Announcements

[Great Sage**]

Introduction:

All new sets must get Quality Control's approval before they move on to the copyediting stage. If you have a new set that you think is worth being put on-site, make a topic here to get its approval. The topics posted here do not need to be fully written analyses (though you may write it all up if you'd like, just be prepared to be asked to make hefty changes), but instead just the bare bones of the set. The following is an example of what is expected at a minimum of skeleton analyses:

Topic Title:
Heatran (Life Orb)


Heatran

[SET]
name: Life Orb
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Electric
move 4: Taunt / Explosion / Substitute
item: Life Orb
nature: Timid / Naive
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Why this set deserves to be on-site:

• Unbelievably hard to wall, due to sheer damage output
• Beats Swampert and Blissey (and Vaporeon with prediction)
• Applies a lot of pressure to stall teams

Additional Comments:

• Expert Belt can be used to bluff a Choice Scarf set and then catch opponents off guard
• Dragon Pulse can be used over a Hidden Power to nail Flygon, Kingdra, and Dragonite on the switch-in
• Bulkier spread of 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD allows Heatran to switch in more freely against resisted attacks

Teammates & Counters:

• Works well with Pokemon that lure Fire-type attacks, such as Scizor and Forretress, so Heatran can snag a Flash Fire boost
• Dragonite can switch into most of Heatran's attacks and OHKO Heatran with Earthquake

You should not post a set that has already been rejected, or one that you have not already tested successfully. Such threads will be deleted, and the author may be subject to a warning. If you are unsure whether a set you want to post is too similar to a rejected set, contact a member of QC before posting.

If you wish to submit a set but would rather have an experienced writer write the analysis, please make this clear in the skeleton you post and an interested writer will be assigned to your analysis.

How This Works:

After a set has been posted, members of the Quality Control team for the relevant tier will evaluate it. They will tell you if tweaks need to be made, such as a better EV spread, or extra moves that deserve to be mentioned. These suggestions are open to discussion, and anybody is welcome to post their opinions as well; however, the Quality Control team's decision is the "official ruling" at the end of the day. If a member of the Quality Control team thinks the set deserves a spot on-site, he will post the Quality Control stamp of approval to signify it. After an analysis receives two stamps of approval, the author will be permitted to write up the full analysis. Then, after it receives one more stamp of approval, the author may have it grammar checked before going on-site.*

If the majority of the Quality Control team feels a set does not deserve to be put on-site, it may be rejected. If the Quality Control team is unsure, or if only a minority of the team feels it should be on-site, they will play test the set themselves to make a final judgment call. Finally, if the Quality Control team makes a suggestion, and the author does not respond in two weeks, the topic will be locked and archived.

Becoming a Member:

If you believe you are qualified to be on a QC team, or you think someone deserves to be on a team and would like to recommend that person, feel free to contact Great Sage or ibojangles or the person designated "leader" of the relevant team. Whether or not new team members are accepted or sought out depends heavily on how much work there is to do in relation to how many currently active team members there are. We accept users based on demonstrated theorymon logic, battling prowess, the ability to work well in a team, and a high level of activity.

Grammar Checking in QC:

Try to refrain from checking grammar in Quality Control. Half of the time, this won't apply since many analyses are still in skeleton format. However, even for the ones that are actually written up, do not go through the arduous process of checking. This just clogs up QC and makes it harder for us to categorize the threads properly. Furthermore, the analyses are still pending approval. You don't want to put work into something that may just end up in the locked forum. You should always wait for the analysis to move on to the copyediting stage before grammar checking it.

