Smogon: Why you came here and why you stayed

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As you can infer from my signature, the majority of Pokemon Forums have not met my expectations of what I perceive to be a decent level of intellectual discussion.

Luckily, my associate (on multiple levels, both professional and personal) Unown Lord thankfully alerted me to this forum where hopefully I can escape the general populace of idiots that inhabit the majority of the Pokemon Community.

I also hope I can contribute some logical and apprehensive discussions about the series as well. I would be very pleased if you would all accept me as an intellectual equal hopefully, and not waste my time with trivial nonsense and idiocy like I have become accustomed to at multiple forums.
 
why i joined

hey guys, i'm new to joining, but i've been coming here for a long time. (stupid hotmail and all it's epic phail <.<) anywho, the reason i come here so much is A. for the strategydex, i've never seen so much useful pokemon info compiled into one site. It's been extremely helpful in finding how what poke's are good, and how to make the ones people think aren't good, into unexpected game winners. B. from what i've seen this site is the most respected battling site out there. majority of people who play pokemon seem to play by smogon rules. Even gamebattles on the MLG site was considering changing their rules to match smogons.

-Nelo
 
Man, I just came to Smogon looking fora better alternative to the Serebii forums, and I was not dissapointed one bit. After reading the very informative threads, and Joining the apprentice round several times, I ended up making quite a few friends, and look forward to having a great time.

I ended up staying because 1, I made somewhat of a name of myself and because I liked the Smogon Shoddy Server and how it's full of good battlers.
 
Hello, first post here, so I can actually introduce myself.

I found out about pokemon almost by chance. Back then there was R/B (not even yellow) and I played that a lot. Still the total inability of trading/battling (nobody plays pokemon where I live), made me leave the series after that. So I didn't play nor the 2nd gen games, nor the 3rd. Now, with the Wi-fi era, things are changed. The possibility of playing online was just what I was waiting for, and that's why I started Pokemon Diamond (well, actually a friend of mine invited me).

About Smogon, I've found it by chance. I've been lurking around the pokemon strategies for a while, and learned a few basic concepts that totally changed the way I thought a competitive pokemon should be. It also made me discover Shoddy Battle, which I plan to use once I make my mind about my team. I've decided to join the forums because I think I have enough background to understand the fighting dynamics.
 
I found Smogon by means of my high school's video club, I said I wanted to learn to play pro, I got over a couple hundred suggestions for this site and Serebii, but honestly most people on Serebii just don't sound like they're talking about a deep RPG, unlike Smogon.

I personally find Smogon an enjoyable but strict community, not strict like the military but more like a Collage professor, but I expect nothing less from a place called "Smogon University" but I do wish that this site had things like tutorial videoes for Pro Battling/Breeding noobies like me. I know there are many in-depth tutorials here, but I'm sure more people would prefer to watch an entertaining presentation than read through piles of text.

Personally Smogon in my opinion is built for the elite, and I've learned the motto "If your not willing to learn, then get out of here," pretty well, it's the first thing that comes to mind when I post here. Now I do know that this site is for the purpose of Professional Pokemon, but a few OCC threads wouldn't hurt. Everybody likes spriteshops and other types of Pokemon discussion too. Now I'm sure by now I'll get flamed for that comment, but I don't mind. Overall this is an excellent site and I'm currently enjoying my stay.
 
How I found Pokemon:

My parents bought me and my brother when i was little red and blue i think i got the blue version but im not sure. Then i got yellow and soon after that gold and silver for me and my brother i got silver. Then came along the 3rd generation and i got sapphire and emerald, my brother ruby and now were at the 4th generation with me having pearl and him diamond. I like the first and seconed generation of pokemon but then it went down hill. My brother isnt really into pokemon so his versians end up being used by me to get certain versian only pokemon or for trade evolutions.

How I found Smogon:

2 weeks ago I decided i wanted to make a new team and be competetiveon wifi so i searched the net and found evs and ivs, and while looking up guides and other information about them i found this site like a few days ago.

Why I Will Stay:

From all the resources of the site and the help full community it will definetly be better the my old favorite site pokemon online.


so this can double as my introduction to the site :) but i have one question can i open up a sprite shop somewhere? I used to have a big one on Pokemon online but the site died sadly. Im asking this because im getting back into spriting again since i have more free time.
 
