Activity - and what we're going to do to change it

[StarlightSerenity]

The threads only get locked because they're normally against the rules, you'll find most of them are just people asking us to build the team for them. We're only here to help and suggest, not build it for you. The one's that are moves are just in the wrong section, if it's for an In-game team, it should go in the In-game forum. It's not really that hard. Starting a conversation really doesn't relate to this? <_<; Just go on a person's profile that you want to get to know and just hit them up. :3 Simple. Posting in the right forum isn't that hard either, you're not gonna make a "Best feature about Black and White" in the Heartgold and Soulsilver forum are you?

As I stated my post was just a simple generalisation for how I personally feel regarding the whole forum.

I know exactly what you mean regarding people posting pointless threads, or threads in the wrong place and what needs to be done with those but I've honestly never seen it quite so bad on any other forum I've been a member of. Maybe its the genre or the memberbase... The other forums I go on tend to be geared towards the older generation. But, this countless number of locked threads and the thread redirects that get created when a thread is moved puts me off of posting new threads myself.

When I said conversation I was merely refering to different types of threads - including the "conversational" ones, I apologise for not making myself clear. It has nothing to do with the topic of this thread, just the way I worded my post. I wasn't refering to threads made for specific people that should be conducted via PM or VM.

Regarding the specific S&M forum and its activity - I honestly don't understand why its not busier as it's must be extemely useful for some. There are two reasons why I personaly dont use it - I dont feel the need to as I get on in battles quite well, secondly I dont want to go posting a thread only to get "feedback" along the lines of "Your team sucks".

 

[Zelda]

I'd probably say I'd be more active in this board when the tutoring program comes out, since I don't really know much about building teams, rating teams, or a majority of the competitive system. The basics are only what I really know and until then, there isn't much of a point for me to post here when I wouldn't know what half the people are saying or what they mean on certain terms of battling. Though once the tutoring program is out, I'd be on summer vacation by then and thus, have more time to learn from it.

I don't find anyone intimidating, especially since I've gotten to know most regulars here from PO. Plus there are the battlers I've had been talking to since I joined PC or a little after like Wolflare, Spinosaurus and TwilightBlade. That isn't a problem here for me, and I'd expect with the tutoring program, we'd get to know the people here more a bit better with that.

 

[Ooka]

But if you notice, you're a moderator, which is confidence in itself in my opinion, as well as two of the people you talked to. :P

That aside, though, I think that the problem with users not posting is as StarlightSerenity said, the rules on PC can get strict, and some people are really trying to avoid Infractions, and I've gotten two infractions from the S&M section myself, one of which was reversed, and the other was for offtopic, which was ridiculous because I was only asking how to download a program. :P

But I got off-topic a bit, what I'm really trying to say is I don't think it's any one section, I just think the entire community is losing activity due to rules and crashes. But that's just me speculating.

 

[OneofFour]

Anyway, I'm trying to be as active as I can in S&M, I post threads from time to time and post around quite a bit, mostly I post in the questions thread, giving advice, and giving out moveset's. <3 The S&M is quite a hard to place to deal with because it can't run events. ;; Since they're ran in the battle stadium, maybe combine S&M and the Battle Stadium? Idk.

First off, I would agree with this. Make competitive pokemon, whether actual battles or theorymonning, one forum. The two share the same ends.

Secondly, about the intimidation stuff. I just recently joined this forum when B&W were released, because I had a friend who said there were tournaments and battles run here, and that it was pretty active. Never did he mention any intimidation, so I wonder if that is sort of an invented problem? Generation four was at its end, naturally activity would go down, I think. Also, this is a competitive forum, I don't understand why it wouldn't feel a little intimidating just from its nature; people posting here should not be scared of criticism, as there's probably a little truth in every post. If someone posts "electric/metagame weak 2/10 this team sux", perhaps that seems a bit offputting, but to me it looks like it's getting to the core of an issue (namely, getting rolled by Raichu). I get that it's not directly contributing by recommending some ground pokemon or maybe something with Lightningrod, or the ever-infuriating Ferrothorn, but at least it is pointing out a flaw.

