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How Different Was SPPF from when you first joined?

Rennon

Revisiting Trainer
Joined in 2010 if I recall. Seems most people already said it, but yeah. Was considerably more active back then. I specifically remember the forum Games section like Count to 60 haha. Also, it took like five minutes just to do anything in the forums (posting, clicking links, etc.)
 

sizida

CoconutIsTheAnswer
I joined in 2009. Hmm. The only I like that time was that everyone could create debate topics. I loved to see how people stating their viewpoints. Kind of like free-for-all. But, around 2015 ish, the debate session became restricted to "upper tier" intelligent people (I deemed myself not worthy). That put me off.

I also used the forum to trade and hosting trade events (it was bustling with people eager to trade for mons). I was crazy to find shiny and event Pokemons. I could not get a decent battle on the forum, but I did joined a clan for double battles.

I did remember about getting badges depending on the number of posts. I did not get to see when that feature taken down.

In 2017, that was the time I decided to leave the forums. Sure, I have some fond memories of being here. But all the people I know here are inactive. I am here today because I discussed with someone about this forum, and I got curious and checking it out.
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
Something that's different from when I first joined is that we now have the different reactions system available (even if it's an obvious rip from Facebook). It's nice to be able have more options for interacting with posts than just strictly replying. Though I'm still holding out hope for an eye roll reaction

Something that's different that I'm disappointed by on the other hand is that the Shipper's community has pretty much gone nonexistent. I mean, even the Amourshipping thread can go for a week at a time without new posts nowadays. Nothing goes on in the shipping subforums anymore, the Truth or Dare thread is dead, and Shipper's Secret Santa is now a thing of the past.
 

Pikasaur

Lazy Summer
i was here around D/P and HG/SS, maybe even R/S/E so it is almost completely different. Most people mentioned the major changes already

We had more forum "Styles" than just Default and Happy. That was nice than just looking at the Green and Black all the time

and i miss the Choices in avatars we had back then. There were at least 200 avatars per generation just for the Anime for example. All we have now is "Custom" which i dont have the patience or time to find the right size and decide on "What" i'd want.

and the Face-off section is pretty much Dead now. We used to "write stories" using the face-offs to decide what pokemon we'd catch or how the trainer battles would turn out.
 

Dragalge

"Orange" Magical Girl
I wasn't really active in 2011 despite joining that year (really just posted in the POTW section) but I do remember 2012 in both good...and bad ways. That being said, I do remember guilds/clans and the Games section still being very active alongside most other parts of the forums. 2014-2015 felt like the real decline even with that apparent lag happening beforehand that drove away some activity since clans/guilds for instance beginning to not be active anymore.

But geez I joined when I was 14 years old and now I'm graduating in about two weeks
 

Vernikova

Champion
It was active. And I guess there was more trolling back then in Misc and in PokeAni. A lot of edgy humor, I guess. And there were cliques.
 

Feity

Storm Trainer
The forum was more interesting in 2005. So many fun topics were active and the Fan Art section was at its prime especially sprite threads. I used to have so much fun commenting in those. Now it seems like nobody posts there and the only regularly active sections are Pokemon Anime Discussion and the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet section.

Speaking of PAD, I miss the old crowd who used to hang out there like V Faction, CyberCubed, S.Suiken, Gravy and ChaosMage. Now PAD has basically become a free-for-all with PokemonBattleFanatic- talking about Paul in every single post, AuraChannelerChris spending half his day in Anime Spoilers posting unfunny jokes, Morax bashing everything about the anime, and janejane6178 posting one-liners and hating on the Sun & Moon saga.
 

Fox

Where's my fanfare?
I remember and don't remember joining the forums, as it was about 20 years ago at this point. I guess I became inactive sometime in 2012, but I would lurk every now and again and also check up on things here and there. Hope everyone is doing well, and I'm curious if anyone even remembers me!
 

Darato

(o,..,o)
I remember and don't remember joining the forums, as it was about 20 years ago at this point. I guess I became inactive sometime in 2012, but I would lurk every now and again and also check up on things here and there. Hope everyone is doing well, and I'm curious if anyone even remembers me!
I remember you in passing; weren't you an admin?
 

SerenaRulez

Well-Known Member
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.
I knew that she passed away but I'm shocked that she was a member of this forum :eek: Were any other voice actors also members here?
 

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
I remember and don't remember joining the forums, as it was about 20 years ago at this point. I guess I became inactive sometime in 2012, but I would lurk every now and again and also check up on things here and there. Hope everyone is doing well, and I'm curious if anyone even remembers me!
I remember you a bit, but it's been forever. I think I remember you being a nice mod/admin here.
I knew that she passed away but I'm shocked that she was a member of this forum :eek: Were any other voice actors also members here?
It was surreal since she passed away while being a member here. An admin had to break it to members still asking her questions in the Q&A thread.

