“In Gen 4, my Strategy changed somewhat.
I still used my Dragon Pokémon (which were mostly actual Dragon-types now), but I could no longer rely on just using Hyper Beam, like some kind of Lance wannabe (which is basically what I am).”

From my 20th Pokémon anniversary blog.

“Anyway, before I came here to Paint, saying that my Life was miserable would probably be an understatement.

I felt completely hopeless, as though I'd always be alone, trapped here in this (rather unpleasant) House of mine, with my Dad (who y'all are probably pretty familiar with by now), my Sister (who is sometimes rather mean, as well), and my Mom (who, prior to coming here, was the one person in the World I trusted completely).

Although I did Dream about doing things in the Future, those Dreams were constantly being eroded away by the lack of any real progress, year after year.
(I felt extremely depressed, to say the least.)

TBH, the only thing that kept me going through it all was my Love of Pokémon, and that tiny bit of Hope that no matter how hard the World tries to crush it, it just doesn't ever disappear.”

From my 1st Member Appreciation Day blog.

“I was delighted to learn that it actually worked, and that I had FINALLY found a way to talk to other Human Beings!
(I was VERY lonely and depressed at the time, and joining Paint very well may have saved my life.)

I was happy, but also a bit nervous, too, not only because of how I know my Dad would react if he found out I was on here (which is still a potential issue, unfortunately), but also because I didn't know whether or not my lack of socialization had turned me into some kinda complete weirdo, who wouldn't be able to get along with other people.

Once again, however, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that people (the people here on Paint, at least) are REALLY kind and understanding, and that I had a lot more in common with y'all than I thought I would.
(I even learned there are other people with crazy Parents like my Dad here, too.)

If I remember right, the very first thing I did here was go into the Chatrooms, and I believe that I did sound a bit like an unsocialized weirdo at that point, but the people there at the time didn't make fun of me for it, and were actually quite nice.
(Something that I am VERY grateful for!)”

From my 1st Paint anniversary blog.

“Paint changed all of this.

Although I haven't been able to do nearly as much as I've wanted to (yet), I've already battled 2 of my friends here on Paint, and I was able to help some of my other friends to get Pokémon that they had really wanted.

I felt wonderful when I was doing those things!

For the first time in my life, my love of Pokémon, and all of the countless hours I've put into it throughout my life were actually able to help others to be able to enjoy it even more.

My 21st year as a Trainer has been my best one, by far, and it has been my 1st year playing Pokémon the way it was always meant to be played: With friends.

I'd like to thank everyone here who's battled with me, traded with me, read any of my Pokémon blogs, or even just chatted with me about Pokémon for a bit on here, and you've made that one constant bright spot in my life brighter than ever before.

Hopefully, my 22nd year as a Pokémon Trainer will be my 1st year as a competitive Pokémon player!
(Now THAT would be awesome!)”

From my 21st Pokémon anniversary blog.

“Paint has not only given me a means of escaping the loneliness that I've had to deal with since I was a kid; it has also given me (and countless others here) a way of dealing with being stuck inside all of the time. For this, I am very thankful as well!

As I'm writing all of this RN (on a piece of paper, BTW), my 2DS is currently broken, and yet, even without being able to use it, and without being able to spend nearly as much time with all of my friends here on Paint as I would like to, I still thank God every day for helping me find Paint, and because of that 1 small miracle of His, I'll never truly be lonely again!

"ありがとうございます" means "thank you" in Japanese, and that is precisely why I wanted to write this blog so badly - to say "ありがとうございます" to God, to my mom, to all of my wonderful friends here, and last, but certainly not least, to Hullbreach, the person who created this amazing website that made that small but life-changing miracle possible.

I love y'All, God bless! ”

From my 2nd Member Appreciation Day blog.

“Some of the people who left did so because they had no choice, and RL circumstances beyond their control made it impossible and/or dangerous for them to be online, but sadly, there are a number people who have been on Paint since 2012 or earlier, and who basically grew up on this site, who chose to leave because they feel that Paint isn't the same as it was years ago, and that they (for whatever reasons) don't like what Paint has become.

Many of these people were are good friends of mine, and I sincerely hope that they return some day, but it saddens me that they can't appreciate the website I fell in love with 2 years ago, and still love with all my heart to this day.

Yes, it is less active than it was back then, and there are lots of new people here now (which IMO is a good thing), but rather than trying to help the website they grew up with to grow and flourish, they leave, just because it's different?

Personally, I think that's just plain wrong, and I for one will NEVER leave Paint for any reason (unless I have no choice, of course). Period.

