Hey y'all. Sorry I am late.
In my defence I hadn't seen this till now, and as I read through what everybody has written, I feel I too need to share my experiences, however little they might be.
To start of with, my first interaction with Pokemon was probably the anime on the telly. When I was 7, however, my friend showed me her Pokemon handbook for the Hoenn Region. And that started it all. I borrowed the book, and spent the entire week listing out the 100 Pokemon that I loved the most. I kept increasing the list as and when possible, and wrote a few of the moves the Pokemon learnt.
Cut to when I was around 11-12. Online RPGs became huge in my school, and I soon found myself at Pokemon Vortex. While this doesn't really count like the official stuff, and had nearly all the details wrong. By wrong, I mean, being able to buy Master Balls in the Pokemart, and so on and so forth. This continued for an year, after which I got tired and left. Not left, but, forced to, as somebody hacked into my profile, and made away with all my Legendary Pokemon.
It was in the summer when I was 12, that a friend of mine introduced me to Emulators. Now, I never really had a Gameboy, an had never played the original games, so this was the first time I truly started to play Pokemon. The game was Emerald by the way, which still holds a special spot in my heart. Anyway, novice as I was, I took a year to actually beat the game, without GameShark codes or other cheats.
I forget what happened immediately after, but within a year or two, B/W were released. I still didn't have a Nintendo device, so within a year of its release, bam! I had the emulated version of Black that I proceeded to play (and beat) in the next 3-4 weeks. After this, I slowly started turning my attention to the other games, and downloaded and played them too. But, playing Generation 4 after 5, made it a little weird, so I didn't finish those games.
Anyway, that's about enough piracy in one answer, so I'll move on to my story with the DB.
Database: The Journey
I found this site quite early, like, before it was even a year old, and immediately fell in love with it. Messed around for a full 18 months before knowing about the Pokebase and being able to sign in to it, and ask and answer questions. Once I did log in, I found a whole new world.
For a month, I had no points, then Blob gave me my first up-vote for a moveset for Absol. Following this, I very slowly made a 100 points. Soon after, I became more active, and racked up around a thousand points.
And then I left. It was a pretty stupid move on my part, but I'll come clean, and say that the reason I did it, is because a) Pokemon sort of faded away from my interests, and as I didn't have a 3DS, the arrival of X/Y caught me at a severe disadvantage. And b) My points were stagnated.
I hate to say this, but around that time, I was very much into points (reasons mentioned below). So, while I had strict competition, I backed off, knowing that I was worthless in answering questions relating to the 6th generation. I felt that that was all my potential, and since I couldn't continue my journey with Pokemon X&Y, I decided to take a break. This was in 2k13. Last year, 2014, I came in during January/ February, checked up on things, saw how much everybody else around me had grown (not only in points, but also in friendship), and how things were changed. I still wasn't all that into Pokemon, so I left again.
However, I started playing on PS! and gradually improved over time (Not like Flaf, or MrK, or Dr. Flame), but still above average. This sort of got me back into Pokemon. And now, in 2015 March, I decided to come back. I wasn't sure how I'd fit in, but after answering a couple of questions, I understood that there was still some hope left in me in respect to the Database. And that is where I stand as of now.
Warning: (Sort of) Emotional stuff here:
This is where I talk about my relation with B in the more metaphysical sense, as opposed to the basic factual relations and my comings and comings. This basically, is the main stuff: My experiences as a user.
Note: Some of the stuff mentioned here maybe childish, and I accept that. However, I've changed now, and for the better.
To begin with, my main problem was (and is) having friends here at the DB. Now this was a huge problem because:
My time zone meant that when I was on line, not many of the American (or heck, even English) users were on line, and for good reason too. Unless I spent the wee hours logged into the DB, I virtually (pun un-intended) had no one to chat with.
Being from a country vastly different from the West, I had very little exposure or knowledge about the things that people liked and enjoyed. I remember awkwardly saying "Hi", in the chat, right in the middle of a discussion of stuff I had NO idea about, only to be lost in the plethora of messages that buried any and all attempts at trying to start a conversation. Of course, this was my fault, but it affected my ability to chat nonetheless.
As I didn't (and still don't) own a 3DS or a functional DS (mine broke sometime, and I couldn't get it fixed :'( ), I couldn't exchange Friend Coes, or battle or trade, or generally interact with people at all.
I was sot of jealous of some of the users here (I know, very immature, but at this point of sleep deprivation and emotional high, I don't care, as it longer is the case.). Mainly because of how popular they were, how soon they made friends, and accumulated points (again, points, but it was a pretty big deal to me back then, though I never admitted it.). Keep in mind, these were users who joined much after I did. And yet, they were going places, and I... I just.
I was very shy on line. Call it paranoia or whatever, but I never really ventured out in the open. I just stood there by the shadows, waiting. Waiting for me to get better. Waiting for me to earn more points, and gain higher ranks, and cough cough respect. Not the OMG, you're that guy, but just about enough to convince people I was worth befriending. That I was worth being a part of their warm, fuzzy family. [Now, this was the major reason why I was so into points. Not because I am general d-bag, I promise]
I was afraid. Of the people. Of the atmosphere. Of not being good enough. This was sort of suffocating, but I hung on. I made sure no body knew my age (probably to sound older on line, an thus, you know, be listened to). I never talked much about myself, never bothered to make friends. Now this, this was my ultimate mistake. I was young then (not very, really. Just about the same age group as a lot of people. Younger than the mid-high teen veterans, older than the 11-12 year old novices). This made me very unapproachable (not that I believed anybody would, but still....). I sank further into the shadows, logging in only to answer, to rack up points and help other people, rather than attempt to socialize. I was scared of the "big guns", and the popular ones in the community, that I'd fall in their eyes. And so I never tried.
When I logged on during my temporary hiatus, I saw how close people had become, and thus this only confirmed my existence as a misfit of sorts. I was afraid to join among the ranks, as I hadn't been able to rack up enough points to be noticed. When I saw that others had succeeded where I had failed, this only pushed me farther away from the whole business. My only 'friends' were acquaintances on Chat whom I'd spoken to like once, for half an hour. It was that pathetic. Correction: I was that pathetic [No, that wasn't self-pity, but rather a stern outlook on my decisions.]
I failed to make it big here. I lost track of this site. I became more involved with other activities, and school took a major portion of my time.
