CAP 16 CAP 5 - TL and TLT Applications

[Birkal]

This is the thread for people to announce their desire to become either the Topic Leader (TL) or a member of the Topic Leadership Team (TLT) for this creation project. Do not suggest other users. If someone wants to become the TL or a TLT member, they will post on their own, and if they don't have a strong urge to be it then they shouldn't be signing up anyway. The CAP project requires the utmost dedication and a substantial amount of free time, especially to lead, meaning that only those who have carefully considered the magnitude of their application will apply at all. If you are not prepared to fulfill all of the responsibilities to the very end, then do not throw your hat into the ring.

Remember, there are new positions available for CAP 5 leadership, namely the Topic Leadership Team. Please read this post for a full understanding of what this entails. Furthermore, it is important to understand the new changes to the CAP project; all of them can be found here. We are looking to fill the following five positions to help us lead the creation of this new Pokemon:

• Topic Leader: In the public's eyes, this is the leader of the project. Unlike past Topic Leaders, they now only make the slate for Concept Submissions. Overall, the goal of the TL is "quality control", not "project control". The responsibilities of the TL include running Concept Assessment, Threats Discussion, and finalizing the slates of TLT members.
  
  
• Topic Leadership Team: The TLT will be leading the four major competitive aspects of creating a Pokemon. They will make slates for their respective threads and provide meaningful discussion points to their specific area. Note that TLT members are allowed to make submissions during stages of the CAP process that they are not actively leading. We are looking to fill the following four positions:
  • Typing Leader
  • Ability Leader
  • Stats Leader
  • Movepool Leader

When making your application, please indicate which position(s) you are applying for. You must identify whether you're applying for TL or TLT (you are allowed to apply for both). You are allowed to specific which position you'd like to fill on the TLT, but it is not required. Topic leaders and TLT members should have the following qualifications:

• Deep knowledge of the game of Pokemon
• Familiarity with competitive Pokemon concepts, strategy and philosophy, as practiced within Smogon
• Willing to voice opinions and lead others
• Open-minded to new ideas
• Creative, "outside-of-the-box" thinker
• Good writing skills
• Level-headed when resolving disputes
• Liked and respected by the CAP community

Once this CAP starts, the Topic Leader and the Topic Leadership Team will be the most important, most visible members of the CAP community, and they are expected to be a strong guiding force throughout the creation process. If you are selected for any of these positions, you will have a great deal of power to influence the project. But you also have a responsibility to stay on top of things. You will have forum moderators to help you, but you need to be regularly active on the project until it is complete. All potential candidates should look through both the Topic Leadership Guide and the CAP Process Archive, to get an idea of what will be expected of you, if you are selected to be the CAP 5 Topic Leader or TLT member.

This thread is strictly for candidacy posts and posts supporting those candidates. Please stay on topic. Below are the guidelines for posting in this thread:

• Candidates must have been actively involved through the entire duration of the most recent CAP project. Involvement in multiple CAP projects is strongly preferred.
• Do not suggest other people. If you want you encourage someone else to run, then send them a PM or talk to them on IRC.
• If you are new to the CAP project, do not sign up in this thread. Instead, spend a project or two lurking, learning, and participating first.
• Include a summary of your involvement in the CAP project.
• Make a pitch for why you should be selected. If you can't present and defend yourself, then you can't expect to lead a project whose primary function is discussion and debate. Convince us that you are a good choice.
• Poor spelling, punctuation, and grammar are great ways to look as though you don't know what you're talking about. A thoughtful and intelligent community leader should be capable of typing at a level above typical internet banter.
• Even if you don't think you are better qualified than certain other candidates, you still should consider posting your application. Candidates not selected as TL or TLT for this project will be on the watch list by the PRC for next time around. Don't post your name if you don't intend to be active in the project, even if you are not selected, since people will be scrutinizing your involvement more closely.
• Feel free to post support for any candidates already named.
• Do not post disparaging remarks about any candidates.

If these rules are not followed, the offending user will be subject to moderation.

Best of luck to all applicants! Let's begin.

 

[Korski]

I am applying for TL and TLT

Hello, I would like to apply to help lead this CAP. I wasn't originally going to run for TL, but I found myself on irc today advising people to apply for the position if they think they are ready for it, regardless of whosoever may seem more qualified or popular or "deserving." I typically think people should follow their own advice, so here I am.