Now, from what I've heard, most of the members who left Paint (and many who are still here) are on the SDK Discord server, or communicate with their old friends from here on Paint via other, more mainstream social media websites (like Discord), but by doing so, they are shutting themselves off from all of the younger (and typically newer) members whom are reliant on their DSi, 3DS, and/or 2DS to visit this website, which is sad, because they are Paint's future.”

From my 2nd Paint anniversary blog.

“I would be lying if I pretended that this past year wasn't horrible for me in countless ways (that's actually an understatement), but every cloud has it's SoulSilver lining, and birthdays are supposed to be happy occasions, so I will try to keep the negativity in this blog to a minimum.
(Which I'm finding is easier said then done, with my dad in the same room as me.)

My 2DS breaking about a year ago was emotionally devastating for me, not only because I could no longer easily access Paint, but also because it kept me from (and still keeps me from) being able to play any of my Gen 6 and 7 Pokémon games (including my favorite game of all, my Pokémon Ω Ruby Version), nor any of the Game Notes or images that I had stored on my SD Card.
(And it's also made trading and transferring Pokémon between my Gen 4 and 5 games much more complicated, as well.)

Not being able to access my 3DS Pokémon games or my Game Notes has also made it WAY more difficult for me to write new Pokémon blogs, due to the fact that I can't access the Internet 99% of the time either, which essentially forces me to rely on my own memory when writing my blogs, as I am rarely able to verify the validity of what I am writing anymore.
(Which is why I haven't published any new Pokémon blogs in so long.)

Although I appreciate my dad allowing me to continue to log in here on Paint after he busted me last year by rummaging through my mother's e-mails, the fact of the matter is that it has only made all of the aforementioned problems even worse, and until I am able to live as a free, independent adult, I will always be at a "disadvantage", as my dad puts it.
(I'm well aware of these problems, but I don't think that just "marching right out the door" is necessarily the correct course of action, as some, including my dad, might suggest.)”

From my 22nd Pokémon anniversary blog.

“As I described in my 1st anniversary blog, me finding Paint when and how I did is nothing short of a miracle, and arguably, I did more "growing up" during these 2 years that I've been here so far than I did during the 24 years of my life that preceded them.

Unfortunately, this also means that when I first came here, I was sorta this out of touch, 24 year old manchild, and while the overwhelming majority of people here showed me kindness and understanding (in spite of or even because of my relative immaturity), others here were are not so forgiving of my missteps.

My biggest regret in life (so far, anyway) is that I didn't find out about Paint sooner, and if I had discovered it back in 2014 (when I first started secretly using my 2DS's browser), things would be looking a lot better for me (and possibly for Paint, as well) today.

Most of the people that I know here on Paint (friends or otherwise) are 7 or more years younger than me, and if I'd have discovered Paint back then, I'd have been 20 years old at the time, and anyone 20 years old or younger RN would've been 13 years of age or younger.

Had things turned out that way, that hypothetical 13 year old would've probably been a bit more understanding of my 20 year old self being a bit on the immature side, compared to how an 18 year old might've seen my 24 or 25 year old self behaving the same way when I first got here back in 2019.

Additionally, all of that personal growth that occurred (or didn't occur, as I wonder if I've really matured all that much sometimes) on here would've occurred 5 years earlier on in my life, and I'd also probably have come to the realization that my dad (whom I idolized for much of my life, ironically) was standing in the way of me pursuing my happiness, and that I needed to (and still need to) find some way to free myself from my current situation.
(There's no sense in dwelling on it though, I suppose.)”

From my 3rd Member Appreciation Day blog.

“Having finally seen what Discord is actually like for myself, this is what I can say about it now:

Discord (like Paint, Social Cu.be, Social Neko, and 3DSPlaza) is a cool website, with lots of wonderful people on it, and many different servers devoted to all manner of interesting subjects, such as gaming, anime, art, and many more.

All that being said, as cool as Discord is, much of what is done on Discord (such as sending public messages in different shoutboxes channels, and sending DMs to specific individuals) is also able to be done right here on Paint, and there are many features that Paint and Social Cu.be have that Discord doesn't.

By no means is this intended as a criticism of Discord (although it is certainly rather laggy and glitchy on the older devices that can actually run it, like this tablet), but rather as an acknowledgement that Paint and Social Cu.be aren't inferior to Discord or anything, nor are they inferior to any other mainstream social media websites, and that (unlike most of those other websites) Paint and Social Cu.be work well in almost all devices' web browsers, they don't collect your personal information or "metadata" to sell to advertisers and/or the government, they don't censor people based on their political views, and aside from just talking to other people (which can be done almost anywhere), they allow people like myself and countless others to engage in a variety of creative hobbies, such as writing blogs, drawing pictures, and coding.
(Which is why it's kinda sad that so many former Paint members have left in recent years, only to wind up talking to the same people about the same things that they did on here, but on the SDK and RD Discord servers instead.)

