How have you changed at TPM?

[Drago]

So every now and then I peer at my join date and it dawns on me that I have spent over half of my life on these forums. And you know what, that's fine - I still dig chilling here, even though it's become a ghost town.

What I began pondering is how I have changed from the early days of TPM up to now - like many of us, I'm a very different person in a very different point of my life.

For one thing, I stopped caring about a decade ago - it's amazing how much more freeing it is when you're not concerned with being cool or liked. Back in the early 2000s, I desperately wanted to be recognised, but the sad truth of it was that there were so many members who had already established their place, I really didn't gain any notoriety until most of the members had already left.

I used to most often frequent the RPG forums or PCG, whereas now I'm pretty much exclusively lurking in Miscellaneous Stuff and Mt. Moon. On that note, I resigned as Misc mod because there didn't seem to be much point considering the diminished numbers on the forum - but nowadays I wish I hadn't, because I'm power hungry.

I used to litter my messages with Pokemon smilies. ...Now everyone litters their messages with emojis. I did it first.

Most of all, I was really obsessed with my postcount back then... Now I'm completely obsessed with it.

...So how have you changed?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

When I joined TPM back in 2001, I didn't even know what a message board is. I was a high school student living in a substitute family and TPM in my school computer classroom was a great way to escape from reality. Now I have gone through several psychosis and mental hospital phases. I used to be a lot more 'cautious' of my behavior here. I was afraid of SPAMming, and still, I don't thing I succeeded too well to avoid it. Now I have revealed about everything about myself here and you guys know me well. Oh, and like you, DragoKnight, I wanted to be famous here. I wanted everyone to acknowledge my existence. However, it took me like 10 years to achieve 10,000 posts. I have also improved my English a lot through TPM. So much that I can see this post of mine is of a bad quality.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

To be honest, I don't think I changed that much. Maybe because I was already relatively old when it first started out. I was of course more active.

[Link]

I joined here at this site at a very young age when I was in high school. I participated in many of the discussions here and I try to maintain some sense of stability here, even though practically no one comes here anymore. This site is still a lot of fun to read and post at. I am really glad at the way the Pokemon series has progressed. The games are still a ton of fun.

[Magmar]

I joined when I was in middle school and I'm now four years out of my master's program! I'd say I changed a whole ton. When I was 13 and registered for TPM, I was a homeschooled, religious kid who was kinda paranoid about a lot of things. I also had never had real friends until I joined TPM mostly because of being raised in a weird homeschooling cult lol. TPM got me through some rough times and helped me really blossom as an adult. Meeting some of you all in person are some of the most fun memories of my life.

[Lady Vulpix]

When I first joined, I was playing Pokemon Gold, so I posted mostly to ask questions about the game mechanics. In the process, I sort of befriended a guy named Sacherry, with whom we started discussing the games, but then he was banned by Hydro because he didn't like him.

Then I joined a few RPGs, but none of them took off. And then Polls & Clubs was created. Clubs were all over the place and I, like others, filled my sig with the symbols of each club I joined. Until I found the Dragon's Guild, a club unlike any other, which marked the beginning of what I now see as the core of my TPM life: the Adopted Pokemon game.

I've done many things since then: played and hosted games and even literary contests, wrote quite a bit, contributed to the Fanfic E-Zine a few times, made a few more failed attempts at joining RPGs, hosted one (Expedia) which lasted for a long time but eventually ended badly, became a mod, then a supermod, then an admin, helped as much as I could with everything, and kept AC/CC going until all other players lost interest.

And so began my post-AC/CC era, which is currently ongoing, marked by low activity and low expectations. But hey, I'm still reachable and willing to help if anyone needs me.

[Mr.E]

still ostensibly play mons and all, still the same ol' me cept I'm old enough to stop giving a shit about anything

[firepokemon]

I use to take TPM very seriously then I stopped being less serious but still took it seriously then I stopped taking it seriously but took it seriously again then i really stopped taking it seriously and found myself only now and then taking it seriously now once in a blue moon I take it seriously.

And wait who was Hydro and how could they ban people? I know the name but I can't really recall and definately don't think they had admin powers o.o

Sometimes I still get seriously nostalgic about this place. Also I think my writing is even worse than when I join here oo

[darktyranitar]

I just had the inkling to check back the forums and I realized that I haven't logged in for... 7 years, huh

I remembered joining the forum back when I was in early high school, and with english not being my first language I pretty much work up on improving through me posting here and there around ther forum haha. I was really into joining RPGs and posting the occasional fics now and then (ohh, and ASB too). At one point I pretty much stopped taking interest in Pokemon (I think it was during the last time I logged in) and move on to some other fandom... it's only recently that I play catch up with the series (and I still have a lot that I haven't caught up to be honest haha).

I suppose after all those years I'm a more functional human being than the nervous wreck I was back then when I joined (well, maybe I'm still a nervous wreck...). I somewhat didn't do much writing as I did back then, but I moved into a different creative outlet of drawing and music playing.

I do get nostalgic about this place tho, so for what it's worth I think I'll hang around bit more now yea .

[Asilynne]

When I joined I was 18 and fresh out of high school...now I'm nearly 34 and have been married for 5 years going on 6...wow haha So many changes!

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

While the activity of TPMers in general has heavily decreased since I came back from my first Visala period in 2006, my own activity in general has heavily increased. Though it's just that it's hard to keep it up now because there are fewer and fewer people to chat with and fewer and fewer new threads to reply. Is there a connection?

Oh yes, and as Nurse Joy would say, hope to see you again, Asilynne!

[Zak]

Not afraid to speak my mind... I remember the days when I was made to feel like I was walking on eggshells posting here. Hah. Or even in "Ummmm" depending on who was around.

