CAP 17 CAP 6 - TL and TLT Applications

[Birkal]

First, let me provide a brief explanation for this thread. Smogon has recently migrated to Xenforo, and much of our forum add-ons have been disabled. The Senior Staff is working diligently to get us back to full functionality; they will be working on issues like re-adding BBCode and fixing the CAP Site. However, we also have the next generation of Pokemon breathing down our necks; Pokemon X and Y will be released in October, giving us roughly 100 days to complete CAP 6. The CAP moderation team has agreed that it would be wise to start up applications now. That way, we can jump into CAP 6 immediately when the forums and CAP site are usable enough for our purposes. We will also be using this application time to finish up some lingering threads in our Policy Review forum. Thank you for your patience, and I can't wait to get started on this newest CAP creation. ~ 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 recently installed positions available for CAP 6 leadership, namely the Topic Leadership Team. Please review the Policy Review forum in order to familiarize yourself with the new leadership positions and process rules. 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 onsite and the CAP Process Archive subforum, 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 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.

 

[nyttyn]

Greetings. My name's nyttyn, and I'm here today to apply for the Topic Leadership Team and Topic Leader.

I started playing Pokemon what feels like forever ago. Its really hazy now how I got excitedfor it, but I recall being really pumped for my Pikachu Yellow Gameboy to finally arrive, and I damn near flipped my shit when it did. In fact I am pretty sure it is among my strongest of early memories. Even though my mother had to help me a lot (I think she even helped me beat the E4 and catch Mewtwo, bless her heart. I was a stupid kid), I fondly remember the game, and it was a huge contribution towards my life long hobby of playing video games. Ever since then I have made sure to play every generation, and it would be easier to mention what pokemon games I haven't played (Poke Park, the Explorers series, Rangers besides the first one, Battle Revolution, that one box one for the game cube even though it wasn't really a game). Pokemon has been an incredibly important part of my life, as cheesy as that sounds, and still to this day remains one of my favorite series. I am a pokenerd to the point where, if you named only a few aspects of almost any of the 649 pokemon, I would 9.5 times out of 10 be able to name it.

As for of late, I have spent most of my time helping out in CAP and in Smogon Doubles (to the point where I am considered one of the top Doubles battlers), but I do occasionally spend helping out the folks in Other Metagames. I also have also played over five thousand matches of BW/BW2, from NU to CAP to Doubles to everything in between, and I have been playing this franchise longer then more then a few users of the site have even been alive. which has earned me more then a few jests from my friends and family.

Competitively, I didn't get started with battling until late into DPP, and never really took it seriously until BW. I don't recall why exactly I got into it, it just wound up kind of happening. Eventually I learned about something called "Smogon," and made an account to check it out. I don't really remember what my first posts were, but eventually I wound up hearing about the Ice/Rock vs Fire/Poison typing wars via Rising_Dusk. Ice/Rock should have won in my opinion but I digress.

Over the next year or two I have since then gotten heavily involved in the CAP community, becoming a member of some renown. My contributions include:

• Creating Mollux's move pool
• Creating the BW2 CAP Metagame thread
• Creating the Aurumoth pre-playtest speculation thread
• Creating the Mollux analysis
• Hosting several CAP tournaments on Showdown!
• Contributing constantly to IRC, to the point where I have been the most frequent poster in chanstats more often then not
• Helping out during #Breezi
• Contributing several submissions during various stages of CAP4, CAP5, and CAP6
• Leading the creation of the Flash CAP Petrogeist
• Voting on and contributing to almost every stage since Mollux's typing
• Being an active member of the PRC during Aurumoth and Malaconda

I am also extremely available, due to the nature of my life and my work. I have a very large, constant presence on both the forums and #cap, thus, I am open almost constantly, and am able to quickly give feedback and responses to anything that might occur. I will also hand out an email to contact me with should I make TTL (Topic Team Leader)/TL.

In addition, 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 and consider it for the slate of the part of CAP I am a TTL for. After all, Deoxys-Defense was shunned to UU for a large portion of BW, but now its is 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. It is a semi-frequent complaint that people feel as that they could not obtain sufficient 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. I will not sugar coat my responses, but I will give feedback as often as I can, even for parts of the CAP I am not TTL for.