How I found Pokemon:

I remember playing the Red version on a buddies GB a long time ago, I think KFC was doing that Pokemon promotion around the time. A few weeks later I got the Blue version. That had to be the only time I was able to play with physical opponents and that lasted maybe a year(ahhhh...pwning with Ember/Fire Spin/Flamethrower/Fire Blast Charizard). Then I remember reading about GS and picking Silver up when it came out, only to have someone steal my cart a few months later. Took a mucho-long break until R/S came out and picked up Saph but was unimpressed and bored with playing all by my lonesome. Picked up Leaf Green for the nostalgia factor and played through it maybe once(whoring it out now to get some good tutor moves out of it though. Never even touched Emerald just because I hated Hoenn(although may pick one up now for again tutors and old Battle Frontier). I wasn't even going to play Diamond until one of my buddies had a version and let me play through some of it. I ended up picking up Diamond and now I'm up to 550 hours. Made the poor kid quit though...smacked him around a few times with my ingame team to the point that he stopped playing(TBH though I think he quit because he just started college in the fall so he needs to wear his big boy pants now....i'm 23 and I could care less, lol). With the job I have now I practically get paid to play so I've almost perfected my skills at breeding(Hidden Powers, 4-5x perfects), Full EV training takes 30min max and eventually want to take them on Wifi(Shoddys not my thing) or the next Showdown. PBR can be stale if you know what I mean.


How I found Smogon:

Serebii's . Use to build all movesets on covering weaknesses offensively(post-R/B/Y) which wasn't always the best option. Got pointed here when gen 3 came out and learned about stat-ups, STAB, status, & strategy. Learned to love choice and non-offense boosting items......

Why I Will Stay:

Lately I've been questioning even becoming part of the community. I'll always lurk, read discussions, and stay on top of the best tech but I've got a fundimental problem with the way some of the moderation is done around here so I try to keep my posts to a minimum(that doesn't even work though and I get called out for not being a post-whore). Overall though it's nice having a community of like-minded battlers who actually know what they're talking about(although some are pretty arrogant which makes me feel frustrated and laugh at the sadness all at the same time).
 
I found out about Pokemon when I saw an episode back in 1997. I watched the anime a lot at those times. After that, I got interested in it and I eventually got Pokemon Blue. I played it a lot and made countless teams and battled my friends, and I always beat them.

Then, in 2001, I found out about PBS, and Pokemon simulator that was supposed to be released, but never did. I stayed at the forums for like two weeks. Then the website got shutdown (I can't remember why). After that, I forgot about Pokemon for a year until Silver and Gold came out. I bought those and played it to death. Eventually, Ruby and Sapphire came out and I bought Sapphire. Then I beat it, and forgot about Pokemon for 2 years.

Later, in 2005, I found out about NetBattle at Gamefaqs when I was browsing the Pokemon Sapphire board for help. I saw someone link www.netbattle.net in their sig and I went to the link and downloaded NB. That's when I joined the NetBattle forums, and later joined the Smogon forums. I went to the Smogon server a lot and battled often. I enjoyed NB and I knew I wouldn't get tired of it anytime soon.

That's my story. :D
 
I've always thought that Pokemon was one of the best game series available, but when it was announced that D/P would have WiFi capabilities I went searching for competitive strategy.

The first place I went was Wikipedia. Wiki used to have full articles for each pokemon, and each linked to "pokemon's entry at smogon.com". I eventually clicked on one, and learned all about IVs and EVs and stuff like that. And Netbattle.

As for why I stay, well I was never really here to begin with. I just come to this site for info. Pokemon fans tend to be quite young, and as i'm an older chap I can't relate to the majority of you. No offense.
 
How i found pokemon: One day, when i was 7, my sisters and i were bored. we all agreed we would find something to entertain ourselves. we saved up $50 and we each bought a pokemon starter pack, and now here i am.

How i found smogon: my friend, Dustin, who lives next door got me back into pokemon. he also introduced me to smogon. he taught me a few things about competetive pokemon, and i started to lurk here for info. over time i became pretty good at pokemon. My friend dustin offered me a good deal to a much better alternative to just lurking on my '98 at slug speed. he sold me a laptop, and he lets me use his wifi to get his broadband. Now, here i am, at smogon.

Why i have stayed for the short period of time that i have been on here:
well, smogon has always felt like home from the first day i got here. smogon isn't very welcoming for most people, but i don't mind. at least im learning something. I have yet to consider leaving; I don't plan on considering it either.
 
How I began playing Pokemon

I received Pokemon Gold for my 7th birthday. From there, I have at least one game from every generation.

