What were you like when you first joined this forum?

[jumpluff]

snip

I agree entirely; it's sad to see all the self-deprecation in this thread.

In general, it's good to care what others think about you -- other people's criticism is worth considering and evaluating, because you won't see yourself exactly as others see you and generally you can get good advice from others on how to be a better, more likable person. But you shouldn't blindly believe it and let your self-esteem be shattered. Nobody in this thread who's said 'I'm a shitty user' strikes me as a shitty user. If you think you're a shitty user, why? Is it because you've identified fatal personality flaws in yourself (maybe with the gentle or not-so-gentle help of other posters) that you want to work on, or is it because someone said you were a shitty user so you must be?

Also, self-deprecation is kinda off-putting. If you want others to like you, put your best foot forward! ^_^

 

[Photo]

Considering I only joined yesterday after years of lurking, I'd say pretty cool. Didn't act like a noob anyway since I see them a lot where I mod.

 

[Fishy]

welcome to smogon mr. rudd

when i first joined smogon i was a teenage high school girl that thought people would immediately give a shit about me if i posted my picture (just to put a face to a name!) and forcibly injected myself into irc chats

it kind of worked, after people got past the fact that i was overzealous about being a female on the net and just wanted to meet and talk to people about pokemon and whatever the hell else. brain chastised my behavior, cookie banned me from #fluodome, evan hated my guts. good times!

i really do regret being so obsessed with the photo album, for my own contributions and those of others - i missed lots of fun and interesting threads happening meanwhile in firebot (RIP) and congregation of the masses. smogon was the first forum website i had ever joined for a video game that had really dedicated social boards that seemed welcoming and charming enough, but i got too flustered with the idea of the photo album to actually talk with other users via posting, and instead stuck to irc for all the get-to-knowing.

i've made lots of amazing and timeless friends on smogon, so all i can do now is look back at the path i've taken to get to where i am today and be grateful that things fell the way they did.

 

[Regret]

I lurked. A LOT. I still don't like posting since I sometimes I feel like I'll regret pressing the reply button. Now I know how this community feels like though, so I know how not to be a xxpokemonmasterxx.

 

[Thorns]

I lurked. A LOT. I still don't like posting since I sometimes I feel like I'll regret pressing the reply button. Now I know how this community feels like though, so I know how not to be a xxpokemonmasterxx.

 

[Ravix]

Lurking and smirking.

 

[Electrolyte]

After lurking for about two years, I joined Smogon about 5-6 weeks ago, and it's been a great experience, even if it was so short. I haven't been here long, but I think that there's been a pretty big change between myself like 2 weeks ago (or even one week) to myself now. I'm a really talkative person, and yes, I have made a bunch of shitty posts even in my first month, and I felt that making a lot of posts would have people notice me. I've played pokemon for well over a year now, so I wasn't exactly a noob but I oftentimes found that I posted useless things for the sake of just, well, posting. I'm generally a nice person, but one thing you might find about me is that I have a pretty big temper. (surprise, surprise) xXPokemonmasterXx himself and I had a pretty huge fight about a week ago (as many of you may have seen by viewing his profile) - well, it wasn't big, but it wasn't nice either. Then, about a week later, I was on IRC, and some of my buds at #ratemyteam told me that a bunch of people were talking about me- apparently, a lot of you saw how 'dumb' pokemonmaster was, went on his page, and saw our 4 post long flame war, and began making judgements. I realized how much of a jerk I had been- not only to xXpokemon but also to, well, a lot of the community (especially C&C, I admit) by making such shitty posts.

After this whole ordeal, I decided to stop my shitty posting, and sharpen it so it would actually be worth reading. Since then, I have pretty much stopped my C&C work for the time being, and have been a lot more focused on the OU forums and the RMT forums. I've gotten a lot closer to a few people, and made a lot more actual friends than the 150 'contacts' some people have on their friens list. Ever since, I've only been improving.

So a word of advice for newcomers:

DON'T post just for the sake of posting. People will just regard you as another 'one of those guys that blabber shit' instead of respecting you. Even if you make 1 post a week, if it's good, people will respect you.

DON'T start flame wars with others even if they are jackasses. Most of the time, it's not worth your energy, and insulting them really doesn't prove that you're tougher or more mature- it just makes you look Stay cool, stay calm, and know how to handle people.

So there's my 'life story'. Hopefully it's bright sunshine from here.

 

[Dave]

Oh yeah, one of my first encounters on this site outside of tournaments was when me and Jumpluff had an insult match in PM. That was totally worth it.

 

[Gengan]

So a word of advice for newcomers:

DON'T post just for the sake of posting. People will just regard you as another 'one of those guys that blabber shit' instead of respecting you. Even if you make 1 post a week, if it's good, people will respect you.

DON'T start flame wars with others even if they are jackasses. Most of the time, it's not worth your energy, and insulting them really doesn't prove that you're tougher or more mature- it just makes you look stupid. Stay cool, stay calm, and know how to handle people.

