Happy 20 years

[Ultration]

It's crazy that this forum is still up, since nearly every other forum I went on in the 00s-10s has been gone for quite some time.  I made this account two decades ago when Ruby and Sapphire came out when I was 10 years old!  It definitely felt like a sanctuary back then when kids my age were already moving onto other stuff, and the internet and the world was a very different place.

Now I'm married with a daughter, and haven't touched a pokemon game since HG/SS, but I guess I'm sort of on a vision quest these days to try and track my origins.  I'm really grateful this place has been kept going for as long as it has.  We did most of our communication back then on Instant Messengers so a lot of it isn't archived.  Luckily I have 1 or 2 messages from 2003-2005 still in my inbox!

[sylar]

this is crazy. i just popped in to see what was up and seeing this thread made me weirdly emotional. its months old by now but happy 20 (almost 21) years fellas.

[DrampardonMe]

It's crazy that this forum is still up, since nearly every other forum I went on in the 00s-10s has been gone for quite some time.  I made this account two decades ago when Ruby and Sapphire came out when I was 10 years old!  It definitely felt like a sanctuary back then when kids my age were already moving onto other stuff, and the internet and the world was a very different place.

I feel that! I can't remember when I first joined (this is a newer account), but I wasn't really active until the year after, just shy of Diamond and Pearl's release, if I recall correctly. I think I was in high school when Ruby/Sapphire came out, so imagine how it was for me, haha. Boy, do I miss the simpler times!

Now I'm married with a daughter, and haven't touched a pokemon game since HG/SS, but I guess I'm sort of on a vision quest these days to try and track my origins.  I'm really grateful this place has been kept going for as long as it has.  We did most of our communication back then on Instant Messengers so a lot of it isn't archived.  Luckily I have 1 or 2 messages from 2003-2005 still in my inbox!

Congratulations on the marriage and kid! It makes me happy to know this forum is/has affected people in a positive way, too!

[Laprabi]

21 years now of PUK? Damn. I made this account in 2008 when Diamond/Pearl were just released I think. I still pop in from time to time, more out of nostalgia than anything else, but I haven't really been properly active on here since 2013. The internet has changed, everybody uses stuff like Discord these days. I still actually have a few people from here on stuff like Facebook but I rarely use Discord. I miss the days of IRC.

[DrampardonMe]

Hang on, TODAY is the birthdate of the site?! I guess that makes it 22 now, or is my math that bad?

I logged in for something completely unrelated, but in lieu of having anything prepared for the occasion... *kazoo sound* [confetti flies everywhere] *applause* [cake is passed all around] Am I missing anything? Oh yeah, Happy Birthday to PUK, lol

On a more serious note, it makes me wonder what all the founding fathers of the site are up to these days... but at any rate, let's all have a good one!

[sans the skeleton]

Hang on, TODAY is the birthdate of the site?! I guess that makes it 22 now, or is my math that bad?

I logged in for something completely unrelated, but in lieu of having anything prepared for the occasion... *kazoo sound* [confetti flies everywhere] *applause* [cake is passed all around] Am I missing anything? Oh yeah, Happy Birthday to PUK, lol

On a more serious note, it makes me wonder what all the founding fathers of the site are up to these days... but at any rate, let's all have a good one!

oh crap, i missed it!? (22 years?)
dang!

i'm still around. wouldn't call myself a forum founder or anything by any means. maybe a vaguely annoying menace turned lurker. coming up to 21 years since I've been on the internet then.

[Iceduck]

On a more serious note, it makes me wonder what all the founding fathers of the site are up to these days... but at any rate, let's all have a good one!

Oh, hello! Happy 23rd to the site. Nearly 23 and a half!

Site creator James O'Malley (Psythor) runs a substack about UK politics called Odds and Ends of History.

Second to join was Matt Ward (Pokedude) - and I haven't been able to hunt him down! He was such a brilliant coder, and in those early days PKMN.NET (or Pokemon UK as it was in those days!) really looked so far ahead of the pack as Matt applied his magic touch.

Then I joined! Steffan Alun/Iceduck. These days I'm a professional standup comedian. Last year I won a Pegasus Award at the Edinburgh Fringe for my solo comedy show, and I'm currently touring the new show ahead of THIS year's Edinburgh Festival. Details at www.steffanalun.com if you're interested!

Next, if memory serves, was Jeroen te Strake (Joeno) - a wonderful, diligent member of the forum who proved himself as a mod, became promoted to admin, and ended up being arguably the most significant member of the team, holding the fort as the rest of us got busy. He's still a Facebook friend - he's ten years married and living in London.

Was Mike Harper next? And was his name here Typhlosion? Mike's another Facebook friend, and I know he's maintained friendships with other PKMN.NET people. He's living his best life, with a great social group in Stockport.

Kay Dyson (whose username I forget!) is the last "major" admin I remember, even though I was drifting away when she arrived. She's embraced Pokemon more than any of us, travelling the world as events manager for The Pokemon Company, creating tournaments at which she's also been a brilliant commentator!

It's so nice to see people pop into this thread to connect with their memories. Joining this site was such a happy time for me, and it's been such a pleasure to see members of our community make their way through life.

(And apologies to all the staff I skipped to focus on the ones I remember most!)

[Joeno]

That seems like the right order. I can confirm I'm still around - paying the bills and making sure everything keeps running, luckily the forums have been quiet (yay Discord) so there's little for me to keep up with.

Still good friends with Mike too - that's carried through as the site became smaller, we end up meeting up a few times a year and occasional holidays - we were in Singapore together a few months ago.

But it's great to see you here, it's been great occasionally seeing a sign of your success (congrats on the award!). Good to see we've not yet outgrown you! I think it's fair to say that by the time I joined, the tone and feel of the site was already set, and I think you had a large hand in that as well.