Quality Control Team Members:

Ubers

---

Theorymon (Leader)
bojangles
Donkey
Hugendugen
Furai
Jibaku
Poppy
trickroom
shrang
Syrim
Tobes

OU

---

Seven Deadly Sins (Leader)
PK Gaming (Co-Leader)
AccidentalGreed
alexwolf
BKC
ginganinja
Harsha
jc104
Lavos Spawn
Pocket
Princess Bri
shrang
yee

UU

---

kokoloko (Leader)
DestinyUnknown
FlareBlitz
JabbaTheGriffin
PK Gaming
reachzero
RT.
Upstart

RU

---

Oglemi (Leader)
august
blarajan
complete legitimacy
DittoCrow
Honko
Hot N Cold
Molk
SilentVerse
Texas Cloverleaf

NU

---

Zebraiken (Leader)
Raseri (Co-Leader)
Annoyer
EBeast
FLCL
Sweet Jesus

LC

---

Elevator Music (Leader)
Vader (Leader)
blarajan
iss
Hawkstar
macle
prem
Charmander

VGC

---

Solace (Leader)
Biosci
lucariojr
R Inanimate

[Rising_Dusk]

Welcome to C&C, often likened to as the lifeblood of Smogon at large. C&C is the forum project that results in every article and analysis, for this generation and for all generations, that goes on-site. It is our goal and duty to maintain the quality of work on-site to the highest possible standards, such that anyone and everyone can use the information there to further their own understanding of competitive Pokemon battling. If this is your first time visiting C&C, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the standard procedure of C&C by reading the General Information announcement before continuing with this thread.

If you want to help C&C out with maintaining Smogon's site, then you should feel welcome to write and submit articles, updates, sets, and even full analyses to their respective sections. If your English is of a high enough quality and your work meets all relevant rules, the C&C forum staff and other intelligent users will look past your post count and see your contribution for what it is worth. If you break the relevant rules, the opposite will likely occur.

You may be very proactive about writing and want to work on something right away. Be careful, however, that just because it can be written does not mean that it is necessary. In order to verify that your writing a specific article or analysis is needed before doing it, please contact one of the relevant C&C moderators or ask in the associated indexing thread for the tier of interest.

With these ideas in mind, please make sure that you do not break any of the following, very fundamental guidelines and policies of C&C. Many of these are discussed in greater detail in the General Information announcement linked to above.

1. Do not write and submit an analysis simply because you feel like it
   While we hope that you will improve the quality of our on-site work, we do not want you writing something simply because you can. Focus your writing on those updates with outdated, incorrect, or nonexistent content. In the case of nonexistent content, contact a moderator first to make sure your work is needed.
2. Avoid overspecialized or gimmick strategies in your writing
   Smogon is a competitive Pokemon website, so all of the content must be relevant to competitive strategies. Strategies that do not accomplish general and important competitive goals are not allowed.
3. Test sets before you post them
   C&C is not the place for every theorymon set that might work or that seems like it's potentially workable. Every set posted should come with some significant time put into testing it. QC will also do its own testing to determine viability, but that's no excuse for failing to test a set before it's posted.
4. Use tolerable English
   C&C will not tolerate malformed speech styles like 'leetspeek' or the like. Additionally, this website is founded in English, so do not submit writing in foreign languages unless specifically instructed and cleared to do so.
5. Give your writing some personality
   This rule may seem strange, but it is very important for people to actually want to read your writing. If no one wants to read it, no one will read it, and it will have been useless. Spice your writing up a bit with varied prose, interesting word choice, and fun analogies; people like to read those. Be mindful to not overdo it, however, as an over-exaggerated writeup is just as painful to read as a bland one.
6. Do NOT plagiarize from any source
   This should be fairly self explanatory, but it needs to be said nonetheless. It is unacceptable to lift prose directly from any source and place it in your analysis, and doubly so if it's from a Smogon analysis page. Violation of this rule will result in a formal warning and the reassignment of the analysis in question, as well as potential reassignment of any work you have currently in progress.
7. Some things are so obvious they don't really need to be put in a guide
   This rule requires a bit of common sense, but it should be pretty clear. You can explain that "Leftovers adds to the durability of the Pokemon", that's okay. What you want to avoid, however, is writing such as "Leftovers heals 6% HP per turn." Yes, it's clear that we know what Leftovers does, but we only care how it relates to what the Pokemon is doing.
8. Guides and analyses should be concise and well organized
   Some people have a tendency to write walls of text without regard for just how much they're actually writing. Articles and analyses in C&C must be concise, yet informative. Avoid adding unnecessary fluff in your writing, or describing every intricate detail of every Pokemon on Pokemon match-up that exists for your writing's topic. Only focus on the absolute most important parts, and leave the rest out. If an analysis is too long, people are as unlikely to read it as if it were poorly written to begin with.
9. Don't use custom set names
   It's okay if you come up with a 'cool name' for a set that you've designed, but the name in most cases will not be used. Custom set names for sets get added to analyses after the fact if the community at large starts referring to those sets by the custom names. Good examples of this are DPP BritScor and DPP Tinkerbell. These sets were named after the fact, and the community embraced those names long before they were used in the C&C analyses.
10. Use appropriate prefixes for your threads
    When you post a new set in any tier, make sure that you give it the (Quality Control) prefix. When you are writing a new article in the articles section, use the prefix that best describes what you're writing. If you want to write something for an older generation, post it in the Past Generations sub-forum and prefix it with the appropriate generation number. This may seem trivial, but it is absolutely critical for the proper understanding, documentation, and treatment of your work.
11. Do not insult, flame, or otherwise harass another user or his submission(s)
    All standard Smogon rules still apply, but it's important to reiterate this one here. Do not, under any circumstances, insult another user or his or her work. If you do, you will be given a warning and your post will be deleted. Furthermore, if you continue to do this, you will be disallowed from participating in C&C at all.

