Well, I guess I'm officially back....

Following the forgiveness meeting, I have decided that (since the server has moved and their URL has officially changed to 'pkmn.net' as their name suggests, and there have been curious changes of the letter é to é) I will offically return to PKMN.NET tonight. This will mark the seventh month of my abscence from the forum.

The thing that I had about PKMN.NET was that it was the first forum that I ever joined, the place where I was able to build myself up from a forum noob into the same person as a mod on Super Cheats. Given the laxity of Serebii.net, where I fled in the wake of the expulsion, I began to miss it. As a moderator on Super Cheats, I was faced with issues similar to those that PKMN.NET was faced with sporadically, but this time I was dealing with harsh issues at least once a week on average. My experience as a moderator, and the ability to gradually sympathise with Jeroen, James, and Mike, helped me re-evaluate my stance with the PokéLab, for which I worked since early March, leading to the expulsion. When the PokéLab finally collapsed due to Epyon's retirement from the programme and TUH's arguments as well as Red Sox Fan's on-off affair, I was left without any support, and I was ready to turn my back on the programme for good once it hit me that the site had been built on spite and hatred, which had deluded me for seven months.

Because of this, the Deoxys Project affiliation and directory programme, as well as forum assistance, has been suspended indefinitely.

You'll find me on PKMN.NET as Swinub unless I change my name due to popular demand or am rejected still.

Forgiven!

Below is the transcript of the conversation that got me acquitted of atrocities to PKMN.NET!

Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Looks like I'll have to do this on my own.
Mike says:
I don't mean to be awkward, but I'm not doing it without James and Jeroen
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
All right, if they're active on the forums, you certainly can jolt them?
Mike says:
What time have you got until?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I have one hour.
Mike says:
So until 2?
Mike says:
*3
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Yes, your time. Here it's 9:15am.
Mike says:
If they're not back by half past...
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Then we'll have to set another time.
Mike says:
Yeah
Mike says:
I think Jeroen is back
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Oh well, one's better than nothing.

James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! has been added to the conversation.

Jeroen - has been added to the conversation.

Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
So they;re both on.
Mike says:
Hi
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
Hello
Jeroen - says:
Hi
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Good afternoon, you two.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
As promised, I'm going to stand for the TPL admins, since they refused to come.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
Why did you want to talk to us?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Because I want this TPL thing out of my head once and for all.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I admit, after seven long months, that I've been a bit of an idiot.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
how so?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Having followed TUH and Epyon on something they weren't about to stick to.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
They left the site. We had a domain and all, an SMF forum and all, and Epyon paid for a year of hosting.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
They never told me that it was something ephemeral. Made no indication of it.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
So....There's nothing left to say except that I now consider myself responsible for my actions, not TPL. I requested this conference to say that I'm very sorry for having followed such people.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
The admins have left.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
It seems to me that you're "apologising" for the mistake you made by even humouring TPL - I fail to see what this has to do with PUK
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I am apologising for the abuse and defamation I've dealt you for seven months.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I was wrong, I was led by a big baby to attack people that really knew how to moderate.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I can't believe I would rely on my emothions to commit such atrocities.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
why should we believe you're sincere, when last time you did something like this, you did the ever so clever thing of posting "It was all a big lie" on TPL
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I was blinded. Simple as that. I had just beeen controlled by emotions of hatred. I only attacked you and defected to TPL because of a fight that I had with my parents. It took me this long to admit that I was taking needless anger on everyone I loved.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I just let my emotions get the better of me, memories I should have just buried in the past.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
were they not happy with you socialising with all of the promiscuous girls?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Now where did you find that?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Are you refering to my forum team thing on my blog? No, that has nothing to do with it.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
It was a reference to your blog.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Okay, okay....I'm happy to know you've been reading it regularly....
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Look, TPL is dead. Epyon is left and he destroyed our IF forum and is about to let our subscription to our domain and site run out. The other admins have deserted as well. I'm the only one left and I'm incapable of carrying this on any longer, so why fight? It was all about Pokémon anyway....Foolish....
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
If TPL is dead then what are you trying to achieve by being here? It's not like we need to go after plagarism on a site that's essentially dead and empty
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
The site is done, I'm here to request a chance, crazy as I may be, to start anew.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I'm done with them. Big babies, the big ones of them.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
"In many discussions I compared James O’Malley,
PKMN.NET’s root admin, to Saddam Hussein because of
the uncanny similarity of egomanias harboured by the
two and scathingly attacked the administration,
gaining support as I went along."
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
That's in the past tense....
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
"I discussed the state
of the PKMN.NET forums under Te Strake’s control and
stated that he would be unfit for running a forum
directed to young generations if he was going to
communicate in the manner used in the reply."
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
And I had been fooled by your fake argument, remember....
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Jeroen found it first.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
That was all in the past, over a month ago!
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
so what you essentially want, is a webmaster, who in the past you likened to a man that murdered over 5000 Kurds at Hallabjah with poison gas, to unban you from his website, because you've suddenly "seen God", or something like that?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I don;t care what you do to me.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I'm just letting you know that I vow never to attack you again. I've larned my lesson and have come for my penalty to be given.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Even at this rate, a ban is more than I deserve.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
so, in a very round-about way, you are in fact, asking to be unbanned?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I'm not asking to be unbanned — but it would be nice — I just want your penalty read out.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
So what shall it be, then? What is my punishment for this?
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
What can we do beyond banning you, exactly?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I can still see the forums.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
I can't have you executed by firing squad, like Saddam would do
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
But you can report me to Rich, to Super Cheats.
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
for what, exactly?
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I mean, have a discussion, moderator review.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I'm a super mod for him, so if you gave him any information that may incriminate me he may want to have me reviewed.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
But I've been able to see the forums for seven months, I haven't gotten any 403 or other prompts.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
So, is there anything you want me to do to remediate this?
Jeroen - says:
If you've got a few more moments, we are currently discussiong this.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Go on then.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
I have fifteen minutes.
Jeroen - says:
That you can see the forums is due to some problems with dynamic IPs. It's, at least, a good sign that you didn't really register after that. We may be willing to 'officially' remove that ban, under a few conditions: 1) You stay away from moderating and related site discussions for some time, for hopefully obvious reasons; 2) The doubts/insights you have mentioned today are mentioned in an apology, explanation, or whatever you want to call or make it on your blog or another outlet where you've mentioned these things and it is allowed; and 3) You are willing to contribute in a well informed, useful and well written way to PKMN.NET and its forums in the future.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Moderating discussins on PKMN.NET?
Jeroen - says:
Yes
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Suggestions and criticisms?
Jeroen - says:
Pretty much the kind of discussions that started this months ago.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Yes. I shall send this transcript to my blog, then?
Jeroen - says:
If you wish
James - Buy Propagandhi's new album from me! I have two copies! says:
Oh, one more thing: get it into your head that PUK is NOT a country and we do NOT have "laws" and "legislation" - we have rules. I am NOT the executive, I am the Webmaster. Jeroen does NOT have legislative power, he is an administrator- and so on.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
Fine. I'll put it on my blog and finalise it later. Thank you ver much, Jeroen.
Crystal Walrein — It'll be over! says:
And thank you for your humour, James.

This was after I requested a conference with them the day before.

The staff of the Deoxys Group, myself included, will forever abandon any actions against other sites, in accordance with the agreement above. All older posts will remain, however, but I warn now that they are older and are not representative of sentiments of today.

Happy Birthday Lottie!

We have another October birthday, folks! This time it's that of Charlotte Watts, the creator of the Crow's Nest.

The Crow's Nest started when Silver Moon Boarding School was dealt an injunction by Jeroen when PKMN.NET members hijacked the thread and transformed it into a round of bloodiness. Fortunately, that blood has been cleaned up from the floors, and it survived with its companion Silverwich University, which hosts the characters of Silver Moon Boarding School aged a few years more.

So, from the staff of the Deoxys Group, we'd like to wish Lottie a very happy birthday and best wishes for the following year — during which, of course, we'll be forced to endure Gareli's quasi-Gothic moaning and seething through the roleplay.

