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How Different Was SPPF from when you first joined?

I joined back in 2016, so a lot later than all of you, but even then, just the five year difference between then and now and the impact it has had on the forum is hard to quantify because the change is pretty stark. As people mentioned, the forum was so much busier. A lot of the friends and regulars I came to know and argue with no longer post in PAD, the anime discussion subboard where I spent much of my time. Besides that, the Shipping forum where I spent the rest of my time on was bustling and now it's essentially dead.

I definitely remember the mod team being stricter back then as well, although definitely not to the extent that you all seem to say they were back in the 00s.

Forums going out of fashion is probably one of the worst consequences of the new social media generation.
 

jaden767

Amphetamine
I joined when X and Y were coming out and I remember the X and Y topics being flooded with posts. So many that you had to refresh the page every couple minutes because there were new posts coming in every few seconds it seemed like. :p

I miss those days but I hated how we couldn't have custom avatars. I didn't buy Serebii's excuse about how they would use up too much data or whatever and slow down the site. They could've at least made custom avatars a special privilege for older members or people who had exceptionally good behavior instead of making those a mod only feature.
 

pacman000

On a quest to be the best...
I remember the “badges” you’d earn after every 10-or-so posts. I miss them. I didn’t use an aviator or a custom title; the badge was sufficient, & I wanted to know what badge I got. Custom titles replaced the badge name.

Fanfiction was still active, but the fan comics section was dying. Fan art was still active tho.

The anime & manga were still listed above the games; seems weird that they’ve switched places.

When I joined Gen 1 & Gen 2 were still separate forums; it hurt when they were merged, since I was still mostly interested in Gen 1.

There were a lot of discussions about what Gen was best, if Trubbish was a dumb idea, etc. These could get heated; eventually one of the mods made a proclamation: anyone discussing such things would be banned. I don’t think that ever became an official rule, but it calmed things down for awhile.
 
When I 1st joined the site was lively and full of fun topics but there were a few bad eggs that ruined the fun. The slowness of the forum back in 2009 was ridiculous and it took years for Joe to do something about it. Also for a long period of time there were no name changes then finally we got them twice a year but Ellie or Kirby or whoever it was who did them started to slack off and then the staff got rid of name changes permanently. Also there was a reputation system in 2012 iirc that caused a lot of problems because people used to downvote posts and leave rude reputation comments, then some people complained to the mods about it. Eventually the staff removed that system less than a year later. The new reputation system that's in place now is much better but there should be more variety of ratings to give out.

But things weren't always so bad. There were more members posting 10 years ago and there were some entertaining topics. I remember there was a clique of girls led by someone named Katya Ivanova who used to feud with Blackjack Gabbiani and Mandi and some other girls who used to frequent the forum. One time Katya started a topic where she exposed her private explicit conversations with Mandi and it was entertaining as hell and lasted for many pages and included a moderator fanning the flames until it got closed and then deleted years later. Wish it was still available for viewing because it was worth reading just for the laughs. Edit - oh, apparently it's still up. Topics like that will never happen again because there isn't enough activity to keep one going before it gets closed.

There was also a member named Dattebayo who had autism and created an alternate persona(s) called Team Teehee or something like that. 'They' would spam the forum for months until Dattebayo confessed and got banned by Joe. It's a darn shame because he was kind of funny but took things too far by using his autism to defend his actions. Also another member named Alloute hacked an admin account back in 2009. He got caught within minutes though and barely managed to reverse some infractions that a friend of his had. Then he came back as a new account named The 4th KIRA. Somehow this went unnoticed for years until he got banned in 2016 (I think) when the mods finally decided to permaban him for unknown reasons.