The moderators and administrators have every right to neglect or reject your guide or analysis for whatever reason, but we obviously won't if we like it. Once you contribute enough to the site through C&C, you may be awarded with the Pre-Contributor Badge , which is a test badge for unbadged users. If you continue to write a lot exclusively for C&C once you have either the Pre-Contributor Badge or another badge and we approve of the quality and quantity of your work, you may be awarded the Contributor Badge .

Thanks in advance for any work you do for us. We really appreciate it.

[Rising_Dusk]

Welcome to C&C! If this is your first time visiting this forum, I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the policies and guidelines discussed in both C&C's Rules & Guidelines announcement and C&C's General Information announcement before continuing here. Once you are up to speed on both the policies and general structure of C&C, you'll find the style and formatting techniques described in this thread of particular use.

For either a brand new analysis or a full update to an analysis, there are some formatting requirements for the writing to be put on-site. The following template shows how every new analysis or full update is written and how it should be formatted. Note that all text not within the section headers must be put in <p></p> tags so that the website will recognize it. Within the sections below, I have included a description of what that section is for.

[Overview]

<p>The overview section for a Pokemon describes the Pokemon's assets and downsides in a nutshell. Do not attempt to make a Pokemon sound better than it is, rather portray it exactly as it is.</p>

[SET]
name: Set Name
move 1: Most Important
move 2: Second Most Important
move 3: Third Most Important
move 4: Least Important
item: Item
ability: Ability
nature: Nature
evs: EVs
ivs: IVs

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Above, if you need to separate different items, natures, or EVs, do so with a forward slash. For example, you might have "Bold / Calm", "4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe", or "Leftovers / Life Orb". You can also do this for moves if two or more moves are valuable for a slot, such as "Pursuit / Quick Attack". Furthermore, make sure that all EVs add up to 508; that if both abilities are useful, you remove that section; and that if you have no specific recommendations for IVs, you delete that section entirely.</p>

<p>When listing specific stats in the evs and ivs section above, use the following abbreviations:</p>

• Attack (Atk)
• Defense (Def)
• Special Attack (SpA)
• Special Defense (SpD)
• Speed (Spe)

<p>The area under the [SET COMMENTS] tag is for describing the general goal of the build, why it's effective, and the moves chosen for the build. In general, this section is one to two paragraphs long, depending upon how much has to be said. In most cases, the first paragraph will explain the play style of the build and why it's effective while the second paragraph will cover all of the primary moves and slashed moves.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The area under the [ADDITIONAL COMMENTS] tag doesn't appear immediately when you look at an analysis. Instead, the contents of this section appear when you click the link that says "Team Options & Additional Comments >>>". This exists to condense the length of an analysis except where the user actually does want to read more.</p>

