The Family

A few days ago I had to stand witness to a moderator of the Pokémon Community being rather upset that her pair had pulled out, and after testing to see if she wanted to pair once more, it turned out that she was holding off on it on a permanent basis. There are also another moderator and a petty administrator that have decided to treat their pair declaration as a bona-fide relationship and, judging by records of events in which they actually met, are seemingly on the road to bliss with things headed in their current direction. However, there are also people that have claimed actors, singers, animé characters, and Pokémon as 'bishies', or virtual dates, on Serebii.net; there is a member on the forum named Yori Ryu that even creates vector-image dolls that are popular as medallions of bishie claims.

Going beyond relationships, I have recently been pulled into a 'family' headed by Egyptian Sphinx of the Pokémon Community. The objective of a 'family' is to group together people that have considered themselves to be in very close ties and wish to identlfy themselves under the guise of nuclear families on the Pokémon Community. One other family designates the young petty admin Kylie-chan as a grandmother, a sign that age is disregarded. And often some people will create 'evil twins' to designate people that think parallel to them.

Oddly enough, it reminds me a lot of the MySpace dilemma. This is for everyone reading that still has a profile there: Go back through your friend lists and try to identify each and every one as best you can. The site mimics a youth summit, so not many will readily make information available, which means that you will not get the full benefit from having a true friend. In fact, a detective went* under the guise of a college student named Matt and 'befriended' three girls from Middletown, Connecticut, USA — and later leaked their profile habits to their parents. (One of the girls had previously been ordered to destroy her profile.) After that, the owner of the profile himself encountered the three girls in the Dateline interview.

The interview tells you what can happen if you don't play your cards with online contacts right. Fortunately, PC families are based on sound judgement of the members involved, which is why many of the families happen to comprise staff members. Because of this, 'families' and 'pairing' are rendered marginally safer than friend lists, yet the very natures are so similar that they need similar judgement in consideration. Pairing and bishies don't afford you anything more than status. Why do I see, then, people declaring marriage on the forum? There is no bonder or rabbi. And what are pairs? People that have a relationship, emulating the dating scene at school. It rarely works out; aside from the mod and petty admin aforementioned, Articuno and Lugia have defeated this rule. And some have, of course, been taken so seriously that we hape people weeping when a pairing is annulled. And some are wise enough to debate this.

Both are inherently outlets for predators, although the latter pronounces it significantly more and constitutes cliques. So if you still have the urge to be part of the group on the Pokémon Community, just form a 'family' and, if possible, review anyone inducted carefully.

* Requires Internet Explorer 6.