banda-desenhada define numa entrevista com “EquestriaDaily” os objectivos desta relação: (“…) It's our aim to make the divisions between the comic world and the show world as seamless as possible, while still preserving the unique style and storytelling possibilities in the two mediums.” (Curnow, 2017) |
Equestria Daily (2017.01.26), “INTERVIEW: MLP Comic Editor Bobby Curnow on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #50 and Beyond!”(weblog post) Obtido de: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2017/01/interview-mlp-comic-editor-bobby-curnow.html |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 8: The increasing popularity of the show is bringing the fandom slowly into the mainstream of popular culture. As a result, characters and references from My Little Pony and the Brony fandom now appear in television programs such as Bob’s Burgers, The Colbert Report, and even during a commercial spot for the National Football League during Super Bowl XLIX.9 |
Sethisto [pseudo.]. “Stephen Colbert Shouts Out to Bronies” Equestria Daily August 1, 2011 Accessed from http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/08/stephen-colbert-shouts-out-to- bronies.html |
Yes |
Page 8: The increasing popularity of the show is bringing the fandom slowly into the mainstream of popular culture. As a result, characters and references from My Little Pony and the Brony fandom now appear in television programs such as Bob’s Burgers, The Colbert Report, and even during a commercial spot for the National Football League during Super Bowl XLIX.9 |
Calpian [pseudo.]. “Ponies in the Super Bowl!” Equestria Daily, February 1, 2015 Accessed from http://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/02/ponies-in-superbowl.html |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 58: Fan backlash over these changes would force the writer of the episode, Amy Keating Rogers, to release a statement admitting to and apologizing for the changes (Sethisto, 2012). |
Sethisto. (2012, February 2). Amy Keating Rogers response to Derpy Hooves. Equestria Daily - MLP Stuff! Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/02/amy-keating-rogersresponse-to-derpy.html |
Yes |
Page 28: There were worries as the first season was being developed those characters such as the tomboy Rainbow Dash might come off as “was too boyish and our target audience wouldn’t relate to her” or that the bubbly Pinkie Pie risked being seen as “irritating and off-putting” (Tekaramity, 2011). Faust and her team were able to find agreement with Hasbro on taking a less stereotypical approach, though, and in 2009 the show’s production could begin. MLP’s production process largely paralleled that of Adventure Time. MLP visuals, however, were animated using Adobe Flash. This allowed for puppet-based assets to be made of the characters to speed up the animation process. There was also a particularly heavy emphasis on collaborative worldbuilding within the team, with many of the creative teams’ artists and animators adding personal touches through creating backgrounds and side characters that contributed to fleshing out the My Little Pony universe of Equestria (Tekaramity, 2011). |
Tekaramity. (2011, September 16). Exclusive Season 1 retrospective interview with Lauren Faust. Equestria Daily - MLP Stuff! Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 6: The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction “Through the Eyes of Another Pony” by CardsLafter deals with an author avatar waking up one day as a unicorn in the My Little Pony town of Ponyville, and trying to adjust to life as a pony and his relationships with the characters of the show. |
Cereal Velocity. "Equestria Daily: Story: Through The Eyes of Another Pony." Equestria Daily. N.p., 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/08/story-through-eyes-ofanother-pony.html>. |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 111: and both [Lauren Faust] and other producers, animators, and crewmembers have openly engaged with the Brony community, doing interviews for various fan sites, and even going so far as to insert Brony inside jokes into episodes |
Fan Characters. (April 21, 2011). Equestria Daily. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/equestria-daily-faq.html |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Page 13: se muestra como un pegaso en silla de ruedas, el cual pertenece a Sylvain-Nicholas LeVasseur-Portelance, un niño con atrofia muscular espinal tipo III (Sethisto, 2014).(transl.: he is shown as a pegasus in a wheelchair, which belongs to Sylvain-Nicholas LeVasseur-Portelance, a child with spinal muscular atrophy type III (Sethisto, 2014).) |
Sethisto (20 de abril de 2014). Trade Yah - The Story Behind The Wheel Chair Pony, or Stellar Eclipse [¡Intercambio! - La historia tras el poni en silla de ruedas, o Stellar Eclipse]. Equestriadaily.com. https://www.equestriadaily. com/2014/04/trade-yah-story-behind-wheel-chair-pony.html |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