Where I'm coming from

For some résumé-like history, I became an active contributor in CAP during the early stages of CAP8 (Cyclohm) back in early 2009. Besides being inactive without internet access during CAP11, I have been an active presence in discussion threads, CAP revision projects, and PRCs ever since then. I have probably been most successful as a submitter; when I make submissions for competitive process stages, I try and incorporate as much public opinion as possible to square with my personal interpretation of the concept in order to come up with something the community will appreciate. Under the Strong TL model (Gen. IV CAP9 through Gen. V CAP4), I have been slated 12 times in competitive polls, and I would like to believe my submissions generally perform well because I pay attention to what people are talking about. Here's the list of those times my submissions have been slated and how they have fared in the polls:

• CAP9 Stats poll (first runner-up)
• CAP9 Movepool poll (first runner-up)
• CAP10 Concept poll
• CAP10 Stats poll (second runner-up)
• CAP10 Movepool poll (first runner-up)
• CAP1 Concept poll (winner)
• CAP1 Movepool poll (second runner-up)
• CAP2 Concept poll (winner)
• CAP2 Stats poll (first runner-up)
• CAP2 Movepool poll (T-second runner-up)
• CAP3 Stats poll (first runner-up)
• CAP4 Movepool poll (winner, don't flame)

I also landed on the CAP10 Name poll (failure) and the CAP4 Pokedex poll (success), but I don't often venture into the flavor step submissions because I consider the competitive aspects to be the "meat" of the Project and put all my energy as a contributor into those threads. In terms of other credentials, I also won the CAP1 (Tomohawk) Playtest, wrote the on-site Tomohawk analysis, and am currently nearly done revising the Necturna analysis in order to get it finally complete and on-site.

I am an active presence on irc, where I currently hold Voice status, and in fact I like to go to #cap for the real-time debates that formulate a majority of the opinions expressed in this forum. Honestly, if you aren't on #cap, you are missing half the story behind just about every aspect of the Create-A-Pokemon Project. I consider myself flexible when it comes to controversial issues and rarely enter the fray with preconceived notions or rigidly held opinions. Although the opinions I end up with are ones I rigidly hold, I never play the part of the toddler with his fingers in his ears yelling over the sounds of others. I am always willing to tackle every side of an argument while collaborating with others to come up with good ideas or help improve the ideas of others. I am capable of recognizing when I am wrong or when others are "more right." Especially in this last round of PRC topics, I have taken to #cap to weed through some pretty new and complex ideas and used the community there to help build my own understanding and ideas regarding the various topics.

On leadership:

My history in CAP puts me in a position to more clearly see where we can go in terms of where we have been. I have been around for the totality of the Strong TL model, bookended by Plus and bugmaniacbob, and so I have necessarily seen firsthand the best and the worst of Project leadership (and just about everything in between) from the recent past. Not only that, but I have been around since before the Strong TL model, so I have now participated in two complete overhauls of the CAP leadership structure and am readily aware of the prevailing qualities of Topic Leadership we wish to maintain and emphasize.

Over time I have built up my credibility as a contributor to the point where I can hold influence in discussion threads and on irc, and I have a newly-minted Community Contributor badge to show it! Nevertheless, I respect strong arguments from wherever they come from and would consider it my duty to pull them out of people, should I be elected. I like to think of the TL/TLT structure not as a revolving door but as a guiding hand: five fingers of the same creature showing the way forward, without the capacity to pick everyone up and carry them to the promised land. As we get into the process of actually building our dearest new creation, I would expect the five leaders to lead in sync, point in the same direction, and support one another on the higher plane they were elected to, to the benefit of our various discussions and the Project as a whole. Now as we transition into uncharted territory with CAP5 and a new leadership scheme, I find myself eager to lead because of this perspective.

On CAP5:

This is going to be a groundbreaking Project. Combining significant process changes with significant structural changes is ambitious, to say the least, yet it's an ambition I am certain this community can achieve. Moving into this Project from our massive PR blitz means CAP5 is going to set the standard for all future CAPs and put all of our hard work from the past few months to the ultimate test. Despite the pressure, my optimism in regards to this unclear future is unwavering. Oh also as a side note I am super thrilled we won't have to deal with Tornadus-T in the upcoming playtest; in general I am thrilled that we are really honing in on what the Gen. V metagame is going to end up looking like, for all our sakes.