There's also been a lot of behind-the-scenes drama involving the staff. For instance there was a mod named Ethan who decided to ragequit and deleted a ton of topics before getting banned. He used to mod the Misc section and would sometimes post while 'drunk'. Also Joe and Ellie didn't get along (maybe still don't?) because I saw screenshots of one of their old chats where Joe blamed Ellie for almost destroying the forum (?) and he said some very unkind things to her. But in fairness she used to post explicit topics in the staff forums so maybe he was right to tell her off. Speaking of other mods, this one time a very popular anime section member named VFaction got promoted to a mod but he stopped posting like the very next day and disappeared for a year. His mod status got revoked during his absence but I always wondered why he left in the first place. He came back a few times but isn't a frequent poster anymore.

Another time the forum got spammed by a group of people from another site (might've been 4chan but idk for sure). It lasted for an hour and a bunch of topics got clogged up with insults and profanity. Some members from a pop music site did something similar in 2014-ish only they kept posting annoying smilies and talking in drag queen lingo or something. It was weird lol. I think the best part of the old forum was that Maddie the 4Kids voice of Meowth was a member here for a few years and she would answer fan questions around the time that the Save Our Voice Actors thing was going on. She passed away in 2008. Speaking of members who passed away, MewSkitty, Locke Yggdrasil and Yami Ryu also died. Though I'm not 100% sure about Yami Ryu because I only heard it as a rumour. She wasn't exactly a nice person but it's still sad.
 
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KRSplat

Unevolved Mankey
Another time the forum got spammed by a group of people from another site (might've been 4chan but idk for sure)
?what do you think about the idea of having people register for a forum like this,
without having to be taught how to use them at firsT¿
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
Another time the forum got spammed by a group of people from another site (might've been 4chan but idk for sure). It lasted for an hour and a bunch of topics got clogged up with insults and profanity. Some members from a pop music site did something similar in 2013 only they kept posting annoying smilies and talking in drag queen lingo or something. It was weird lol. I think the best part of the old forum was that Maddie the 4Kids voice of Meowth was a member here for a few years and she would answer fan questions around the time that the Save Our Voice Actors thing was going on.
why does the 4chan one sound less weird than the pop music site one
 

KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
I joined in late 2013, after X/Y were released. I remember earning "badges" depending on your post count and the moderators closing down threads discussing least favourite things about the franchise (generations, features, etc.) as they were claiming these kinds of threads were flamebait. I still do miss the older forum, though, as there was no reaction feature back then, and I didn't really mind the lack of custom avatars and used a Kyogre avatar for a very long time, but replaced it with a Nidoqueen and later Arcanine before everything changed.
 
There was also a member named Dattebayo who had autism and created an alternate persona(s) called Team Teehee or something like that. 'They' would spam the forum for months until Dattebayo confessed and got banned by Joe.
To be fair, I think it was someone else. Datte wasn't really the person who'd orchestrate something like that. He was the type of person who'd be persuaded to confess and take the blame though.
 

TornadoAdvisory

The Imminent Storm
I had first joined around 2007-2008 under a different account (Which I can no longer get into, thankfully). User titles (Which were based on gym leaders and their badges) that were tied to your post count and having to choose from a specific set of avatars were the main things I remember, plus it was much busier. I also recall things being a lot more chaotic back then, not helped by me being admittedly annoying and childish at the time. It was a fairly strict environment where you couldn't screw around unless you wanted a warning or ban coming your way.

Just last year, I joined the forums again and noticed that a lot of the names I recall seeing and interacting with back then had left except for a select few, plus it just seemed quieter. No more "Edit: Rank up!" and you can now upload your own avatars. Honestly, I myself prefer the slower pace.
 

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
It was a lot more edgelord back in the days.
I guess I should explain what I meant here. I joined back in late 2005 (where I was just bad at this), and websites like YTMND were popular. Now, YTMND had some jokes that really did not age well, like the MySpace suicide joke. This sort of reflected the mid-2000s era.
I remember seeing a thread where a moderator said "kill yourself" when a rookie member made a thread saying that his ear hurt.

