>>43058081/padt/ has never been representative of the Anipoke fanbase as a whole. /padt/'s core demographic (at least during the XY days) was composed of ex-Serebii/Bulbagarden posters, a (primarily oldfag-dominated) demographic that had long wanted a more "mature" or sakuga series (hence why XY was so well-received here). By contrast, the Pokemon anime fanbase these days generally doesn't care too much about those things, they prefer battles and other stuff related to Pokemon activities. They also tend to care a lot about characters and personalities, which could explain why both Serena and Lillie were quite popular on Twitter. It might also explain why SM as better received on places like Twitter, unlike the reception it got here on /padt/ or other oldfag-dominated sites like Serebii and Bulbagarden.
If you want to see what the typical Anipoke fanbase looks like these days, places like Facebook and Twitter are a better representation these days. Forums and their offshoots like /padt/ are mostly a remnant of a pre-social media era.