If there's any intimidation issue, I think its a problem with using pokemon below UU, and sometimes below OU, on a team. I find the most common complaint about teams, across forums, is that Pokemon A outclasses Pokemon B, or worse, merely that Pokemon B is not good. That's fine, and it can be helpful advice, but chances are if the person is setting up a competitive team, they knew about Pokemon A, but chose B anyways. However, too many people see the OP using B, and seem to obsess on that, and forget that probably the OP just likes Pokemon B, and that's really all there is to it, and no amount of theorymonning will change their mind. Its a symptom of tiering, and loses sight of the "have fun" aspect of gaming. I use Empoleon, I use Magmortar; they are fun for me to use, I like their designs, and they are unexpected for most people (though admittedly not hard to deal with), and nothing is going to change my mind about using them more often than not.

This gets back to the team of 6 delibirds; I think people don't post that team not because they are afraid of someone saying it sucks (they probably already know that), but because they know it won't get any discussion of merit. Instead of saying "Braviary outclasses Delibird," and leaving it at that, the question should be what is Delibird really capable of (maybe a rapid spin, fake out, status set?), ignoring the problems with species clause.

If there's a problem with *****ing about hax, then that is a problem with individual users, and sore losers, and nothing will change that. Good teams will be at least somewhat resilient to luck, and if you lose anyways on a series of 6 crits, it just was not meant to happen. Being able to DC on wifi with no punishment bothers me for the same reason: Pokemon more than most games makes luck a factor, and then does nothing to show the player that it is unacceptable to try and prevent it. The game should open with a battle against your rival where he always crits, or you always flinch, or something, and you can challenge him over and over and the same thing will always happen, until you give up, and the scene ends with the professor saying something along the lines of, "Well, that's Pokemon!"

Anyways,these are just some thoughts. Mostly though, I throw in my support for what dragon suggests, I think if you just combine the two forums, you'll see an increase in activity for both, because the two drive each other.

 

[Vrai]

Hahaha, I dodged that shizz :p

Ahhh you too! I just named all of the ones off the top of my head, okay? >:<

I'll see what I can do. I tend to vanish a lot because college is pretty intense, in terms of work load. But it's summer now, so I should be able to hang around and contribute to the community.

That's okay. We have a lot of people trying to deal with college, too. As long as you're here to help out a little that'd be wonderful! 8D

The threads only get locked because they're normally against the rules, you'll find most of them are just people asking us to build the team for them. We're only here to help and suggest, not build it for you. The one's that are moves are just in the wrong section, if it's for an In-game team, it should go in the In-game forum. It's not really that hard. Starting a conversation really doesn't relate to this? <_<; Just go on a person's profile that you want to get to know and just hit them up. :3 Simple. Posting in the right forum isn't that hard either, you're not gonna make a "Best feature about Black and White" in the Heartgold and Soulsilver forum are you?

Anyway, I'm trying to be as active as I can in S&M, I post threads from time to time and post around quite a bit, mostly I post in the questions thread, giving advice, and giving out moveset's. <3 The S&M is quite a hard to place to deal with because it can't run events. ;; Since they're ran in the battle stadium, maybe combine S&M and the Battle Stadium? Idk.

When I first started posting in here, I was really intimidated. <_< I was terrified of D_A & Syndrome mostly. :x But if people are complaining about us S&M'ers being intimidating, they should get to know us, and find out that we are just like any other person. :3 Idek what I'm saying now. haha. n__n; But now this place is like a new home! :3 go me

To boost activity I suggest advertising PO at any chance you get, it brings people to the PC server and then we can show them how nice we are. n____n; then tell them to go to S&M.

Just my two cents. :3

We do need to get people to come to PO since it's the social background of this forum. It's very generally when people start going there that they begin being an active battler. Combining S&M and the Battle Stadium would be... well, it's in with Trade Corner because, welll, they're both WiFi-related? I dunno.

...Actually, I think that there's a lot of merit to that idea. Both Battle Stadium and S&M are pretty bad as far as activity and honestly they're probably the two most related boards that aren't subforums of each other on PC. It's something worth debating about. -pokes staff-

Regarding the specific S&M forum and its activity - I honestly don't understand why its not busier as it's must be extemely useful for some. There are two reasons why I personaly dont use it - I dont feel the need to as I get on in battles quite well, secondly I dont want to go posting a thread only to get "feedback" along the lines of "Your team sucks".