| Lots, pages 45 and 46 | Tekaramity. “Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust.” Equestria Daily. 16 Sep. 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http:// www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective. html> |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
Lauren Faust, has stated that a major goal when developing the show was for it to include well-rounded, diverse female characters that were distinct from one another, as opposed to Faust’s impression of previous My Little Pony cartoons and other children’s programming intended for a young female audience (Faust 2010; Tekaramity 2011). |
Tekaramity (2011). “Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust” [ONLINE]. Equestriadaily.com: September 2011 [Cited 21th of May 2014]. Available at: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1- retrospective.html |
Yes |
| Location and excerpt from WP:RS | Citation used by WP:RS to support excerpt | Cited without comment? |
|---|---|---|
The pink and purple patch—first spotted by My Little Pony fan site Equestria Daily—and worn by 24 flight students from Joint Undergraduate Specialized Pilot Class 14-05, referenced the cable cartoon show about a team of magical ponies. |
Link to https://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/07/nightly-roundup-703.html |
Yes; article was written by Matthew Gault, a writer for other WP:RS like Wired and Gizmodo |
- [many more that need to be added]
The argument
Use by reliable sources (WP:RS and WP:USEBYOTHERS)
- WP:USEBYOTHERS states:
widespread citation without comment for facts is evidence of a source's reputation and reliability for similar facts, whereas widespread doubts about reliability weigh against it.
- Peer-reviewed journals and scholarly books from reputable presses that discuss the brony fandom cite EQD without caveat for straightforward facts. This repeated, neutral use is evidence that EQD can be reliable for similar low-stakes facts in this topic area (i.e. Wikipedia articles related to the brony fandom). Note that the sources above also have used EQD to quote opinions of bronies. As the above shows, if we are to use an EQD article on a Wikipedia article, we should strive to use it in a neutral manner, and if a non-neutral statement is being used, it must be quoted with in-text attribution. For example,
One Brony testified...
orOne respondent succinctly summed up the feedback: ‘Ponies are cute as hell, humans are boring and rubbish’
Limited scope (WP:USEBYOTHERS)
- Restating the above, any claims of reliability applies only to topics closely tied to the My Little Pony franchise or the brony fandom. This is evidenced by how all of the WP:RS that use EQD are analyses about the brony fandom or the show.
Non-controversial facts only + in-text attribution (WP:INTEXT)
- Use EQD for simple, descriptive statements (e.g., an interview quote, a convention schedule item, a site poll result, a release date), and attribute in text (e.g., "In a 2011 Equestria Daily interview, Lauren Faust said...").
Treat as primary where appropriate (WP:PRIMARY)
- Many EQD articles are original interviews, announcements, and fan polls. Use with clear attribution, and avoid interpretation or analysis based on EQD alone. However, there is no need to fear using EQD for quoting, see WP:PRIMARYNOTBAD:
Sometimes, a primary source is even the best possible source, such as when you are supporting a direct quotation.
Just make sure that the quote is due for inclusion.
Do not use to establish notability (WP:GNG and WP:FANCRUFT)
- Even if reliable for facts about the brony fandom, EQD is a fan site and cannot carry notability on its own. Otherwise, every single fan video or fan work that is somewhat popular within the brony fandom would be "notable", clearly not true because it
is important only to a small population of enthusiastic fans of the subject in question
(WP:FANCRUFT). - Exclude it from AfD arguments about whether a topic meets GNG or not.
Weight and balance (WP:UNDUE)
- Even when acceptable, keep EQD citations proportionate. Do not let a fan site dominate sourcing in an article.
Examples of acceptable use cases
- Quoting creators/cast from EQD interviews.
- From Equestria Daily:
Hasbro themselves sent a review copy of their interactive iOS storybook "Twilight Sparkle: Teacher for a Day" to Equestria Daily, and several key figures in the production team have done exclusive interviews for the website, including supervising director and current showrunner Jayson Thiessen and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic developer and creative director Lauren Faust.
(EQD source 1 EQD source 2)
- From Equestria Daily:
- Documenting fandom activity (poll outcomes, convention announcements, fandom consensus, etc.) where mainstream coverage is absent.
