How have you changed since joining this site?

zakisrage

zakisrage

SAEV DEH WHALEZ!
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It's been about five years since I've joined, and I've been wanting to post this. How have you changed (IRL and on this forum) since you first joined this site?

I admit, I've changed a great deal since I first joined. I feel like I'm much happier now than I was when I first joined. I feel like when I joined, I kinda acted like a social justice warrior. I've since renounced that kind of mindset in favour of developing thicker skin and learning not to be so easily offended and not to complain about petty issues. Now I don't even care about what's in the news most of the time. I have a much more optimistic outlook on things now than I did when I was younger. I'm quite happy about all the changes I've made to myself.
 
It's been a little more than 5 years for me and I've changed A LOT. I was 15 when I joined, I'm 20 now. I've been here for most of my teen years and the early adulthood, this age is a huge transition by itself. And Bulbagarden has been a very important part of this transition.

Ever since I stopped playing World of Warcraft early in 2011, I struggled finding another place where I'd feel nice online. I tried several things, including joining these forums for B2W2 and later returning for BW anime discussion but I didn't stick around for long. I did find what I was looking for early in 2013 when I discovered Fun and Games and became a regular there, slowly expanding to Outside the Box later. I found my first group of online friends since the WoW days (and I never got to know those people as well as the ones here).

My experiences here in 2013 and 2014 shaped my teenage days a lot. I made some mistakes and I wasn't that good with forum rules either at the time, getting a few warnings but never anything too bad. I calmed down by the time I had to focus on studies in 2015 and went on hiatus here. Upon returning, I had to adapt to a slightly different Bulbagarden than what I was used to, and my own transition to early adulthood. I was much more mature by then, even becoming staff eventually.

So yeah, I've changed a lot since first joining the site. Just 5 years of maturity I guess, but this place is irrevocably tied to said transition.
 
I've definitely changed since I joined, but I haven't made as big as a jump as some like Zexy.

It's been 2 years since I joined the forum, I found it through Thingyman, who came to an old forum I was on to invite us over to Mafia Universe for a cross community game, where I found people from a Pokemon forum.
my reaction being: "wait, Pokemon also has forums!?". I was a naive kid :p

I basically joined the forum for TWR and slowly expanded out from their, participating more in F&G, played the URPG for about half a year and later also joined the discussions in OtB.

By participating more and more on the forum my English has gone up quite a bit, even though I still randomly capatalize words out of nowhere...
Personality wise I've also changed quite a bit, but I'm not sure if that was more so forum related or more moving from high school onto college.

One thing that definitely changed me though was meeting new IRL friends in college. Inviting them to the forum also has been a great idea, wouldn't you agree @CheffOfGames & @DarthWolf13

I'll come back to this thread in a few years and perhaps, I'll be able to tell better how I changed ^^;
 
SoaringDylan said:
By participating more and more on the forum my English has gone up quite a bit, even though I still randomly capatalize words out of nowhere...
Click to expand...
And still you constantly mix then and than:p
SoaringDylan said:
One thing that definitely changed me though was meeting new IRL friends in college. Inviting them to the forum also has been a great idea, wouldn't you agree @CheffOfGames & @DarthWolf13
Click to expand...
I can't really talk about changes since I joined, it's only almost 7 months here. I also came here for the F&G section, specifically TWR after discovering an amazing board game called "One Night Ultimate Werewolf", basically a short mafia version. When Dylan told me he also played such a game on a forum I got interested and gave it a shot.

This has bonded me with Dylan even more. I also made many new friends in this short time. Online friends was a strange and new experience (still kind of is). It certainly has changed my daily life, like checking up on mafia games, in a good way.
 
Oh, lots and lots and lots has changed. When I joined here I had dropped out of university not too long before and was certain I would never return, and that it was for the best. I was really depressed, but my life is so messed up, resigning was very easy to do. So I let my dreams die and moved my happiness toward being with my ex.

But then 2015 happened. A very depressing year that changed all of that, because I just couldn't live like that. I got over my ex. I quit my overnight job (which I hated because I hate working nights) and returned to school.

Also, unlike you, I think I have turned into more of a "social justice warrior". I was raised to despise sexism and racism as some of the most evils in the world. I easily expanded to homophobia and transphobia. But in 2014 I became more knowledgeable and more passionate. Lord knows it would have happened either way when the awful 2016 election happened.
 