@ the S&M specific part: Right. We'd like to avoid things like "Your team sucks". That's why I posted this thread, after all. That notion that you could even have your team rated to a degree that you personally are insulted shouldn't be in anyone's heads. We don't want to be seen as a bunch of asses, we want to be "oh those guys that helped me get a good team together". And it's perfectly fine if you don't want to be a part of competitive battling - nothing's forcing you to be here! We just want to keep the people who do have an interest. :)

I'd probably say I'd be more active in this board when the tutoring program comes out, since I don't really know much about building teams, rating teams, or a majority of the competitive system. The basics are only what I really know and until then, there isn't much of a point for me to post here when I wouldn't know what half the people are saying or what they mean on certain terms of battling. Though once the tutoring program is out, I'd be on summer vacation by then and thus, have more time to learn from it.

I don't find anyone intimidating, especially since I've gotten to know most regulars here from PO. Plus there are the battlers I've had been talking to since I joined PC or a little after like Wolflare, Spinosaurus and TwilightBlade. That isn't a problem here for me, and I'd expect with the tutoring program, we'd get to know the people here more a bit better with that.

Yep. I would like for us to have a more inviting forum when that does happen, but hopefully the biggest jump in activity will happen when we've got the tutoring up and running. YOU'LL BE MODERATELY ACTIVE THEN OKAY.

But if you notice, you're a moderator, which is confidence in itself in my opinion, as well as two of the people you talked to. :P

That aside, though, I think that the problem with users not posting is as StarlightSerenity said, the rules on PC can get strict, and some people are really trying to avoid Infractions, and I've gotten two infractions from the S&M section myself, one of which was reversed, and the other was for offtopic, which was ridiculous because I was only asking how to download a program. :P

But I got off-topic a bit, what I'm really trying to say is I don't think it's any one section, I just think the entire community is losing activity due to rules and crashes. But that's just me speculating.

We're only concerned about S&M here right now, though. Let's not move this into PC in general - that's something that we can talk about some other time. S&M is the priority of this thread. :)

First off, I would agree with this. Make competitive pokemon, whether actual battles or theorymonning, one forum. The two share the same ends.

Secondly, about the intimidation stuff. I just recently joined this forum when B&W were released, because I had a friend who said there were tournaments and battles run here, and that it was pretty active. Never did he mention any intimidation, so I wonder if that is sort of an invented problem? Generation four was at its end, naturally activity would go down, I think. Also, this is a competitive forum, I don't understand why it wouldn't feel a little intimidating just from its nature; people posting here should not be scared of criticism, as there's probably a little truth in every post. If someone posts "electric/metagame weak 2/10 this team sux", perhaps that seems a bit offputting, but to me it looks like it's getting to the core of an issue (namely, getting rolled by Raichu). I get that it's not directly contributing by recommending some ground pokemon or maybe something with Lightningrod, or the ever-infuriating Ferrothorn, but at least it is pointing out a flaw.

If there's any intimidation issue, I think its a problem with using pokemon below UU, and sometimes below OU, on a team. I find the most common complaint about teams, across forums, is that Pokemon A outclasses Pokemon B, or worse, merely that Pokemon B is not good. That's fine, and it can be helpful advice, but chances are if the person is setting up a competitive team, they knew about Pokemon A, but chose B anyways. However, too many people see the OP using B, and seem to obsess on that, and forget that probably the OP just likes Pokemon B, and that's really all there is to it, and no amount of theorymonning will change their mind. Its a symptom of tiering, and loses sight of the "have fun" aspect of gaming. I use Empoleon, I use Magmortar; they are fun for me to use, I like their designs, and they are unexpected for most people (though admittedly not hard to deal with), and nothing is going to change my mind about using them more often than not.

This gets back to the team of 6 delibirds; I think people don't post that team not because they are afraid of someone saying it sucks (they probably already know that), but because they know it won't get any discussion of merit. Instead of saying "Braviary outclasses Delibird," and leaving it at that, the question should be what is Delibird really capable of (maybe a rapid spin, fake out, status set?), ignoring the problems with species clause.