In closing for my application, I have to say that I really believe in the CAP project. I have put my heart and soul into this project, and it has helped me develop a number of skills which have trasnfered over to my life. While I probably have one or two grey hairs as a result, being a part of it has, thusfar, been an invaluable experience, and I hope to continue to contribute by being a member of the TLT.

Thank you for your consideration, and here's hoping to a CAP6 as good as CAP5~

 

[reachzero]

I would like to apply for a spot on the Topic Leadership Team. Ideally, I would like to be the Typing Leader.

I have participated heavily in five of the last seven CAP projects (the exceptions being Mollux and Aurumoth). I have a strong sense for competitive discussion, and what makes for a strong-yet-balanced Pokemon. I served as Topic Leader for the first project of the Fifth Generation, Tomohawk. I have also won the Concept Poll in the past (Utility Counter, Krilowatt) and was a finalist in the last project's Concept Poll (Setting the Pace). My arguments in favor of using Malaconda to boost Sun usage to fulfill the concept became a major force in the progress of the last CAP project. I know how CAP discussions function, and have proven adept at both leading them and participating in them.

Moreover, I have a strong grasp on the Standard metagame, and what it takes to be successful in it. I have been a top-level competitive player for nearly the entirety of my time as a member of Smogon. I was a two-time Smogon Frontier Brain, have been among the highest-priced players in each season of Smogon Premiere League thus far, and have been a starter in each iteration of the World Cup of Pokemon since I joined Smogon. I was formerly the Tier Leader for the Standard metagame.

My preferred discussion style is through, open-minded, and logical. If I am chosen, I hope to bring these qualities to each aspect of the program of which I am a part.

 

[capefeather]

Hi, all. I'm posting to apply for a position in the Topic Leader Team and for the position of Topic Leader.

I have participated in every CAP project since Colossoil. I have won various submission contests, including Necturna's stat spread, Tomohawk's movepool, and Aurumoth's admittedly ill-fated concept, and placed highly in some others, including Tomohawk's concept submission (my "Weather Slayer" concept lost in the final poll to "Momentum"). I took on the role of Movepool Leader for the last project, Malaconda. As a moderator, I have participated in PRC discussions, striving to be open to ideas while also voicing my opinions in a convincing manner. I've taken a similar attitude in CAP project discussions. For instance, in Mollux's project, I supported the ability Drought, but made sure to focus on the points at hand that supported the viability of it as an option, while acknowledging the merits of other options like the winning Dry Skin.

In my time on Smogon, I've dipped my hand into all of the usage tiers (i.e. Ubers, OU, UU, RU and NU). I've played all of these tiers rather heavily, but even when I don't, I make sure to know what's what as far as metagame trends go. I strive to be informed not just by my playing experience, but also by statistics and discussions, and this has served me well despite my lack of ability to hold down times for hypothetical tournament matches.

The main evidence I put forward for my suitability for the TLT/TL positions is my previous role as Movepool Leader in the last project. I didn't get to post quite as often as I wanted, but when I did post, I challenged people's notions of certain moves and move categories being "obviously" allowable or disallowable, mainly through evidence of dissenting opinions and lack of actual discussion. The submission stage went pretty smoothly, such that an observer could look at any movepool in the slate and know that every move was justified in being there through the discussions, even if the observer disagreed with the inclusion of a move competitively.

To conclude this post, I'd like to remind people who might be thinking about applying of this point in the OP:

"Even if you don't think you are better qualified than certain other candidates, you still should consider posting your application."

This is especially important due to the need to fill six positions in the TLT. Even if you don't get a position, it puts you on the radar for future projects.

Good luck to everyone who applies!

 

[Stratos]

I'd like to run for TLT (preferably Abilities or Stats)!