For CAP5, I aim to reestablish the significance of the Concept Assessment thread as the backbone for our collective understanding of the concept. As the TL's big sendoff, the conclusion of this thread should have a lasting ripple effect throughout the later stages and be a useful reference point for TLT and regular users alike. I aim to give quality users a stronger foothold in the community, especially if they are new, enthusiastic, and hooked on CAP. You never know who the next Rising_Dusk is going to be, so your best bet is to encourage everyone to be great and to give out accolades when they are earned. I aim to push the envelope in terms of creativity, critical thinking, and analysis for each step along the way. Finally, I aim to show off how smart we all are for coming up with this TLT idea. This one's going to be about the Project and about rising to the challenge, and I humbly toss my hat in the ring to be part of its success.

I sincerely wish all applicants the best of luck!

 

[Stratos]

My history in the CAP project if you care about that kind of thing

I joined during Tomohawk, and I was stupid. Fortunately I was at least smart enough to only post twice throughout the project, so I didn't make a lasting impression with my stupidity. By the time Necturna came around, I'd lurked more and contributed a little better. I posted both a Concept and a Stat Spread for Necturna but it's no surprise neither was slated. I started actually maybe mattering with my posts during the Mollux discussion, though I never submitted anything but concept, which didn't get slated. If you were on irc you would have seen me actively involved in Aurumoth; however, not so much on the forums: I submitted a Concept which got slated and came in sixth, and posted up through Ability 1, but became increasingly frustrated with how bmb handled the project until I decided that I couldn't even call posting "contributing" anymore, and stopped. I was then one of the most active people in the recent PRC discussions we had, which brings me to today.

Hi, I'm Pwnemon. I'm running for TL and TLT because I do believe I have the qualifications:

First and foremost, I'm passionate about CAP both in the creation of a Pokemon and in the PRC, and I fight and post with the best of them. Second, I'm one of the most active people on irc, where I have VOps, so you'll never have to try to catch me to discuss an idea. Third, my habits of posting – namely, succinctly and fairly often – would be a perfect match for a Topic Leader or TLT member.

However, I believe the most important point I can make in my favor is not about a previous CAP but instead from a Policy Review Discussion on the philosophy of Topic Leadership. Why should you vote for me? Because I won't take my position of leadership as an excuse to bully you into making my pokemon. I really do believe that the Pokemon is the creation of the community, not the Topic Leader. After completing a massive policy review cycle, it's more important than ever to come out the gate setting a good precedent for the behavior of our new TLs, and I believe I fit the bill here.

 

[nyttyn]

Greetings. My name's Nicholas, and I'm here today to apply for the Topic Leadership Team and Topic Leader. I haven't been along CAP quite as long as some people have, having only joined at the very start of Mollux, back when we were still deciding the concept and the virtues of Ice/Rock vs Fire/Poison. But I've still brought a new voice to the table, as seen by my victory in CAP3's movepool, and joining and being a member in good standing of the Policy Review Council for CAP4, being slated for CAP4's dex entry, and being slated and being in the top 4 of CAP4's movepool.

What I believe to be my key selling point, and the reason you should vote for me, is how available I am. I have a very large, constant presence on both the forums and #cap, in fact I actually possess some of the most lines and words spoken on #cap, with a grand total of 8782 words and 1344 lines. Thus, I am open almost constantly, and am able to quickly give feedback and responses to anything that might occur.

In addition, although it might not seem it at times, I do give every opinion a fair shake. In fact, I plan to give every single concept, idea, and point, no matter how seemingly "inconsequential" or "irrelevant" it might appear on the surface, an open mind. If you are able to lay out your point in a logical and cohesive manner, then by all means, I will give you my ear. After all, Deoxys-Defense was shunned to UU for a large portion of BW, but now people are talking about suspecting it as an Uber! The best things can come from places you don't always look, and I fully plan to look everywhere I can.

Finally, I plan to give as much feedback as I can, to everyone who desires it. Some people have, in the past, voiced concerns that they could not obtain sufficent feedback on their movepool/stats/what have you. I plan to, if you vote for me, give feedback to every single member of CAP who asks. From "Do you think this argument for Acid Spray is convincing" to "What do you think of my movepool," there will be no subject I will not be happy to give feedback on.

Thank you for your consideration, and I'm glad that this wonderful community that has provided me with endless enjoyment. I now ask to help continue this enjoyment for the community by being either your TL or a member of the TLT.