If there's a problem with *****ing about hax, then that is a problem with individual users, and sore losers, and nothing will change that. Good teams will be at least somewhat resilient to luck, and if you lose anyways on a series of 6 crits, it just was not meant to happen. Being able to DC on wifi with no punishment bothers me for the same reason: Pokemon more than most games makes luck a factor, and then does nothing to show the player that it is unacceptable to try and prevent it. The game should open with a battle against your rival where he always crits, or you always flinch, or something, and you can challenge him over and over and the same thing will always happen, until you give up, and the scene ends with the professor saying something along the lines of, "Well, that's Pokemon!"

Anyways,these are just some thoughts. Mostly though, I throw in my support for what dragon suggests, I think if you just combine the two forums, you'll see an increase in activity for both, because the two drive each other.

I think you're assuming that the people that come here are high-level thinkers. Yeah, they're not stupid, but if they realized that their team was bad enough to not have any discussion of merit then they'd probably be intelligent enough to fix those simplistic problems on their own, ya? A team of six Delibird is a drastic example, too - people aren't that stupid. You're also assuming that people wouldn't take any offense from a rate like that; yes, you're right, they shouldn't but people do. It's the fear of "oh people are just going to tell me I suck so why bother". We want to eliminate that thought.

And Anti... don't worry. Things are going to change. I will guarantee it.

 

[Anti]

But if you notice, you're a moderator, which is confidence in itself in my opinion, as well as two of the people you talked to. :P

That aside, though, I think that the problem with users not posting is as StarlightSerenity said, the rules on PC can get strict, and some people are really trying to avoid Infractions, and I've gotten two infractions from the S&M section myself, one of which was reversed, and the other was for offtopic, which was ridiculous because I was only asking how to download a program. :P

But I got off-topic a bit, what I'm really trying to say is I don't think it's any one section, I just think the entire community is losing activity due to rules and crashes. But that's just me speculating.

Eh, I could have sworn I reversed that second infraction...either way it has probably expired now and that was a loooooong time ago when I was new/very bad at modding. I mean yeah, that was a mistake (I misunderstood your post), but that being said it was a long time ago and none of us have really enforced the rules in any kind of strict way at all in a long time (basically every change we've made with regard to the rules for the past year or two has been to loosen things up) so it's probably best to move on etc. I don't really think the rules are a problem at all, especially given how the enforcement is about as loose as it can get. We do need to update the Shoddy/PO rules which are outdated though they are kind of an emblem of the issues with old S&M, but we don't really enforce either.


As far as merging Battle Stadium and S&M, I've always thought of Stadium as the WiFi Board with clans and battle threads etc. and that they are just totally different, but that is an old school way of thinking. Since you poked staff and that is indeed me I felt obligated to respond but I mean, I just don't know enough stadium to really say. Wolf is probably the most knowledgeable about that.

 

[Vrai]

As far as merging Battle Stadium and S&M, I've always thought of Stadium as the WiFi Board with clans and battle threads etc. and that they are just totally different, but that is an old school way of thinking. Since you poked staff and that is indeed me I felt obligated to respond but I mean, I just don't know enough stadium to really say. Wolf is probably the most knowledgeable about that.

I suppose the question is which one the Battle Stadium fits more fluently under; S&M or Wifi. Like, Battle Stadium is inherently competitive in nature, all the way through, whereas it's only partly Wifi... but at the same time, those Wifi battlers will be looking in the Wifi section to figure out where to go to battle. My guess is that it would remain with Wifi if only because that's where everyone will look to find it and apparently a lot of people battle through Wifi though I've heard the contrary. I'd very much like to see the Battle Stadium become an amendment to S&M because really, it would be fantastic for the activity of both but taking it from the H-staff's perspective I honestly think it's going to stay put for now. :/

 

[Calamity]

Just an idea that popped into my head right now, don't know how this will go down, but howabout instead of merging Battle Stadium with S&M a somewhat.. Mini Battle stadium thread gets placed in S&M.

(Think boot camp on COD online, where you can try out and then when you think your good enough you start playing with the big boys)

It could be like a 'Test out your new team' thread where new people and regulars alike can request just a friendly battle to test new teams, and maybe give CC to eachother afterwards. This is just an idea though, I know theres the request a battle thread aswell but thats not exactly bustling with activity really atm though.

 

[Perriechu]

Just an idea that popped into my head right now, don't know how this will go down, but howabout instead of merging Battle Stadium with S&M a somewhat.. Mini Battle stadium thread gets placed in S&M.