<p>If you must include damage calculations in a set writeup because they are particularly convincing, then do so as follows. Please also make sure to follow the format for how the damage calculations get written as can also be seen below. The + seen in some calculations indicates a Defense or Special Defense boosting nature. In the case of damage calculations that exceed 100%, do not truncate the damage at 100%, show the actual percent damage dealt. This can be useful to show the reader exactly how likely the chance to KO is.</p>

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>Close Combat vs. 252/252+ Skarmory: 84.4% - 99.7%</li>
<li>Close Combat vs. 252/0+ Skarmory: 101.5% - 119.5%</li>
</ul>

<p>The format is much the same for defensive calculations.</p>

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>0 Atk Ferrothorn Power Whip: 66.7% - 78.5%</li>
<li>252 Atk+ Haxorus Outrage: 63.3% - 75.8%</li>
</ul>

<p>The first paragraph of the additional comments section is reserved for explaining other aspects of the set, such as EV selection, nature selection, item selection, IV selection, and ability selection. The first paragraph is also used to describe moves that are still viable on the set for specific teams, but that are not slashed into the set for general use. The second paragraph is reserved for team options and very specific counters. This is to inform the reader why and how certain Pokemon work better with this Pokemon than others, and similarly how certain Pokemon beat this Pokemon better than others. Note that this second paragraph is not to describe the general purpose counters to the Pokemon, rather certain specific Pokemon that work better with or against this set. For many sets, you may not even need to list any set specific counters or checks because none exist. Do not pad out this section with unnecessary or repetitive information.</p>[

[Other Options]

<p>The other options tag lists other things that the Pokemon can do. This includes, but is not limited to, general purpose changes that can be made to any set, such as using a different ability; moves that aren't really recommended and why; and sets that are decent if used properly, but not successful enough to warrant a full analysis.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Checks and Counters is fairly self-explanatory, as here you would describe how certain Pokemon beat down the Pokemon you're writing about. This may include a list of Pokemon with a certain feature, such as those with Insomnia against a sleep-inducing Pokemon, or it may include specific Pokemon that beat the one you're writing about due to typing, attacking moves, walling capacity, or status moves. This may also include a description of battle conditions that counter the Pokemon you're writing about, such as how sandstorm would thwart a Pokemon reliant on rain, or how Stealth Rock utterly defeats Pokemon 4x weak to it.</p>

[Unreleased]

<p>The unreleased section is exclusive to fifth generation analyses, and is used to describe what impact the Pokemon's special Dream World ability has on its playstyle. In some cases, this can be long because the Pokemon has such an excellent ability, and in others it might be very short due to the ability being a poor competitive choice. Furthermore, some Pokemon do not even have a Dream World ability in BW, so those Pokemon should have this section omitted entirely. This section should only be used if the Dream World ability hasn't been released, because if it has then it may be included in the Pokemon's sets.</p>

Now that you've seen the format for an analysis, you should be able to figure out how to apply that to any analyses that you write. Note that if you're not posting a full update or a new analysis, but rather just a single set, you only include the sections relevant to that set and none of the others like Checks and Counters. If you have absolutely any questions about formatting analyses, or if you'd like me to include something here that I may have missed, feel free to PM any C&C moderator and they'll happily help you out.

Good luck with writing your analyses!

[Rising_Dusk]

1. Ways to Help
2. Analysis Length
3. Peer Edit Thread Protocol
4. Queue System
5. Quality Control Team
6. Grammar-Prose Team
7. SCMS Information

Ways to Help:

Smogon is a competitive Pokemon community. If you'd like to involve yourself with the community, help out on the site, and maybe earn a badge (or two), never fear! There is never a shortage of work to be done on the site.

If you have...