First, my submission history:

• CAP2 Concept: Not Slated
• CAP2 Stat Spread: Not Slated
• CAP3 Concept: Not Slated
• CAP3 name: 7th
• CAP4 Concept: 6th
• CAP5 Concept: 6th
• CAP5 Stat Spread: Not Slated

I'll admit, that looks pretty thin, as I've only contributed six competitive submissions over the course of the four projects I've been involved in, and finished pretty darn poorly every time. However, I have been very active through all four of those CAPs; I just prefer to contribute in the discussion stages rather than the submission ones. Recently, I contributed heavily in areas of CAP5, most notably the Primary Ability Discussion, but also every other discussion, and voted in every competitive poll. CAP is a big part of what I do on Smogon, even aside from posting. I spend almost all day on irc, talking frequently in #cap, and ladder with and without CAPs often: I was #3 in Mollux's playtest and #2 in Aurumoth's, and have held #1 all-CAP ladder peaks over various stages of the metagame; I also have four years of OU experience (though I am not notably talented) and recently became a co-leader of the Smogon Doubles project.

Apart from my involvement in CAP (which I would hope every candidate has), why should you vote for me? For one, (disregarding next week, which I'm spending at camp), I am always accessible. I spend probably 12 hours a day on irc, and if you want a question answered or want a discussion or debate, I'm always open to PM (though not engagement in main chat, where the conversation moving too fast tends to get me flustered). I promise that if elected, you will NOT have an section leader.

Most important, though, is my view of the role of a section leader. I do not see the section leader as the final arbiter on what ideas live or die. If I'm on the TLT, my primary obligation will be driving and contributing to discussion, not slating—and i will always hold a bias towards a larger slate. I believe CAP is a community project, so the more we can put in the hands of the community, the better.

So in summary: If you like community-led projects, enthusiasm, and open feedback, I'm your guy!

 

[paintseagull]

Hey everyone, this is your 72 hour warning! This thread will close for applications on Saturday, July 20th at 7pm EDT. Please contact a CAP moderator if you intend to apply but cannot make this deadline.

I have seen people question whether they are experienced enough or not. If you are willing and feel capable, then please, apply. It's always very respectable to put yourself forward for the project.

 

[DarkSlay]

Hello CAP! I'm going to be applying for a position on the Topic Leadership Team. After a bit of thinking, I really don't have a preference as to which position I want, so apply my application for all four spots on the TLT team.

First off, a brief history about who I am in regards to Smogon. I joined the forums back in 2009 (which actually reminds me, it's almost my four year anniversary on Smogon!), back when I raced to the store to pick up my very first Generation IV Pokemon game: Platinum. After signing up on the forums, I became a very activie participant in the Rate My Team forum, trying as best as I could to give quality rates and work on learning how to sharpen my own team building skills. On the now abandoned Shoddy server, I did very well with Generation IV OU and UU, peaking top 10 and top 20 in those respective metagames. I was also an active participant in C&C, even creating my own set and analysis that went up on site (Gen IV UU Machoke). You can find that analysis here. When Gen V came around the corner, I hopped right into the metagame. I peaked at #2 on the DW OU ladder for Pokemon Online in the Smogon server, while peaking top 20 on the OU ladder and #1 on the DW OU ladder in the PO server.

Now, let's talk about my CAP experience. My first time with CAP was back with CAP10, the Krilowatt project. I became a very active member starting from there, and have since been a part of almost every CAP project to date with the exception of Mollux. Here's a quick rundown of the things I've contributed to CAP:

• Active leader in any discussion revolving around the competitive aspect of Pokemon, particularly typing, abilities, and movepools, since CAP10.
• Submitted a concept for each CAP project since CAP11, getting slated for CAP1 and CAP4.
• Submitted a movepool for CAP11, placing second in the voting.
• Submitted stat spreads since CAP11, slated in CAP1.
• Was appointed ATL of CAP2, Necturna.
• Contributed to on-site policies, specifically the Counters/Threats Discussion section.
• A member of the Policy Review Committee since its creation.
• An active member of synIRC's #cap channel, having vOPs and hOPs at one point in time.

There's probably a few other tidbits I'm forgetting, but that's most of my history with the CAP project. The CAP project has given me a lot of insight on Pokemon, and to this day I still try to contribute as much as I can to the program.

Now, why select me as a TLT member? For one, I've been contributing to the CAP program for many months now. I've very aware of how CAP works from a policy standpoint, and I'm a great rule follower: the role of the TLT is to be a facilitator of discussion while having the ability to translate the public's decisions into slates. I am extremely open to discussion and would like nothing more than to hear different opinions on subjects that impact the creation of a CAP Pokemon. I'm almost always on IRC, if not every other day, and have tried to contribute verbally towards all aspects of CAP. Whether it's typing, abilities, stats or movepools, I would take great care as to what selections are slated for voting. This does not mean that I am stingy or exclusive, but rather I will always take the time to research all discussed avenues to the best of my ability, ranging from calculations to statistics to discussions and, yes, even opinions!

