Hello Users of the world wide web that have accounts on the pokemon website whose URL has an extraneous letter!
(bahaha circumlocution ftw) >:]

Social Networking. What are your thoughts? Good, bad, no opinion? What social networking sites do YOU use? (Go ahead and list Psypoke as one if you are so inclined) Also, add some more points to the list below

My thoughts: It's amazing, but there ARE cons:
+Great way to keep in touch with people you know IRL
+Faster communication
+Meeting people is easier
+Aids globalization--cultures that would not have normally been in contact with each other can now meet
+[all the other generic reasons you've all probably heard supporting it]
-It's the interwebz. Do you really want to have EVERYONE you know following your every move online?
-The level of anonymity is much lower than what most people think.
-[other generic points supporting this side]

I myself have a facebook (only for IRL people, and no family), a twitter (I have a few IRL people there, but I'm still new to it add meh? ), obviously, an account here, an AIM, a gmail (has chatting)... I think that's all, actually...

Now, I don't like Facebook for one reason: (backstory time XD)
I tend to act differently when I'm with different people. For example, around some friends I make really esoteric jokes that I know they'll understand, and around another group of friends, dirty humor is the most sophisticated the conversations get. I tend to be closer to the friends whom I can be myself with, which is mostly the first mentioned. What Facebook does is combine all these different people, which leaves me to seem extremely different in one person's eyes whilst seeming completely normal in another's.

I make it a point to keep internet friends separate from IRL friends.

So, what about you, Forum? :O

Well, I have a facebook. but lately i've been just drifiting away from it. Especially with my whole family sending me friend requests, and then PMing me just cause I didn't accept the second they sent it. And if you have a facebook and are friends with family, and a teenager preferably, IT SUCKS. Censoring yourself in front of all your friends is not fun, and not easy. I also have a Windows Live Messenger, a playlist (playlist.com, you can chat on and make wall posts, as well as listen to music.), a meebo, a formspring ("ask me anything!"), and this. and this is honestly the only forum i have joined, it's just set up nicely. all the others are well... CONFUSING AS F***.

..You can hide statuses etc from specific people. Why not just do that?

I've pretty much abandoned my bebo since no one goes there anymore, I use my Facebook pretty often, I have twitter too (more than 200 followers, ftr :0), I also have formspring but that thing is the biggest POS you'd ever make.

I dont use forums often anymore though. They've sort of lost their attraction.

Well, i do have a Facebook but i don't like it anymore, because i think that Facebook was actually used to met someone from far away or someone from the past that we know. And i'm also have a Gmail account and also a Yahoo account.

I would, but then they'd get suspicious. my parents facebook stalk me, no joke. i have an album with all my pictures of the shenanigans i get into hidden, and notes. but thats all.

And formspring is stupid. but the stupid questions you get are sometimes entertaining. i don't obsess over it though.

I am mostly a forum crawler with here [serebii that's abandoned] and many others. I have a myspace that isn't in use and a facebook for my MMO guild. Apparently S-e-r-e-b-i-i is blotted out as hell xDD

I totally agree with you there. My parents have yet to send me a friend request, because I've made it clear with them that I'm never going to accept a friend request from them. The only reason that worked is cuz my parents trust that with 5 APs I won't spend much time on the internet. *laugh*



It seems like we're the only two who admit to having twitter accounts XD I'm still new to it, so I absolutely loathe the 140 character limit. It just leads to compromised grammar/spelling and less articulate content. D: I've decided to use my twitter mainly for internet friends but it seems liek nobody has one D: Wanna follow each other? :O



Formspring is entertaining for the first five minutes. Then it degrades to trolls saying stuff like: "ARE YOU GAYYY HERP DERP" or "GAWD YOU'RE SO RETARDED YOU PLAY POKEMON" Then it falls into misuse, and drops off your google chrome top 8 pages. If it was ever lucky enough to make it to top 8. XD

Same, I'd say I almost 20 of my friends are family, but everyone on my friends list has the same permission to see anything. I tend to not post anything too extreme though, as a precaution, as many of my family as well as my friends have wide differences in viewpoints. You won't have to deal with the drama if you just don't start it.

