CAP 11 CAP 11 - Topic Leader Poll

Only CAP 11 Policy Review Committee members can vote in this thread. Posts by anyone else will be deleted. Policy Review Committee members are listed here.

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The Topic Leader is the most important leadership position in the project during the creation process. So, it is important that we pick someone that will do a good job. For this reason, we do not choose a TL by popular community vote. Instead we choose the TL by a committee of trusted expert project members.

Here is the list of self-nominated candidates (in the order they submitted their candidacy):


The candidacy announcements and support posts from members of the community are in this thread: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74129
Please review all the information in that thread in order to inform your decision.

Here's how to vote:

• Only current Policy Review Committee members are eligible to vote. Policy Committee members are listed here.
  
  
• Please post ALL candidate names ranked in order of preference. Also, please include a brief summary of your reasons for the ranking on your ballot. Do not adjust your rankings to attempt to "game the poll results". As expert project members, I hope we can expect everyone to vote fairly, and with integrity.
  
  
• If you do not complete a full ranked ballot with reasoning, as prescribed here, your ballot will be deleted. So, please take the time to evaluate all the candidates and compose a proper ranked ballot.
  
  
• I will only vote in the case of a tie. If my vote is needed, I will compose a ballot and cast it at the conclusion of this poll.
  
  
• Please post your ballots as soon as possible. This poll should close 24 hours from now. If any committee member needs more time to compose a ballot, please PM me and ask for an extension.

Fuzznip
Deck Knight
Vader
Umbreon Dan

All of the candidates are more than qualified for their own reasons, so judging them based on such qualifications I feel is a toss-up. In lieu of that, my primary goal was to vote for the TLs in order of what sort of unique process they would create in the form of what type of CAP they would support, how easy they are to work with, how successfully they can lead, and what their knowledge and style really bring to the table.

I chose Fuzznip as TL because I feel that he is more open to both new ideas and old ones that have been forgotten by previous TLs because it wasn't in their personality to accept them. Fuzznip would lead CAP11 with an open palette, but be firm as needed. He gets my number one pick for the overwhelming reason that I think he will give us something great from things that other TLs would normally overlook.

Deck Knight is a close number two. He has an overwhelming knowledge of the process. I also would love to see the CAP he would create; it'd be something niche and unique, which is right up the alley of what I'm looking for in a CAP. Deck would also lead the process with a firm grip, controlling everywhere it went and keeping a steady hand in every stage of the process. He'd do a great job, but I just don't feel that he'll be as open to different and clever and normally-overlooked options as Fuzznip would.

Vader is a strong candidate, but I just feel that my top two are leaps and bounds ahead of him. I'd like to see more of his knowledge of the process come out in CAP11 so that I might better make a judgment as to what kind of CAP he would create as a TL.

Dan knows the process and he would probably create a cool CAP, but I feel that he's brutally difficult to work with. I think the community would be at odds with him every step along the way and that he might not have the ability to keep things on track and in-line. I feel that his credentials, although being greater than Vader's, are washed out by his general attitude and disposition.

I found it extremely hard to pick a ballot, seeing as all the users have strong credentials. However, I made comprimises, and I feel the ballot I am suggesting best represents my ideas.

Deck Kight

DK is my first choice, because I believe he has the strongest handling of the current CaP process. He has proven himself as a great contributer to the CaP project, especially with his numerous Stat and Movepool poll wins. Deck is a great arguer as well, and I have no doubt that he will serve as a great TL.

Fuzznip

I found that picking my second choice was quite hard. However, I find that Fuzznip has great credentials. Other than being a mod, he is a great contributer to C&C and CaP, making most of the analyses. He has shown his reliability with practically running the whole LNT and MT part of CaP (but fuck man BETTER NAMES). I have regard for Fuzznip as a battler, and find that he would make a strong TL.

Umbreon Dan

First of all, I would just like to say that UD is a very good battler. He helped revolutionize some things in the CaP metagame (FUCK YEAH RAIN) He has hOps in #cap (strong, but not too strong), which proves he is a great contributer. He also isn't as daft as I make him out to be!

Vader

I have respect for vadre as a battler and a user. He has proven he can run a forum, being KING BRAZIL of LC. However, I believe he has the weakest credentials of the ballot. Sorry vader :(.