I look forward to running for a TLT position, and I hope that CAP will once again give me the opportunity to contribute towards a valuable resource for Pokemon players everywhere.

 

[Bughouse]

Hiya! I'd like to apply to be a TLT member for CAP 6. Regrettably due to an absence I know I will have in late August, I feel safe applying only for Typing which will finish up before I leave and Movepool, which will start well after I'm sure I can be online again. I'll only be incognito for 2 days, so don't worry. I'll miss a little of either Second Ability or Stats, but I'll survive.

Anyway, thankfully, Typing and Movepool are the two categories I'd most want to head up anyway, so yay!

I've been a dedicated CAP participant since Voodoom, though I lurked for a few projects before that. CAP is basically why I'm here on Smogon. I'd wager over 90% of my posts are in this forum, so I guess that comes out to over 100 posts per project. That's a pretty active user. Over time, my post quality has definitely improved and I have absolutely no worries about being able to contribute meaningfully to whichever section I would lead if you elect me.

I'm also a pretty skilled competitive battler, having previously topped the CAP and RU ladders on Showdown, as well as reaching the top 5 in UU. I'm pretty good at Tiershift, Doubles, and Monotype as well. I've never had as much success in OU, though I wonder how much that has to do with me primarily using a team that has a Nidoqueen (talk about outdated lol!) as compared to my skill, which I think is pretty durn good.

I've made quality submissions that have been slated in many different polls, but below I will only focus on Movepool submisisons and Typing discussions/opinions:

My movepool submissions for Tomohawk, Necturna, and Malaconda were slated, though none won. Additional good movepool experience was my exclusion of Quiver Dance and Dragon Dance from my Aurumoth submission. Though this meant that BMB didn't slate it, I think history has shown my wisdom. Additionally, had I made it possible to have Recover + Stealth Rock + Rapid Spin (a set I use all the time now ironically...) all together on Mollux in my movepool submission -they were all there and any 2 together worked Egg moves wise, but not all 3- I would have been slated on Mollux too. So essentially, I'm 2 teensy differences of opinion away from having been slated on all 5 movepools I've submitted. As it stands 3/5 ain't bad either. Movepool is where I have the most experience and where I'd most like to help lead CAP 6. I hope you will give me the chance to do so.

I have always been an active participant in typing discussions and I think I bring the right energy and openness to handle and filter down a section with so many possibilities. Examples of my clear-headedness in typing suggestions include my early advocacy of Dark as the main typing for Malaconda (though I was more a fan of Dark/Electric) and my advocacy for Fire as the main type for Mollux (though I was more a fan of Mono-fire than Fire/Poison). In any case, the leader of Typing need not have always or even ever been right. It's more important to be active, open, and engaged, qualities that I have demonstrated in recent typing discussions. As a secondary request, I think I am well-qualified to lead Typing, and I would be very excited to do so, given the chance.

That's all. I hope you will give me the chance to be a member of the TLT for CAP 6. I'm up against a field of equally, if not more, qualified users and no matter how this poll goes, we will have a great TL and TLT! I look forward to contributing commentary and submissions for CAP 6 regardless of whether or not I am a part of this TLT.

Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor, everyone!

 

[Nyktos]

So I wasn't originally planning to do this, since while I do want the position and think I can do a good job, I felt like I wasn't experienced enough yet. However some people on #cap convinced me that it wasn't a problem, so: I am applying for Topic Leadership Team.

I'm Nick, known here in the interparts as Nyktos. I've been around since early on in CAP 3, but at that point I rarely participated in the project except by voting (though I did read every discussion thread). I submitted a movepool for Mollux and a stat spread and movepool for Aurumoth, but I will readily admit that I was basically a random before CAP 5 started and I actually began to post in discussion threads and become active in #cap. That being said, even if I did mostly just lurk through CAP 3 and 4, I paid plenty of attention to what was going on, so I feel like I have a better understanding of the process than someone who had only seen one CAP would have.

