How did you end up here?

[Link]

I am trying to remember how I did find this place, but I think that I found pokemasters from another site that I used to go to back in the day when I was younger. I found this site way back in the GSC-era games, when it was extremely busy, and all of the teams were pretty bad in all of the forums. Me, being the n00bie guy I am, started searching for pokemon boards here and made fund of the people that posted teams, and then I remember posting when TPM had the eazyboard a long time ago, which totally destroyed my chances of posting on a vbulletin board here. But, I'm happy to say that once I got here, it was a huge learning experience and it still is with the games they're constantly getting released. Oh yeah, I remember being in misc stuff and getting into some discussions with various people on God, evolution, etc, and I know how emotional people can get in any sort of discussion.

[Jeff]

I think I told this story before, but I was looking up Pokemon on the Internet, way back when I was really into it. I didn't even know about Yahoo or Google yet, so all I went on was pokemon.com. I saw a "top 40 Pokemon sites" ad and clicked on it (I also didn't know not to click banner ads), and checked out some of the sites. Among the ones I remember are Bulbagarden, Pokemon Abode, and of course, TPM. For some reason TPM was my favorite, and I kept coming back for GS news, then Crystal news, then "Pokemon Advance" news. After the first site went down I kept checking periodically to see if it was back up. With each check, I became more and more convinced that I'd never see it again, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that the site was revived. It was a new site, but I was still happy to see it. After the flow of news slowed up, I ventured into the forums for the first time to see if there was anything interesting there. Wouldn't you know, the members there were talking about the upcoming Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. It was like a treasure trove of information, so I kept lurking. I finally joined on a whim in 2004.

[The_Missing_Link]

I came here from Pojo in 2001 when they and TPM were in the midst of a flame war (IIRC). I didn't really stay permanently until 2002 when Pojo switched to ezboard and I grew disenchanted with it

[firepokemon]

LOL I remember joining pojo msg board. So lame.

I found the site a few months prior to the board being opened. Joined chatroom and liked and progressed from there. I think the first pokemon site I ever went to was misty's water pokemon or something. One of those geocities webpages.

[Telume]

I started lurking here around 03-04, I didn't really join until 08 though >_>

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I found the main site in 2000, when I was looking for Pokemon info, but it wasn't until September 2001 that I joined. My E-mail exchange with a Brittish girl had just ended, and I needed something else to do. I didn't even know what a message board is, but I took action and became very addicted. I didn't post frequently but I read a lot and thought about TPM everywhere. I was also at the Ezboard but funnily enough, after that period, I took my first TPM break because, for a while, I prefered Sailor Moon to Pokemon. But I came back in January 2003. A hiatus from TPM can sometimes be refreshing but it's not good for Postcount :) and I'll never forget how my last absence made you all worried sick.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

ASB.

[RedStarWarrior]

I don't know why I ended up here. I was heavy into the TCG at the time and made quite a bit of money selling extra cards. Somehow I ended up on here and stayed.

[Ryoto]

I decided to search for ASB forums, and this was the first one that came up on Google, so I decided to join after seeing it was active. :3

[Lady Vulpix]

Back in 2000 I had taken on making websites as a hobby. I started working on an anime website, and was searching the web for anime-related media I could link to from there. That's how I stumbled into TPM.

As it happens, I was also playing Pokemon Gold at that time, so I started using the forum to ask game-related questions. Then I ventured into the RPG forum and started playing a few RPGs which always died too soon. And then Polls & Clubs was created and with it came the Dragon's Guild... and that (along with the games which derived from it) was enough to keep me hooked for all these years.

[Leon-IH]

TCG deck rating that was on the main page back in the day was what I first saw here, iirc.

[Fett One]

I don't recall exactly but I believe I was looking for info on either pokemon gold or cyrstal (I can't remember which) when I stumbled across the main site. After finding the site, I took a look at the message board and liked reading some of the discussions that were going on but I didn't sign up until a month or two later when somebody had posted something that I felt I needed to respond to (I don't recall what it was).

[Shadow Wolf]

Wow... I think I read the name at Gamewinners or something (it was something like... you can find more info at The Pokemasters) and that was like on 2003

It wasn't until 2006 that I joined. I was playing Pokemon Sapphire and I wanted a shiny Rayquaza. I remember thinking: "Wasn't a site called the pokemasters where I could find answers for pokemon games?" so I searched and I found it. After asking the question, I explored a bit the boards until Poryhedron answered my question. A few days later (I think), I found Pokemon Hangman, and I stayed until today.

