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Interview HIKARI

If you had to learn a new language, which one would you choose and why? — lyd

Italian or Portuguese because they are extremely similar to Spanish.

Most memorable incident you've had to deal with (that you're allowed to tell us about!)? — Darkinium

I caught a ban evader partially thanks to him liking Naruto.

Things you love and hate about being an admin? — Darkinium

I like having a direct impact in site-wide policy and being able to push through changes without dealing with too much red tape. I hate that everything that goes wrong anywhere on the site is pinned on me, that people assume I can just be a dictator and force everyone to do what I want, and mainly I hate that there are some things that I know are wrong and don't have the power to change them.

How did you get into Smogon? — Leo

My little brother needed help finding something in Pokémon Diamond, so I did some Google searching to help him and randomly found a Hispanic competitive Pokémon community. From there I read about Shoddy Battle and by looking into that I found Smogon.

Ban marry kill yogi durzaofftopic littlelucario — Leo

I would rather kill myself.

What's the worst + best experience you've ever had with users on Smogon? — Gweebis

It's hard to think of the worst one, nothing fazes me at this point. Best is my team tour experience with Alpha Ruiners in SPL 3.

Who is the best saberface? — Quantum Tesseract

Mordred or MHX, 50-50

For Lumari and Hikari, how do you deal with the reality that neither of you will ever be as handsome, smart, witty, and beloved as IB? — Celticpride34

At least I don't have to share my country with people who voted in favor of Brexit.

Any other hobbies outside of Smogon / PS? — TJ

Watch sports, casually play sports once in a while, go to the beach, crippling alcoholism.

How would you fix atomicllamas to make him fit into modern society? — Arcticblast

Trump America will get the job done eventually, so don't worry about it.

What do you take from being an admin of Smogon to real life? — Anish

Someone will always find a way to not like anything you decide to do.

How would you describe the community of the competitive scene? Would you strictly (dis)agree with the stereotype that's been given to members of the competitive scene? — curiosity

The community in general cares too much about winning, which can be both good and bad. Most people just want to play, do well, and have fun, so I can't really fully agree with the stereotype.

Do you get all your avatars from Reddit? — curiosity

Only a small minority of them.

What do you consider to be the greatest achievement in your Smogon "career"? — curiosity

Being in the first batch of players to win SPL 3 times.

When you were promoted to administrator, what did you think at the time about this change? — Conni

"I will regret this"

Do you consider the general public's perception of Smogon has improved during these recent years? — pokemon4eva

Mostly yeah, but there will always be the people who hate for the sake of hating.

If Smogon had to decide what is ban-worthy in Smash Bros. by following its typical guidelines, what would happen? — MiniPutin

Smogon guidelines really don't work on a game like Smash, but probably fewer Fox dittos.

Which generation was the best for competitive battling and what was your favorite format from that generation? — sumwun

The best is hard to define, because you have to consider how limited the older gens were, how much they have developed in recent years, and how much the community has growth in newer gens. But for me, the best gens to watch right now are ADV and GSC.

Are there any big decisions you would reverse or at least look into again, possibly revisit? — Brawl MK

Too late to do anything about it, but I hate the Drizzle + Swift Swim ban in BW.

What is your opinion on the proposal that we should change the way rises and drops work for lower tiers? — Yoshizilla315

I'm in favor of it, in fact I was the one who told dodmen to post his idea and I have been discussing the subject with many tier leaders. The current system has been working fine for a long time, but it can definitely be improved.

How much do you value community input, not just as a TD, but as a tiering admin? — Yoshizilla315

I try to please the public as much as possible, although sometimes what's best for Smogon doesn't align with what the majority wants. Blindly following the masses isn't the best way of doing things, but their opinion is always something I try to consider. Admin is an important position and whatnot, but Smogon isn't here because of me, it's here because of the community.

How is PO these days? Do you think PO had an impact on your success at Smogon? — WithAPorpoise

I don't know much about current PO, I'm just surprised it hasn't died yet. PO made me develop skills I needed to become the contributor I am today and allowed me to meet people who helped me to climb the Smogon ladder way faster than the average the moment I migrated to this community.