Happy Birthday Rich!

http://forums.supercheats.com/topic.php?topic=16711

Thirty-one years ago, the person that would form Video Gamer Network out of the dust of the Internet was born in the UK. (Don't ask me exactly where.) Yes, it's time we made a salute to Richard Gardner, founder of Web Media Network, the Team SuperCheats we love, and the Webby that Gaming Update (ahem) loves!

Thousands of web pages
Based on PHP
Encompasing through the electric ages
And making cheating reality

There are ten or so sites in the pack
(Don't ask the exact count)
With tips and talk the viewer can rack
With a score of high amount

Video Gamer Network!
The one network that does
What is to be, what right now is
And of course forever was
And with our ode to this great group
We can stand together and say
Without the constant vocal loop,
Rich, happy birthday!

Shippy Fan Fiction. Yeah, Shippy.

I happened to drop by Serebii.net (breaking a pledge I made with Articuno) and decided to visit the Shipping section I had once patronised. When I reviewed the roster for the Shipping fics board, the title 'A Day Inside May' appeared — with, as one would guess, an NC17 disclaimer. Below is some of the actual text of the fan fiction; I'll do this instead of linking to the topic since I'm aware that some little kids may see it if I do.

Joy replied, "Well, I have to be getting back to my work now, you have quite a lot of fanboys lined up for you May, you're winning hearts all over the place."

May felt her cheeks blush deep red. Ash then looked up towards May, he always knew she was cute, but to have a HUGE number of male fans watching her during the Grand Festival? He briefly thought about how long they've been traveling together, until Brock snapped him out of his gaze.

"Hey Ash!" Brock motioned as he moved toward him. "We might as well spend the night here, we could all use some nice beds to sleep in."

Ash replied "Sure thing, my feet were getting tired from all the walking anyway."

May started walking out of the main area of the center, she turned towards her friends as she was walking away and said, "I really need a nice hot shower, see you guys later!"

Scene: We then see an outside view of the Pokemon Center, the sun is setting.

Inside the Center, we see May in the bathroom looking into the mirror. She first untied her bandana and put it on a shelf in the room. Next she began unzipping her shirt. . . .

May thought to herself, with an endless sea of emotions raging through her mind. She was happy that she was being recognized for being a great coordinator, yet for some reason. . .she felt sad. She couldn't figure out why she felt somewhat depressed, until the thought snapped into her head. It was Ash. For all the time they've traveled together, Ash had never expressed any feelings beyond friendship to her. . . .

She had always admired Ash since they met, but now she wanted more than just friendship.

She said out loud, "If I can get Drew and all those other fans expressing attraction towards me, why doesn't Ash?"

She then thought in her head, does he like me? Does he think I'm attractive? Does he like my body? . . .

This story was approved by Kiori.

'A Day Inside May' is not the only story I've seen involve any sexual activity, and some I can't even mention because it's impossible to censor them — the one above was tricky enough to get to just before the trip. This is traced back to one of the more unusual departments of animé that Serebii.net has plenty of (and PKMN.NET retracted after it went boom on them) — 'shipping', a modified diminutive of 'relationship'.

The boys and girls in animé have cleverly been modified for titillation and power in some cases, and it seems that many people have taken the opportunity to pair them together like prom kings and queens. I've heard of matchmaking and forecasts among cliques, but I would never imagine, until I fully understood it whilst I was on PKMN.NET, that this would lead to an international phenomenon. Now we have cliques for all kinds of 'shippings' — Tachishippings, which include Ash, Misty, Brock, and Team Rocket, and Sistershipping (Serebii dubs this Advanceshipping), which involves Ash and May. (The names have been taken from Aurora Moon.) On PKMN.NET, the AAML (Ash And Misty Love) and AAMAYL (Ash and May Love) factions have appeared, warring against each other (in fact, Ragade, a devout AAML supporter, helped found the Misty Army, a team that disappeared shortly after Silver Moon Boarding School's injunction). And where the union comes in, the soppy stories move in and we have a hybrid of Fan Fiction and Shipping. This eventually trips over into some people describing the characters as if they're revamping Eyes Wide Shut.

I have no problem with Shipping, but when it gets to the point when people start expanding on the playground 'sitting-in-a-tree' rhyme, it starts to get annoying. Maybe these kids have been reading too much from Nora Roberts.