On a side note: I still struggle to post outside Hangman, hahahahahahaha.

[mymyilikepie]

I decided to search for ASB forums, and this was the first one that came up on Google, so I decided to join after seeing it was active. :3

Ditto.

[shazza]

The Pokemon phenomenon was at full throttle in Australia in the middle 2000's. My Internet usage and ability to utilise it was augmenting, allowing me to stumble on international news regarding Gen II Pokemon, post-Basic Pokemon cards, Anime spoilers et al. that was not generally known at my school. This gained me the reputation of being the local primary school Pokemon professor (as well as creating my own fake Pokemon cards harharhar).

One of the main sites I used was TPM. Hell, even at one point I took some of its information, as well as downloaded translated Gold/Silver ROM's, and put them on a CD and sold them for $10 each. I don't think I've admitted that in the almost 11 years I've been here until now.

I stumbled upon the forums in November 2000 and was taken back at the parallels it had with a Perfect Dark forum I then frequented. I wasn't aware of the UBB platform or message boards being standardized throughout the Internet, so I assumed the webmaster of the Perfect Dark forum and TPM were one in the same. :)

[Blademaster]

Fanfic attracted me. But it isn't what kept me.

[MichaelXD]

My brother (Cycling Road's friend) asked if I could join and I have viewed the place several times at school for enjoyment. I started coming to a forum in July for Pokemon so I was referred here because of someone else. I hope there's a lot of great game discussion and I joined at this moment because I'm looking for a link to a question on Yahoo Answers and I know someone linked it here. I came here to check it out and I am not the person everyone says I am.

[Magmar]

I wandered to the site long before the forums, looking to get some teams rated for a pokemon tournament. This was, like, 1999. I became a regular on the site..And here I am today!

[Classtoise]

I got really drunk one night and didn't have the heart to send it home.


Also I made an RPG that lasted like one or two iterations and then the idea was snatched up and that person has been taking credit for it ever since.

[midnightangel]

Before I even had a computer or the Internet ten years back, I was using the schools computer for Pokemon research, as well as schoolwork. I came across the main Pokemon site first, then the forum about a month later.

After the first of the year--January 2001, I finally purchased a computer, and set up Internet access. And finally signed up for the Pokemasters in late January

My first places to visit were Polls, Miscellaneous, and both Pokemon anime and Other anime forums. I ventured out of my "little hideaways" and joined RPG for awhile, but eventually I went back to my favorite spots on the forum after some of the members I was closest to left to pursue other interests. I found myself mostly in Miscellaneous as of right now, and I don't plan on going anywhere else. ;)

[Katie]

When I was in 7th grade history our class assignment was to make a themed monopoly board game. I have no idea what that had to do with Texas history, but our group fucking loved Pokemon so we picked that theme. During "research" (looking for Pokemon pictures) we used the TPM main site a hell of a lot. I believe this was about a month before the forums opened. I revisited the site over the next year or so, but neither knowing nor caring what "forums" meant so I never clicked it and missed out on the cool regdates. Then one day I exhausted all the rest of the content on the main site so I clicked "forums". I had no idea how to read the forums, I didn't notice the screen names, I didn't understand that there were multiple people speaking on one page, and I thought signatures (which were stupidly long back in the day) were part of the story/conversation. I remember always clicking "next thread" at the bottom of the page; god knows how far back I was going. Do we even still have those buttons? Anyway I got all confused at what the hell I was reading, and left it alone. Then I tried again in July, figured it out, and joined.

I later told one of the girls in my monopoly group about the forums, how it was such a NOVEL CONCEPT! and she's like "uh, yeah, it's a forum. planet namek has one too" I !!!!!!!!!!!ed and joined the planet namek forums too. Cue a decade of internet addiction.

