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Interview HIKARI

What genre of music do you like the most?

I'm not much of a music person and I tend to listen to a little bit of everything, but I guess you could say my "favorite" is indie rock.

Which happens the most frequently: Lumari making a GP check, IronBullet (or another RMT mod) locking a thread in RMT subforum, or Hikari getting another like on a post?

If you combine the first two and multiply it by 10, you are still not close to my total likes. Getting likes is much easier than being productive.

What was one of your cringiest moments when you first started on Smogon?

My first post

How heavy is your workload as an admin, and how different is that from when you were a supermod or section leader?

It's not too demanding and tends to be about the same I had as a smod or SL, but some days it can get really wild and require a lot more effort.

Do you think spending these past years contributing to the community has somehow had a positive impact in your life?

Depends on what you consider "positive impact". It has provided entertainment and helped me develop some skills, which is nothing big but as good as it gets with a hobby. Not like I can put "Administrator of a Pokémon community" in my CV.

How often do you just say "What the fuck is wrong with (insert person here)?"

Like twice a day minimum.

What do you tend to do outside of Smogon or is Smogon your whole life at this point?

Work, drink a lot, survive in the 3rd world.

Is there such a thing as a bad 3* Archer?

Depends on your definition of bad, but yes.

How did you guys come up with your usernames?

I was tired of my old alt and an ambiguous name. Ended up with this and lately learned it wasn't as ambiguous as I thought it was :(

Have you guys always aimed for being an admin?

No, I haven't aimed for any position on the internet in almost a decade. I contribute to things because I like it and if positions are given to me, I take them as long as they help me contribute :shrug:

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

Yes. Because poor timing.

Which badge is the best/worst looking out of them all? Similarly, is there any badge you would want but wouldn't realistically obtain?

Site Staff is pretty good, Sim Staff is awful. I like CAP's badge, but I have 0 intentions of ever contributing to that project.

For anyone who doesn't know, what do you as a tiering administrator and how does it feel to be in said position?

My main job is making sure other people are doing their job. I keep an eye on tier leaders and councils, I provide guidance to them when required, I might intervene during major incidents, but I prefer doing things from behind the curtain and letting people do things their way as much as possible. Additionally, I regularly discuss about ways to improve our tiers and ribbon circuits, inclusion of other tiers, etc. I'm pretty much involved in all tiering-related changes and discussions.

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

None. My job is boring.

If there is one more thing you were to achieve on Smogon, what would it be?

Ban Baton Pass from all tiers, generations, and formats that aren't Anything Goes.

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?

Figure out what you like doing and stick to that, because it's better to focus on doing one thing right instead of being mediocre at many things. Also networking is important if you want to move up, both on Smogon and in real life.

Favorite Pokémon core game (or generation)?

Emerald.

What's your opinion about the CAP project?

I was fairly interested in the project when I started on Smogon. Nowadays I really don't pay attention to it.

Most entertaining thread you've deleted?

I honestly have no idea.

What about Smogon do you feel you've had the largest impact on, and where do you feel you could still and/or want to improve the site? What do you think your legacy will be?

Tiering definitely, which shouldn't be surprising. I want to improve the way suspects are done, how usage tier changes happen, and the interaction between tiering decisions and tournaments. Those things have been "fine" for a while, but they can be better.

I want my legacy on this site to be doing as much as I could to help non-current OU communities to grow as much as possible (lower tiers, old gens, etc); OU is and will always be our number one priority, but we can focus on that without neglecting ignoring the needs of other formats.

What are you looking to change in the future to help make tiering decisions easier for the current councils?

Making improvements to the way tier changes are done, which would add more stability to all lower tiers. Also a couple of policy optimizations, things like suspect guidelines, etc.

What inspired you to take up this "job" of sorts of being the tiering admin?

I was asked to take the position and I like doing things. Not really an "inspiration", just something that happened.

Out of curiosity for myself, what exactly do you look into when reviewing tournament bans (you can answer this question elsewhere if you'd like).

If the user deserves the punishment that was given to them.

The kokoloko tiering method is somewhat controversial outside of Smogon, but seems to be here to stay for UU/the low tiers (albeit less aggressive in non-UU tiers). What are your thoughts on it, and should we expect to see the kokoloko method in OU next gen/in the future?

The kokoloko system is a necessary evil. It's the only system that gives us some resemblance of balance in a short amount of time. The system has many flaws and we are constantly thinking how to improve it, but it always achieves its main goal: create somewhat balanced tiers fast. Less "ban-happy" methods, like waiting several months for OU to stabilize before creating UU and then waiting even more time for UU to stabilize before create RU, delay the creation and balance of lower tiers for a significant amount of times.

Also OU pretty much uses their version of the koko system. The main difference is that OU always has a starting ban list so they require significantly less council input at the start of a generation, while lower tiers give everything at least a chance.

Interview IRONBULLET

How does it feel to be the sole RMT leader, especially after having a co-leader for such a long time?

It definitely feels strange to be operating solo after working with 2 long-time partners, since having no one at the same level to consult with for a final opinion is not something I'm familiar with. At the same time, however, I feel like my extensive experience as an smod and admin has made me confident enough in my leadership skills for the transition to be more comfortable than it would've been if I was thrust into solo leadership from the beginning.

If there's one thing you could change about the current RMT section, what would it be?

Like any forum leader, I'd love it if players would actively rate teams. Our team right now is rather small, and I do sometimes find myself looking back sometimes to the days of DPP and BW, when we had a much bigger staff team. That said, we do have a batch of promising raters who have been doing extremely well recently, and our current staff team has been doing an amazing job to monitor and guide them, so things look good for the future.