(Think boot camp on COD online, where you can try out and then when you think your good enough you start playing with the big boys)

It could be like a 'Test out your new team' thread where new people and regulars alike can request just a friendly battle to test new teams, and maybe give CC to eachother afterwards. This is just an idea though, I know theres the request a battle thread aswell but thats not exactly bustling with activity really atm though.

Testing out new teams and such is what the Quick battle thread is for. \: There's no point in making a "mini" battle stadium, because the one we already have isn't active, it'll just create clutter, and fill up S&M with "BATTLE ME PL0X NO UBERS"

 

[Vrai]

Testing out new teams and such is what the Quick battle thread is for. \: There's no point in making a "mini" battle stadium, because the one we already have isn't active, it'll just create clutter, and fill up S&M with "BATTLE ME PL0X NO UBERS"

Besides, placing a third thing like that will detract from both the activity S&M and Battle Stadium get. It'll hurt more than it'll help. The argument isn't that we want aspects of the Stadium in S&M; it's that both the activity for S&M and Stadium are pretty bad and if we put them both together, activity will hopefully compound and multiply. Stadium and S&M are, at their root, competitive battling. That's the compelling case - they're similar enough that they should be together, and activity in each is low enough that keeping them apart doesn't help either.

edit: missed these posts lol ;o;

TLDR.

The very first thing that we must do if we hope to increase activity here in ye old S and M is to make it extremely inviting. The atmosphere that we should be striving for is "Everyone having fun battling together", not "Regulars rule, nubs get eaten up". Hell, I am horrid at battling, but I feel at home on the PO Server and the regulars are truly great guys. Also, Syn, I hope you take no offense to this, but you've pretty much replaced D-A as the "intimidator" of S&M. I know it feels great to show BlaQk, or any other user how much more knowledgeable about the metagame you are than them, but you could honestly go about it less bluntly. I know there's a heart somewhere down there, I've seen it in action before. Another small thing that each of us should at least attempt to do, is give small tips during battles. If your opponent uses Giga Impact, or switches their Ferrothorn into Latios (assuming HP fire as per standard set), then why not tell them why it was a bad idea? Honestly, it's somewhat embarassing that we're one of the largest Pokemon forums on the internet, yet forums like PokeBattleCenter and Mysidia's battling communities are almost quadruple the size of ours. We don't just need to make battling non-intimidating, we need to make it look like a hell of a time, show budding battlers the joy that comes from sweeping your opponent.

I'd love to try to actuate some activity here, but, in all honesty, I'm a huge hypocrite. I'm not the guy who throws out huge posts, or even is enthusiastic about posting and battling is continually managing to annoy me, after each loss. I like playing my friends and all, but laddering and whatnot ends in nothing but frustration.

Also, I really think it's about time I said this. Luke could really step up a bit. He's a great battler, moderator, etc, but, in my opinion, he could be doing a bit better as one of the leaders of the competitive community on PC. I've seen him dismiss a newer member who was interrupting irc numerous times, asking for competitive advice. As much of a nuisance as he was, it would have been pretty nice of him to help the guy out, considering he was perfectly capable of doing so. I apologize if this sounds disrespectful, but I felt the need to address it.

Finally, the behavior on the PO server could be a bit better. Again, the hypocrisy is ever-present in this statement, as I'm probably the worst behaved on the server, well, second to Lala. I'll be making a conscious effort to watch what I do and say and I think everybody else ought to adopt the same policy, we shouldn't be scaring away new battlers because we're talking about BlackCherryShipping, Hot Dogs or other miscellany. We could also treat Drakow with a lot more respect. Sure, he may think he's lord of darkness, sure, he probably has a crush on like 10 female PC members and sure, his adamant desire to have 2 Dragon and 3 Dark types limits his team's potential, but you're all forgetting one thing. Drakow is just like we all were at one point: Eager to learn about the metagame and make some friends along the way. I know it's part of the famous "S&M Culture", but no one ridiculed us when we were learning, I know I sure wasn't ridiculed when I used bad counterteams and got 6-0'd by all of the regulars, so why does he have to get ridiculed?

