PC back in the day

flight said:

I actually kinda miss PC families.

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I wasn't around when PC families were a thing but I sorta feel like now they are an unspoken part of the community. For example, I feel like our entire battle server community is a family and that each section sorta has it's core family of posters. It's a feeling that I have only ever gotten here haha.

Anyways, I haven't been on PC too long to consider myself an oldie but this place has changed a lot. For starters, being a moderator is much more enjoyable now that it was back my first time being promoted. We all work so well and discussions actually come to a completion. Secondly, I feel like people are posting healthier threads all around PC, there are more fun sections than ever, our battling community continues to grow, and just overall nothing but improvements are happening.

Oh man, reading this thread was like a time warp...

I've been here off/on since 2005, but I really didn't begin to get very active outside of ROM hacking until 2008 when I ventured out into other boards, eventually landing me into the off-topic boards like Other Chat (The Round Table's ancestor) and Other Voting Polls (which, yes, were distinct and strictly enforced), and of course when I decided to make New Users/Welcome (Welcome Lounge) my obsession home. Strict and cliquey was the name of the game. I remember, and somewhat embarrassingly admit to being part of little escapades like sweater and daily, never-ending conversations with large groups of, well, infamous PC people on MSN.

Eventually I found my way on staff; the previous descriptions are pretty on the nose. I was considered the "nice" moderator due to moderating The Welcome Lounge and all, and even I deleted soooo many posts for not complying with the rules -- and I was being lenient! I'm so happy to see the direction staff has taken here since the years I was inactive. There is so much more transparency and accountability; it's so refreshing.

I get where you're coming from though, acatfrommars. It was shocking to come back to at first. I stepped down from staff and stopped being active around 2011-2012ish due to school getting super serious and to give my romantic interest room to grow. No matter what happens though, this place will always be my online home. Like marz said, it's nice to see how many other people have really grown up here and continue to come back. PC sure is different, but I feel I'm different now too. I think it just grows as we grow.

Nothing Is Real said:

I remember the crazy debates in 2010 when BW info was started to pile up slowly. That was hilarious, they got a little out of hand :S

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Totally forgot about this until now. Before I would always check almost every thread in the BW section and get myself involved in several of the debates. The joys of new game hype, lol.

Ah, well, my memories from PC are a bit limited than some here, but I joined around 2010 where I don't think I received the kindest of welcomes, but they were great just the same! I remember there were those "groups" that showed which one you joined on your profile, like I remember joining Melody's group of 'girly girls and girly boys' which was pretty nice, ahaha. I think the members were nice, but kinda cliquey, which I imagine it's a little tough to go outside your comfort zone, which I can understand.

I didn't know too much about the members, I used to hang out with Anna (who was TheSmartOne) and a few others on the Trivia section, which was pretty nice! I met some of my first few friends from there! Soon I became the moderator for Pokemon General which I believe Ayselipera was the mod there before me, but yeah.

I think it was Arcanine, Erica, Geoff, were admins and some others were assistant admins, with Hiiro, Pachisou Yutohru, and TwilightBlade were Smods back then? Maybe there were more if someone could correct me on that! Anyway, ah, the staff team was pretty laid back, we all used to just hang out on MSN's messenger back when that was still around. I didn't really stay around as the mod for PG too long, in which shortly after Toujours stepped in, which was cool! Toujours, Forever, seeker, Sydian, and some others were some of the mods I looked up to then. ^^

Oh, I remember some really interesting characters came around... like JustinRPG, and MichealXD. :b I used to deal with JustinRPG's shenanigans A LOT during my tenure as PG mod, cause he tended to make threads about pokephilla, which was a big no-no, bahah. x:

Dragon said:

Ah, well, my memories from PC are a bit limited than some here, but I joined around 2010 where I don't think I received the kindest of welcomes, but they were great just the same! I remember there were those "groups" that showed which one you joined on your profile, like I remember joining Melody's group of 'girly girls and girly boys' which was pretty nice, ahaha. I think the members were nice, but kinda cliquey, which I imagine it's a little tough to go outside your comfort zone, which I can understand.

I didn't know too much about the members, I used to hang out with Anna (who was TheSmartOne) and a few others on the Trivia section, which was pretty nice! I met some of my first few friends from there! Soon I became the moderator for Pokemon General which I believe Ayselipera was the mod there before me, but yeah.

I think it was Arcanine, Erica, Geoff, were admins and some others were assistant admins, with Hiiro, Pachisou Yutohru, and TwilightBlade were Smods back then? Maybe there were more if someone could correct me on that! Anyway, ah, the staff team was pretty laid back, we all used to just hang out on MSN's messenger back when that was still around. I didn't really stay around as the mod for PG too long, in which shortly after Toujours stepped in, which was cool! Toujours, Forever, seeker, Sydian, and some others were some of the mods I looked up to then. ^^

Oh, I remember some really interesting characters came around... like JustinRPG, and MichealXD. :b I used to deal with JustinRPG's shenanigans A LOT during my tenure as PG mod, cause he tended to make threads about pokephilla, which was a big no-no, bahah. x:

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I remember all of this and this post makes me so emotional. :(

I remember the laughs and the flirting. I remember Castrainer and his silly reputation as the in-house comedian. I remember my big crush on legendary_pokegirl and her popular signature graphics.