In total, my ballot is :

Deck Knight
Fuzznip
Umbreon Dan
Vader

Umbreon Dan
Fuzznip
Deck Knight
Vader

I am fortunate enough to know all of the candidates quite well, which then unfortunately makes choosing from them difficult.
Vader is a very knowledgeable battler, and my respect in how he moderates LC is very high. He is also very experienced in the CAP Metagame, as I learnt from when we did the Smogcast. However, and I mean no offense, but LC is a much smaller sect than CAP, and I feel that he has not shown enough real potential in controlling such an open-ended community project, as well as the fact that I worry that Vader's final result would be perhaps a bit lopsideed, in that I feel he is the sort of person who would experiment a little too much.
Deck Knight I would say is the one I know best out of the bunch. His classic sense of humor along with his great sociability makes him a nice person, one that a lot of people can warm up to easily. He knows CAP inside and out, as his Trophy case and its many Movepool/Stat Spread victories will attest for. He is also incredibly experimental, down the point where it sometimes works against him, which is one factor in my low vote for him. The other factor being that I don't think he is very accepting of different views. More often than not, I have seen him choosing one opinion and sticking to it outright, which when translated to a CAP Project, could see the exclusion of some very interesting results.
Fuzznip is an extremely efficient worker. I know he is very skilled when it comes to both CAP and OU, and the quality of his analyses support this. However, Fuzznip recently became a moderator of CAP, and while this emphasizes his reliability, leadership and knowledge, I think that his creation of a CAP Project would not be as good as it could be, since I know his to be a very open-minded person, and perhaps the wrong ideas could get thrown into the mix.
Umbreon Dan has ended up as my first choice. He is a very jokey character. However, underneath his humorous exterior is a serious person who lives and breathes CAP. He might not be extremely experienced when it comes to battling, and he has been known to make mountains out of small arguments, but I think he is more likely to be able to instantly weed out the good from the bad and make the most of it. I know that in terms of a final result what he may produce will not be as stunning or interesting as some others, but I believe that he can guide the project in such a way that we learn throughout the process as well as after it.

Deck Knight
Fuzznip
Umbreon Dan
Vader

There's no need make a marathon post here like the others so let's make it short and sweet. This CAP i'm looking for a strong personality to keep a firm grip on the process and the people in it. Someone able to make points with enough knowledge to back it up. I really want the most extreme TL I can possibly find and the order of my votes reflects this.

Quite a nice selection this time around. Good luck guys.

Deck Knight
Fuzznip
Vader
Umbreon Dan

Deck Knight - I'm choosing Deck first because in terms of CAP contributions, he is almost on par with Fuzznip, and greatly outclasses him in terms of longevity. However, what Deck has that Fuzznip doesn't is that he has shown time and time again that he can win over the opinion of people, and it shows with his impressive resume in the polls. He has the most wins out of anyone (sans art), which is a testament to his excellent debate ability. In addition, Deck knows the process inside and out, consistently helping revamp it. With the new "strong TL" model, I feel like Deck would be the best candidate to take charge of a CAP and truly lead it.

Fuzznip - Fuzznip is a close second to Deck in my opinion. He is one of the best CAP Contributors in a long time, and does so much for the forum and the server. However, I feel like Deck has a better handle on the process, especially with the new movepool and stats changes. This isn't to say Fuzznip wouldn't make an excellent TL now or in the future, because I believe he would.

Vader - As much as I personally like Vader, I don't believe he has enough CAP experience to fully take advantage of the process and lead a CAP as of yet. However, what he lacks in expertise in CAP, he makes up for in his ability to lead a major project, namely the Little Cup Forum. In the LC forum, he consistently leads people in various testing projects/tournaments.

Umbreon Dan - Umbreon Dan may have better CAP credentials than Vader, but there are other reasons why he is last on my ballot. First and foremost, I have to call into question his ability to sucessfully lead people. He was an ATL under Beej, however I don't feel like he did all that much. Other than that, he has almost no experience leading people in a major project. Second, I don't believe he is mature enough to lead the CAP project. Take a look at what one of his supporters said about him:

Zystral said:

He is a very jokey character ... he has been known to make mountains out of small arguments

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There have been countless incidents exemplifying these qualities also. He argued furiously over the name of a set, he intentionally listed a contributor's name wrong on an on-site article "as a joke", and he argued endlessly over the EVs of another set when he was proven wrong. These are not the qualities we are looking for when we look for a TL.

So this is my vote:

Deck Knight
Fuzznip
Vader
Umbreon Dan

Fuzznip
Deck Knight
Umbreon Dan
Vader

Out of all these choices, I have found Fuzznip and Deck Knight to be the most responsible in terms of getting things done quick and efficiently. While I appreciate Deck Knight's ability to get work done as well as his innovation, I feel that Fuzznip is a bit more approachable in terms of hearing out other members. Vader, Umbreon, and Fuzznip, do have more experience in terms of battling and competitive knowledge as they battle frequently, however this is balanced out as Deck Knight has the ability to come up with something catchy and pretty much sell it to CAP. Nonetheless, I always like a TL who encourages participation and can also assert his position. In the time that Fuzznip has become a moderator, I have seen just that. He is in charge of CAP analyses, he is in charge of the CAP Tournaments, and he welcomes suggestions and criticism like a pro. This is not to say Deck Knight lacks these qualities, however. His posts in Policy Review are always helpful and insightful, and he has been a driving force in reform in CAP. However, Policy Review shows a good understanding of the process moreso than encouraging the body of Smogon to actually participate in CAP. I believe the most important aspect of a CAP project lies in activity and the power of the people, which is why I choose Fuzznip over Deck Knight.