Now, let's make this place cool again

The first step to stop being a hypocrite is to realize you are one. ;) I try to do that myself, when I'm battling randoms on the server. Most of the time, while they usually don't care too much, it helps a little bit. I know you have a bit of a beef with Luke but that's stuff that everyone should pick up on, not just Luke. We all should be stepping up to help other people out, not just our titular "leaders". You're right about Drakow as well. It's the Pokedra situation to everyone that remembers him (not including me since like I was freshly joined when he was starting to fade away ;;).

Let's definitely make it cool again. :)

I come back on this morning to see if activity has bumped up a bit and I can see more people doing RMT's already, the more people who read this the better its doing wonders! I wasn't on here in 2007 when this place was at its best aparently, but I'm hoping I was here in 2011 when S&M got even more activity! :D

I'm glad we're already making an impact. I woke up this morning to fight eight threads I hadn't posted in, and some with a lot of rates already. Keep up the great work guys! 8D;

https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/103904/
(me == Kazaam) :)

Anyways, even though I'm not frequent here anymore at all I can agree that I would want to be if people would just quit trying to be cool and create discussion amongst each other. Back in the old days it was fun because we could get on to "Hey, how are you today" instead of looking for reasons to jump into conversation. Just seems like the rules in general at PC are restricting a lot of activity.

You mean on PO? Yeah, we can't just spam up S&M really but there is always PO for those sorts of things. I can't encourage people to go there more - it's where all of our social communication is, really. :)

This.

Us newfags will try to increase the activity of S&M as well, so the regulars aren't the only one in this. :D

Glad to have you on board, chief. :>

 

[Cycle]

The bad thing: My laptop sucks so I can barely ever post good posts lol.

The good thing: I finally picked up my lazy butt and posted an rmt.

The problem that's discouraging me sometimes is the fact that sometimes people don't even take into account what you say and then put you off and say something like
"dude, can you read?"
or something like that.

My problem personally is the time I have to spend irl. I have a lot of homework and can barely fit time for pokemon. ):

I've never really felt "intimidated", just having a lack of motivation to post since either
1. D_A posts everything already or
2. the person seems arrogant/ the team doesn't include everything I need for a good rmt.

What I absolutely hate is when people put a small paragrah under the whole team instead of putting a whole description showing the team synergy, their role, etc under each pokemon. Lack of sprites also makes me not want to post either; I get really bored reading wallls of text.

tl;dr better format, take advice into account

 

[Vrai]

The bad thing: My laptop sucks so I can barely ever post good posts lol.

The good thing: I finally picked up my lazy butt and posted an rmt.

The problem that's discouraging me sometimes is the fact that sometimes people don't even take into account what you say and then put you off and say something like
"dude, can you read?"
or something like that.

My problem personally is the time I have to spend irl. I have a lot of homework and can barely fit time for pokemon. ):

I've never really felt "intimidated", just having a lack of motivation to post since either
1. D_A posts everything already or
2. the person seems arrogant/ the team doesn't include everything I need for a good rmt.

What I absolutely hate is when people put a small paragrah under the whole team instead of putting a whole description showing the team synergy, their role, etc under each pokemon. Lack of sprites also makes me not want to post either; I get really bored reading wallls of text.

tl;dr better format, take advice into account

That's okay. You don't have to post an essay or anything, like I've said a few times. Just even simple, little changes to a single Pokemon is enough to get them in the right direction - and if you don't hit everything, it leaves room for other people to come in, say their opinion about something else (or even something about your rate & whether it's good or bad and why) and help promote more activity. Whenever you get the chance is awesome - we don't need you to spend ages and ages and ages here, just a few minutes to say a sentence or two here and there and that's fine.

Yeah. We can't expect the most perfect RMT posters, though... sometimes we'll just have to deal with people like that. It's okay to just mention moveset changes, especially for beginning battlers (which is definitely the large majority of what we have here). Until the tutoring gets up and running I doubt we'll have any kind of influx of "good" competitive teams - which makes now a better time than ever for people to refine their rating skills and etc.

We do appreciate your support, though! Just know you don't have to drone out a novel when you rate; more likely than not, the OP won't read it anyway. A few changes here and there is easy for you to spot, write up, and post; easy for the OP to read and implement; and easy for others to make comments on and throw in their changes about something else. 8)

 

[Cycle]

The worst part about my life: I can't get on PO except on weekends/holidays lmao

I'll still try to keep the activity up as much as possible though.

