Well...Here I am.

Well. Here I am. Once again, I return to Anytrades, and how do I find it? Covered in spam. 839 glorious posts of spam. I've spent the last several hours deleting all of it and banning the users behind it. Why? Not because I feel like I'm really trying to do anything. I know they'll just create new accounts and cover the site in spam once again. You know what? I'll ban them again. I'll keep on cleaning this site so if it ever becomes active again, the users will have a safe haven to post at. Anytrades was a great site, and I won't soon forget all the great times I've had here.

That being said, I'm posting here to leave you all with something for when you happen to stop by the site. Consider this my last hurrah as it twere.

I am Brikien93. Only the alumni of this site will remember me, but for those few new members that show up now and again reading this, know that that is who I am. My real name is Brian Kenneth Clevenger. I live in a small town in the northeast corner of Oklahoma known as Grove. I am currently enrolled at the University of Oklahoma studying for my bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. That is who I am, and that is the legacy I am leaving you all with. (You can also consider me the benevolent administrator here to keep the site clean for a few more months before it becomes too much of a hassle)

In my time here, a lot of things have happened, and I'm grateful for all of it. The people here I came to know as close friends, and I miss them dearly (Even the ones I still keep in touch with). However, I feel like I owe them individual thanks, so here goes.

Captain Nick

Everybody on this list has had a significant impact on me, but I would have never found this site had it not been for Nick. Back when I was just a budding competitive battler, I chanced a battle against Nick on Shoddy, in which I was promptly slaughtered. He invited me to this site, so I jumped on and created my account as the 148th member of the site. After getting to know Nick, I learned about his distate towards standardization and all things Smogon. From him, I learned how to gain an upper hand against standardization, and learned to really think outside of the box. Nick actually taught me most of the things I learned about competitive battling, so with that I owe him a lot. Some of the most fun I remember having with Nick was just sitting around in the chatbox with him coming up with completely off the wall sets for every pokemon under the sun.

Net

What can I say about Net? Well, to be honest, more than could ever fit in a single post, but I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Net and I became fast friends, and he quickly became my best friend here on Anytrades. When things got overly competitive, he was always there to remind me that pokemon was a game, and I was supposed to be having fun. He always seemed so positive, and was never one to leave friends hanging. If you were going into an intense battle on Shoddy, Net would be there to cheer you on. If you ended up losing a battle, Net would be there to pick you up and throw you back out there with some words of encouragement. Even though I still keep up with him from time-to-time, I feel like I've lost contact with him, and hope to change that. I miss getting on Anytrades and seeing 9 times out of 10, that Net was in the chatbox. Even when nobody was around, he always got into the chatbox and coerced people to join him. What would be talked about? Whatever the hell you wanted to talk about. That's what. Thanks for everything you've ever done for this site Carlos. Had it not been for you, I would have never been able to delete all this spam and leave this message here for you all. You're a true friend.

Ness

Grant it, we never really got to spend a lot of time in the chatbox together, I can't help but think that if it weren't for you, this site would've never existed. Everybody here owes you a bit of gratitude for making this site. The few times we were able to talk though, I found you to be a pretty pleasant human being with great taste in Pink. Sorry I don't have a lot more to say outside of thank you for the website.

Prof. Cowie

I honestly feel bad for any new members reading this, as they will never get the chance to experience the person that is Cowie. When I first got here, I remember not liking you a lot. It might have had something to do with how bad I was at pokemon, and how good you are at pointing stuff out. Aspiring battlers out there, let me tell you something. Cowie. Is. Awesome. This guy will beat your with pokemon you've never even seen before. If there's something wrong with your team, he can figure it out. Is he the greatest battler ever? Probably not. Is he a stinking good one? You bet your he is. Or was. I'm not really sure anymore. Either way though, he kind of taught me to suck it up and take criticism like a man, and you know what? I thank him for that.

Are there a lot of other people I should be thanking? Yes there is. I'm sorry you all don't get the same in-depthitude these folks all got, but remember how long it's been since I was on this site with you all. I'd just like to say though thank you:

• Squishy
  
• Lexi
  
• Tori (Something about cold hands?)
  
• Shine
  
• Espeon102996
  
• JellySound
  
• Monke
  
• Silver
  
• Donald
  
• Yanks4Ever
  

I know there are more than just these people I've talked to on this site, but they're the most prominent from my stay here.

