This morning, I went onto the server and reset the ladders for every tier except Dream World OU, which will be reset after the 25th, when they make some suspect council decisions.
This was not an act which I took on a whim.
It has been brought to my attention that top users on several ladders have been engaging routinely in what I can only describe as "anti-competitive" behavior. There have been a few instances of outright cheating, but mostly it's been instances of users helping their friends ladder by forfeiting against them, just to award them more ladder points.
This is not acceptable.
Smogon is a
competitive Pokemon site. What draws users to our PO server over other more populated alternatives is at least partially the quality of our ladder, that we have a reputation for having the best battlers.
Anti-competetive behavior and cronyism diminishes that in a real way and will NOT be tolerated.
While it is true that, before yesterday, there was nothing in
the rules to forbid this sort of behavior, it really should have gone without saying. Still, it is my determination that it is unfair to punish a select few prominent individuals for something that is really a systemic problem.
So instead, I have decided to wipe the slate clean and give EVERYONE a fresh start.
Please read
the revised rules. Feel free to post below if you have any questions.