Anyways, I don't expect perfect RMT's either' but I hate seeing someone go on PO, go to teambuilder, go to export, and copy and paste. It's nice to see posts with some substance in it. Maybe a mod could make a post showing how to post an RMT?
(Conjurer has an amazing example of good format)

Anyways, after I finish my UU RMT (which probably won't get done until next week) I'm going to go and make one for my OU team.

 

[Overlord Drakow]

We could also treat Drakow with a lot more respect. Sure, he may think he's lord of darkness, sure, he probably has a crush on like 10 female PC members and sure, his adamant desire to have 2 Dragon and 3 Dark types limits his team's potential, but you're all forgetting one thing. Drakow is just like we all were at one point: Eager to learn about the metagame and make some friends along the way. I know it's part of the famous "S&M Culture", but no one ridiculed us when we were learning, I know I sure wasn't ridiculed when I used bad counterteams and got 6-0'd by all of the regulars, so why does he have to get ridiculed?

Hmhmhm . . .

AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAA!

I'm not exactly in the greatest of moods, so I'd like to thank you for agitating me even further. Witness the ignited wrath of the Overlord, for you have triggered my unbound fury.

Back in 2007, while I didn't have many friends on here, I at least had some. Maria Santos, _Prince_ , Lumine and Lady Nicole were most of them. Fast forward to 2011 and currently I do not have any friends. Not a single one. I do not want your pity. Darkness is my only ally now.

You people claim my team sucks due to my style but let me tell you this. The weak minded conform themselves to the standards set by society. Do you want to know why. It is because humans are fearful of that which they do not understand. They are afraid of things that are beyond the reach of their control. You can laugh at me for being different. I will laugh right back because most of you are the same.

As to date, not a single person has yet defeated me in this topic. Truly pathetic considering how poor my team seemingly is, according to you lot. How dare you mock me. Is this really the best Pokecommunity has to offer. COME OUT AND FIGHT COWARDS. I WILL CRUSH YOU ALL. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA!

I will become the opposing force Pokecommunity needs right now.

Give in to your anger.

Hate me.

Curse me.

Spoiler:

COME AT ME BRO​

How's that for promoting activity in the battle stadium.

 

[champagnepapi]

Uh, nice post there Drakow.

Also, S&M should really be co-existing with the Battle Stadium to bring us together. I mean, if we had more clans, leagues, and tournaments, then people would enjoy battling more, would they not?

 

[Anti]

The bad thing: My laptop sucks so I can barely ever post good posts lol.

The good thing: I finally picked up my lazy butt and posted an rmt.

The problem that's discouraging me sometimes is the fact that sometimes people don't even take into account what you say and then put you off and say something like
"dude, can you read?"
or something like that.

My problem personally is the time I have to spend irl. I have a lot of homework and can barely fit time for pokemon. ):

I've never really felt "intimidated", just having a lack of motivation to post since either
1. D_A posts everything already or
2. the person seems arrogant/ the team doesn't include everything I need for a good rmt.

What I absolutely hate is when people put a small paragrah under the whole team instead of putting a whole description showing the team synergy, their role, etc under each pokemon. Lack of sprites also makes me not want to post either; I get really bored reading wallls of text.

tl;dr better format, take advice into account

Not having time to post because of real life is fine, but not posting because someone's format isn't flashy enough is a pretty silly excuse. The people who need the most help which are usually new users do not know that they're supposed to put in things like sprites and full descriptions. And really, sprites don't actually matter much at all beyond providing a quick reference when looking at a whole team. All you really need for an RMT is the Pokemon and the details about them. The rest is really nice to have and *should* be included but people don't know that (it's definitely not in the rules or anything). And ironically enough, flashy teams are usually pointless anyways since they're often made just to showcase the team rather than make any meaningful changes to it.

Most importantly though, we really don't have time to be selective with team rating. We just need to rate everything we can, even if each person can only contribute a little. A little is much better than what we're getting now which is absolutely nothing. I don't mean this to sound like a lecture but sometimes all people need is a little guidance and the rest will come.

 

[Fairy]

It may not be my place to say anything about this.. but I think it's great tht you guys are conscious of the problems that have occurred here and are willing to change it to the best of your abilities. It says a lot for the people who are, as you say "regulars", to recognize your faults and want to fix them. Taking charge of this forum and practicing what you think will help will certainly increase activity, or (if nothing) attract the attention of people who are curious about competitive teams.