Anytrades was a great community, full of awesome people of all different shapes and sizes. I don't want to see this site go to waste. So I've gone through and deleted all this spam, because I feel Anytrades should be a testament to what a small-scale forum is capable of. Get on Youtube, and you can see first-hand some of the quality battlers churned out of this place. I sincerely hope this site comes back from the dead eventually, but even if it doesn't, let this stand as a testimony from a member who got a lot out of this site.

I loved Anytrades, and I loved all the people here in it. I hope everybody ends up seeing this, so they can at least know what they've done for me.

Thanks to everybody.



In closing, I'll continue lurking the site from time-to-time to monitor the content and keep spam out.

-Brikien93 signing off

Well said. Assuming that there is a small chance that someone will remember the flamboyant pie I once was, I'll tell my tales of anytrades. Way back in the day, the days of D/P to be exact, I used to trade pokemon on yahoo answers haha. It wasn't until espeon102996 showed me refuge here. Back then she was called eeveelover though. Man did I love this site. I was a seventh grader back then, some pretty small shrimp lol. When I used to go on to this site, I was on a dial up connection. I didn't have wifi so I used this thing called a Nintendo Wifi USB connector, but its connection was horrid. I would get so frustrated when my connection would drop midbattle or trade. Oh yeah, I also had to wedge like an eraser under the usb connector because it had to be plugged into my usb port at a certain angle lol. I learned so much here. I remember Prof. Cowie taught me that pineapple makes a certain male fluid taste sweet lol. It makes a good conversation starter I dare say. Some chatbox conversations got pretty awkward. Dang, good times. Being the noob I was, I would leech off of Ness's AR and ask her to hack me shiny pokemon lol. I feel sorry for hassling her now. I hope she's doing well. I recall that Nick liked the Aquabats or something like that. As a result, Pool Party, Worms Like Dirt, and Magic Chicken now nestle in my iPod. Interesting and strange band lol. Thank you Brikien for your devotion to maintaining a safe and clean forum. Perhaps, in the future, a new generation of people and pokemon will enjoy this site as much as I did. Dang, I love and hate reminiscing. I just have this sudden desire to have a chatbox conversation saturated with various font colors and with multiple conversations going on at once. Oh yeah, there was this one guy I used to really hate, I think his username was steven or something. I remember that he was like "lets start fresh" and then we became best buds. Man, now I've got this silly sentimental grin on my face. Well, I'll be sure to drop random visits here.
Oh how I miss these emoticons. Lol, I'm assuming the pirate set was for Nick

well...how am i supposed to follow up either of those... when i came here at first, it was because of espeon102996 whom i actually know in real life. When i first came i hadnt even heard of competitive battling, or smogon, EVs, IVs, nothing about natures or breeding. As the time i spent here increased so did my knowledge of all things Pokemon. Albeit not to the extent of the more senior members of this site. However enough that i can incorporate tanks, sweepers, walls, etc into a team and get them to function fairly well together. And who do i have to thank for this? All the people that posted in the forums, and anyone that contributed to chat. in particular Brikian, and Net, and Monkey. Captain Nick, Yanks, Silver, Squishy, Cowie. And more. I remember way back when i tried spriting, it was just horrible to start with...i think i got a bit better as time went on, but i dont really know. I made my first team comprised of only my favorites, and of course it was pointed out how weak it was. But over time i improved it, not to perfection but the users on this site helped me get it pretty close. Of course all i've been telling about so far is myself, i have very little so say about the members, seeing as its been so long, but i will say what i do still remember. Net was the first person i talked to in the chat, before even nate(espeon), he was a major factor in everything i learned while i was here. He first introduced IVS and Natures to me, if i remember correctly. Monkey; i remember him as a kind of comic relief when we got to competitive or serious about anything. He said some really odd things, but never failed in getting a laugh out of all of us. That's not to say he couldnt battle though, never did win one against him. or anyone on this site...oh god...tori... im fairly certain she was the one that hated me...dont remember if we ever made up or not though. It really pains me that i have such a vague recollection of the people on this site...i dont even remember anything about squishy at all...except his name was light blue. I want to say how horrid reminiscing is, but i cant really, because i do enjoy it. At least the parts that i havent forgotten i do.

well thats my bit, it was really saddening realising how little i remember. I remember the fun times, but no specific examples. Net enjoyed playing with the ban hammer if i remember correctly...anyways i, too, shall stop by randomly. so to any past, present, or future members. Good luck, and i leave you with dancing fruit

I JUST READ THIS AND NOW I'M TEARING UP


CAN WE HAVE A REUNION SOMEWHERE ON THE INTERNET?!?!?

Was just talking fondly regarding all of you beautiful souls