Facebook and IRC are my top communication methods. A lot of the people I am friends with don't know of IRC, so I use Facebook to talk with them. But IRC still gets a fair amount of use, normally among internet communities. As we speak I am on 9 different networks. I use Skype sometimes, but not as much as Facebook and IRC.

but i'm 15. and my parent's are quite strict. I have a lot of family on facebook, but the only ones i really want on there are like my cousins, and my aunt who is actually cool, my sister, and others like that. grandparents/parents/other strict relatives I will pass on. But they still will never cease to stalk me, until I am like 18. That's when they finally stopped really OBSESSING over what my older sister does.

I use facebook quite a bit, I like how you can do almost everything on it. (stalk around, find out **** in other people's lives, insult people, looking through funny shared videos... so much to do!) I get addicted waiting around for new notifications to pop up too.

I love the "confusing privacy settings" because I get to stalk people I don't know :O

Psypoke is the only forum I visit.

I've got a tumblr and twitter account too which I use sometimes. (mainly for ranting)

I think these social networking sites are pretty fun. Maybe too addictive though, I end up visiting them way too much. I guess its like heroin in a way

I use both Facebook and Twitter regularly. I started off using Facebook as an easy way to keep in touch with old classmates. Similarly, my Twitter account was originally used to allow text messaging with people who didn't have texting plans - they send me a message that Twitter forwards to my phone and I reply to Twitter for them to read online.

Of course, Psypoke itself has both Facebook and Twitter accounts. I believe both of these are beneficial to the site, as they allow easy advertising as well as user interaction directly with website content without having to use something like these forums, which are generally used more for various discussions on other topics.

Your own...personal...brand?

Yeah, I forgot to mention forums. Psypoke is probably the forum I am most active in. Other forums I visit include Hawkee (a coding site, mostly for mIRC), and Basilmarket (a MapleStory forum and auction site). I tend to come and go on many as I lose interest. Usually it takes some awesome people to tether me. ;P

I have a Facebook, it's cool and much better than MySpace (since MySpace has devolved into a second-class site, where the only friend requests I get are for local bands and groups set on legalizing pot). I usually don't like it that much, but it helps me keep in touch with a few friends who live too far away or don't have a cell phone or something I can call/text them with.

I visit two forums mainly, here as of late, and MTGSalvation since I'm a Magic nerd. I've been less active on Salvation lately because I'm in that once-a-year phase where I'm not really interested in Magic news until we get enough information on the next block to get me interested again. Also, the threads about the Storyline have degraded a bit from "Hey, here's a cool/interesting question/debate." to crummy topics that have an obvious answer or can easily be looked up on Google. :/

I only visit Facebook and this site. I only use IRC and MSN to talk to people I know from this site. I talk to my friends enough to not need to talk to them anymore than I already do. We all have enough friends so we don't absolutely have to hang out or talk to each other all the time. My friends internet far less than I do, and if they want to hang out or talk, I get a text message on my PHONE from THEIRS.

Facebook is something I use when I'm bored to stalk people I used to go to school with or have met at a party that I'd like to hang out with again. Otherwise, my friends will tell me more than they'd care to tell everyone in an update.

More or less, I don't give a flying **** what I say online. I use this forum and Facebook to say some of the most retarded things I can think of just so people are forced to read them. Being constructive is fine, but I'd rather be unusual. Random thoughts are worth more than mundane life experiences. Everyone has those.

i have msn, aim, gmail, yahoo, this facebook and loads of other stuff lol i have some family on facebook but dont worry about censoring as i only have friends who i dont mind seeing what i post

No... Just... No. Everyone in my school, 4th (or maybe even lower grades at this point...) grade and up are on facebook, and it's STUPID. It's as pointless as enoug second graders to fill multiple classes having cell phones. When you're older, it makes sense. But seriously, a 7-year-old doesn't need a cell phone and a facebook. And they talk about it as if thaey can't live without it. Even though.... I don't want to be poked by some random dude. >:o

i know what you mean, facebook is good for when your older, around 15/16+ but there is no need for it when you are younger than that, though i can see the point of a mobile from about 11/12