I remember P.K. Hammer's fixation with Tool and a band called Big Black (don't Google it). I remember Star and her colossal post count and punk persona. I remember Jolty and his bubbly posts and Lil' Schu and her sheer popularity. I remember Teara and the way zhe alwayz wrote her postz. I remember girlgenius and her making me laugh all day. I remember Emma and her drawings and innuendos. I remember Forest Grovyle's art—legendary. I remember Signomi and the crazy art she made me. I remember Kylie—chan's love affair with everyone, mostly ebola. I remember Sammi changing her usertitle like dirty laundry.

I remember Chairman Kaga's eloquent posting. I remember ~*Silent Tattsu*~'s big drama about PC not being what it used to be. Tattsu, oh man. She was a bona fide Misty fangirl with a way of writing that just made you think of a bright, sunny day. I remember that she disappeared and we never heard of her again.

I remember oni_flygon and his ferociously well—written fictions. I remember LilyPichu and her poems and ethereal persona. I remember Mr Cat Dog and his sense of humor, but most of all our Kubrick, Kurosawa and Bergman conversations. I remember Kayleigh, Midori Chi, 22sa, Dakota, Abby, Suzu, TRIFORCE89, Arcanine, Lightning, Frostweaver, Kairi, wakachamo.

I remember my first puny sentence here. just who knows when jirachi the wish maker and visitor of space fissure (jirachi and deoxys movies) arrive america? I remember ending up in charge of the writing forums. I remember having a reputation as a SM for closing threads with jokes and for having fun with trolls. I remember the staff forums, and falling out of love with PC. I remember the sloggy decision—making and our fiery temperaments. I remember thinking I did not want to take PC seriously. I wasn't having any semblance of fun.

I remember thinking my rank wasn't gonna bring Amy back... or Niko, or Lily, or John, or Shana, or Karli or Kylie, or Cassie, or Geoff *, or Paige or Mandy or Kay or anyone. Most of all, I remember they were the reason why I came in the first place.

In many ways, it feels like I was the last to leave. And still every year I dedicate a day or two to PC, because it still reminds me of them a little bit.

Wait, what? Mork is STILL here? Mother of god.

Eh, honestly, I don't think the place has changed drastically during my time here. I've managed to take long hiatuses (some planned, some not), and come back and re-integrate myself just fine. Members have came and went, but it happens on every forum; but the core elements of this place have remained pretty consistent throughout.

Ok well I joined way back in 2002 that's like 14 years ago. Forums were pretty new back then
I never really had any bad experience back then. I was a good girl lol I do remember lots of things that happened through the years . Yes we did have some drama at some points But to me I always enjoyed this place and I always will. (and I have never changed my name lol ) :)

MoonLight said:

Ok well I joined way back in 2002 that's like 14 years ago. Forums were pretty new back then
I never really had any bad experience back then. I was a good girl lol I do remember lots of things that happened through the years . Yes we did have some drama at some points But to me I always enjoyed this place and I always will. (and I have never changed my name lol ) :)

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MoonLight! I feel like your sig hasn't changed either since back then.

Lol yeah I know that I made that a very long time ago , keep things the same for now

Dragon said:

Oh, I remember some really interesting characters came around... like JustinRPG, and MichealXD. :b I used to deal with JustinRPG's shenanigans A LOT during my tenure as PG mod, cause he tended to make threads about pokephilla, which was a big no-no, bahah. x:

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JustinRPG was erm... interesting haha. My PokeCommunity experience was never the same again after his days of PC xD

let's just say Treehouse is the embodiment of everything PC enforced rules against ~4 years ago.

I joined in 2010 for ROM hacking and it has seriously changed since then. Teams used to be such a big deal and now we have the whole Beginner's Lounge which wasn't a thing until like last year iirc, and there was that old ROM hacking ideas subforum way back then, before even 2010 I think. Hackers back then were all very serious business but that attitude seems to have really relaxed these days, which is always nice.

I became a supporter back when we were organized by numbers and got rank one by donating one dollar. Takes a bit more these days to get the benefits. :P

And one other random thing that I remember was the social groups that were linked from user profiles. Those were um... something. Yeah.

Sopheria said:

I only joined a little over 2 years ago, so there's nothing drastically different. What I look back on most fondly is the original group of friends I made in my first few months here. People like ShadowE, Mika, Fernbutter, and a bunch of other people who aren't active here anymore, I spoke to them literally every day, sometimes for hours at a time. It's really a shame most of them left because they all played a major part in shaping my experience here.