In any case, during CAP 5 I posted in almost every discussion thread and argued for my positions whenever they were challenged. This included arguing against popular options such as Harvest and Glare, and while I lost both of those fights, I think the project was better off with their supporters having to justify their cases. In fact, despite the fact that I disagreed with winning options more often than I agreed with them, I think I'm more satisfied with how Malaconda turned out than most people are. I also submitted a movepool that made third place, making it the highest-placing submission that did not include Glare or other paralysis moves. (I promise I won't require people to include quite that much justification if I become movepool leader!)

Other qualifications I have include being a member of the PRC for the most recent session and having received a Community Contributor badge for my contributions to CAP discussion threads.

I could go into detail about how I'll do things if I get voted in, but I think we all have a fairly similar idea of what makes a good section leader. Briefly: I intend to try and weigh all options that are suggested, give as much feedback as I can, and generally take an active role in leading discussions. I want to make sure nothing gets a free ride: even if something has widespread support, I want to make sure that a strong case has been made for it before it ends up on a slate. Conversely, I want to make sure that every proposal that has any merit gets some discussion. Like I said, I don't think any of this is controversial or much different than what others will try to do. It's worth noting that I have no life, so I'm not likely to have any major issues with other things distracting me from CAP, except for the few days I'll be away for in August. (I should be able to be online for an hour or so a day during that time if it does happen to overlap with a stage I lead.)

Given the choice, my preference would be to lead either Movepool or Abilities. Those are the stages I find most interesting in CAP (and, during CAP 5, the stages I had the most presence in discussions for). Movepool in particular is my favourite stage, though if I lead that I'll miss being able to submit one.

edit: rephrased stuff slightly

 

[DetroitLolcat]

Hello everyone! I'm DetroitLolcat and I'm applying for the positions of Topic Leader and Topic Leadership Team. If I am selected for the Topic Leadership Team, I prefer to be the Stats Leader as I was for Malaconda.

The first CAP I participated in was Colossoil, and I've participated in every CAP project thereafter with the exception of Aurumoth. During that time, I've submitted plenty of content and participated in dozens of discussions in the CAP forums and on #cap, the community's IRC channel. I joined CAP's Policy Review Committee between Necturna's and Mollux's creations, and have just recently served my fourth consecutive term on the CAP PRC. As a member of the PRC, I have posted in nearly every thread during the past four PR periods besides those that occurred during my three-month sabbatical from Smogon. During the previous (current?) Policy Review period, I have contributed actively in all thre major discussions and made successful proposals in the Topic Leader Powers PR thread.

I am very knowledgeable about the game of Pokemon, specifically the OU metagame. In this post in the CAP 5 PRC Reflection thread, I suggested that in order to improve optics and to complement the OU battlers our community will recruit, we, as a community, should further familiarize ourselves with the OU metagame. Between then and now, I qualified for the recent Landorus Suspect Test by achieving a high ranking on both the OU and Suspect OU ladders. That Suspect Test was also the eighth time I voted in a Suspect Test, which is enough to earn me a Tiering Contributor alumnus badge the day I eventually leave this wonderful site... Furthermore, I placed first in Mollux's playtest, second in Necturna's playtest, and fourth in Malaconda's playtest.

I am certainly willing to voice my opinions and think outside the box. I'm a regular on #cap and have had the second-most lines on the channel for weeks, if not longer. When you spend as much time as I do on #cap, you're exposed to so many interesting, innovative ideas, especially during Concept Submissions, Stat Spread Submissions, and the Ability Discussions! Even during the PR period between CAPs, we spend so much time discussing what we would like to see during CAP6 that it's hard to call that time "downtime".