How I found Smogon

I joined GameFAQs about a month before the US release of Diamond and Pearl. I kept hearing mentions of Smogon, but I was not really that interested in battling competitively. Eventually, I started lurking around Smogon, but I didn't join. Many of the regulars on the GameFAQs Diamond board started leaving (and more idiots came), so I joined Smogon. I downloaded Shoddy a little while after it came out and got hooked on competitive battling.

Why I stayed/will stay

This is easily the best site for competitive battling. That's the main reason. I still post on GameFAQs, but there aren't many veterans left (And there as many idiots as there were before).

And, by the way, 50th post :toast:
 
How I found smogon:

I found Smogon around the time of d/p's release. It's a long story, so rather than telling you all(because I don't think it will fit in one post, and I don't want to break the rules over it), so I'll tell you why I used it before I joined: I lurked around for ideas for movesets: I determine what pokemon are good for my team(rather than put a massive team weakness in one or more types on it w/o at least one pokemon that's immune to attacks of that same type), then I use Smogon to get ideas for movesets that are good for that pokemon. So virtually, I base my team on those sets.

Why I joined:

I was looking for an alternative to serebii and marriland(since marriland tends to be down for maintainance a lot, and serebii tends to be slow at times...

Notes:

It's a shame that my yahoo email doesn't want to show my activation email for the first account I formed, just like what I found later: on the second account I formed: hotmail won't show the activation email... I had to form a gmail account just to even start posting... Now, if there was a way to resend the activation email, or even contact an admin about my dillema just by clicking something from the login section(or something like that), then I wouldn't have formed a hotmail account(didn't show the act. email) OR a Gmail(showed act. email) account just for the sole reason of not being able to even begin participating in forum activities using my other two email accounts, with one of them being hotmail(by "not being able to even begin participating in forum activities", I mean not being able to start posting, not being able to contact anyone from these forums(or at least from here, if they have an account in another forum, but since I can't find out if they are also from smogon just by looking at their other forum's account profile, no wonder I was forced to create accounts using other email addressess), etc.), because I know that if there's a way to resend the activation email on these forums, or if every new member that has an yet-to-be-activated account can contact an admin about their problems, then if he or she creates a new account not knowing that there's other ways you could correct your problem(if they are shown on the site in question), then whoever did so would be sorry when consequences come his/her way because he/she tried to create a new account for no good reason to do so and for the failure to recognize what he/she could've done...

Now I'm finally ready to post and participate, and after all that hassle, I said my peace, and now, I'm done 'til the next post...
 
Pokemon was my first game ever. Blue (or possibly Red) on the GBC when I was maybe 5. I've always loved it and had every game at least once. As the year went on, and Gold, Silver, Ruby, Sapphire, and now Diamond, I've still clung on, getting stronger and more "into it". It wasn't until 2006 when I first started on an online forum. I started on Pokebeach, then PokeCommunity and Pe2k, and finally smogon. When competative play perked my interest I began to observe serebii and clung around the smogon strategydex for a few months.

I soon learned that Smogon had a forum. At first I was a bit hesitant...looking at what there was and all, but shortly I registered. Smogon has been a very interesting experience. Its had its ups and downs, but sadly, there have been more downs. Compared to all the other forums I've been to, Smogon has been the largest, most informed, and snottiest forum.
Of course, Smogon has helped me strategy wise, but it was very frustrating to be constantly ignored by the snotty users of Smogon in the beginning. And sadly, 6 months later it still happens. Its a shame. Whether its in art forums, wifi, or even CAP, no...especially CAP, it seems that the new comers are deliberatly ignored, while the veterans are praised and admired.
I guess the reason I stayed is that although its been frustrating, Smogon offers alot to learn and there a lot of brilliant people on this forum, new or old. I'd love to see smogon change...
 
The begining of the Journey..
I started playing Pokemon back when r/b came out, i Must have been 8 years old, I was always going over to the neighbors (who was a very badass 14ish year old at the time, to cool to associate with such a younger dude), but since our parents were best friends, he was stuck with me.

At some point, he let me play his Pokemon Blue (he had both versions), his lead was magikarp, and i was stupid and thought that I had to use splash over and over, then when I did a certain amount of splashes, it would actually do damage (I swear this is all true).

He eventually noticed that I was using struggle over and over and corrected me, I was supossed to switch out, so that magikrap would gain exp and evolve.

He let me borrow his red version, and for the first 5 minutes I couldnt figure out how to get out of his moms house, Id get on the carpet, never go down it.

