Announcements

[Matthew]

As part of setting Dragonspiral Tower in a new direction (read: improving it), a few members have come up with some ideas on how we will do just that.

When posting a new thread please take care to post a strong first post. If your thread gets locked, it's usually due to a weak op that doesn't provide grounds for discussion, or it is a duplicate of a thread already in place; and please don't take offense. Remember, we notice strong posters, so do the best you can and you'll go far. Before posting here, first familiarise yourself with the global forum rules.

This forum also has the following additional rules:

1. Before posting a new thread, please check the thread index to make sure there is not already a thread dedicated to your topic. Use the search feature to help you find existing topics and read this thread. Do not make duplicate threads. Do not make threads for inviable Pokemon. There are a multitude of other tiers, and most Pokemon are better off being used in their native tiers. Make these threads in their respective subforums.

2. All posts should be based on actual in-game information. Please do not post speculation or your suggestions for fantasy Pokémon.

3. As mentioned in the global forum rules, no discussion of ROMs is allowed. However, discussion based on importing the game is entirely allowed and welcome.

4. Do not create threads just to ask a question. Simple gameplay related questions, that do not promote any form of discussion, go in the Ask a simple question, get a simple answer thread. Be sure to read the first post before asking or answering questions.

5. Please keep threads competitive in nature. There are a few exceptions to the rule such as in-game challenges, like the Scramble Challenge.

6. Subforum specific rules:

Ubers - Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon who are viable in the Ubers metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, discussion of banning Pokemon from Ubers is not allowed. Ubers in and of itself is a ban list; it is the list of Pokemon which are banned from the OU metagame.

OU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Overused metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, do not discuss whether or not a Pokemon should be BL or UU or a Pokemon in BL or UU should be OU. The tiers are decided by usage. BL is the ban list for UU, consisting of Pokemon which have been voted too powerful for UU but do not have enough usage in the OU metagame to be considered OU.

UU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Underused metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, do not discuss whether or not a Pokemon should be BL2 or RU or a Pokemon in BL2 or RU should be UU. The tiers are decided by usage. BL2 is the ban list for RU, consisting of Pokemon which have been voted too powerful for RU but do not have enough usage in the RU metagame to be considered RU.

RU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Rarely Used metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, do not discuss whether or not a Pokemon should be BL3 (should NU ban a Pokemon) or NU or a Pokemon in BL3 or NU should be RU. The tiers are decided by usage. BL3 is the ban list for NU, consisting of Pokemon which have been voted too powerful for NU but do not have enough usage in the RU metagame to be considered RU.

NU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Neverused metagame. Though Neverused is the last metagame in the "standard list" of metagames, there are Pokemon which are not viable within the Neverused metagame. This is up to moderator discretion. In addition, there will not be any tier after the Neverused metagame, and discussion of such a tier is not allowed.

LC-Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Little Cup metagame. Currently, Smogon does not support other Little Cup metagames, such as Little Cup UU or Little Cup Ubers, since there is no user support for them. If you wish to make a discussion about them, ask a moderator first. Additionally, Little Cup will never allow Pokemon which do not evolve such as Phione and Rotom into Little Cup, so do not make threads about them.

DW- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Dream World metagame. In addition, though Dream World is a hypothetical metagame where every hidden ability, Pokemon, and item is released, threads about certain move/ability combinations that are not explicitly in the game's coding are not allowed. For example, discussion of Lightningrod Zapdos is allowed because Zapdos' hidden ability is Lightningrod. However, discussion of Lightningrod Zapdos with Heat Wave is not allowed, because Heat Wave is a generation 4 tutor, and there is nothing in the coding of Black and White that say Lightningrod Zapdos is able to learn Heat Wave.

7. Warstories:

Guidelines and Format

If you just had a great battle but are unsure of how to write about it, here’s a format to help you get started:

• Define the rules List the rules used in the match before detailing the battle. It's also helpful to state whether the battle took place on WiFi or ShoddyBattle.
• State the teams Show the teams of both battlers beforehand. Just the Pokemon themselves is fine, there is no need to give away your movesets. Adding some pictures is also recommended to make your post more visually appealing.
• Highlight important turns Give some insight as to what you were thinking at the time. Explain certain moves and the reasons you did things that may not appear obvious to the reader.
• Keep track of the score If a Pokemon faints, state the score. 6-6 means both players have 6 Pokemon and if one faints the score drops to 6-5, etc. To keep things simple, always state your own score first.
• Summarize the battle Give a recap of what the reader should take away from your battle. Most war story writers include a "Props" and "Slops" section at the end to summarize both the positive and negative points of the battle.

