I’ve said something about this before with less motivated context, but since I can’t remember where or what exactly I said, I’ll retell my little story.
Joining E4 and realizing what it was was a big deal for me. I was obstinate about not joining any sort of thing on the internet for all of my youth (say, 14 years old or older or whatever). First it was just a personality trait, being more of a reader and not a contributor, but when social media became all the rage that turned me off to it to a larger extent because of its implication with and affect on the internet culture as a whole. I wouldn’t even so much as comment on a youtube video, join any forum, let alone participate in any actual ‘social media’ (which I do not fundamentally consider forums to be, or even youtube really). I enjoyed such things from a distance, I used the resources and information, but just didn’t join anything for some reason. It’s hard to say—I just think I would describe it as assimilating in some way, some way that was different than what I imagined life would have gone some years prior, in, say, early 2000’s or even earlier.
It was that I desired a different lifestyle. But it’s weird because here I am, the kind of person that loved several hobbies for which the prospect of a well made forum would so perfectly fit my tastes and desires (passion, long form discussion, the sense of joining a group of knowledgeable or experienced people of which I was one, but was new, had to earn respect etc), especially in areas that were quite lonely in my experience. But over time things loosened up, I was getting older and was certainly becoming more accepting of certain parts of the culture I was living in. The kicker was covid happening and rattling things up. It started off as a terrible effect, but some great things were borne out of it. One of which was finally joining E4. And when I did I absolutely fell in love with the classic forum vibe, the group of amazing people, the long time members’ insight, experience, and collections… and of course the immediate friends I made when you find out whom kindred spirits are etc.
I had found E4 many years prior. It was the infamous (to me at least) shadowless booster box identification thread. I’ve always held a fascination with the release of shadowless, in addition to the obvious love for the cards themselves. It was made by jkanly. This was a huge resource to me that I loved reading over and seeing it be added to many times. That was one of those threads that transcended the simple pleasure of a forum. It was one of the most telling examples of why this place stood out. It was part of what inevitably made me join. I knew the place, I had referenced many threads many a time. I just didn’t know the people. You have to join to find that love.
There were other threads I enjoyed or that influenced me, but essentially by 2020 I realized I was using it more often, to the point that one day I said… man, why don’t I just make an account? It would be exciting, I told myself. It would be my first time making an account on any sort of platform you actually engage with. And I loved the badges and innumerable great profile pictures (and gifs) of so many images and pokemon I loved, in addition to the very many unique ones. I thought, this is a place I can share that part of my identity I never really shared. It’s also anonymous so there is this sense of cool that I was able to share identity but also be a mystery. As with anyone else.
It happened quickly, I was an instant convert and loved the forum experience, E4 being that first (and really only 
) love. But it’s changed me for the better. I’m more open to more internet culture, love memes now—thank you E4 for that, wow I’m a boomer—, gifs. you name it. Seriously. It had a big impact on me. I was very uninterested and closed off to so much of that before. I know, it’s strange, but I’m a strange guy. But I still hate actual social media. That’s unchanging haha. That’s only gotten worse than the times I was already preaching about how bad that is for civilization—but therein lies another beauty of E4, it’s a haven away from that for people like me who would otherwise not have a way of sharing in a hobby we love.