There was also just some crappy behavior with some members.
1. Someone saying "owned" when someone's friend got in a car accident.
2. A moderator saying he didn't care if someone tortured a dog they owned.
3. People acting crappy towards people with autism. I've seen "socially retarded" thrown around.
4. Quite a bit of "Internet Atheism". Someone laughed at me back when I was more religious.

You get the idea.
To be fair, I think it was someone else. Datte wasn't really the person who'd orchestrate something like that. He was the type of person who'd be persuaded to confess and take the blame though.
Datte was the one who polluted the Smash thread with ridiculous suggestions (i.e. Spongebob and Naruto). To be fair though, it wasn't just him. Back in the post-Brawl days, the thread would frequently get closed due to some weird posts that popped up. One time, there was an arguments on furries because of a member called Gargomon251. I've seen that member on Gamefaqs at times, and it seems that he isn't very well liked there. Man, if Gamefaqs finds him bad...

I think the best part of the old forum was that Maddie the 4Kids voice of Meowth was a member here for a few years and she would answer fan questions around the time that the Save Our Voice Actors thing was going on.
Maddie was great, and was pretty considerate. It's a shame she died whilst still on the forums.
I remember the Q&A thread still getting questions, and a mod had to break it to them.
 
To be fair, I think it was someone else. Datte wasn't really the person who'd orchestrate something like that. He was the type of person who'd be persuaded to confess and take the blame though.
The spamming stopped immediately after he confessed and got banned which is why I think he really was behind it.

And I remember those post count badge things. I think it was a good decision to get rid of them because they made some people post alot just so they could get a badge that they wanted. It promoted spam in some cases. Also it's funny how popularity used to work around here. That Jb-whatever his name is used to be picked on alot in the misc section when JoshYeah and some other members were active but once they left people became more tolarent of Jb in the general chat thread. The same applies to a lot of other members but unfortunately some got trolled too much and left and never returned.
 

SBaby

Dungeon Master
I guess I should explain what I meant here. I joined back in late 2005 (where I was just bad at this), and websites like YTMND were popular. Now, YTMND had some jokes that really did not age well, like the MySpace suicide joke. This sort of reflected the mid-2000s era.
I remember seeing a thread where a moderator said "kill yourself" when a rookie member made a thread saying that his ear hurt.

There was also just some crappy behavior with some members.
1. Someone saying "owned" when someone's friend got in a car accident.
2. A moderator saying he didn't care if someone tortured a dog they owned.
3. People acting crappy towards people with autism. I've seen "socially retarded" thrown around.
4. Quite a bit of "Internet Atheism". Someone laughed at me back when I was more religious.

You get the idea.
While I never encountered it personally, I would hope the moderator(s) who made remarks like that would have been removed. I do remember that the site was overmoderated back in the 2005-2010 era. But nowadays, it isn't anywhere near as draconian as it used to be.

I suspect one of the reasons for that is likely because the message board venue is not doing the greatest in the grand scheme of things. This site spikes on occasion whenever a new Pokémon game or Gen is announced, but during downtime it's relatively quiet. If you compare that to how busy the site consistently was in say, 2008, you can definitely see the difference. And it isn't just limited to this message board. It's most of them.
 

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
While I never encountered it personally, I would hope the moderator(s) who made remarks like that would have been removed. I do remember that the site was overmoderated back in the 2005-2010 era. But nowadays, it isn't anywhere near as draconian as it used to be.
I detail the incident right here. In case you're worried, I do not specify any kind of animal abuse, just who the mod was and their behavior.

And to sort of answer your question, I don't think they ever were removed. They probably just left after a certain amount of time flew by.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Ah, I remember social groups... I wish they'd bring those back in some form, but I seem to remember hearing that the reason they were done away with was due to being a hassle to moderate, so that's probably not likely.

I think the starkest difference for me is just how much more active the forums were back then. The competitive section used to be bustling with dozens of posts a day. Now, outside of the POTW subforum, it's virtually dead. Only the sections dedicated to the most recent games are anywhere near as lively as they used to be. There used to be thousands of active members on at a time. Now, there's dozens.