Of course, getting back in touch with so many former Paint members is without a doubt one of the best things (if not the best thing) to happen to me this year, and it also has enabled me to (FINALLY) battle some of my friends from here on Paint on Pokémon Showdown! ”

From my 3rd Paint anniversary blog.

“When I first came here to Paint back in 2019, Pokémon was pretty much the only game I was playing at the time, not because I am obsessed with Pokémon (although I most certainly am), but because every game system here other than my DS Lite and my 2DS was inaccessible and/or broken at that time, which (combined with a lack of DS and 3DS games that weren't Pokémon here) literally meant the only things that I could play were my various handheld Pokémon games and my copy of MySims Racing for the DS, and when my 2DS broke in 2020 it limited my options even more.
(And things have more or less stayed that way ever since then.)

Given how playing video games was always one of the only things that I was ever actually allowed to do in life for enjoyment, it should come as a surprise to nobody here that I have been trying to fill the void created in my life by my newfound inability to play video games by spending more time online here, and while this has actually been the case since I first got here in 2019 to a certain degree, my 2DS breaking in 2020 only made me want to spend time doing things online here even more, while simultaneously making it much harder for me to do so.
(Thank God my dad lets me use his tablet to get online now.)

It is not an exaggeration to say that I spend almost all of my time offline thinking about what I am going to do the next time that I am online, and that the time that I spend here, on Social Cu.be, on Discord, and on Pokémon Showdown are the only things that I look forward to each day.

The Gen 9 Pokémon games Scarlet and Violet Versions (which look REALLY cool BTW) have already been announced, and despite the fact that I actually had the latest Pokémon games when I first came here back in April of 2019 (by which I mean Pokémon Ultra Moon Version), I am soon going to be not 1, but 2 generations behind many of my fellow Pokémon fans here, and since Pokémon is pretty much the only thing that I've been able to play for the past few years, I truly do feel left out of everything most of the time, even more than I did back in 2019.
(And I didn't even mention my mother dying 2 months ago yet. My life SUCKS!)”

From my 23rd Pokémon anniversary blog.

“Because of how miserable I have been feeling lately, it has been harder for me to be as excited about Member Appreciation Day as I have in years past, but I refuse to let my recent misfortune keep me down, and while a lot of bad things have happened this year, so too have many good things, all of which I (directly or indirectly) have y'all here on Paint to thank for.

I had my first battles on Pokémon Showdown this year, and (thanks to GuiedGui) I was able to create an account on Discord, and I now even have a Discord server of my own.

Additionally, I am now both a blogmin and pollmin here on Paint, and while I haven't been able to do much with my admin privileges yet, I see me being given these as a good sign that I (and Paint) have a bright future ahead of us, no matter how murky the water in this fishbowl might seem RN. ”

From my 4th Member Appreciation Day blog.

“The best thing to happen to me this past year would most certainly be being given blogmin and pollmin privileges last July, something that was only possible thanks to the overwhelming support that I had received from y'all, especially from my good friend Siling-La.

Although my complicated RL situation has obviously severely limited my ability to do so, being able to ensure that people's blogs and polls get featured in a timely manner (sometimes less than a minute after they've been submitted) whenever I'm able to get online is something that I truly enjoy being able to do, and if/when I am able to get online regularly in the future like the rest of y'all, y'all can expect this to become the norm.
(Hopefully that will happen sometime soon.)

Aside from being made a blogmin and pollmin, there were a number of other good things that happened to me online over the course of this past year.

Although it ultimately didn't happen due to various complications regarding scheduling and timezones among other things, I was FINALLY able to attempt to hold that Pokémon Showdown tournament that I had been wanting to hold since 2019, and provided that I can find more Pokémon players here who are both willing and able to participate, and work out a time and date that works for everyone (or more likely, almost everyone) involved, I plan on attempting to hold one sometime this year as well.

I was also able to (sort of) revive the Member Appreciation Day celebrations last year, and I am quite confident that I'll be able to ensure that this year's Member Appreciation Day will be far more impressive than any since 2019's, especially since I plan on getting a much earlier start this year, lol!
(The chatroom event last year would've actually happened if it weren't for me trying to get everything together at the last minute, BTW.)”

From my 4th Paint anniversary blog.

“Although I still hope to get this issue resolved eventually, my ever-complicated RL situation makes this far more difficult than it otherwise would be, and it has also (so far) even complicated my ability to battle on Pokémon Showdown when I want to, as well as my ability to do things here on Paint.
(Even things as simple as featuring blogs and polls, which could easily be done by me simply taking a few minutes to pop online and check for new submissions a few times a day.)