Examples good war stories can be found in the Warstory Archive. These will serve as useful guide for the type of battles that users found enjoyable to read.


Rules

While the above was a guide to presenting your story, the following are hard and fast rules that must be followed. Failure to do so will result in your thread being locked.

• Do not trash your opponent in a war story. Providing your thoughts on what they might have been thinking regarding the match is fine, but insulting your opponent is not acceptable.
• Warstory interesting battles. Nobody wants to read about how you 6-0'd an opponent with Garchomp; we want to see interesting battles with plenty of strategy. Again, look at the Warstory Archive for good examples.
• No War Stories during active tournaments. War stories about tournament matches may not be posted until the completion of the tournament or until such a time as both players involved have been eliminated. The purpose of this rule is to prevent the premature exposure of details of teams to be scouted in later rounds. If team revealing is not an issue thanks to the nature of the tournament, however (for example, if the tournament requires different teams to be used each round), feel free.
• Make your post readable. Avoid poor grammar, employ correct punctuation, and present your story in a clean, and easy to follow format.
• Preview your warstory before posting it. When copy/pasting a log, font tags will sometimes end up around the text. Copying it to notepad and then to the posting box usually fixes this.
• Less log, more commentary. Avoid posting logs in their entirety. Every instance of Leftovers recovery, Sandstorm damage, etc. does not need to be reported unless it is actually crucial to the outcome of the game. Your focus should be commentary and not simply posting a log with a few simple comments after each turn.

All stylistic and technical aspects are subject to moderator discretion which is, as always, supreme and not to be questioned.


Have fun! If you want to talk about the game with your fellow Smogon users, you may also want to come to #pokemon on irc.synirc.net. See the Smogon IRC page for details.

[Philip7086]

For those of you interested in playing on our OU ladder or in any of our OU tournaments, here is the running list of our bans:

Items
All items that increase Evasion (BrightPowder, Lax Incense)

Moves
All moves that increase Evasion only (Double Team, Minimize)
All instant OHKO moves (Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Sheer Cold)

Abilities
Moody
Drizzle + Swift Swim on the same team

Species
Arceus
Blaziken
Darkrai
Deoxys
Deoxys-A
Deoxys-S
Dialga
Excadrill
Garchomp
Giratina
Giratina-O
Groudon
Ho-Oh
Kyogre
Lugia
Manaphy
Mewtwo
Palkia
Rayquaza
Reshiram
Shaymin-S
Thundurus
Zekrom

For specifics on how we arrived at these bans and how we decide these things in general, please check out our Policy Review forum.

[Aeolus]

Welcome to Smogon.com, the preeminent site for competitive Pokemon on the internet! We hope you find your time here enjoyable and informative, but we must lay down some ground rules to help maintain the high level of quality of our forums. We cannot stress enough that Smogon's rules and expectations are a bit different from those found elsewhere on the internet, especially in the sub-forums. The Smogon moderation staff assumes that you have thoroughly read the general rules and those specific to the sub-forums in which you choose to post. Full compliance is required; loss of privileges will result if your posting habits are not up to scratch. The following are general rules which are enforced in all sub-forums. Be aware that moderator discretion is supreme in all cases.