No Badge:

• Look through the site, especially the Pokemon strategy articles, and find typos and grammatical oddities to report in the Small Objective Changes thread. You may also report more controversial changes in the Small Subjective Changes thread.
• Find outdated or lacking analyses and post a peer edit with your suggested changes.
• Look over someone else's peer edit and post helpful, relevant critiques and/or addenda.
• Involve yourself with a C&C project.
• Learn HTML or analysis formatting and help convert guides and peer edit changes into a format suitable for the SCMS.
• Author a guide or an article.

A Badge:

Everything before and...

• Look over and commit changes by non-badged users in the typo threads, peer edits, and projects to the SCMS.
• Fix obvious problems directly in the SCMS instead of posting in C&C about it first.

A Site Staff Badge:

Everything before and...

• Look over and approve edits in the SCMS by non-site staff.
• Coordinate C&C projects.

Remember to not waste your time. There are many aspects of the SCMS that can be mechanized, such as the replacing of e in Pokemon with é or changing - to en or emdashes. Above all else, be bold. Even if you have SCMS access, you cannot hurt the site. If you think something is wrong, fix it; don't wait for someone to tell you that you are allowed to.

Analysis Length:

There is an appropriate and an inappropriate length for analyses. They should not be too long and contain inordinate amounts of information, but at the same time they should not shirk entire chunks of valuable information just to be as short as possible. Generally, it is always easier for a user to write more, so we won't address that here. It's much more difficult to make a very long analysis more terse without sacrificing key information. Let us consider the following very fluff-ridden paragraph.

When considering Electivire for a spot in your team, it is inadvisable to assess its negative qualities. Instead, one should focus on discovering the characteristics that make Electivire useful. At certain times, it may be easily walled, but Electivire's movepool is particularly broad, and the moves it has up its sleeve can provide such exceptional type coverage that you will constantly see the words "It's super effective!" on your screen. Electivire's downfall is its lack of Speed to outrun faster opponents, but remember that Electivire's ability, Motor Drive, helps it score a Speed boost if you switch in on an Electric-type move. Also, Electivire will often find itself unable to severely harm bulky Pokemon, even with a super effective hit. However, with its fine offensive stats - an enormous base 123 Attack stat, an acceptable base 95 Special Attack stat, and enough Speed to attempt a sweep after a Motor Drive boost, Electivire can be a fearsome mixed sweeper.

This type of excessive rambling is unacceptable for the site. It needs to have all of the excess nonsense removed from it and brought down to a much more manageable level. That same paragraph could be rewritten as follows:

Although Electivire does have middling Speed when unboosted by Motor Drive and often fails to live up to expectations because of it, he is a fine offensive Pokémon. He possesses offensively oriented stats which include a great 123 Attack, passable 95 Special Attack, and enough Speed to attempt a sweep after a Motor Drive boost and fantastic type coverage with myriad options type-wise. This makes Electivire a fearsome mixed sweeper when played correctly.

The shorter version contains all of the same valuable information, but without any of the excess verbosity. It's also important to consider that the shorter version still has good prose and isn't boring to read, which is something that people often mistakenly associate with making analyses more concise. Think before you write, while you are writing, and after you write. Read your work, re-read it, and then do it again. We need to improve our analyses' qualities, and filling them with useless debris is not helping.

The OWL at Purdue University provides a useful list of techniques that can be applied to help reduce the amount of excess fluff that you put into your writing.

Peer Edit Thread Protocol:

There are a few distinct suffixes that are used in C&C to distinguish the different types of analyses that are allowed and what they entail.

• (Analysis)
  An analysis tag indicates that this is totally new work with no prior material to base the new work on. This is very rare in the standard tiers with standard Pokemon, and is generally used when writing an analysis for a lower tier Pokemon in a higher tier, such as Lucario (Uber Analysis). This also shows up quite a bit in the Little Cup forum, as many of those Pokemon have never been written up before.
• (Update)
  This suffix is used when major changes are being made to a Pokemon's analysis, be it revamping several sets or rewriting the adjoining paragraphs for the analysis.
• (Set Name)
  When you are posting only a single new set, you would simply put that set's name in the suffix. A good example of this would be Starmie (Life Orb).