I still plan on getting most of these issues resolved one way or another before Member Appreciation Day this year, but I also have many RL obligations to my family, and so in the interest of fulfilling those, I will try to exercise more patience with regards to pursuing my own personal goals, here on Paint or IRL.
(Because like most of y'all here, I love my family a great deal, and they need me IRL RN.)

Although this may seem a bit random, I would also like to reiterate a point that I had made in my 3rd Member Appreciation Day blog here:

“…Growing up isn't about being forced to give up the things that you loved as a kid, it's about getting to do all of the things that you had always wanted to do as a kid, but were never allowed to do.”


Aside from wanting to start a family of my own some day, this is the only reason that I have any desire whatsoever to exercise more freedom and independence as an adult, and while some people might dismiss my love of things like video games (especially E-rated games like Pokémon) as being "childish", I don't particularly care what those people think of me, and God Himself gave me the right to pursue whatever it is in life that brings me happiness, and it just so happens that what brings me happiness in life is video games, just as they have for over 25 years now.
(That's right, I've been a gamer since I was just 3 years old, lol!)
”

From my 24th Pokémon anniversary blog.

---

Draconid_Jo's Message to the other admins

---

“IK that I've criticized most of y'all a lot in the past, trying to get y'all to deal with all sorts of problems here on Paint that y'all just ain't interested in dealing with, but you know what? I'm done with all of that from now on.

I'd like to apologize to all of you (especially Nikki) for being so dang argumentative all the time, and quite frankly, I've grown just as sick and tired of it as the rest of y'all probably were a long time ago.

Each and every one of you has done a great deal for Paint over the years, and while I'd obviously still prefer if y'all played a more active role in the community here (rather than just chasing after rulebreakers constantly), at the end of the day that doesn't really matter, so long as people's blogs and polls are consistently getting featured in a timely manner (which is my own responsibility as a blogmin/pollmin), and those who want to feel comfortable enough spending time here on Paint.
(Although I most certainly appreciate Iblis being able to feature blogs and polls when I'm not around to now.)

Without Angela around to maintain order, IDK what the future holds for the adminship of Paint (or the SDKPaint Community Discord server for that matter), and since none of my efforts to push for changes have yielded any positive results anyway, I'm instead going to focus on doing things here myself that IK will actually make a difference to the community, such as what I'm doing now by bringing back Member Appreciation Day and the SDK Quilt.

Anyway, thanks for everything that y'all have done (and continue to do) for Paint. To try to make up all of my whining and complaining in the not-so distant past, I figured the least that I can do is give y'all a heartfelt apology and say "thank you". ”

---

Draconid_Jo's Message to the Members of the SDKPaint Community Discord Server

---

“Firstly, I'd like to thank y'all for the kindness that y'all showed to my BFF UwUQueen when she decided to pop in over there before.
(Both times.)

Anyway, I'd like y'all to read what Angela said in her 2019 Member Appreciation Day message to her fellow veteran Paint members, a group which includes most of y'all in it:

To members 2012 and prior:
Hard to believe I've known you and this site for almost a decade. We may not know each other personally close but we've seen everything good and bad about this site. The site has improved slowly over the years but it can do better. As long time veterans of this community, it is our job to offer our years of insight to Hull to continue the site for many years to come. Hopefully, we can one day rival popular gaming sites.

Although IDK if Angela still felt the same way that she did back in 2019 later on in her life, she truly believed back then that Paint could "one day rival popular gaming sites", and I personally share this belief.

Fortunately every single person counts with things like this, and so if you want to try to restore the Paint of yesteryear that y'all remember so fondly, or if (like me, or Angela when she wrote that message) you would like to guide Paint towards a brighter future, then the first thing that you can do is try to be an active member of the community here, just like y'all are over on the Discord server.

I understand that the overwhelming majority of you will obviously not want to do this, preferring to leave Paint's golden era as a fond memory for you to carry with you for the rest of your lives (and there's nothing wrong with that), but for those of you who continue to pay attention to events on Paint and who (for whatever reason) don't like what is happening to it RN due to some of the newer members here, please know that the only realistic way of changing the direction that Paint is going in is by trying to refill the void that was created by y'all leaving Paint in the first place, as no amount of permabanning newer members (however mischievous they might be at times) is going to make Paint the way that it was in the past.
(All that will accomplish is ensuring that Paint has no future at all.)

Anyway, enough of my usual preaching of the gospel of Paint, lol!
(It's a bad habit of mine.)

I'd like to thank y'all for all of the contributions that y'all have made to Paint over the years, and how you continue to be a vibrant community over on the Discord server, even if most of y'all have moved on from Paint itself. ”

From my 5th Member Appreciation Day blog.

—Joshua L. Belcher, AKA “Draconid Joashu”.