Well, for starters, my name is Tyler. I’m 25, and new to the sport. I picked up some interest in yoyos while in my balisong hobby( butterfly knife or balisong flipping)… For some reason or another I ran into some yoyo vids and found myself here. About a week ago I bought a yomega heavy wing and started playing, needless to say, I am in love. Can’t wait to learn and grow as a player, and hope to have some videos soon.
Welcome!
Sweet! I just landed the trick Cold Fusion and I started this month =D
There are so many new members, this is great! Let me just say to the new ones…
WELCOME ONE AND ALL!
Im PJ I play mainly 1a and have been yoyoing for about 4years off and on,looking to start practicing for real againand dabble in 5a.I live on the treasure coast of Florida if anyone ever wants to meet up. 
Hello friends! My name is Angel, and I have started yoyoing quite recently( January-ish 2015), and it has now become my new hobby! My yoyos are: F.A.S.T 201 ( first yoyo), Velocity ( friend broke it , 
) and the Shutter(fav throw). Ive tried other yoyos but not many and Im hoping to become a good yoyoer. Thats basically my story!
Hey I’m Connor. I’ve been throwing for about two months now. I have two Duncan butterflies, a magic n11, a too hot, a shutter, a benchmark w, and a vk slushy. Also I used to have a weed minute but it got cross threaded so bad it couldn’t be fixed… Anyways, I love yoyoing!
Hi. My name is Tobi. I’ve just had an unpleasant experience with the yoyo community-- the Facebook BST and talk group in particular-- and I want to introduce myself properly.
Before I begin, I want to use as neutral language as possible. I dislike internet drama as much as the next person. I find it trite and senseless, but I won’t be able to sleep tonight unless I get some things off my chest. Explaining why we throw is a tradition in this community, right?
I started throwing recently in December when I was hired for a temporary position at the SuperYo warehouse in Washington state (now know as All4Kidz and the NED show). Around the time I finished my work at SuperYo in March, one of my close friends introduced me to unresponsive yoyo’s (the OD Rally to be specific). I was immediately hooked.
It is no hyperbole when I say the past 3 years of my life have been traumatic. In yoyo’s I finally found something to look forward to everyday and at /r/throwers on reddit.com, I found a small group of strangers who were kind to me for the first time in years.
The reason I frequent reddit.com is central to my trauma. In July 2012, the girl who I loved and had lived with for about a year, Meagan, went missing. After a day of intense searching, it was through reddit.com-- a website I’d never visited before then-- that I learned of her fate.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/wldt9/i_recently_witnessed_a_disturbing_death_did/
Long story short, I lost the person I cared the most about-- the only person I worked to protect everyday-- to suicide, and to top it all off, I had to learn of her fate in the most public way I can imagine: the front page of reddit. I lost the love of my life, my sanity, and ultimately my job.
In yoyo’s and /r/throwers, I finally found an activity and place that didn’t remind me of Meagan. Something to clear my head of her death, the guilt, and the burden of remembering her life. Honestly I want to go into children’s psychiatry to publish papers on the therapeutic value of yoyo’s someday.
I’ve spent the last 2 or so months, trying to create an inclusive environment as possible in the yoyo community. I’ve helped a dozen or so people on /r/throwers pick out their first unresponsive yoyo. I’ve painstakingly explained to new-comers how to replace their string and clean their bearings (it’s SO hard to explain with words over the internet). I’ve started a hashtag on instagram in an effort to encourage new and intermediate throwers to share in the joy of throwing and to show that there are creative and fun moves that a new thrower can discover and claim as their own. I spend Wednesday nights trying to imagine new elements worth showing to /r/throwers!
Then, to be banned from the Facebook BST by Connor Vranizan, without so much as a warning-- with the accusation that I am creating “an inhospitable environment for new-comers and outsiders”-- was a painful, personal insult to the effort and time I’d invested into the internet yoyo community.
I had made a couple comments to Pika Dilly Vue, a thrower who started around the same time as me, in jest. I told him that he was “the future yoyo world champion in the making”, that he should refrain from posting too many videos of his tricks because “people like Takeshi Matsuura might steal [his] tricks”, and playfully mimicked is online mannerisms. Honestly, it was the most fun I’ve had on the Facebook BST and would have been a wonderfully sweet memory if I hadn’t been banned by Connor for it. I wouldn’t have made my comments if it were not clear from several post over multiple months that Pika Dilly Vue enjoyed the playful jest and silly discussion poking fun at each other.