 

[jas61292]

Hey everyone! It’s jas here applying for TL and TLT.

Let me start off by giving a brief history of my time with the Create-A-Pokémon project. I first came to CAP and Smogon as a whole back around the start of the Tomohawk process. I quickly became heavily involved in the discussions of the project, both in the process threads and on the #cap IRC channel. Since then, I have stayed very involved in most aspects of the CAP project. In addition to playing an active role in the main projects, I have been part of multiple policy review committees, have participate actively in playtests,and have tried to help out as best I can in other CAP related endeavors such as the pre-evolution projects and the CAP metagame. Due to these contributions, I was awarded the Community Contributor badge back in July. I have also continued to be quite involved over in #cap, where I am a half-operator.

Presently, I am also leading the CAP 4 pre-evolution process. While pre-evolutions are very different from the main CAP projects on which they are based, so far I feel that it has been a great experience that has helped prepare me for future leadership roles. Now, before I go on, I just want to take a moment to say that regardless of the outcome of the TL and TLT selection process, the CAP 4 pre-evolution process will continue to run as planned, either under my leadership or that of a suitable replacement, if needed. There is no need to worry about any of that in relation to CAP 5 leadership.

Right now, I see the CAP project at the beginning of a new era. Since the end of the last project we have completely revamped the leadership structure, and I believe that with these changes, we have the potential to be better than ever. However, we are still very much in an experimental stage for CAP 5, and as such I believe that having great leadership will be more crucial than ever. While I am sure that all the other candidates would also do a fine job as leaders, there are a few key reasons why I think I would make great member of CAP 5’s leadership.

First of all, I believe that I have the experience necessary to fill the role of a leader. In addition to the CAP 4 prevos that I already mentioned, I am also a moderator over on Pokémon Showdown. While this is once again a very different type of leadership than being a TL or member of the TLT, it has given me a lot of experience in interacting with people and dealing with their problems and concerns. I feel the ability to successfully interact with people is one of, if not the most important skill for a leader, here in CAP, or anywhere else.

Secondly, I am always highly available. I am on #cap near constantly, and, on the forums, I check active CAP threads multiple times each day. I also try and respond to every PM and VM I receive as quickly as possible. If anyone ever needs to talk to me I am almost always around to speak with them.

Finally, while I will argue fiercely for what I believe in, both in the CAP process and in policy discussions, I always try and make sure people understand both what I believe and where I am coming from. I also always consider every side of a discussion before coming to a final conclusion. I am very open-minded and am more than happy to try unique ways of approaching problems. I believe that this is an incredibly important quality for leaders tohave in a project that may find us doing things that have never been done before. That being said, I always keep in mind the fact that CAP is an educational process, and while trying new things is great, even that has its limits, and I understand that sometimes trying new things just to try new things will not help us reach out goals. CAP is an awesome project, and can be a whole lot of fun, but we must always remember that at its heart, it is a learning experience, and regardless of my position, I will always do my best to make sure we get all that we can out of it.

I would like to wish good luck to all my fellow TL and TLT nominees, and I look forward to what will hopefully be the greatest CAP project yet.

 

[Deck Knight]

There must be a 5th!

I am Deck Knight, and I am applying for the TLT. I think we have more than enough good candidates for TL, and I've already run that show, so rather than pummel all these newbs I will graciously let them fight it out ;)

I have absolutely no clue how many winning submissions I have at this point, never mind if I include runner ups. I think my mod nomination from over a year ago said I already won eight outright - that number has only increased since then. About the only thing I haven't won once is concept, and Dragons [No] Be Here almost won that. So yeah, I think I'm very well qualified for any and every position on the TLT. I'll even be generous and risk not being able to submit and stat spread or a movepool and defer my selection order (should I get a high one) to whoever wants to take another position first.

I also implore other members of the community to post an application. The moderation staff will be happy to help and guide you along the way, and we want to use this new structure to give members who were involved in the last CAP Project to move up and forward. Also, our back room lounge is pretty freakin' sweet!

 

[capefeather]

We have a back room lounge?

Anyway, hey guys, I'm running for a TLT position, including TL.