It's sad, but it's not really because of any failings on Serebii's side. It's simply because massive social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have choked the life out of smaller and more specialized ones like Serebii.
 

Peter Quill

star-lord
I joined in I believe 2008? Was also a mod for a little bit. I mainly hung out in misc although I had a stint in the RPG section when I first joined. I'll reiterate what most people have said by confirming that the lag was difficult and the forums were much more active. There was a culture in misc that I would say was largely headed by Josh where being snarky and mean-spirited to people was the norm. Not that I have any room to judge lol I was a teenager who was trying to fit in with the online cool kids so I was playing into it/trying to kiss ass so I could impress people who I thought were cool lol.

In general there was a lot more user drama. People were pretty vocal if they didn't like others and the attacks ranged from straightforward to passive aggressive in letting people know that lol. People already mentioned dattebayo and jb who were basically punching bags for other people from time to time.

When I 1st joined the site was lively and full of fun topics but there were a few bad eggs that ruined the fun. The slowness of the forum back in 2009 was ridiculous and it took years for Joe to do something about it. Also for a long period of time there were no name changes then finally we got them twice a year but Ellie or Kirby or whoever it was who did them started to slack off and then the staff got rid of name changes permanently. Also there was a reputation system in 2012 iirc that caused a lot of problems because people used to downvote posts and some people would complain to the mods about it. Eventually the staff removed that system less than a year later.

The reputation feature was supposed to be anonymous but there was a workaround that allowed people to figure out who sent them the rep points. I remember someone left me a flaming hot vm in response to a negative reputation I gave them and I played dumb in response lmao. Once staff figured out that it could be manipulated it was shut down.

But things weren't always so bad. There were more members posting 10 years ago and there were some entertaining topics. I remember there was a clique of girls led by someone named Katya Ivanova who used to feud with Blackjack Gabbiani and Mandi and some other girls who used to frequent the forum. One time Katya started a topic where she exposed her private explicit conversations with Mandi and it was entertaining as hell and lasted for many pages and included a moderator fanning the flames until it got closed and then deleted years later. Wish it was still available for viewing because it was worth reading just for the laughs.

I'm not sure why you thought this topic was deleted. You can read it here. Crazy to think that this is over 10 years old but once every few years I remember it and read it because it's so over the top. I also think this originated from a livejournal comment Mandi made of all things... which like, god almighty that typing that makes me feel old.

Also there was a mod named Ethan who I heard hacked Joe's account before getting banned or something like that. He used to mod the Misc section and would sometimes post while 'drunk'

That's the short of it. Ethan was one of the "cool" people so to speak who I was trying to impress back in the day. Never really was close to him but he could be brutal and scathing with his words when he wanted to. He actually ended up sending me a fairly nasty PM sometime before he got banned which like at the time hurt but in hindsight like lol congrats on sending a bitchy pm to a teenager online.
 

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
I do think there is a difference between those that started the toxic "edgelord" culture, and those that got caught up in it to look cool.

I was never good a fitting in, so there's that. I remember Jenny calling me a homo one time.
 

Locormus

Can we please get the older, old forum back?
As one can notice from my avatar, I went out of my way to keep the one I originally picked when I joined - and never changed it.

Like others have said, still being on here feels like a relic.

I joined during generation 3, which was a really interesting time to be a Pokemon fan. The generation 4 launch feels like the Stone Age compared to how generations launch now. Data mining wasn't as much of a thing, so new Pokemon were revealed from blurry camera footage of people's Japanese copies. Pokemon didn't start launching internationally until generation 6, so people referred to new Pokemon by their Japanese names for months and months, and there was always discourse over whether or not a dub name was good or not.

It's been quite a while, but I was definitely lurking here during 06/07 when the fourth generation came out and only officially joined during 09.