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This speaks for me as well. To me, it's a bit, well, painful, when you notice when someone wasn't active anymore, regardless whether you knew them personally or not. It's inevitable that people eventually leave the forum and it makes me think about how transitory life is. The fact that the community changes over time makes it harder for me to feel like belong, since that which I identify with is constantly eroded with each passing day. I wonder if anybody else has ever felt that way, and if so, how they get over that feeling.

@flight First of all, I'm so happy that someone else can speak to how I'm feeling. Personally, it's a bit uncomfortable to think about. I can empathize with your experiences, but perhaps not so much with making new friends since I guess I haven't really.

flight said:

I mean, I'll be honest with you: a large part of me still feels like I "don't belong", but I've come to the realization that logging on everyday here with that dreaded feeling and not doing something about it is really going to make it worse in the long run. I can't bring past friends back here; it's time to make new ones until the cycle repeats itself. Thankfully, I've got more than one way to contact really close friends of mine outside of PC, so if by any chance they leave, they won't be out of my life, if it comes to that.

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Does that not upset you? The realization that the cycle is, for all intents and purposes, inescapable makes anything I might do about it seem futile. There's no easy way to square the circle.

I think I agree with your realization that a lot of people might come here to distract themselves or escape from IRL stuff. That's definitely true for me to some extent. It's not the nicest thing to think about, but it makes sense. Now that I think about it, some of the people I used to hang with and aren't around so much anymore have a lot going for them IRL and I can't help but feel happy for them. I feel like our experiences on PC will eternally be tinged by melancholy and bittersweet.

12 or 13 years ago, it really was possible to know everyone on the forum. And I did! And I made it my job to read every single post on the site. That burned me out fast, but I learned a lot about myself in the process, too.

In fact, I think that's what was best for me about PC. I got to hash out so much of who I was in a pretty safe environment, and I avoided pitfalls later in life.

It was a lot less refined than now; it was almost like a chatroom. I think it reflected how young everyone involved was.

Team Fail said:

Part of me still wishes that the site was like that and was laid back like it was then. Unfortunately, times and people change...

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Change isn't always a bad thing. Do you really want old folks like us to make PC exactly the same as 13 years ago? Like for starters, 2003 we were working on a better slogan cause it was an inside joke for even older veterans than me, and finally I see that now we gave up on a slogan as the old folks who understand the joke are no longer here (at least, not as active).

Everyone will really recall the time of their own highest activity to be the "best that PC has ever been" personally. It's really best to accept that it's time to move on and let the youngsters have their moment too.

Also, we weren't *that* laid back... others have mentioned how we're lot stricter in this thread, and I remember that half of my modding duties involve reporting signature sizes and double posting lol. Our potatoes back then were not the same, you know!

Kanzier said:

Thankfully, I've got more than one way to contact really close friends of mine outside of PC, so if by any chance they leave, they won't be out of my life, if it comes to that.

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Pretty much this: PC is like any other place where you meet people. Think of it like school. You'll graduate and everyone scatter to different places, but if you put in effort to keep in contact with them, you'll still be friends with some of your classmates. You'll also lose contact with a lot of them, but the ones you've kept by your side are possibly friends for life. Even if you lost contact with them or hardly chatted with them in PC, you never know what the future has in store for you.

I left PC in 2004, but I kept in contact with Oni_Flygon and Lilypichu (the same one who does voice acting and LoL youtube vids/LoL streamer) since then. I met 22sa in real life as we turn out to be from the same town, so we hung out in 2005-2006. I hardly chatted with Lightning/Cherrim when I was in PC, but magically we became good friends on twitter too in 10 years later in 2014 for some reason. Then I end up meeting newer PC members like TeamFail via these connections too, and he's the one who told me to come back for a revival visit from the grave for this thread.

Of course, I also met Haruka-chan/Kairi in PC as well~ You are still probably the most life defining person that I've encountered in my life. I'm really grateful to have met you through PC here. In a thread about reminiscing the old PC, we can't possibly recount history and dig up dirt about the pass without this link about you, right? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Staff+Administrator&defid=1002897

Congrats to this thread for winning Thread of the Week!

I think that even in my stay since 2003, Kwesi showed up maybe 5 times... you are dreaming a little too hard there on that one lol.

I definitely agree with those who have said that PC had a much harsher environment back then than it does now. Getting picked on because of a simple mistake was the reason why I took a hiatus for a few months from here, and when I returned, I became a writing section hermit.

These days, there does seem to be a missing feeling of friendship here. While I do know more people here now and more people know me (if that's just because of my orange name), I don't really know people on the same level. There's not a lot of people here that I talk to on a daily basis, or in the same manner where we have long conversations. I think because we're--or at least I am--older now and not so attached to PC.

Staff is definitely friendlier. The current staff seems like they're willing to listen to the members' problems and help the community, rather than ignoring someone just because they're a regular member.

Mostly, I remember just how fractured PC was. The forum wasn't a big community of people. It was a collection of little communities. You had the manga fans, the writing group, the RPers, the Member Fanclubs group, the OVP posters, etc. Very rarely was there someone who floated around to the various sections and posted. These days, a lot of members post around in various sections, making PC far more of a bigger community than it was.