I don't know if it's a good thing that people pretty much expect me to run. I take these nominations very seriously, and a large part of why I ran for TL before was because some other people didn't run. I probably wouldn't have run for TL this time under the previous leadership model, due to recent time concerns. However, this much-needed splitting of the responsibility onto multiple people makes it much more realistic for me to still consider taking on a topic leadership role, without worrying about long and protracted time investment. I just don't want it to look like I'm just running all the time for the hell of it, or like there's some kind of "line" that I'm on where I'll supposedly be next eventually.

It's weird to talk about applying for the TLT as opposed to the "Strong TL". In past TL nominations, people would talk about having "the best" leadership qualities. This time around, I think that community presence has taken on a much greater importance than it did previously. I think it's safe to say that I made my mark in every CAP project in which I've fully participated. Even in DPP CAP 11, I held my own in the movepool polls and got slated for the name poll (considering "Voodoom" was pretty much a shoe-in, even being slated was pretty big). In CAP 1, I placed second in the concept poll (narrowly losing to Korski) and won the movepool poll. In CAP 2, I won the stats poll and placed second in the movepool poll. In CAP 3, I placed second in the movepool poll, while in CAP 4, I won stats and concept. I have also written the past two CAP Reports for The Smog.

This kind of consistent, out-of-the-gate success doesn't just happen. From the beginning, I kept trying, and I kept making an effort to learn from the experiences and advice, even if I won the poll. Sheer participation is worthless by itself, without the honest effort put into it. This also applies to the discussions. Bringing new ideas to the table effectively is hard to do, because it's not enough just to be different. As in any pursuit worth doing, bringing fruitful discussion to CAP - especially when one is supposed to lead that discussion - requires a lot of open-mindedness and creativity, tempered by persistent and honest contemplation of ideas and opinions. My advantage on this front is partly due to my experience in battling and analysis-writing for multiple metagames, including all of Smogon's usage tiers, which has exposed me to different perspectives. I also have real-life experience with creative and critical thinking from my academic studies.

CAP is a powerful platform for competitive Pokemon discussion. However, it can only reach its full potential as a learning opportunity. I see (or at least try to see) everything as a learning opportunity. Success and failure ultimately mean far less than that. Even CAP 4, which is widely considered a failure, was a learning opportunity in many aspects. I hope that you, the reader of the walls of text in this thread (including mine, I hope!), will take this as a learning opportunity as well, and choose leaders who have the discernment to take on the task of leading fruitful discussions that bring forth new, intriguing ideas. I would be honored to be included in this endeavor.

Satsugeki Bukouken!

 

[Meganium Sulfate]

Hello, your favorite chemistry-based pokemon pun is back, and I'd like to apply not for TL (because I know that only people that are close friends with the mods and have a zillion posts will ever become TL) but for the TLT!

A brief history of my involvement: I had lurked since CAP first moved to Gen 5, but I first contributed to Necturna. Since then, I've been making interesting suggestions that, I believe, have contributed to CAP. There's only so much that someone new to the forum can do: in short, nobody has really listened to me, and nobody will probably listen to me now, despite my wide knowledge of the pokemon metagame and the great ideas that I've had throughout the CAP process.

I can't stress enough that I should be chosen for this team for the sole purpose of adding new perspective to the mix. I came up with Magnet Pull as an ability for Aurumoth, for instance. At the time, nobody even glanced at it or paused to think about its potential. Its risk factor can't be denied: it would have pitted a Bug/Psychic type against its greatest checks! And little did anyone know that the metal motif would become so thematically appropriate in the final design of Aurumoth and its prevos. It might have even fixed a CAP that is by all appearances too strong, if only people had listened...

In short, I believe that people often reject my ideas because they are so different from the norm, but if the Smogon community that I respect so much would give me a chance, I believe my unique viewpoints could lead the project in directions that had not been dreamed of before. So vote for me for the TLT!

 

[Bughouse]

Hello all! Name's Sam and I'm applying for a TLT position on our upcoming CAP 5. I've been a longtime battler on various online sims and have been a Smogon lurker for quite some time. I originally made a Smogon account purely to participate in CAP discussions where I had lurked for two or three projects. And CAP participation has remained my overwhelmingly leading activity onsite ever since I joined in on Voodoom. As you can see in the link in my signature, I am at least a pretty skilled battler, which derives from my competitive background.

