Welcome to the Featured Rater project! This is a series of interviews where we ask official Team Raters, new and old, several questions about the RMT forum and their experiences within it. We hope that this offers both entertainment and an insight into their thought processes, which aspiring raters can look to incorporate into their own rates. This project is hosted by Analytic, IronBullet, and myself. Our sixteenth interviewee is Delko, a former RMT leader and Super Moderator who in his time was one of the forum's most passionate and dedicated contributors.
Tell us a little bit about your life outside Smogon.
I’m a 24 year old male from Belgium. I’m currently in my final year of my second bachelor’s degree, hoping to start working soon.
I generally love video games, and I’ve been playing pokemon since Red and Blue. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of spare time to play anything anymore, but I do play Hearthstone occasionally or some incognito Random Battles on Showdown!.
What was your main tier when you were actively rating? Did you rate teams from any other tiers?
I mainly rated OU teams, with some UU and Uber every once in a while, as those were there the only tiers I played myself. Not knowing the metagame of the other tiers, trying to rate those teams would be a disaster.
When did you start rating and why?
I started rating in 2009. I have been using Smogon since 2007 for its guides on Diamond and Pearl, but then I saw an RMT of a guy asking how to handle a certain threat and since I knew the answer I made an account to help him out. Back in the day I used to occasionally play on Netbattle -> Shoddy so I had some experience on the competitive scene. When Smogon entered the PO era I was quickly made a Tournament host, and apparently did a good job because I became a Sim Mod soon after. Being a bit more famous led to people PM’ing me to ask if I would rate their team. It didn’t take long or I did 1 or 2 rates every day and while my initial quality wasn’t that great, it became better due to experience. After 6 months I got my badge but continued to rate because I like it. Another 6 months later and Franky and Faladran stepped down as Forum Mods and because I helped organizing the RMT Basics Forum and the RMT Archives, Haunter made me a Mod. This basically meant less rating and more work behind the scenes, but I still tried to squeeze a rate in every now and then.
Are there any raters who you looked up to when you started rating?
Like I mentioned, I didn’t start rating because I liked a certain TR. However, my rates were pretty basic at the time, like 1 or 2 sentences saying that problem (A) could be solved by answer (B). Then I noticed users such as Franky, Faladran and Ironbullet who made such beautiful rates with bullets, colors and Pokemon sprites. I thought it was very fancy so I copied that style n_n
Of course the more I rated to more people I met, and other raters such as AB2, San_Pelegrino and Smith (and many more) were people I enjoyed talking to and they helped me to get better at rating. Haunter and Bloo were also amazing leaders and I learned a lot from them. I’m sad to see them go the way they did.
What do you most enjoy about rating?
You meet plenty of new people that respect you and ask you for advice. The fact that you can help a person with something you both enjoy is good enough for me. I didn’t start rating to get a badge, but because I like helping people.
Do you follow a process with your rates?
I know I just said that I liked doing fancy rates, but my overall philosophy was to keep it simple, change as little as possible, sometimes 1 move change, or a slightly different EV spread can make the difference.
My process was usually to compare the team against the top 20 pokemon/ combo’s on the usage list and figure out how the team wins against those. Is the deck weak to Offense, Stall etc. I also had a soft spot for gimmicky sets and would usually refrain from changing those.
Do you have any words of advice for aspiring raters?
Don’t think too hard. Sometimes a team cannot be fixed without a complete overhaul and that’s not really the point the forum, this isn’t Make My Team. Try to change as little as possible and test out the suggested changes; sometimes things on paper aren’t as good as they look. On the other hand, sometimes a team is just solid and no changes can be made at all. Don’t try to rate just for the sake of rating.
There is also more to rating then just the RMT forums; by playing the game and getting better at it you’ll notice that rating becomes a whole lot easier because you know from experience what works and what doesn’t. #IRC or Showdown are great places to chat and learn more about Pokemon in general. If you’re still stuck, try to get a Tutor that has a history in rating so he can help you out with that too.
How do you feel the RMT forum, and rating in general, has developed from when you were leading?
When I became the RMT Co-leader (with Haunter) and the TR Badgeleader we decided to make to TR badge an “easier to get, easier to lose” kind of badge. We had a lot of people rating at that time, but only a few had the badge to show for it because it was a hard one to get with the old standards (I did over 200 rates before I got mine). So we decided to give raters with good quality a TR badge as soon as possible (25 rates on average iirc), while the aspiring ones would receive a Ladybug as well some rating advice from our active raters.
