The PokéMasters

Not to be confused with Pokémon Masters.

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The PokéMasters
The PokéMasters logo
Language	English
Status	Active
Run	1998 - Present
Date opened	1998
Creator	Pokemaster Kevin
Current owner	{{{owner}}}
Forum	The PokéMasters Forums
Mascot	{{{mascot}}}
Website	Main page

The PokéMasters (commonly referred to as TPM) is a fan site owned and run by Pokemaster Kevin, and hugely helped by admins Little Pikachu and Lady Vulpix, who run the forums, and moderators Jeff and Telume. It was, at one time, one of the most popular Pokémon fan sites. While the main site has gone down multiple times, the forums have existed continuously since March 24, 2000. A strong staff and solid group of regulars keep the forums going with continuous influxes of new members.

Together with Universal Pokémon Network, Pokémon Abode and Bulbagarden, The PokéMasters formed a partnership known as the Anti-Spammer Alliance from 1999-2000. After the dissolution of these websites' original communities, the group became retroactively known as the Big Four, as they were generally considered to be the largest, most active, and best ran Pokémon forums of their day.

History

The PokéMasters site was started in 1998, and the forums (powered by UBB 5) opened in March 2000. The site was highly successful and the forums also incredibly active. The main site was closed in November 2001, although the forums continued to exist. Unfortunately, ever-increasing bandwidth costs crippled the site in 2002. Having to switch registration on and off and asking for donations, TPM finally went down.

The forums were later restarted on ezboard, which was a heavy blow to the community. Coming back from that loss in late 2002, the forums and site were started again, but without as much of the bravado and sway that it once held.

The PokéMasters forums became the site's main hub of activity, and although many members had become indifferent to Pokémon, they stayed simply to socialize with each other.

The second Pokémasters site went down in 2005, and after that, the possibility of a return became a recurring discussion on the forums, but was difficult with webmaster Kevin being inactive at the time. In October 2008, an effort to revive the PokéMasters main site began. The third site was launched on June 19, 2009. Originally operating under a temporary domain, pokemasters.tk, the site later switched to its new permanent domain, www.thepokemasters.net, with the forums remaining at www.pokemasters.net. This third iteration of the site was largely run by moderators Jeff and Telume, and was been helped by contributions from various other forum members. The site was plagued by downtime during this time, but continued to operate on and off until Kevin returned and relaunched the main site in 2013.

Webmaster

Pokemaster Kevin, is TPM's webmaster. He is commonly referred to jokingly as The Cookie Monster, in reference to an old incident regarding Oreos. He attended Ohio State University majoring in Computer Information and Sciences.

References

This article is a part of Project Fandom, a Bulbapedia Project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every aspect of the Pokémon Fandom.