What would <insert person here> think if they knew you were at Bulbagarden?

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

One of those “title-says-it-all” threads, but with the potential with something more. Basically, if one of your friends, siblings, parents, or anyone else in real life learned that you were a member of Bulbagarden, whether intentionally or unintentionally by you, how do you think they would react? Would they be surprised to know that you were a member of a forum, or of a Pokémon forum specifically? And regardless, do you suppose that their general feelings about it would be positive or negative, and what kind of positive or negative exactly? Proud? Angry? Happy? Disappointed? Optimistic? Worried? Supportive? Combative? And how do you suppose that their reaction would change if you told them that you were a member of Bulbagarden as opposed to them learning by surprise, assuming that you would ever intentionally let them know at all?

Now, I won’t go into detail regarding how I think some of the closer people in my life would think, but I am willing to share what I think a random person who kinda-sorta “knows” me would think. You see, in middle and high school especially, I had a reputation for being painfully shy, and more or less no one knew about the kind of things that I was interested in — like Pokémon — or what I truly believed in as a person. I still consider myself kind of shy, even here, but I find that I’m much better with expressing by true self here than anywhere else. If any of the people from school knew that I was here, and if they saw the kinds of things that I post here… wow, they would have no idea that “Bakuphoon” and my real-life self were the same person!

 

[KerfishSea]

My friend would call me a fricking nerd and keep it pushing.

 

[Okido]

My parents would definitely roll their eyes at me, at the very least. But the friends I have that don't use this site, well, I don't think they'd be too astonished to find me here. "The guy who loves Pokémon is on the Pokémon forum? I am shocked. SHOCKED! ...well, not that shocked." :p

The only real thing that might come as a surprise would be that I type much differently here than I do elsewhere — but I think a lot of people probably change the way they type depending on who they're talkin' to, so no big deal.

 

[wanderist]

I think most people who really know me already know I'm on a Pokemon forum. I know I've mentioned it to my parents a couple times and to my best friends. I met one of my best friends on a Spyro forum, so I know he's not surprised I ended up on a Pokemon forum. If anything I think people would be more surprised to learn that I actually post.

 

[pokemoll]

Honestly, I'm drawing a blank on people who don't already know that I frequent the forums. A significant proportion of my current friends are people I met here originally - though they're mostly no longer active - and the forums come up in conversation sometimes; I did talk about my promotion to modship last month, for example.

I don't really have too many friends offline who I'm acquainted well enough with for them to care about my presence here at all, though if it did somehow come up I doubt they'd be at all surprised... I'm very open about my love for Pokemon, lol.

My family are also aware of my activity; my mum actually asks how things are going here semi-often. The forums have been a constant in my life essentially since I was 11, and I met my boyfriend here, so it's still relevant enough in my life overall for my parents to take notice of.

The only people I can imagine having any sort of reaction are people that I originally met here and have subsequently lost contact, purposefully or otherwise with. Maybe they'd be surprised that I'm still here after all these years? I have to imagine that they just wouldn't care at all though, lmao

 

[Aulos]

I don't like to think of what my parents would think. They made their displeasure for Pokemon clear way back when I was a child and by the early 2000s I downplayed my interest and had to get new Pokemon games in "secret" (like from friends).

I'm an adult now but have always felt like I would be judged for what I spend my work money on, so I most certainly have not paraded around that I still play Pokemon games.

(My mom did take it pretty well when she found out that I collect the My Little Pony toys [which I played with much earlier in my childhood than Pokemon], though, so I don't know why Pokemon would be any different. Seriously, though, I feel embarassed for still playing video games. >.<)

A lot of my closer friends know that I play Pokemon, so I don't think any of them would be shocked by my membership here. The less close friends are actually pretty disconnected from my interests as IRL I'm pretty much known for my love for music (bassoon especially lol) and dogs. I keep quiet about everything else. But I don't think they would care.

 

[CuboneKing]

When I was a kid my parents were the type that bought into all the fear mongering about strangers on the internet, so I hid my Bulba activity from them at any cost. It was a whole thing when they found out about Bulbapedia, where some socializing was possible, but they never found out about the forums where that’s the whole point and I’m glad about that. To be fair I was 11 at the time. They don’t know I’m on the forums these days but I can’t imagine they’d care, I’m an adult and they’ve long since given up expectations I would grow out of Pokémon.

Before I came back I used to jokingly brag to my irl friends about how controversial I was on a Pokémon forum as a little kid, calling it my 15 minutes of fame lmao. Only one of them knows I’m back, and he thought it was cool that I was re-embracing stuff from my childhood. I’m not hiding it from the others, just hasn’t really come up. They’d probably think it was kinda weird but not surprising, it wouldn’t affect the friendship or anything.

 

[Neo Blaze]

Considering no one in real life knows I'm into Pokémon (well except one cousin who also likes it) and it's something I very much keep to myself, I'd say most people I know would be pretty shocked. My parents probably wouldn't care much though, they do know I'm into nerdy things.

 

[Archaic]

I mean, it's pretty much impossible for my IRL friends and family to not know... Not to mention that my wife @Kasumi and I met through the Pokémon fandom.

I've occasionally freaked out some of my students when I mention it during icebreakers. I like to tell them that there's no need to be embarassed about asking "silly questions", because at the end of semester, the only thing their classmates will remember is that their tutor outed himself as a massive Pokémon geek. ^^;;

 

[Insanish Danish]

Yeah, most of the people in my life already know I'm here lol. I met my significant other and several good friends of mine here, and even my parents and sister have met most of them IRL at this point. Anyone who doesn't know I'm on Bulbagarden is someone that I'm not that close to in the first place, so it doesn't matter either way.

 

[RexMissingno]

Everyone I know knows I like Pokemon and have since I was 5 years old, it would surprise no one.

 

[KerfishSea]

it wouldn't be surprising though since everyone I know basically defines my entire character by "Is into Pokemon"

 

[R1ke]

I think my friends would be surprised cause I don’t talk about pokemon that much irl. Some ppl know but I doubt they’d expect me to have joined a forum. My family wouldn’t be too surprised but wouldn’t know I still watch the anime, not that I’d mention it anyway

 

[colours]

my irl best friend actually kinda knows already that i frequent another pokemon forum, so him knowing i frequent this one wouldn't surprise him at all lol

my family probs wouldn't care much, they know i'm into pokemon

 

[Dreary_Rowlet]

Hmm, my family doesn't really care, they know me as the Pokefan who draws too much.
Friends? They don't mind.
That's it.