Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
I'm not sold, what is the benefit of this that we can't get on this forum and on shoddy? Not being contrary just genuinely intrigued as to why it's beneficial to join?
Yeah, shoddy lags like a mother and talking to someone in an actual conversation is just godawfully painful with the lag and the random brazillians asking BATTEL PLESE? But come on by, we're all pretty friendly. (:
I would like to once again invite everyone to join #CAP. The channel has a grown a bit since its inception, but it isn't as active as we would like it to be. If you are new to the project and want to learn the ropes by chatting with some of the process' veterans or are a vet yourself, we would love for you to join. Everyone in the channel is very friendly (except for sot!) so don't feel intimidated!
And just to help you out a bit, here are two IRC clients that are completely free: mIRC Colloquy
Um, I don't know if this is stopping many people from using IRC, but I've always found seperate-window IRC clients like mIRC and XChat to be a bit annoying when I'm trying to use the forum at the same time. If anyone else has this problem, you can always try Opera. It's primarily a web browser, but it's a top-quality one and it comes with built-in IRC.
So come join us at #cap. But yeah, don't take SoT too seriously.
With the influx of new users, many of which are submitting mediocre concepts, I'd just like to remind everyone of #cap on irc.synirc.net. Have an idea, comment, question, or even a half-finished concept you'd like opinions on? This is the place to talk about it.