Great advice, seriously. Can we pin posts at the top of topics? If not, we should. This would be pinned.

 

[THE_IRON_...KENYAN?]

The one thing - the only thing - that will get you in permanent deep shit is just flat out ignoring an argument that has evidence behind it in favor of sticking with yours

If you can recognize when you are wrong, and then respectfully bow out, then you are fine no matter how you post or how much you contribute

Every questionable user has that one connecting thread in common with one another, I believe

Also being overly abrasive

 

[Furosuto]

The one thing - the only thing - that will get you in permanent deep shit is just flat out ignoring an argument that has evidence behind it in favor of sticking with yours

If you can recognize when you are wrong, and then respectfully bow out, then you are fine no matter how you post or how much you contribute

Every questionable user has that one connecting thread in common with one another, I believe

Also being overly abrasive

What happens though if the guy who you're arguing with won't step down, even though your points make more sense to you and everyone? Cause then it just gets boring and old really, which then wouldn't it be a good idea to take a bow since you've said all you've wanted to say?

 

[SpecsX]

What happens though if the guy who you're arguing with won't step down, even though your points make more sense to you and everyone? Cause then it just gets boring and old really, which then wouldn't it be a good idea to take a bow since you've said all you've wanted to say?

Then you admit that neither of you will back down from your respective agruments, and suggest that you both stop trying. If your points make more sense to everyone, you've already won anyway.

 

[King Serperior]

I lurked when I first joined and eventually made it to the Scramble Challange. Ask ANYONE who frequents there. In fact, look at who posted in the second thread. I learned that I was rather good at making challenges and I was one of the people that defined the new thread.

Luckily, I never had any troubles with any mods, primarily because I was paranoid that they would send me to a Gallows. :P

Anyway, I hope that others agree that I am a pretty good guy here, despite the fact that I hang in the Orange Islands all the time.

 

[TheValkyries]

Arguments are never about "winning". If you argue to "win", then you're doing it immensely wrong and nothing will ever be solved. If you go in assuming the other person is wrong, and that you need to correct them, then you're not going to listen to anything they say, and you will never help them understand why they are wrong, or even be able to understand yourself why what they're saying may have some truth to it. Attempting to correct someone in such a fashion only leaves one person either humiliated and/or frustrated and/or bitter because they still don't understand why they are being ganged up as "wrong" and a self-satisfied elitist "I've won" attitude is instilled in the other, even though they too kind of stuck their fingers in their ear shouting the same thing over and over again until they felt like stopping.

I'm a huge proponent of understanding, and any disagreement and argument should be treated as an educational moment for both parties to try and understand one another. I may appear abrasive when I demand a better explanation of something, or whatever, but my intent is only to gleam more information from that person. At the end of the day-through all the frayed nerves- I, and hopefully the person arguing with me, have a better understanding of the situation as a whole. If my assertion is wrong, I will learn why, and even if it's correct, I will understand why we disagreed. Once understanding is reached the argument logically concludes at either an obvious subjective opinion based impasse or at a mutual agreement.

A premature end of an argument means understanding isn't reached, and to me, even if everyone agrees with me and I "won", I still hate the feeling of a lack of mutual understanding. Ees not okay.


Also, saying that people should really know when they are wrong is kind of naive to say. Everyone thinks they're right. People who are ignorant will remain ignorant until you teach them, and what may seem obvious to you, may not be so obvious to them. If you know they're wrong, go and prove it. If they question your evidence, there's a reason for that and they will tell you. Don't ignore those reasons, try and understand why they're mistaken, because once you do understand, the correction is easy. I rarely find an argument where the people who are ignoring the other is actually on the incorrect side. I've had it happen to me enough times where I'm arguing an extremely incorrect point, but it takes about 2-3 pages of argument for someone to actually do the work and figure out why I'm saying what I'm saying, and correct my flawed logic, when the entire time they miss my points and don't read what I say because they just "know I'm wrong", and they skip steps. You have to be a teacher in arguments when you know someone is making incorrect assertions, not a blowhard who just says "EAT THIS; IT'S FUCKING DELICIOUS. DO NOT QUESTION."

 

[mtr]

I was a complete noob back then. I'm a little better now.

I was a total troll back then, and said some very offensive things to a lot of people. I took some infractions and IRC bans, though I never was ICBB from smogon. Surprisingly, I used to hold a badge before I gave it up after Gen V began and I quit mons.

I like to think that I have changed since then.


I still troll jumpluff and locopoke though.

 

[cb aaron judge]

Pretty much the same person as I was 6 months ago, minus the noobishness.

 

[Shii]

Thinking about it, I haven't changed as much as I thought I had. Reading Zracknel's post made me realize that. And it's about the only reason I'm posting here now. I remember lurking smogon back in 2007 when I first got Diamond and learned about wifi battling. I was never much of a battler, and I'm still not that much of a battler. I was driven by an incessant need to know more about each facet of the game, but much too afraid to actually do it, to get involved.