Strangely enough, I recall that often there were instances of generally well-behaved members which certain people in charge would ban or threaten over a small fuck-up, and go to great lengths to guilt-trip them over it. It's almost like they got kicks out of watching them squirm or whatever and try to tiptoe on eggshells, taking advantage of their vulnerability in how much they actually cared about their status/ability to post here.
Yeah I know that sounds dumb from an adult perspective to have stock in that, but a lot of these members were kids at the time! Young teenagers, more specifically. It's like taking advantage of a kid's attachment to his favorite toy and using your ability to take it away from them as a means to manipulate them, when they haven't done anything to deserve it.

Meanwhile, when longtime members who seemed to give zero fucks intentionally broke rules or antagonized and baited just to get a rise out of people, they would somehow get a pass. From the same powers-that-be.

Their logic? Oh it was priceless. Banning/infracting them is "beating a dead horse". Translation: "They know the game so they're not as fun to fuck with and tease and bully". It's pretty clear they never cared about those better-behaved members, just enjoyed picking on them for kicks. Really, why else would anyone feel more threatened by someone who literally just came to talk about Pokemon and post Fanart or whatever? Even if they were "ban evading" - the former who actually were starting shit did exactly that on a regular basis, and it was even clear to TPTB, yet they would still be looked the other way.

Some of you might remember Jay (the former PCG mod, not Umbreon). Sure he had his share of issues and some of you might remember him for the heinous stuff he said and did, but that aside, one thing he did do often is call out a lot of the above stuff I was talking about for what it is, and I respect him for that.
Except, he did it while it was happening, so of course, it wouldn't go over well. His passive-aggressive and hostile approach to it also didn't really help. But perhaps if he wasn't a little bitch about it then more people might have taken him seriously.

It's kind of parallel to the whole alpha/beta culture which exists in real life.

Provocateurs who have no filter and say fucked up shit on a regular basis? Ignore them, or even admire them for their ballsyness.
Normal/good people who dare to make one insensitive comment even if they may have not meant it? Publicly shame them into submission until they're on their knees apologizing for it and begging for forgiveness. Haha

As a matter of fact... even I can admit it, Trump is a great example of this parallel. He gets away with saying so much provocative stuff that would have been a scandal if any other President said it. Why? Cause it's not a shocker.

[Drago]

Jesus, that shit is fascinating. I want to know more about TPM's seedy underbelly.

[shazza]

little_pikachu and kevin loved me

[Zak]

Jesus, that shit is fascinating. I want to know more about TPM's seedy underbelly.

Weren't you a mod when most of this was going on? This would have been maybe 2002-2006 ish... Could be getting my times confused though. But it was mostly in the Muffin Man days.

I wish there was the ability to tag users in posts so they get notifications. Of course that would require them to check TPM...

[Katie]

Hard to say how different I was at 13 compared to 30, it'd take less time to say how I'm the same!

Back then I joined because Pokemon ceased being cool when you entered middle school, but I still liked it and wanted to find people to talk about it with. This was my first experience with an online community, I didn't even realize you could communicate with people across the globe, especially other kids talking about Pokemon! (Beware of kidnappers posing as kids!) It was really cool because I had some shyness and anxiety issues as a kid and being behind a screen made me less self conscious. The AIM chats felt very comfortable once I settled in with "the regulars" and I started to feel pretty outgoing. I have no real idea if AIM was a main contributor to me coming out of my shell in real life or if it was something "IRL" but it does feel like it contributed a lot. It was like practice-talking. lol

At the start I got really involved in the Fanart forum because I liked art and had above-average skill, supposedly. I was interested in becoming a mod, but it was a bit of a forgotten forum and no admins noticed/users were too polite to point out the one or two mods who had disappeared for half a year or more. I made a point to make a 40+ word reply on every piece of art posted. I liked to think I was helping our artists become better, congratulating them on finally mastering hands or wings or feet, and hopefully building my "mod resume" at the same time. Alas, it never happened but I was content to be a regular poster. Over time, technology advanced and my parents didn't spend the cash on tablets and software that my fellow artists were learning to use so I kind of fell behind in the dust, skills-wise. I gave up on for-fun art, and then when my 10th grade "pre-AP" art class was over I abandoned all art for good.

Other than that, hm. I got a part time job, went off to college, dated, made friends, joined groups, graduated college, entered the white collar workforce, moved in with boyfriend, got a dog, got married, bought a house... The most recent of those was 5 years ago so the life events are getting a bit stagnant. I supposed kids are next but we aren't rushing yet. We're enjoying upgrading parts of our house and planning vacations. Italy this summer!

[Zak]

I wish there was a way to tag people here...

[Lady Vulpix]

I wish there was a way to tag people here...

You can always send them a message.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

In one aspect, I'm one of the most obsessed with my postcount. It even wasn't until my 144th (Articuno's number in Kanto PokeDex) post I created my first topic. Then I remember firepokemon (I think it was firepokemon) posting somewhere that the new users shouldn't start start topics of their own before getting the hang of TPM. Yes, although I joined already in September 2001, I felt inferiority to those who joined in 2000 or early 2001.

I don't remember what my first thread was about right now, but I do remember the second one. It was about my country Finland, who skipped the Kanto final Episode 'Friends to the End' plus the entire Orange League arc, making it a total of 36 episodes. The people in the Anime and Manga subforum noted it as a big skip but at the same time they were saying that I shouldn't worry, they's eventually show the episodes. I don't think they have showed those episodes ever though. However, I do know 4kids and others showed the episodes in a weird order and even countless times of their very same favourite episodes. Heck, even Japan has banned episodes.

Oh yes, and who remembers my April Fool's joke where Lady Vulpix resetted my postcount?