Eric Stuart might have been on these forums, but that could very well be before my time.


---
I'm going to be honest here though, the forums aren't what they used to be. They got better later on when the moderation got better and wasn't so dependent on "edginess". However, a lot of good members dropped off, and the forums feel dry. What's left are people wish-begging for news, or complaining the state of Pokemon. It's so formulaic at this point, and it gets tiring. Plus, the dex cut controversy really showed the ugly side of the Internet, and the forums were really no exception to that.
 

Monozu

この日、森の中・・・
Reading through this thread gives me nostalgia for a time I didn't experience (although I don't think I would miss the overly edgy jokes). Super interesting stuff.
 

Trillion

Well-Known Member
i first discovered the main site in around 2004 after seeing a picture of munchlax on some other website and wanting more info on it. i was 9 at that time. this is also when i discovered pokemon is a japanese franchise and that the games [at that time] and the anime came out way earlier there than in the US. at that point i checked the site daily and have been visiting the site on a regular basis since

i discovered and joined the forums technically twice in 2006. earlier that year i made an account but never got the confirmation link to my email. i tried again the day diamond and pearl came out in japan. turns out i didn't get the original link because my mom had this child-safety thing on my email so i wouldn't get links from unapproved sites. once i found out how to get rid of that i made my account

as far as things that are different on the forums
  • i remember the art section being much more active
  • at the bottom of the page it would list whoever's birthday was on that day and how old they were turning
  • i remember the 10char thing mentioned earlier
  • i will always remember the name cybercubed lol
i stopped visiting the forums regularly around 2010. at that time i was 14/15. there wasn't any real reason i stopped. i kinda just did lol. i still checked the main site regularly though

then i made this account in 2019 and have been visiting the main site and forums regularly since
 

Torpoleon

Well-Known Member
I joined the forums back in 2008, shortly after Platinum was revealed by CoroCoro. My brother and I actually shared an account back then (before he made his own account in 2009).

Most people that have commented so far have basically hit the nail on the head. The forums were more active back then, as well as more stricter. There was also a lot of nastier people back then (unfortunately looks like a lot of good people no longer come here either).

It's kind of sad that the forums aren't as active as they used to be, but I'm sure other forums have this issue as well. I was only 11 years old back then, so I've definitely matured a lot since then.
 
i will always remember the name cybercubed lol

So will I because he's the author of that infamous A Day Inside May fan fic. It's been deleted from the site but most of it can still be seen using the Wayback Machine lol. He also has accounts on IGN, Twitter and other Pokemon forums so his legacy will never disappear.

It's kind of sad that the forums aren't as active as they used to be, but I'm sure other forums have this issue as well.

Most of the popular Pokemon forums are the same yeah. Bulbagarden and PokeCommunity for instance are even deader than here but then again they've always been small forums to start with. Smogon is probably the only other Pokemon forum apart from Serebii that still gets at least 1 new post per minute.
 

Mr. Reloaded

Cause a pirate is free
Significantly less active when I joined, and I only joined back in 2011. The majority of people I remember have long since moved on to other platforms.

The peak of this forums activity (for me) was during the waiting period for XY's release. Which of course were huge deals back then, so of course they brought in a ton of traffic.
 

CyberBlaziken

A Greater Evil
Joined late 2008 where a lot of active people slowly started to move on.

Shipping (one of the reasons I joined way back then) was slowly starting to die down. Compared to then, it's pretty non-existent.
I remember early on I used to be annoyed that I missed the golden era for it and probably missed out on interacting with a lot of cool people for shipping, but that's life.

Most of the sections were popping in activity.
I do miss the artwork and the "shops" people had here, with the trainer cards and badges, and OC Characters and Teams people did and commissioned. Was a fun time.
And then the Pokemon Egg bit, forgot what website it was but everyone had them lol.

Games section was pretty active. A few bad eggs but was fun.

Clubs were a thing as well. I miss the Bleach Club, used to rp a bit and make your own OC and all that.

I know the strictness and the standards maintained early on sort of pushed some people to other discussion mediums, but I know they're more lax now about certain things, but that did result in a dip in activity.

I stopped with the adding people bit here, but looking back at my list, so many people have moved on.
A lot of the mods are long gone. But props to them, the early days had some hilarious and nonsensical things happen here.
I miss a lot of the people I interacted with and I wish them well in whatever venture they have going on in their lives.

I do miss vBulletin though. The badges thing they had was a fun thing to keep up post counts.
 

Mr. Reloaded

Cause a pirate is free
I do miss vBulletin though. The badges thing they had was a fun thing to keep up post counts.
Meh. As stated before, it was one of the main causes of the large amount of spamming people did. So I'm kinda half and half on it being gone.
 

TwilightBlade

Well-Known Member
I saw through the internet archive that there used to be social groups here? Does anyone know what exactly that entailed? It was before my time. :[
 
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