[mattbcl]

I'm not certain what precisely the progression of events was that brought me to TPM's front door. I do know that I started watching Pokémon in the early 2000's, shortly after moving from a huge city to a tiny town - it was my method of enduring culture shock, I suppose, and coping with the realization that there was very little else worth doing in a village like that. I thought the concept of Pokémon was fun and, being the hobbyist writer I am, started getting bitten by plot bunny after blasted plot bunny. But it wasn't until I started babysitting a couple of local boys that I really got into the full swing of Pokémon; the older boy sold me his Game Boy Pocket and the Pokémon Red inside for $20. Best purchase I ever made. From there, I started developing a more solid story idea from the plot bunnies, and came up with the first draft of the story my friend Andy would eventually recommend I entitle "Against All Odds". This was about eleven years ago.

But I had nowhere to put it! So I guess I started hunting around on the Internet for a place where I could meet fellow Poké-nerds and offer up my writing; I was told there were places where that could be done. I know I checked out serebii at some point for the possibility of posting there (no booing or hissing, please), but even now that place doesn't feel right. Anyway, I got to TPM and was pleasantly surprised at just how many dorks like me there were - even more so how much authorship was happening. A little intimidated, actually, but when I started submitting chapters, I was encouraged by the feedback I got and I kept it up.

That's how I originally got to TPM. I drifted on and off, never really acquainted myself with the forums. Then the site went down and I slunk away, looking for somewhere else to put the tale - but a fan contacted me some time later to ask for permission to repost it a couple different places, to which I consented. But even though the full story did find its way here, I didn't come back for quite some time afterward... until this year, when my girlfriend stumbled across the site - I don't even know how - and joyfully exclaimed that it was back up and running full-tilt.

And there's how I came back to the site, attempting to be far more engaging and entertaining than the nomadic, antisocial lurker I was 11 years ago. And here I am, STILL writing the blasted story! Go figure.

[abunaidesu]

I found TPM because I was searching for Gameshark codes. :)

[Blademaster]

I got really drunk one night and didn't have the heart to send it home.


Also I made an RPG that lasted like one or two iterations and then the idea was snatched up and that person has been taking credit for it ever since.

Mind if I ask who/what idea?

You can PM me if you don't wanna start a potential war here in Misc..

[ChobiChibi]

I think I found this place on google. I'd been introduced to forums by a friend from school (it was called The Anime Village). I liked forums, and I liked pokemon, so I was probably just searching for pokemon when I found this place. I started battling in ASB, but then neglected it once I'd found RPG. Only tried to go back to ASB once, won that battle and haven't been back since 8D

[DivineAll]

Fanfic attracted me. But it isn't what kept me.

What he said.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

I was randomly searching for information on Pokémon on the net and stumbled over the PokéMasters Pokédex eventually. Eventually I also found the message board and finding it quite interesting I joined up and stayed ever since.

[Becky]

I love reading all your stories of how you came here! I'm relatively new, so I apologize to those that already know my story-- engaged to Brian, decided to join the TPM family. :)

Guys, do you remember how great those "top 50 web site" webrings/pages/whatever were? I used to love those!...despite that many of the links would be broken, the sites weren't necessarily that good..just the nostalgia of net infancy.

[Razola]

I murdered a clown.

[mistysakura]

Yes, those "top 50" sites were awesome. Back before you could pay Google to put your site on the front page, hehe.

I found TPM on one of those top 50 sites. I was actually drawn in by TCG. They used to have these games where someone would post a situation (your hand, cards on table, deck etc.) and you'd have to figure out how to win the game. Those were great fun. Then I drifted away for a bit, and when I came back I discovered Fanfic. That's about it, really.

[Jeff]

That must have been what I clicked on! I remember it saying "top 50 Pokemon sites" or something like that. The fact that I looked back and thought it was a banner ad shows how much the web has changed over the years.

[Mr. Brightside]

I think i found this place while searching ways to revive my then recently dead Gold cartridge. I don't remember anything else to be honest.

[CuteLassJigglypuff]

I think I found this place when I was searching for stuff on Pokemon Gold/Silver.

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, I've told this story a few times, but it's always fun to reminisce.

I originally found TPM during the GSC era because I was looking for an online Pokedex (the one I bought was error-laden) so that I could build an epic OHKO team of destiny!

Needless to say, my Lock-On/Horn Drill/Fissure lineup never actually came into being, mostly because of laziness. Still, I remembered how useful the Pokedex was, so when I stumbled upon the forums years later I thought I'd give them a chance. I came for the game discussions, was drawn into the community through Shipping, and found a permanent home thanks to Fanfic.