• No open proxies. If you are using an open proxy, you will be IP banned.
• Do NOT organize trolls here. If you post here about how you've been trolling a forum, you will receive a warning. You aren't safe in "a forum" either.
• If you get a warning, and you want to reply to it, think long and hard about that reply. If you respond with flames, sass, etc., you will get a harsher warning. This applies to harassment of staff outside of the forums for performing their moderating duties.
• Do not disrespect the hard work of the Smogon staff. Suggestions are encouraged, but keep it constructive and polite. Further, though it should go without saying, insults and condescension are included under the umbrella of "disrespect", so be careful in your discourse with the staff.
• No staff impersonation. This includes any attempt to appear to have certain abilities not possessed; such as using badges as an avatar, using a similar name or other earmarks of staff, or claiming verbally to be staff.
• Do not be a junior mod. This means that you are not to make posts like: “In before lock” “Ban this guy!” “This is a bad thread!” “Off to Trou with this one!” The Smogon moderation staff is more than capable of maintaining these forums; please let them do so without your interference.
• Do not advertise other sites, especially those related to Pokemon. Do not link to them in your posts or in your signature. We are not interested in learning more about your upstart clan or anything else of that nature. There is a line between linking to another site for informational purposes and making an attempt to promote another site; we know the difference.
• Outside of "a forum", trolling is not allowed. This means keep purely joke posts and one word replies out of the serious forums. If you do not have something substantial to contribute to a thread, do not bother posting. Just think to yourself, "Does my post add something to this thread?" If the answer is no, think twice about hitting that submit button.
• This is an English forum. Post in English. Unless your topic is specifically about posting in Spanish or something similar, there is no reason to not post in English.
• Employ the conventions of standard written English. Nobody is going to jump down your throat if you make a spelling mistake or split an infinitive, but please, your posts MUST be readable. As you might imagine, l33t 5p34k and other intentional misspellings (u, liek, etc.) are expressly banned. Spell out "you" and "your" instead of typing "u" or "ur." Don't be lazy!
• Do not bump old threads except where explicitly allowed. Making meaningless posts in threads that have long since died is strictly prohibited. If you have something of consequence you’d like to add to a thread that has fallen off the front page, feel free to do so. All “bump” “to the top” etc. posts will be warned and deleted without exception.
• Do not register multiple accounts, ever. This is self explanatory. If you create an alternate account when warned or banned, your ban will be extended or made permanent.
• Do not flame or abuse other members. The anonymity of the internet does not give you a license to treat the users of this forum disrespectfully. Of course, posts in Firebot may be an exception, but please refer to the rules of that forum. This rule goes at least triple if the member in question is a moderator or administrator, as alluded to above.
• Do not post illegal stuff here! This includes links to ROMs, warez, or anything of the sort. If it's illegal, do not link to it here.
• General stupidity is banned. This includes linking to porn sites, shock sites, “lol cats” or anything else in that vein. Similarly, we'd ask you to only discuss the anime in Orange Islands. The majority of Smogon is interested in the competitive aspect of Pokemon, not whether or not Ash beat Lt. Surge on his first try! The discretion of the moderators is supreme in the enforcement of all rules, this one especially.
• Do not create threads that do not support discussion. Creating an entire thread to ask a simple question is not acceptable; do a Google search for that stuff. All thread starters are required to provide a good basis for discussion in their opening post.
• Do not disparage other internet sites here, especially other Pokemon communities. We are not interested in your trolling episodes- we are above that here at Smogon. Please keep all negative comments about other sites to yourself.
• Do not flood or double post. If you have something more to add to a post you have made, please edit it rather than creating a second post.
• If your post or thread is edited or deleted by a moderator, do not remake it. It was altered for a reason, and there is nothing else that will earn you an infraction faster than this.
• Post all threads in the correct forum. The topic of your thread determines the most appropriate location. For example, you would not post a serious political debate in Dragonspiral Tower or a discussion of Starmie’s prowess in "a forum". It is fairly easy for us to move threads, but it would be nice if you would be conscientious enough to make your threads in the correct places.
• Do not send mass PM's for any purpose, especially advertising. Please forward any such PM's to a Super Mod or Administrator if you receive one so that the offender can be dealt with.
• All signatures must be at least 100 pixels tall when the signature area is viewed with a width of 500 pixels at the default font size. It must scroll horizontally at this size. This rule applies to all members.
• Because of COPPA, we strictly enforce our age policy. If we somehow determine, or if you announce that you are under the age of 13, you will be banned immediately. No exceptions.
• Do not link to shock sites, rick rolls, or other sites designed to scare and/or annoy the person accessing the site. This goes for signatures too.
• Read the rules of the sub-forum in which you would like to post before posting. Here are links to each of the rules threads which have been stickied in their respective forums.

Pokemon
Smogon Metagames
- Overused
- Ubers
- UnderUsed
- RarelyUsed
- NeverUsed
- Little Cup
- Ruins of Alph
- Other Metagames

Nintendo Formats
- VGC
- Global Battle Union
- TCG

Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi Tournaments
- Local Tournaments

Orange Islands

Competitive
Tournaments
Battling 101
Rate My Team

Contributions & Corrections
- C&C General Information
- Analysis Formatting Guide
- Quality Control Documentation
Projects
- Translation Projects

Site & Projects
Pokemon Showdown! forum
The Smog
- The Smogcast
- Smogon YouTube
Create-A-Pokemon
Suggestion Box

Socialization in the Empire
a forum
- Sports Arena
Circus Maximus
- CAP ASB
Smeargle's Studio



And that is all you need to know about the rules of Smogon! We also invite you, however, to read this wonderful thread on The Philosophy of Smogon as it may provide additional insight that will make your stay here more fruitful!


Thank you,
The Smogon Community