During the past CAP, I was the Stats TLT member. I led the Stat Limits Discussion and Stat Spread Submissions threads and had a great time doing so. Observing and guiding a discussion in CAP is extremely rewarding, and providing feedback, even if it was just a few sentences, to every submission was very eye-opening. As CAP5's Stats Leader, I got to see each submission as CAP5's potential stat spread rather than just another spread I'm competing against. I saw each person's damage calculations as interesting reasoning for a certain position rather than just another point that my competition is using to promote their spread. At the conclusion of the Stat Spread Submissions, I assumed the unenviable position of deciding a slate to move on to the Stat Spread polls. My philosophy of deciding slates is to include the widest variety of well-reasoned ideas possible. Instead of choosing the "best" nine spreads, I chose the nine spreads that I felt best captured the interest of the community and that provided every voter with something to support. I wanted to choose the "right" nine spreads, the nine spreads that captured each school of thought concerning Malaconda's role as a Rain-stopping Sun Supporter. Although I preferred a slow Malaconda, plenty of users desired a fast Malaconda and I gave that school of thought proper representation in the poll. Furthermore, there is a reason why jas61292 used a "-1" on my slate rather than a "+1"! I have always advocated for large slates, and will use my powers as Topic Leader to promote my slating philosophy.

As a former TLT member, I have an understanding of the relationship a Topic Leader and TLT member should have. If elected Topic Leader, I will not commandeer the discussions and force my opinions on the rest of the community. I do not plan to go "veto-crazy" and will respect the guidance the TLT members provide. However, I do not plan to take a backseat and casually observe discussions without participating in them. During discussions, I will still post my personal opinions, I will provide feedback, and I will exercise my +1/-1/veto powers if I feel the TLT members have made a decision I am not comfortable with. I understand that the TLT member is the chief discussion leader of the competitive discussions not named Concept, Threats, or Counters, and I will not dragoon threads to stifle legitimate discussion. If elected to the Topic Leadership Team, I will direct and guide discussion much like I did as Stats Leader for Malaconda. I will provide feedback in order to improve the quality of submissions and I will provide talking points to give the community a basis for discussion.

Anyone who's seen the main CAP forum recently has seen me, as I've been leading the CAP 5 Pre-Evo, Brattler! Running Brattler's process has taught me the logistics of Topic Leadership, as I've been managing polls, counting votes, and doing plenty more of the "dirty work" that goes into producing a CAP. Although Brattler is a flavor process and not a competitive process, I have learned plenty about leading discussions from Brattler. I've learned the order in which to post discussions, I've learned when to use IRV Polls and when to use Bold Vote polls. I've learned not to post 48-hour warnings and 24-hour warnings in the same post, and I've seen plenty of great submissions for art, Dex Entries, abilities, stats, and moves! Furthermore, I was trusted with the task of building slates for those steps (mostly Abilities, as all legal submissions are automatically allowed for the other steps). Slate-making experience is an important attribute for a Topic Leader or TLT member, and my time as Stats Leader for Malaconda and TL for Brattler have granted me the experience I need to manage a CAP project. But enough prattling about Brattler...

You may notice a Forest Badge underneath my custom title. You might assume I received that badge for defeating Gardenia in the Eterna City Gym, but it's actually a Community Contributor badge I earned for a laundry list of insightful posts I've made over the past three CAPs. I've also (somewhat) recently been given half-OPs on #cap on IRC. Whether it's on the forum or on IRC, I've been trusted with leadership roles all throughout CAP. Some I've volunteered for, some I've been trusted with. But no matter which leadership roles I've assumed, I've always given them my best effort and have done my part to produce successful results.

Before I wrap up this wall of text, I would like to remind you all that my PM and VM boxes are always open! I promise, whether elected TL or a TLT member, to respond to each and every VM or PM any CAP community member asks me in a timely fashion. If you take the time to contact me with a concern about the project, you deserve a clear and timely response. I'm plenty accessible, and I'm always ready to help out the new members, debate with the veterans, and have a good time doing so!

I will make one note concerning activity. I plan to maintain the level of CAP activity that I have now, but I will be out of town from July 24 to July 26 and will only be able to post short replies and read threads. Furthermore, I am moving off to college on August 28th, so my activity around that date might wane as I move in and such. Other than that, I do not foresee any major impediments to activity.

In conclusion, whether I am selected as Topic Leader or as a member of the Topic Leadership Team, I promise ample feedback on every stage of the process I lead, plenty of transparency (and open VM/PM boxes!), and ample reasoning behind every decision I make.

Thank you for reading this application. Thank you to everyone else who applied for TL/TLT, and we'll have a great leadership committee no matter who wins the poll!

You can't spell DetroitLolcat without TL.

 

[paintseagull]

This is closed! Thanks for your applications everyone!