When I first joined, I really had no idea what I was getting into with CAP. I received quite a few infractions that at the time seemed unjust to the CAP noob I was at the time. Looking back, I think they helped me learn to be a lot more judicious in what I say. While I have had occasional moments of weakness where I've been too blunt or strayed outside of what might be expected of a veteran CAP participant, it's only because I really do care about this project. I have felt for a few projects that CAP was trending pretty flat when I wanted, and I think we all wanted, it to be getting better and better. The situation that arose out of our previous CAP provided a perfect situation for more voices being heard and I think the recent PRC discussions, of which I was a part, have provided a good framework moving forward. I would like to be part of that forward progress.

As a regular participant, I've made competitive (and flavor) submissions for the vast majority of polls I have been around for and have been slated numerous times. Though none of my submissions have won yet, I feel my capacity to make slate-worthy submissions in both Stats and Movepool show that I have a good grasp of what is required to make a competitive CAP.

My passion for CAP is an incredibly important thing to discuss, since it is a double-edged sword. While as a submitter/discusser it has led to me getting attached to a vision and defending it sometimes even to the detriment of reason, I am fully confident that my passion for CAP can be translated to a greater leadership role. I believe that when I no longer have a dog in the race I will be entirely capable of judiciously moderating discussion and of making a fair, representative slate for whichever step in the process I would lead. I have held many committee positions and even a few overall leadership positions in my life, and I believe I've been effective in each.

I frequent the CAP forums daily to stay up to date on any and all ongoing threads even if I have nothing unique to add. I occasionally pop in on IRC talks and would have no problem increasing my IRC presence should I be selected. In short, I don't think that the amount of activity required of a TLT is above what I can give.

I recognize that I am up against a field of candidates that are all equally (if not more) qualified as I am. I still hope that you will consider my application. I look forward to working with the leadership team, whether or not I am a part of it, as we embark on another CAP journey.

I wish best of luck to all of my fellow participants, especially those applying for the first time. CAP is at a crossroads that will last from now, due to our changed leadership structure, to when X and Y are introduced. This is an important time to be active and I look forward to what CAP's future holds.

 

[Birkal]

Let's wrap this up in 24 hours.

 

[Birkal]

Hello, friends! I am here today to apply for solely the Topic Leader (TL) position for CAP5. For those of you who do not know me, I'm Birkal! Message me sometime; I'd love to chat =)

I'll be perfectly frank in this nomination post: I have been torn on whether or not to apply for Topic Leadership for CAP5. It's not that I doubt my abilities as a leader or as a valuable CAP contributor. Rather, my heart lies in doing what is ultimately best for the CAP project. I've been fumbling around with the debate of, "Would me applying be what's best for CAP?" for quite some time now. Ultimately, this is a community project, and you all are accustomed to choosing what's best for CAP; you all do it on a daily basis with your votes! So therefore, I will leave the decision of my involvement with CAP5 in your capable hands. I am confident that I can lead CAP5, but I also have no problem with stepping out of the limelight to let the other excellent candidates run the show. I will let you decide which path is best for CAP.

Let me explain what I have to offer. First of all, I highly value the competitive aspect of CAP and wish to increase the amount of competitive players and voters that participate in the project. I'm pretty in tune with the competitive community here on Smogon; I'm a moderator of the Overused forum, I'm an assistant manager in Smogon Premier League, I'm a leader (&) on Pokemon Showdown!, and I keep up with competitive The Smog articles (where I also lead). Furthermore, I'm on IRC daily for multiple hours every day, so it's incredibly easy to get a hold of me for discussions and debates. I hope to incorporate all of these traits to better serve the role of Topic Leader and increase competitive participation in CAP.

In terms of my CAP involvement, I'm quite a "late comer" when it comes to joining up with the project; I started contributing during CAP2 (Necturna). To make up for it, I've read through nearly every thread in the CAP forum (including the Process Archive) to bring myself up to speed as much as possible. Furthermore, I've been lurking the CAP process for years; I started looking at the Create-A-Pokemon forum since Arghonaut. I've served as a CAP moderator since Mollux, which includes running Policy Review threads, quality controlling CAP analyses, updating the CAP website, and making executive decisions.

In actual process threads, I'd consider Concept Submission to be my strong suit. I've been submitting concepts for the past three CAPs; I took fifth with Boot to the Head during CAP3 and second with Perfect Nemesis during CAP4. If you look through past threads, you'll find that I'm most active in Concept Submissions (providing feedback) and Concept Assessment. Furthermore, I give constructive criticisms frequently on IRC if people ask for it. In terms of other involvement, I tend to prefer ability and typing threads; I a large part of why Aurumoth was almost Bug/Dragon (took second) and why Necturna was nearly Poison/Dragon (also second). To round things out, I have never submitted a movepool or stat spread, but I actively provide feedback during those stages on notable submissions. I always find that those who make submissions during those stages do incredible work, so I tend to delegate myself to commenting and correcting.