With each generation there has been more and more Pokémon added to the "BL" tiers, Gen 8 is coming in a little more than a year which will add even more Pokémon. Do you have any plans to add a tier in between PU and Ubers, a la RU in gen 5? — SunniDee2

There's no need to add tiers in the middle, new tiers can be added at the bottom. What needs to happen is a mentality shift to adapt lower tiers to new Pokémon / moves / mechanics and a much higher power creep. Once all tiers from UU to PU have done that, we can consider having a tier below PU to deal with the "untiered" Pokémon, but at that point it depends on the community and the self-sustainability of that hypothetical tier.

Interview IRONBULLET

What genre of music do you like the most? — lyd

British alternative / psychedelic rock is what I listen to most of the time. I've grown up with Pink Floyd, The Smiths, Beatles, Joy Division, and Radiohead, but I like a lot of modern artists in that genre too, such as The xx, alt-j, Arctic Monkeys, and Wolf Alice.

Do you practice any sport? If yes, which one you like the most? — lyd

Tennis is my favorite sport, and I've played it since I was around 7. I haven't played it as much as I would've liked to in recent years, though, due to other priorities and not having any courts in the neighborhood. It's also been tough finding a regular partner to practice with. I still hugely enjoy watching it, though, and have made it a priority to start playing again now that I've moved to a flat that is right by a tennis club.

Do you still play Pokémon? What're your favorite formats/games? — Darkinium

I played mainly UU from DPP to ORAS, but this gen I've actually taken a liking to SM OU, and I played it extensively before I stopped to focus on work and my exams. I'm currently trying to get back into USM OU and learn enough about the metagame to be able to rate and mentor new raters. As for past gens, I play DPP OU for UK whenever I participate in WCoP, and I still love DPP UU to bits.

Have you ever had trouble balancing your real life with Smogon or Pokémon? — Darkinium

There are several aspects of Smogon that I enjoy participating in but where I have gradually reduced my presence over the years, such as UU and tournaments. It's simply been a natural progression for me as I've gotten busier in real life, and I've limited my time on Smogon to the things I find most rewarding (RMT, site leadership, policy discussion, etc.). So I guess in that sense it's been difficult to maintain a balance in terms of wanting to do everything I enjoy on Smogon and also ensuring I have enough time for other things in life, but it was probably a necessary step, as it probably would've otherwise gotten to a point where spending time on Smogon would feel like a chore.

Is IronBullet really a bot? — Leo

Well I did beat out Scrappie and RMT Bot in a best bot poll on PS, so I guess that speaks for itself. The fact that I'm known to lock threads about 0.35 seconds after they're posted doesn't help matters. Plus, if you ask anyone what my most quotable line is, it would probably be something to the tune of "Welcome to Smogon! I'm locking your RMT for the time being..."—you know how it goes!

Interview LUMARI

If you had to learn a new language, which one would you choose and why? — lyd

Not sure, probably Czech or Croatian or something because I don't speak any languages from that family and I really like those countries. But I'd rather pick a language like Spanish or Italian or something back up, never got much better at those than "can form coherent sentences" in the first place.

Do you still play mons? What're your favorite formats/games? — Darkinium

Not as much as I used to tbh, ingame-wise I've always been active during even gens and inactive-ish during odd gens, so you can do the math yourself to figure out where I'm standing right now. I still touch old games every now and then but as far as SM and USM go "I have played through them" is pretty much everything there is to be said, not quite like XY and ORAS where I spent hundreds of hours breeding and beating up AIs in the Battle Maison. I've never really played competitive mons much but I do find RBY enjoyable to play every now and then.

Have you guys always aimed for being an admin? — TJ

Nope absolutely not haha. I generally prefer working in the shadows, which is why I've always been pretty ambivalent / apathetic towards promotions in general. I like them when they give me an increased capability to "contribute alongside friends" (which was why I was very happy about GPTL and TFP mod), less so when they mainly just give a bigger podium that I don't really care for. I was happy as a smod, I would not have been happy as "co-king/queen of Smogon", but fortunately that was not what admins would entail in my case, and site content figurehead was fine. Would also make it easier for me to help other sections with some stuff that I'd been wanting to happen for a while, so.