Now, look at me, I think this is my 9th post. I have no reputation here. However, one of the first things I encountered on this website was (I don't want to say names or go into detail because I'm not sure if it's against the rules) a post about some kid who has a really bad reputation throughout the Pokemon Forums spread across the internet. He kept going on about how joining the PC was a fresh start and how sorry he is about being permabanned from every forum out there. He was using this website as a vessel to redeem himself for his past mistakes. Everyone told him, "the past is in the past, let it go. This is a different forum, we don't care about what happened then" (I don't know what happened to him because it's none of my business).

Well, I think the same rules apply for you guys. I'm a complete stranger on this website. I'm a total noob here. But, I don't care that this forum was a "Flameland" way back when. I can't wait to put up my team (once I've put effort into them) and receive the constructive criticism that I deserve. Both good and bad. And I want that because I realize that the "regulars" here are superior to me in competitive battling in every way, if I want to win and be better, it's my fault for being over-sensitive and getting hurt by your criticism.

Again, I'm not important here, but maybe I will be someday. So disregard this if it's totally out of line. I'm an outsider trying to let you know that it's okay- which seems a inflated on my end.

But I think this place is great and you're all doing a good job. I hope to post my team and be a better competitive battler because of you guys.

Good luck with everything. I will certainly assist in the effort to increase activity however possible. Just remember, as a "new kid" here, whatever you were all known for back then, isn't going to stop me now.

 

[Vrai]

It may not be my place to say anything about this.. but I think it's great tht you guys are conscious of the problems that have occurred here and are willing to change it to the best of your abilities. It says a lot for the people who are, as you say "regulars", to recognize your faults and want to fix them. Taking charge of this forum and practicing what you think will help will certainly increase activity, or (if nothing) attract the attention of people who are curious about competitive teams.

Now, look at me, I think this is my 9th post. I have no reputation here. However, one of the first things I encountered on this website was (I don't want to say names or go into detail because I'm not sure if it's against the rules) a post about some kid who has a really bad reputation throughout the Pokemon Forums spread across the internet. He kept going on about how joining the PC was a fresh start and how sorry he is about being permabanned from every forum out there. He was using this website as a vessel to redeem himself for his past mistakes. Everyone told him, "the past is in the past, let it go. This is a different forum, we don't care about what happened then" (I don't know what happened to him because it's none of my business).

Well, I think the same rules apply for you guys. I'm a complete stranger on this website. I'm a total noob here. But, I don't care that this forum was a "Flameland" way back when. I can't wait to put up my team (once I've put effort into them) and receive the constructive criticism that I deserve. Both good and bad. And I want that because I realize that the "regulars" here are superior to me in competitive battling in every way, if I want to win and be better, it's my fault for being over-sensitive and getting hurt by your criticism.

Again, I'm not important here, but maybe I will be someday. So disregard this if it's totally out of line. I'm an outsider trying to let you know that it's okay- which seems a inflated on my end.

But I think this place is great and you're all doing a good job. I hope to post my team and be a better competitive battler because of you guys.

Good luck with everything. I will certainly assist in the effort to increase activity however possible. Just remember, as a "new kid" here, whatever you were all known for back then, isn't going to stop me now.

Thank you for the amazing post. Really, you shouldn't feel like you're not "important" enough to post here; everyone's input is welcome and taken highly. And that's definitely the image we're trying to give off now; it's not new members we're so much concerned with about "Flameland", it's the older ones that left because of it and those that have heard rumors/been intimidated by them previously. We just want to get that image off to everyone and while not everyone can have the same attitude as you, the people that do we greatly appreciate. Thanks again - I'm excited to see your activity in the future. :3

 

[Fairy]

You're welcome! I've got a lot of respect for those here who are skilled battlers and willing to make a difference. Commitment to this cause takes serious conviction and that's a quality that many talk about, but few truly practice. Besides, you all seem like super, super nice people. If it weren't for the hard work you guys put into the PC, being a member just wouldn't be as rewarding or worthwhile.

Keep fighting for this everyone, it's only a matter of time before your effort pays off. If nothing, know that it has certainly effected me.
~it's super effective!
x_x ;D