I started figuring the game out and didnt do anything to retarded..when I was battling Misty, she whooped me a few times, so I thought that talking to nurse Joy 4 or 5 times in a row, thinking itd make my Pokes stronger..

yeah. :/

Anyways, fast forward a bit.

I skipped Gold and Silver, picking up Crystal on its release date, I kept bothering the aforementioned neighbor, he sent me the link to gamefaqs so I could look stuff up myself, I stumbled across the Crystal message boards, and soon became a 'Regular' there, one of a team of raters who had a "Rate my Team' thread.

I couldnt get netbattle to work on my computer, so I battled on mIRC, or something, but it was mostly against the same gamefaqsers over and over.

About 6 months before R/S came out, I decided to grow up and be too cool for Pokemon, I didnt get back into it again until a bit before D/P were even announced, maybe 4-5 months.

Why I came..:
I stumbled across netbattle, only to be blown away by the changes, EVs? IVs? Natures? Abilities? none of this made any sense to me, and needless to say I was a horrible battler, in one battle my opponent noticed my Starmie didnt outspeed something it should have (the opponent and Pokemon escape my memory..)

He gave me the rundown on EVs and IVs, then pointed me in the direction of www.smogon.com, which he said I should read up on the analyses a bit and make a better team.

I started battling very soon after and did pretty good, not enough to make a huge splash or anything.

Why I stayed..
So from that point on I battled mostly on Netbattle, then Gamefaqs when D/P came out, at some point I got sick of battling people whom I knew were using illegal amounts of EVs, but could prove it sinc emost people had a backup with the correct stats, incase of me wanting to check them via trade..

So I started battling on Smogon and very quickly opened up a trade thread, now I mostly lurk Stark Mountain, for the great war stories and discussions(sometimes not so great..) and mostly only post in wifi, though im broadening my horizons..
 
How I began playing Pokemon

Wow, I don't even know where to start with this. I probably started around my 7-8th birthday when I got Pokemon Red. (Charizard became my favorite Pokemon because of Red, at the time) The game was so addictive, that I always played it, and would start it over whenever I felt like I had the time. Then came G/S/C (Where I found my new favorite Pokemon and region of all time, Typhlosion and Johto), which got me even more into it) Ever since then, I've stuck to Pokemon.

How I found Smogon

This was all thanks to chance. Near the later part of the ADV era, while I was on NB (which I still visit on occasion), I hung around a certain clan most of the time, and while it's members were discussing Pokemon movesets, someone put a link to Smogon in the main chat. Being curious, I took the link and explored the site for quite a bit, even joining the forums in the process...but being a bit shy (and a noob at forum posting), I kept my account innactive till recently. I still lurk about the site, reading on many Pokemon movesets and how they were to be used in general, and visit the forums to see certain aspects of the Metagame from the viewpoints of others.

Why I will stay:

I've visited many, many Pokemon websites, and Smogon by far has proven to be the most informative. I do still feel a bit akward being here though, even as I write this post, but I'm here to learn, so I intend to deal with it...somehow.
 
How I began playing Pokemon
I don't remember. I used to have a friend who would keep bragging about this thing called a "Level 100 Mewtwo", and hearing something that epic got me interested in the world of Pokemon. So I picked up Pokemon Gold and fell in love with it instantly. (Heh, memories)

How I found Smogon
crashed through a fence
.....I just heard that Smogon had its own Shoddy server and was very popular in the Pokemon world, so I just...cam here.

Why I will stay:
Smogon seems mildly interesting and not full of whiny 10-year olds like I imagined it to...
 
I found out about Smogon through the strategy reviews

I found the articles on IV/EV and breeding massively helpful

also, one of the reasons I stayed, is that Smogon folks seem to be far more coherent and prone to logic than some of the other forums out there, where whoever says the same thing the most number of times, most be correct
 
I found out about Smogon after searching for some sets for Pokémon... and after I saw the Strategy Dex, I was pretty much overwhelmed on how detailed nearly every Pokémon is discussed here...


I stayed here cause I srsly think Pokemon is like Warcraft 3 <_<


I gotta say that Smogon ( and ShoddyBattle ) made me got addicted to Pokemon.
 
My way of finding smogon is pretty weird.

Ok so one day my friend and I were arguing about who is the better battler. So I got my DS and looked at my pokes and noticed that I didn't have many pokes ready for battle. So I went online to Yahoo Answers and tried to find some tips on raising pokes and somebody replied with the link for this website.

I stayed because lots of people know what they are doing and usually like to pass on their knowledge. I owned my friend 6-0 xD.
 