Queue System:

The queue system for C&C is the process all analyses must undertake in their journey from being posted in Quality Control to being uploaded on the forums. The list below details each step and what is expected of the author during that step.

• The Set / Analysis will be posted in the forum for the relevant tier with the (Quality Control) prefix.
• After an analysis has received two QC approvals, it will be fully written by its author. Once the entire analysis has been written, it will receive one more QC review.
• After it is approved by the Quality Control team, the thread will have its prefix changed from (Quality Control) to (Copyediting), and the Grammar-Prose team will start to review it.
• Once the analysis has been GP checked twice and all required changes have been implemented, the analysis is complete and the author should change the thread prefix to (Done).
• A member of that tier's moderating staff will review your analysis one last time, make any last minute changes, and then upload the analysis to the site.

While this process can be fast for some writeups, speed is not the most important factor, quality is. For this reason, do not feel rushed to complete the writeup within any expedient time frame. If you start dragging your feet for too long, one of that tier's moderators will bump your thread and remind you to get to work on it. If you still do not work on it for an extended period of time, you may have the analysis taken from you so that someone more active and interested can write it up.

Active C&C moderators are listed below so that you can seek them out if you need any further guidance. Administrative moderators can upload analyses for any tier by request or if the need arises and may have further specialization beyond what is mentioned below, though they are only listed once.

Administrative Moderators

• Great Sage
• bojangles

OU Moderators

• Fifth Generation
  • Iconic
  • Seven Deadly Sins
  • PK Gaming

UU Moderators

• Fifth Generation
  • kokoloko
  • RT.
• Fourth Generation
  • Oglemi

RU Moderators

• Fifth Generation
  • DittoCrow
  • Oglemi

NU Moderators

• Fifth Generation
  • Raseri
  • Zebraiken

Uber Moderators

• Fifth Generation
  • bojangles
  • Theorymon
  • trickroom
• Fourth Generation
  • bojangles
  • Jibaku
  • Theorymon

LC Moderators

• Fifth Generation
  • Aerrow
  • blarajan
  • Elevator Music
  • Vader
• Fourth Generation
  • Vader

VGC Moderators

• VGC 2012
  • R Inanimate
  • Solace
• VGC 2011
  • Solace

Past Gens Moderators (RBY/GSC/ADV)

• Oglemi
• Jellicent

Article Moderators

• macle
• Nexus

Secret Boss Moderator

• Fatecrashers
• Jellicent

Quality Control Team:

When new sets, analyses, or updates are posted for any tier, they must be posted in the respective tier forum with the (Quality Control) prefix. This prefix will put that writeup through the Quality Control (QC) process which validates the set's effectiveness in the metagame of choice. There is a more detailed description of the QC process and team in this announcement.

Grammar-Prose Team:

Once a set or analysis passes the Quality Control stage, its prefix is changed to (Copyediting) and it will be moving into the Grammar-Prose (GP) stage of the process. After the author has finished writing the entirety of the writeup, he will mention in his thread with a bump that it is ready for GP checks. Either a GP team member or the author can then ask that the analysis be added to the respective generation's Grammar-Prose Queue, which tracks how many checks each writeup has and lists the members of the team. The analysis will then be rigorously scanned for grammatical errors, prose errors, and convention errors that are in breach of Smogon's conventions located here. Once the analysis gets checked twice, it will pass the GP stage and be ready for upload to the site. There is a more detailed description of the GP process and team in the below-linked queues.

Queues

• Fifth Generation
• Past Generations

SCMS Information:

The SCMS, Smogon Content Management System, is located here. Any user with a badge may access the SCMS and use it to fix small errors across the website. If you happen to be using Firefox or Chrome, put the following as one of your bookmarks:

javascript:window.location = %22http://%22 + window.location.host + %22/scms/jump?url=%22 + window.location.pathname

When you are on a Smogon page and you use this bookmark, it will take you immediately to the SCMS page for that article so that you can edit it. This is very handy for navigating quickly to things that need to be changed.

[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