I also tried to make RMT more user-friendly. Previously the rules and the mods were pretty strict (I got like 3 infractions from Tab for the smallest things xd). There would also be a lot more transparency between all the raters which led to the creation of the RMT-staff subforum. Here we had a place to discuss the future of RMT together as a team. We established various rules for when to badge people, what RMT’s to add to the Archives, how to host #RMT lectures, Teams/ Raters of the Week etc etc.
And although Smogon got a lot more users overall, the RMT forums were more active then they ever before. Eventually Haunter stepped down and gave me full leadership and SMod status to boot. Unfortunately, not even a month later I had my thesis and a 5 month trip to Australia which prevented me from actively contributing to the forum and slowly but certainly I spend less and less time in RMT until I had to step down myself due to inactivity. Jirachee and Harsha did a great job after that to fix my tardiness, and Ironbullet is currently also leading to forum in good fashion.
As leader, what were the main responsibilities and obligations you had to carry out? What are some of your most memorable moments?
The thing I disliked the most was keeping taps on the active raters, and basically force the inactive ones to continue rating or they would lose their badge (the result of the easy-to-get, easy-to-lose rule). Otherwise it was your basic “working behind the scenes” stuff, making sure the forum ran smoothly and such.
Memorable moments were definitely the people I met. Harsha, Tab, Jirachee (and again, many many more) were all such nice people that I enjoyed talking with.
Do you like the direction the forum is taking at the moment? If you could add or change something, what would it be?
I think it’s in a similar state as when I left so that’s good I guess :p
The amount of contributors still keeps growing so there’s a lot more that can get done and I like that. In the past we had moments when we had like 1 rater for NU, it’s nice to see there are a lot more people now. I don’t think there is anything I would change.
What are your thoughts on the RMT PS room? Do you have any ideas on how the room could be developed to be integrated more with the forum?
I visited once or twice. I like the idea and while I enjoy the activity of aspiring raters, the suggested changes usually did’t make sense. The quality is getting better though, so I think it will turn out just fine ;)
Lastly, can you give us an example of a rate that exemplifies your particular style?
I’d love to, but unfortunately my rates where in DPPt /HGSS / early BW era, way back in 2009-2011. I cannot seem to find posts from that time period. Don’t expect too much from those rates though, as it was your standard small change suggestion-post that many raters back then used, nothing too spectacular. I did try to be polite in my rates though, answering even the noobiest of questions.
------------
Thanks for taking the time to do this bro! Feel free to leave any questions you have for Delko below
I’m a 24 year old male from Belgium. I’m currently in my final year of my second bachelor’s degree, hoping to start working soon.
I generally love video games, and I’ve been playing pokemon since Red and Blue. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of spare time to play anything anymore, but I do play Hearthstone occasionally or some incognito Random Battles on Showdown!.
What was your main tier when you were actively rating? Did you rate teams from any other tiers?
I mainly rated OU teams, with some UU and Uber every once in a while, as those were there the only tiers I played myself. Not knowing the metagame of the other tiers, trying to rate those teams would be a disaster.
When did you start rating and why?
I started rating in 2009. I have been using Smogon since 2007 for its guides on Diamond and Pearl, but then I saw an RMT of a guy asking how to handle a certain threat and since I knew the answer I made an account to help him out. Back in the day I used to occasionally play on Netbattle -> Shoddy so I had some experience on the competitive scene. When Smogon entered the PO era I was quickly made a Tournament host, and apparently did a good job because I became a Sim Mod soon after. Being a bit more famous led to people PM’ing me to ask if I would rate their team. It didn’t take long or I did 1 or 2 rates every day and while my initial quality wasn’t that great, it became better due to experience. After 6 months I got my badge but continued to rate because I like it. Another 6 months later and Franky and Faladran stepped down as Forum Mods and because I helped organizing the RMT Basics Forum and the RMT Archives, Haunter made me a Mod. This basically meant less rating and more work behind the scenes, but I still tried to squeeze a rate in every now and then.
Are there any raters who you looked up to when you started rating?
Like I mentioned, I didn’t start rating because I liked a certain TR. However, my rates were pretty basic at the time, like 1 or 2 sentences saying that problem (A) could be solved by answer (B). Then I noticed users such as Franky, Faladran and Ironbullet who made such beautiful rates with bullets, colors and Pokemon sprites. I thought it was very fancy so I copied that style n_n
Of course the more I rated to more people I met, and other raters such as AB2, San_Pelegrino and Smith (and many more) were people I enjoyed talking to and they helped me to get better at rating. Haunter and Bloo were also amazing leaders and I learned a lot from them. I’m sad to see them go the way they did.