- From
brony fandom: For example, a silent female unicorn pony character sporting neon colors and sunglasses and manning a DJ mixer that briefly appeared in "Suited for Success", was given the stage name "DJ P0N-3" in an online poll held by Equestria Daily.
(EQD source) - From 15.ai:
Fandom news site Equestria Daily reported that the website included "almost every voiced pony in the show" with "a dropdown for various emotions you want to generate."
(EQD source) - From My Little Pony fan convention:
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the brony convention scene, as organizers were forced to cancel, postpone, or transition events to virtual formats.
(EQD source)
- From
- As a primary source.
- From brony fandom:
[Equestria Daily] has since surpassed 500 million views (June 2014)
(EQD source) - From Equestria Daily:
The site was designed by Knighty, and the site is maintained by the site's developer Gameleon.
(EQD source) - From 15.ai:
In a post introducing new character additions to 15.ai, Equestria Daily's founder Shaun Scotellaro wrote that "some of [the voices] aren't great due to the lack of samples to draw from, but many are really impressive still anyway.
(EQD source) - From "This Day Aria":
Shaun Scotellaro, the founder of fan site Equestria Daily, wrote that the song gave "a full on Disney feel" and said it was the pony song he had listened to the most.
(EQD source)
- From
Examples of unacceptable use cases
- To establish notability.
- For example, I created a source table for a potential article on Vylet Pony, but found that notability is not yet met. In this table, an otherwise independent EQD article discussing Vylet Pony with significant coverage would still not have a "Yes" in the GNG column.
- For undue statements that would be more appropriate for a narrower subject that does not meet notability.
- For example (I am not calling this editor out, I'm just using this as an example; they have done great work despite being a new editor and has been very receptive to criticism), there was a recent discussion where an editor had asked about using three EQD sources to support the charity numbers of a convention and the comparative fandom records. The original paragraph was pretty lengthy and had some issues of the content being undue, as the article was about the fandom's charity, not about that convention individually. In other words, it raises the question: is the topic of this paragraph really important enough to justify this long of a paragraph within such a broad topic?
- However, we can still salvage this paragraph while still using EQD as a source. Ultimately, we decided to trim this paragraph down to exactly two sentences. The first one states the facts about this convention and its relationship to the charity, which was sourced to EQD and easily verifiable:
Since 2023, Mare Fair—a brony convention held annually in Orlando, Florida—has worked with Fallen Oak Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation as their charity benefactor.
And the second was simply a statement of how much the convention raised per year as reported by EQD, without any editorializing (MOS:EDITORIAL):Mare Fair's charity auction raised over $50,000 in 2023, $103,483 in 2024, and $115,660 in 2025.
Essentially, when the only source we can rely on is EQD, we want to keep the things that we are stating to a minimum.
- However, we can still salvage this paragraph while still using EQD as a source. Ultimately, we decided to trim this paragraph down to exactly two sentences. The first one states the facts about this convention and its relationship to the charity, which was sourced to EQD and easily verifiable:
- For example (I am not calling this editor out, I'm just using this as an example; they have done great work despite being a new editor and has been very receptive to criticism), there was a recent discussion where an editor had asked about using three EQD sources to support the charity numbers of a convention and the comparative fandom records. The original paragraph was pretty lengthy and had some issues of the content being undue, as the article was about the fandom's charity, not about that convention individually. In other words, it raises the question: is the topic of this paragraph really important enough to justify this long of a paragraph within such a broad topic?
- In an AfD discussion.
- Since I propose that EQD does not establish notability, it makes no sense for it to be brought up in an AfD discussion where most of the time people are trying to figure out if the subject meets notability.
- Synthesizing trends or drawing analytical conclusions from EQD posts. (WP:OR and WP:SYNTH)
- For example, something like
The season 4 finale is the best My Little Pony season finale
should not be sourced to EQD, even if the author of this (hypothetical) EQD article asserts it as such.
- For example, something like
- Overusing it for large swaths of text that is not otherwise supported by a reliable source.
- Related to the bullet point about undue statements.
Previous RSN discussions
- July 2, 2011
- July 9, 2011
- September 18, 2011. This was made less than a year after EQD was founded, years before any of the peer-reviewed journals and reputable books were published. No consensus.
- March 19, 2016. Only two comments. No consensus/slightly leaning reliable with in-text attribution.
- 2025? I may post a new RSN with this essay to gather the community's thoughts.