Knowledge of the CAP Process is definitely a plus, but the basic knowledge you need in order to be an effective TL is minimal. Contributors to this process such as Deck Knight and Doug have basically laid out what needs to be done, how you go about doing things, and where to draw the line. It takes much more effort to analyze the metagame critically rather than studying up on the process. As a past TL, I feel that knowledge of the process is something you can pick up pretty fast. Changing the process is definitely a different story though, so I give Deck Knight props on that. However, changing CAP processes is not part of the CAP project itself. I believe Fuzznip has the best analytical skills when it comes to a metagame. Not just pointing out and creating niches, but seeing the viability of such niches, as well as how it would fit in with the metagame.

Umbreon Dan takes the cake as probably the most headstrong nominee in this slate. This comes with benefits and potential problems. I like the fact that Umbreon Dan would probably know what he wants moreso than any other person here, but I am skeptical as to whether he can still take advice as well as Deck, Fuzz, or Vader. I've personally experienced problems with this, so he takes the cake as third.

As much as I love my boy Vader, I think he comes a little short in comparison with everybody else here. He's nice, a good battler, approachable, and has reasonable understanding of the process that would pass for a TL.

All of these guys are good candidates for TL, but some overshine the others in terms of experience in both the process and in metagame knowledge.

This is obviously a close poll between Deck and Fuzz, and they are both at the top of my ballot as well. Deck has extreme knowledge of the process and a plethora of contributions, and Fuzznip has always been active on the server, and probably knows both the CAP metagame and OU metagame very well (and of course participates alot etc). That's not to say Vader and UD don't do anything, but they just are a tiny bit less qualified than Deck and Fuzznip. They're great TL candidates, but not this CAP...

In any case, this vote is really choosing between process experience or metagame experience. While it is obviously important to have both, and both candidates do, it is my opinion that metagame experience is much less easily gained, so I have to tip my hat to Fuzznip, who I think will have a slightly better understanding of what giving <x> to CAP11 will do. Therefore my ballot is:

Fuzznip
Deck Knight
Umbreon Dan
Vader

No hard feelings guys, I would be happy to have you all as TLs.

I hate hard decisions.

Fuzznip
Deck Knight
Umbreon Dan
Vader

I'll be brief. To be honest the two who, for me, stick out as having the exact right balance of experimentalism and experience (though that's not to say that the others would not make excellent TL's as well), are Fuzznip and Deck Knight. Deck Knight's dedication and knowledge is unquestionable, as he has proven so many times, and Fuzznip has plenty of experience as a moderator and project leader, as well as knowing the game on so many levels.

While it is in my nature to favour tradition over new endeavours, such that Deck Knight would be my first choice, I have to say that perhaps CAP flourishes best in the latter category - and for the sake of the project my gut feeling inclines just barely towards Fuzznip, as I think he may be more likely to take a lenient view in difficult or complicated situations, while still being able to keep the discussion under control. Realistically, I would be fine with either of them, but... I'm just going to have to go with Fuzznip here.

Deck Knight

Deck knows how cap works probably the best out of anyone. He knows how to lead people with ease.

Fuzznip

Fuzz is a well experianced cap member / mod and knows a lot about what makes things broken from his experiance in ou and uu tiering.

Vader

Vader is a long time cap member who knows how to lead people.

Umbreon Dan

Dan lead the revisions fine and he is a good cap member but his leading skills are questionable.


so

Deck Knight
Fuzznip
Vader
Umbreon Dan

Fuzznip
Deck Knight
Umbreon Dan
Vader

Fuzznip is committed to CAP, heavily involved in the process, active in the actual metagame, respected in the community--in short, everything I would look for in a topic leader. To be honest, I'm actually surprised that ten CAPs in, he hasn't been a TL yet.

Deck Knight is a proven strength for CAP, and I am certain that he would make a good TL, but I think Fuzznip is a slightly better choice at this point, especially considering that this would allow Deck Knight to continue to do what he does best--contribute and win polls.

Umbreon Dan is a hard worker and a strong candidate, but not quite the same caliber as Fuzznip and Deck Knight.

Vader is a good user, but to be honest I feel that his experience with CAP and involvement with the CAP project is much lower than the other three candidates. The other three are hard-core CAP users, while Vader is more of a Little Cup guy.

This was a fantastic slate of TL candidates, all of which were wonderfully qualified to lead the project. But, we had to choose one, and after tallying results of this poll, in a VERY close race...

Congratulations to Fuzznip, the new Topic Leader for CAP 11!

Fuzznip, please select an Assistant TL to serve as a backup in times where you need help keeping up the project pace. Make a post here regarding your ATL selection. After that, feel free to open the Concept Submission thread. I will also send you a PM with some additional links, information, and advice.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot guys!

I believe I will select Deck Knight as my assistant for CAP 11, assuming he wouldn't mind. :P