I recall being part of the Fire-type lovers group? Looking back that feels really stupid.. I mean how much discussion is there to be had there?

AniméSpoilers were my thing. Live reactions to new DP-episodes as well. These days I hardly feel any inclination to watch the animé anymore. I still follow it - and sometimes watch Ash's major battles, but that's about it.

I vividly remember the Gen4 release with the entire dex eventually leaking and yeah, all the Japanese names. Rukario.. Well, the ones that stuck were the ones that Ash caught or stuck around mostly in the early stages of the DP. MukuBIRD, Naetoru, Pochama, Hikozaru and my confusion when Scorpi became Skorupi and Biidaru didn't become Beadull.. >.>

Also, the Darkrai movie felt like the biggest thing ever.. since it was the first to have the two box-art legendaries duking it out and edgelord Darkrai in the middle of it.. xD

Wow, this takes me back! This place was hopping when I first joined in the early 2000s. I tried making myself known among the avid RPers in the community... only to disappear for ten years! xD I definitely remember the old forum style, the preset avatars, the signature restrictions, the tiny Pokemon sprites one could insert into the body of a message. I still in many ways prefer forums to instant chat servers and social media.

My life in the Pokémon Capture Speculation-thread summed up. xD

I joined in February 2004 and I sucked on a human level. The site was on vBulletin. I think this works better, but whatever.

Can't believe I'm not the longest-running user here, though. /turns to dust

Who didn't?
 

Jb

Tsun in the streets
I joined mid 2000s, and lost my accounts and rejoined later

This placed used to be very active. I mostly stayed in the Pokemon guild sections, then known a the time as Clans where we would eat with each other. I also did a lot wifi battling here

I eventually branched out to misc, and tried to be a cool witty try hard since that was the culture here. It was at that time I started having my Runin with the mod them, I've probably been infected over 100 times between 2009 like 2013 lol


I've also entered a few misc contest, and remember when that one used hacked the are so he was allowed to be rude to everyone, and even the mods for fear he would do it again. I think it name was Fatal, or Final or something like that

I also remember when someone did a massive trolling here and former team tee hee which iirc Joe eventually banned the phrase from here since it got so bad and that person made tons of alts and trolled for years



Eventually around 2012/3 I was doing dms with a friend here on our pages and I posted some lewd anime gif or something and ended up getting banned for 6 months. At the time you weren't allowed to make alt accounts here (you probably still aren't, idk) so I eventually started posting on Gamefaqs. It wasn't as comfy as posting here, but with me being banned so long I started to prefer it

Once my ban lifted I tried to get back into posted here and that's when MLP was really big so I would post macros (aka old memes) in the general Chat thread which they eventually banned the use off. From there the forum kinda just slowly started dying off. Places like Reddit and Facebook groups aren't as personal but its a lot easier to find a topic of something you like


The issue with with place, was due to the rules at the time, it really limited what you could post. All new Pokemon section threads had to approved by the mod team end and they always tried to make general tabs for stuff. Often if you made a topic, it was closed and you were told to post somewhere else


Compared to Reddit or gamefaqs where you could post whatever you wanted at anytime, even in Pokemon sections of them site. This board also had a strict no self promotion policy at a time where YouTube was becoming big nsf people like posting their own findings and stuff


A lot of people claim forums just naturally died, and that's kinda Tru, but this place didn't really help with how slow it was to get with the times, you couldn't even gif of over like 500kb in your sig without the threat of it getting banned even tho everyone had high speed internet around 2012


This was actually one of the bigger Pokemon forums, and it's death was probably unpreventable but it totally could havebeen slowed down. Either way I'm still glad this place was party of my Childhood, it was my first forte into comp battling and I did meet some cool people here that I still talk too on other sites sometimes like discord and myanimelist
 

Noheart

The Abysswalker
Definitely a lot more active. The clans section was an amazing era that I wouldn't ever trade for the world. Still in touch with some of the Storm Kings to this day on social media :)
 
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