What do you most enjoy about rating?
You meet plenty of new people that respect you and ask you for advice. The fact that you can help a person with something you both enjoy is good enough for me. I didn’t start rating to get a badge, but because I like helping people.
Do you follow a process with your rates?
I know I just said that I liked doing fancy rates, but my overall philosophy was to keep it simple, change as little as possible, sometimes 1 move change, or a slightly different EV spread can make the difference.
My process was usually to compare the team against the top 20 pokemon/ combo’s on the usage list and figure out how the team wins against those. Is the deck weak to Offense, Stall etc. I also had a soft spot for gimmicky sets and would usually refrain from changing those.
Do you have any words of advice for aspiring raters?
Don’t think too hard. Sometimes a team cannot be fixed without a complete overhaul and that’s not really the point the forum, this isn’t Make My Team. Try to change as little as possible and test out the suggested changes; sometimes things on paper aren’t as good as they look. On the other hand, sometimes a team is just solid and no changes can be made at all. Don’t try to rate just for the sake of rating.
There is also more to rating then just the RMT forums; by playing the game and getting better at it you’ll notice that rating becomes a whole lot easier because you know from experience what works and what doesn’t. #IRC or Showdown are great places to chat and learn more about Pokemon in general. If you’re still stuck, try to get a Tutor that has a history in rating so he can help you out with that too.
How do you feel the RMT forum, and rating in general, has developed from when you were leading?
When I became the RMT Co-leader (with Haunter) and the TR Badgeleader we decided to make to TR badge an “easier to get, easier to lose” kind of badge. We had a lot of people rating at that time, but only a few had the badge to show for it because it was a hard one to get with the old standards (I did over 200 rates before I got mine). So we decided to give raters with good quality a TR badge as soon as possible (25 rates on average iirc), while the aspiring ones would receive a Ladybug as well some rating advice from our active raters.
I also tried to make RMT more user-friendly. Previously the rules and the mods were pretty strict (I got like 3 infractions from Tab for the smallest things xd). There would also be a lot more transparency between all the raters which led to the creation of the RMT-staff subforum. Here we had a place to discuss the future of RMT together as a team. We established various rules for when to badge people, what RMT’s to add to the Archives, how to host #RMT lectures, Teams/ Raters of the Week etc etc.
And although Smogon got a lot more users overall, the RMT forums were more active then they ever before. Eventually Haunter stepped down and gave me full leadership and SMod status to boot. Unfortunately, not even a month later I had my thesis and a 5 month trip to Australia which prevented me from actively contributing to the forum and slowly but certainly I spend less and less time in RMT until I had to step down myself due to inactivity. Jirachee and Harsha did a great job after that to fix my tardiness, and Ironbullet is currently also leading to forum in good fashion.
As leader, what were the main responsibilities and obligations you had to carry out? What are some of your most memorable moments?
The thing I disliked the most was keeping taps on the active raters, and basically force the inactive ones to continue rating or they would lose their badge (the result of the easy-to-get, easy-to-lose rule). Otherwise it was your basic “working behind the scenes” stuff, making sure the forum ran smoothly and such.
Memorable moments were definitely the people I met. Harsha, Tab, Jirachee (and again, many many more) were all such nice people that I enjoyed talking with.
Do you like the direction the forum is taking at the moment? If you could add or change something, what would it be?
I think it’s in a similar state as when I left so that’s good I guess :p
The amount of contributors still keeps growing so there’s a lot more that can get done and I like that. In the past we had moments when we had like 1 rater for NU, it’s nice to see there are a lot more people now. I don’t think there is anything I would change.
What are your thoughts on the RMT PS room? Do you have any ideas on how the room could be developed to be integrated more with the forum?
I visited once or twice. I like the idea and while I enjoy the activity of aspiring raters, the suggested changes usually did’t make sense. The quality is getting better though, so I think it will turn out just fine ;)
Lastly, can you give us an example of a rate that exemplifies your particular style?
I’d love to, but unfortunately my rates where in DPPt /HGSS / early BW era, way back in 2009-2011. I cannot seem to find posts from that time period. Don’t expect too much from those rates though, as it was your standard small change suggestion-post that many raters back then used, nothing too spectacular. I did try to be polite in my rates though, answering even the noobiest of questions.
------------
Thanks for taking the time to do this bro! Feel free to leave any questions you have for Delko below