When I first joined, it was right after my boyfriend had just moved in and I was still working my first job. So much happened from 2013 to here. I was a mess from adjusting to his move, trying to work overnights, and go to college. We decided it would be best if I never worked again, due to the intense mental turmoil that I am unable to tolerate. Also, I left college, because we decided that was too much money and just not worth it in the end. That made me improve a lot from emotions. But it isn't just that.

As I lived with him, I learned so much. I'd say I learned as much in those few years as I did the rest of my life before that. I got to go to my very first convention and actually experience a bit of life. I got to cosplay, which was one of my dreams. I've gone to three conventions and worn three different cosplays since then. I played Xenogears and Xenosaga, two games that have radically changed my entire life and the way I think about everything. And I learned something I didn't even realize - that this isn't temporary. This is the real deal. There is actually another human being who I can trust and rely on, and nobody else will ever replace him. Nobody else can ever be him. That sounds kind of obvious, but really... with the life I lived before that, it is a big deal. I can believe him now when he says he'll never leave. We married in 2016.

Also, I finally started making progress on my Aelita story, after some hiccups. I updated my website and got the lore together, and I'm still going with that.

Honestly though, I haven't done much on here. I only recently became a regular in Forum Games in comparison, and I just go there out of boredom and loneliness. But hey, there you go.
 
I wouldn't say this is entirely thanks to Bulbagarden, but I have become a lot more mature since joining in 2012. It's a little mindboggling in a way.
 
bump
I like this thread.

I joined as a 13-year old over 4 years ago. At the time I was just curious, so I posted some stuff and thought about how cool it was that I was writing in english on a forum, cause I wasn't used to that at the time, lol. Back then I was still rather embarrassed by my interest in Pokémon. I had just started 8th grade, and felt like I was way to old to even get into X and Y. I also remember having pita bread for dinner for some reason. Dunno when that changed, but I'm glad it did. I still love Pokémon, and I'm not planning on dropping it anytime soon.

I have to admit that I've never paid that much attention around here. I never bothered to get to know people until this year. I feel like I missed out on a lot now that I look back at it. I mean I knew my way around the forums, I recognised quite a few useres, and I did enjoy updating my art tread, but I never really knew the people, or the other sections.

Lately I've met some really cool people that have been here for quite some time too. A few months ago I thought it was because I was staff, but I think it's more that I'm comfortable talking to other users now. Being staff might have given me a confidence boost, and I do like the people I work with a lot, but I think I could've made friends as a regular user just fine if I wanted to. I don't think I'd have problems with that if I were to join another site now.
 
I'm not as grumpy and immature as I was when I joined. Everything was "this thing sucks, and you suck, "fuck this", blah blah blah. I was also very whiny and I l constantly venting my woes onto everyone and looking very needy doing it. Like everyone had to to pitty me or something.
Like OP, I've also become less of a "social justice warrior", and also more knowledgeable in politics. I mean, me 3+ years ago (if I had been exposed to Tumblr and the like) probably would have been like "hell yeah feminism! Girls rule, men suck!" or "guys, there are a million genders!". I was pretty naive back then, and I think I dodged a bullet with the Tumblr thing...
 
As far as my presence on this forum is concerned, I've only become a bit more mature/casual in how I talk and post I think. Otherwise really nothing aha, I was never a big trouble-maker on here to begin with. A bit open with my personal life, because I was looking for a connection maybe, but other than that I kept to myself. I made a few connections with others in the beginning, particularly in the mafia community, but that was a transitional period for the forums big time so I didn't really stay close with a lot of those pals. It also didn't help that at the same time I joined, I was just finishing my residence at another forum where I also was communicating less a lot with my online friends. While I love meeting people (online or irl), I just find that getting really friendly with someone online is hard - unless you add each other on social media or something, one day you just drop contact with one another, and I'm not the best at those type of goodbyes aha.

As for how I've changed irl over the past (nearly) 5 years, well I've done a total 180!! Was very moody/emo/depressed, had no friends, no drive/passion/hobbies, and just a bad outlook on not just myself, but life too. Now I'm the total opposite !

But life is still changing everyday and while some changes I'm sad about, I know I can't control them, and so I keep positive about the good things coming in the future for myself and close friends. There is so much adventure, so many personable connections, and so many cozy little coffee shops just waiting to be found - I can't imagine not having that drive as I do now!
 
Please note: The thread is from 8 years ago.
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