I found Smogon after users on GFaqs (don't flame me for coming from GFaqs) replied to many topics with the website.


My first pokemon game was Silver? for the GBA, and when I got my DS, I gave it to my friend, when I bought Pokemon.

I stayed because it seemed like a good place to talk about Pokemon.
 
Got into Pokemon because of the show mainly, but later it was all about gameplay.

As I looked into competitive battling, I heard a lot of recommendation on GameFAQs to use smogon when people asked about sets and whatnot, so I checked it out, and here I am.
 
What got me into Pokemon:
i started playing around the age of 8, when i aquired my first game boy pocket and a copy of pokemon red.(ggood times) i then played the entire game with charmander and a pidgeot. was pure awesome. i think it was the replay value tha t really kept me on pokemon, as i am 19 now and can still play those old versions( and still do i just restarted yellow last night)

How/when I found this site:

well, in my area we had what was called a pokemon league, that focused on the competitive play of both pokemon cards and the game. from our league, i learned of an event that featured several pokemon leagues froma round the area meeting for a giant tournament at a local mall. i was appaled tos ee the countless masses from all over the state ( abnd alot of out of statesmen) at the event. this got me hooked onto battling and during the event, someone told me of an online pokemon game that you could use to battle and was free. so with the power of google, and dsl internet, i found netbattle and smogon. the rest is history.

Why I stay:

because im pretty addicted. and even though its online, i met some pretty cool) and some uncool- people in the smogon commounity and netbattle. i even hung my pokeballs on the shelf and walked away from it all but as u can see, i cant stay away
 
What got me into Pokemon:
When I was younger, around the time G/S/C was out or just before, I got a walkthrough guide for R/B/Y, but I didn't have the game. I spent the whole day reading it anyway, and I think that served as a hint to my parents to get the game for me. ^^;

How I found this site:
Only a few months ago, was browsing the Serebii Forums and (paticularly in RMT threads where I lurked and still do) I kept hearing mentions of 'Smogon' so I decided to Google it. I've been referring to this site for a while now, but only thought to register for the forums yesterday.

Why I'm going to stay:
I'm always the one watching on the sidelines, but part of me wants to become a good battler. Other than that, it's always nice to have another forum to lurk in. :3
 
What got me into Pokemon:

About 9 years ago, when I was a wee toddler, I was at my older sister's Basketball game, and saw these other kids ( probably about 9 ) playing with cards. I looked from afar, and got interested. They were messing around with cards with weird creatures on them.

My birthday was around the corner, so I asked if I could have some. My sister over heard this, and got me a couple. The first one I laid my eyes on was Mr. Mime. Ever since, I got into the games, the show, etc.

How I found this Site:

I actually found this site about a year ago. I was searching "EVs and Natures" on Google, and smogon came up. Ever since, I've been looking at it, but not once had the time nor motivation to make a team on D/P. Then, about a few months ago, I got into Shoddy. Then, a guy who goes by the name of "Epidemic" here, literally whined until I joined the forum. So here I am.

I'm also a well known SPPf'er, known as "Piekid11", so I was a little hesitant to join. But hey, what the hell, right? ( Don't flame me because I'm from the Serebii community. ._. )

Why I'm going to Stay:

If I quit now, that person/thing will whine EVEN MORE. *Shivers*
And the Forum has pretty much the same format as Serebii does, so it won't be too different, I guess.
 
What got me into Pokemon:
I was about 6 years old, and we were in class. I looked at my best friend, and he was playing whit his GB, and he showed me a game that changed my life. It was pokemon yellow. My mom knew i liked this game she bought me this game. I became a pokemon nerd since then. My goal was to catch all 150 pokes because some friend of mine told that if I get them all, i would gett mew, so I caught 149 pokemons in a short time and there was that pesky electabuzz, that i couldnt get. No one had electabuzz, so i bought a red version and got electabuzz! I was trading him for magmar when my sister came and dropped my GB holding my yellow version and it freezed. The trade in the red version continued and i got magmar in red version. Then when i turned my yellow version i had magmar! Electabuzz was gone i only had two magmars! So i threw my yellow version and broke and stopped playing pokemon fo two years...
Until my friend told me that GSC had come out, I couldnt resist playing pokemon again!

How I found this site:
When i discovered that serebii.net movesets dont work, i searched on google for a togekiss moveset, when i found smogon! I told my self these movesets are pretty good! And ive been here since then

Why I'm staying:
Why should i leave home?
 
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