Before people tell me I need therapy, I need to say I’ve tried it and it was a trainwreck. Honestly, I’m doing much better now. I have an interview for new position as an associate scientist at a major pharmaceutical company in Seattle next week and I am applying to med school this fall.
Nor do I want to become a charity case. Don’t be starting gofundme’s for me. There is something I do want, though.
I respectfully ask for a public apology by Connor Vranizan. I want to feel like I can express myself in the yoyo community without reprimand. I want that feeling of belonging that was so precious to me-- that feeling of belonging that was SO TORTUOUSLY BRIEF. I want to hear it. I want to hear that Connor regrets his actions, however trite it may feel to him or anyone else. I want him to admit he lost sight of what yoyo’s are: a toy. A yoyo is a toy made to encourage playfulness and jest above all, and to reprimand me for being playful was wrong.
Wow! That is really disheartening to hear. I have lost a truly close friend as well, we were like brothers. Childhood friends. He didn’t commit suicide, but I heard what happen to him over a man messenger chat. So I feel for you there. I also have kidney failure and yoyoing is an amazing help to me. I bet it has helped you just the same. If you spent so much time into the community and making it better for others than the person that banned you sure was wrong to do so. But remember one person can’t stop you. Make your own yoyo page and such on facebook. Continue your contributes with your will and desire. Maybe you’ll get that apology when you least suspect it. Good luck!
Hello there, my name is Lemon and I finally decided to join the forums since all I pretty much do now is throw. Now I’ll be making my way over to the BST thread.
New guy here from St. Louis MO! Ive been throwing off and on for years and finally decided to join the message boards! I have a small collection of about 25 yo’s and I play with them whenever I can. Just wanted to say hello and get my first post out of the way!
hi
I have been yoyoing for a couple of months
Welcome to YoYoExpert forums. Take a look a around. Enjoy yourself. Relax, pull up a chair and a cup of tea. There is ton of information you will find here and will want to read. See you around the forums
Hello. My name’s Jaey, and I want to be able to get back into yo-yo. I’ve never really been able to do any tricks, other than a long sleeper, and I want to get back into it, but I lack a yo-yo. I’ve always wanted a Fireball yo-yo to start out, hence my username. I hope to obtain this sort of yo-yo or any other good yo-yo to start out on, but that’s unlikely…
The yomega fireball is an ok yoyo. Every one usually recommends the Yyj classic. As it is a great starter yoyo. Welcome to the forums and hopefully you’ll learn alot while your here.
Danke. Hopefully, I will.
Hey my name is Johnny I’m only 14 and I’ve been throwing for about 4 weeks now… I have been to only 1 yoyo meet and it was the best time I’d ever had in my whole life. my favorite yoyo is the YYF Dv888 and my favorite trick is candy rain followed by white Buddha. I’m hoping to meet new people and learn new tricks.
just moved back to DFW in TX HMU if youre down to meet and throw. im also always looking for new throws and tips. nice to meet you all have a great 4th of july!!
Hey Johnny. I’m Colby. I’ve yo yoing for 4 months now, been going to yo yo meetings since. And I can’t even do candy rain and white Buddha. Keep at what your doing. Sounds like your having tons of fun and learning some tough tricks pretty quick. Also welcome to forums. Enjoy yourself here. Lots of nice and friendly people. If you ever have any questions that you can’t find the answer to here on the threads. Than feel free to post a topic to ask. Again. Welcome to the community and hope you have a great time.
Hello 
My name is Caleb and I have been yoyoing for a while.
I started a couple years back when I picked up a Duncan butterfly. I learned how to do some of the basic tricks like sleeper, walk the dog, and rock the baby. I recently got back into the hobby a couple months back because some friends from church showed me some cool looking string tricks. I eventually started picking up this hobby and went to some meets in my area. I also like trying out new yoyos and learning new tricks. I enjoy this hobby and I will continue to have fun in the yoyoing community.