Finally, I'd like to talk about the philosophy I'd have if I was elected as Topic Leader for CAP5. I don't have an agenda and I'm very open to a wide variety of concepts. The concepts I personally enjoy most are the "gimmick" ones; Necturna had one of my favorite concepts. However, I think it is important to note the current state of the OU metagame. We're at a crux where Drizzle (and auto-weather in general) looms over us. I don't have a concrete opinion whether or not these abilities belong in Overused, but they are certainly a hot topic for competitive battlers. I think now might be an optimal time to explore the role of auto-weather's role in the Overused metagame, especially before BW2 becomes finalized during the release of X and Y. Again, I'm open to any and all concept submissions (and would therefore slate a wide variety of them), but I think that exploring the current metagame might yield some excellent information and learning at this particular moment in Pokemon history.

I am incredibly excited to begin work on CAP5. Although the recent Policy Review threads were valuable and necessary, it pales in comparison to the joy of making a Pokemon with you guys. I will be ecstatic to work alongside all of you, whether I serve as our Topic Leader or as a community member. Thanks for reading!

Also, if elected as TL, I will try to make my posts shorter than this application post.

 

[DetroitLolcat]

Hello CAP, it's DetroitLolcat applying for TLT.

I've been mulling whether or not to throw my hat in the ring for a while, and eventually decided that I would like to take a leadership role in the upcoming project. Over the past month since I returned to Smogon and the CAP Project, I have involved myself in as many aspects of the Project as possible. I have returned to the PRC, become a constant IRC presence, reserved the Aurumoth analysis and made significant progress on the analysis.

I began posting in CAP during Colossoil, and have participated in every CAP since with the exception of Aurumoth, making me well acquainted with the Strong TL model of leadership. I began contributing much more to this project during Necturna's and Mollux's creations, regularly posting submissions and camping out on #cap looking for discussions and debates. Participating in Necturna's process inspired me to apply for the PRC for Mollux, and I am currently serving my third consecutive term as a PRC member, posting actively during threads during the Mollux era, preceding the Aurumoth era, and in the most recent threads.

One quality that I possess as a potential leader of the next CAP is that I am well-acquainted with the OU metagame and fond of competitive battling both inside and outside of CAP. I recently received the Tiering Contributor badge after my seventh Suspect vote, indicating that I have significant knowledge of competitive battling. One of those votes took place during the recent OU Suspect Test, so rest assured that I am knowledgeable about the most recent and current OU metagames, which is important because we'll be designing this Pokemon with that metagame in mind. Within CAP, I placed first in Mollux's playtest and second in Necturna's playtest.

On IRC, I am online daily and currently (February 1st, 2013) have the fourth-most lines and fifth-most words on the channel, so I am not afraid to speak my mind and contribute to the chat. Furthermore, I enjoy interacting with new users, and if an obvious newcomer joins the chat, I try to answer their questions and introduce them to the CAP project. One activity that summarizes my presence on IRC is this log and this accompanying post, the results of a lengthy, intelligent discussion between some members of CAP concerned about the channel. I advocated my support for high qualification standards for status on #cap, and in my opinion reasonably debated with some of the most prominent members of CAP.

The discussion I had the other night reminded me how great the CAP community is, as I didn't expect to have so much fun debating the finer points of status on IRC. I wish to be a member of the Topic Leadership Team for this CAP because I want to lead and participate in the dozens of debates that will emerge over the next few months. I'm applying for TLT not because I desire authority; a personal philosophy of mine is that the TL/TLT should be the vehicle through which the community voices its opinions. If elected to the TLT, I do not wish to use my position to shape the next CAP to my personal beliefs, but rather to listen to the whims of the community and slate every option backed up by popular support and solid competitive reasoning. If elected to the TLT, I pledge to place the opinion of the community over my own.

Thank you all for hearing me out, and best of luck to everyone running!

 

[Birkal]

The Topic Leadership Poll will go up in a few minutes. The Topic Leadership Team Poll will go up after the TL Poll is completed. Here we go!