It only got worse when I returned to Smogon in 2009 after the RNG had been cracked. I was at first only in it for the awesome flawless pokemans. But then it developed into some strange need to see how the game, on it's most basic form, functioned. It was like art to me. Coming from a family that stalked your every move, criticizing every misstep, every flaw they could find, I wanted to be good at something. I wanted to show them I was capable of more than just superficial thought (the same ones that still plague their minds today), and RNG was that way, albeit a flawed and geeky one. Its not exactly the best conversation topic.

So I joined and failed to post until about a year later.

Granted, I had a fair amount of experience posting on many forums (that also run vBulletin software, go figure), but Smogon had an air of seriousness that instilled the fear of God in me whenever I clicked that blue "Post Reply" button. I treated many of the badged members the same way. Still do too. Realizing that Smogon had a vast array of IRC channels on Synirc was the best thing EVER. I never leave IRC, and it's quick and easy to talk to people and see the many topics that come up (and most are fucking hilarious). I think the first channel I joined was #smogonwifi. I remembered being scared out of my mind when Negator and Huy said hi to me. Negator was the first Smogon member I knew of, and the only reason I knew of him was because I had his Latias or Latios or something. One of those.

And coming from the Wifi forum, I was scared shitless of this forum (as well as it's "parent" forum firebot, if that even counts) and of course I still am because I realize that I'm like a naive sheltered Catholic schoolgirl who doesn't have anything useful to add to any thread in this section and I don't want to be another person that is misguided and posting in a thread in which they have no idea about what's going on. That would be my worst nightmare.

I still have my qualms about even posting here, but at least my reply is somewhat relevant, unless I'm missing some big unspoken thing in this thread and causing a raucous disturbance in here in which case I'm sorry in advance.

I realize this reply is really fucking wordy and long and stuff so i'll make a tl;dr
tl;dr i'm a scared little girl just like I was when I first joined except now i'm a mod which I still have problems understanding how I got them

 

[Bowl Cut]

I was bad at BW OU, and my team building was awful, but I've gone a long way since I first joined. I've definitely improved since then, considering I've made teams that have reached a decent amount of success, and I don't play like a retard unless I just stop paying attention.

 

[PK Gaming]

Oh yeah, one of my first encounters on this site outside of tournaments was when me and Jumpluff had an insult match in PM. That was totally worth it.

That reminds of the time I impersonated Jumpluff on irc for a good 20 minutes. I don't even remember why I did it, and tt got harder and harder with each passing second, but MAN was it fun. I don't think I really knew her at the time, so I didn't feel guilty back then but when I look back on it now it really dickish for me to do that.

Good times nonetheless ♪

 

[SpecsX]

@TheValkyries:
That argument is quite valid, but there are some people who will not accept the truth. When you meet such people, what do you do?
If an argument is always a learning exprience for the arguers, what is it for the spectators, particularly when the argument concerns their opinions?

When I joined here... 2 weeks ago. I made some pretty bad posts, but I like to think I've improved.

 

[HiipFire]

Still as retarded as I was.

 

[TheValkyries]

@TheValkyries:
That argument is quite valid, but there are some people who will not accept the truth. When you meet such people, what do you do?
If an argument is always a learning exprience for the arguers, what is it for the spectators, particularly when the argument concerns their opinions

It's rare that people simply refuse to accept the truth. I honestly am hard pressed to think of a single person in my long history of reading and participating in arguments on the internet where someone would literally refuse to listen to reason. It may seem more common, but what makes that seem so is when two people are just trying to correct each other simultaneously, not really trying to understand each other. And that's really the key to a good argument: both parties trying to understand the other. If they do that, then the argument will ALWAYS have a logical conclusion. They will either understand the others viewpoints but subjectively disagree, or there will be a mutual agreement where someone has been convinced. It's not impossible to find someone who is completely irrational and will refuse to listen to reason on a subject (i.e. A Racist or something of that ilk), but with those types of people it's obvious why they are the way they are, and you're not really gaining any information if you start a dialogue with them, only trying to correct their irrational conclusions.

As for the second, arguments are a learning experience for everyone who read them I guess. Arguments are entirely about people who are trying to clarify their viewpoints for others and to dissect, examine and possibly reconcile why they disagree, and if they can do that effectively then everyone should be able to understand them. If the argument was about an opinion (i.e. "Best solution for a political problem", not something subjective like "Who's the best musician") then by the end, everyone should see precisely where and how the differ in their opinions, and everyone should understand why each party thinks the way they do.

 

[SpecsX]

Hmm...indeed. Not everyone tries to understand one another, however. What differences are there between an argument on the internet and one IRL?

 

[tofucocoa]

i dont think this is my first post, but it's the oldest i can remember:

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2509821&postcount=38

im pretty sure i just lurked a lot and then suddenly did analyses and made more friends in the VGC community!! vgc4lyfe

edit: oh yes and my relatively unsuccessful wifi career

 

[danceparty]

When I first joined, I almost never posted anything.

Now, I still almost never post anything.