Is IronBullet related to mazar(or acacia)bot? — Anish

i mean how did you think he was able to make OST finals

Have you ever considered quitting? Why did you choose not to quit(or come back in IB's case)? — Anish

Quitting no, I like GP checking and staffing with people I care about way too much for that, but there'll definitely be a day when I'm "just" GPTL again without the rest of the rat race. Don't know when that day will be and I'll be here for a while to come anyways, but ironically the times where I have felt overwhelmed to the point of maybe wanting to bail were when e.g. activity in my sections had been low for a while or TFP had been losing staff, i.e. exactly the times when it was most needed I'd stick around, and I felt well again when the activity issues had been resolved. The thing that's probably gonna push me out in the end is when my friends will have left; or at the very least that's the point where I'll have to strongly reconsider what's keeping me here in the first place, when "having fun contributing with friends" is the reason I use this site.

How has being an admin changed how you interact over here? — Anish

I don't think it has? I mean, of course being an admin means that I can't say anything moronic or be an unreasonable dick to people, but with or without an admin badge that's stuff I wouldn't be going for anyways. I also don't like putting myself above other people, so I'd like to think that I still act more or less the same now as I used to when I didn't have a Triforce badge. If anything I guess that it's easier to be more assertive or confident now, because the badge does serve as a nice reminder that "what I say often makes sense".

How much of your Smogon alias reflect on your real-life occupation? Do you all possess jobs that relate to leadership or administration? — curiosity

This feels like two separate questions to be completely honest. I do not possess (or want to possess) a job related to leadership, but the kind of jobs that would work best for me are the ones where I could be "a quiet worker in the shadows" like I've been here. I could similarly also see myself stepping up if there's things I want to see changed or improved and I actually care enough like I did here.

Who are some users that have kept you around in this community and what have they done to make your stay memorable / enjoyable? — curiosity

I don't feel it's appropriate to shout out any people in particular (and they know who they are anyways), but I've met a number of amazing friends through GP, TFP, and C&C staff. Both the ones who I met at the very beginning and have always stuck with me and the ones who I met only after my promotions yet appreciated me as an equal, which means a lot to me.

Now as an administrator, has your experience on Smogon been more positive or negative? (why?) — Conni

It's easier to put pointless pressure on myself now, but tbh that's something I should be able to handle anyway at this point, and not much else has changed.

For novice contributors, what is something essential they should do or think and what is something they should never do or think if they were trying to get themselves known as a efficient (contributor-wise) user? — Conni

Just try to have fun; find something you enjoy and do that. If you're doing as many things as possible just to try and get yourself noticed then that's something people will see right through anyway, whereas if you just do something you enjoy, get good at that, and be a positive presence then you'll be a well-liked contributor and the rest will follow sooner or later. And if it doesn't then you've at least had a good time here.

Do you consider the general public's perception of Smogon has improved during these recent years? — pokemon4eva

Pretty sure yeah; I'm a little too new to fully know what it used to be like but especially the social media team has been growing strongly since I joined and has been doing a great job engaging people and clearing misconceptions and stuff.

Favorite Pokémon core game (or generation)? — pokemon4eva

GSC with Platinum as a very close second. Platinum is just about perfect in terms of story / region / soundtrack / everything, and GSC is the one I have the best memories about and probably was the most pleasant one to play too.

What was your first contact with the Pokémon series and when was it? — Mitsuki

Some point in early elementary school when some kid was handing out trading cards and gave me a couple too, which some lowlife scum then later stole from me after I left them in my coat during class :( At the very least that's the oldest clear memory I have, iirc I already knew the series existed at that point, but I at least couldn't have known it from the anime because my parents never let me watch that one because they found it Too Violent.

Most entertaining thread you've deleted? — fanyfan

I remember only one or two non-spam threads that I've deleted, and those were not exactly entertaining tbh heh, sometimes people amaze me in negative ways.