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

I would say the UU community and RMT staff have been the main reasons for making my Smogon journey memorable over the years. Whether it be DPP, BW, XY, or ORAS, I always had a great relationship with UU regulars, and building friendships with people who share the same passion for a tier as yourself just makes the game so much more enjoyable. RMT was were I got my first badge and first moderator promotion, and as such it's always held special memories for me. Every staff team I've worked with in the forum has had some wonderful people who've played important roles in shaping the forum over the years, and have played a major role in me sticking around.

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

My first contact with the Pokémon series actually came relatively late—it was in 2003 via Pokémon Sapphire, which my parents had bought for me as a birthday gift. I was hooked straight away and have loved the series ever since. I also bought my first Nintendo console back then, which was a Game Boy Advance SP. I still have it and my first cartridge—it's got over 400 playing hours on it, with the Pokedex completely filled and all 4 trainer stars achieved. Quite proud of it to this day!

What about Smogon do you feel you've had the largest impact on, and where do you feel you could still and/or want to improve the site? What do you think your legacy will be?

I think the part of Smogon I've had the biggest influence on is definitely RMT. I took a more active role in RMT policy during my second tenure as moderator in late 2014, and after being promoted to leader I, along with Jirachee and Reymedy, pushed through many significant changes in mid-2015. Examples of these are the development of a spreadsheet to actively monitor promising raters, which made the process a lot more efficient and streamlined, the introduction of projects such as staff RMTs that kept our archive and activities section in healthy shape, and the creation of the RMT room on PS. Celtic and I kept these initiatives going after Jirachee and Rey stepped down, and also developed other important aspects of RMT today, such as the Discord channel and regular team rating competitions. I'd say my legacy will mostly be what I've done for the RMT forum to date, and I do hope I still have a lot to contribute to it.

A part of the site I hope to be more involved in in the future is Battling 101, as I think there is a lot of potential there in terms of projects that we can harness. B101 is a program I've always felt invested in due to its focus on helping new users, which is why I initially became involved in RMT in the first place. The staff team led by Plus has driven many great initiatives and changes that have been important for the program's development, but I think there are still aspects of it we can work on.

Interview LUMARI

What genre of music do you like the most?

I've come to like a lot of genres (classic rock stuff for the most part), but progressive rock has been my favorite since I got into it and probably always will be. I also really like a bunch of hard rock variants and have been getting more into alternative rock recently. Some bands that I like lots are Queen, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Rush, Dire Straits, Iron Maiden, and Pearl Jam.

Which happens the most frequently: Lumari making a GP check, Ironbullet (or other RMT mod) locking a thread in RMT subforum, Hikari getting another like in the post

I mean pure statistics and logic dictate that it's Hikari getting another like, that's something that can be done by anyone with minimal effort (unlike me specifically doing a GP check) and doesn't really rely on outside resources (i.e. other people's RMTs).

Things you love and hate about being an admin?

I like the lack of a bottleneck, being able to push decisions through a lot easier when I know that I'm right or that it's something no one else really cares about. I dislike the increased noise of smaller things that randomly pop up for me to deal with and make it harder to focus on my sections / more important responsibilities. I also dislike the occasional feeling of being "tied down", like, I have no plans to leave but should I want to then it probably wouldn't be easy at all. That's something that's inherent to any staff position though.

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

Yes, but generally those are so long ago that it's too late to do anything about them or that "punishing" the people benefiting from them isn't worth it. It's always good to leave the door back open for your own (big) decisions, but with decisions other people made further into the past it's usually not as simple as "this was a mistake, so we're going back".

How heavy is your workload as an admin, and how different is that from when you were a supermod or section leader?

It's not that much more tbh; I mainly just need to keep an eye on the site content sections and make sure everything is going well + they have good, active leaders, and I only really get involved when that's not the case or they need my help for something. Pretty much everything I am doing as "site content admin" I was already doing before my promotion, which was just putting a label on it and giving me the power to make decisions more easily, not giving me a consistent increase in workload. In that way it was similar to my promotion from TFP mod to TFP leader, which was also seen as simply making official what was already more or less the case in practice.

Favorite Press article of all time?

I'm hesitant to highlight specific ones haha because there've been so many articles and contributors that I appreciate, I definitely have the best memories about time-sensitive, ambitious articles, namely team tournament power rankings (though tbf for these the workload / reader usefulness ratio was a bit skewed) and Theorymon's Battle Spot coverages—yes, even that one that we somehow against all odds managed to get ready for release before the gates of hell after what must've been my most stressful night on this site. It's just great getting together with a group of people to fight a deadline and pump out an article that we can be proud of. A few other examples that have always stood out in my mind as great, insightful reads are this and this which are the examples I'd provide if someone were to ask me what I'd consider an "exceptional" article for badging purposes.

I appreciate and enjoy the Flying Press and I used to look forward to reading the Smog every month (or so).

Thanks, haha, always happy to hear our work is being appreciated.

Does anyone in real life know you're a Smogon admin? If yes, how have they found it out?

Probably, not something I keep much track of. A good chunk of my friends / family know that I "spend a lot of time on a Pokémon forum where I grammar check articles and have a staff position", because they all know that I've always been into the franchise and then that's something that can come up in conversation pretty naturally; adminship is not something I would bring up intentionally but also not something I would go out of my way to avoid, so I've likely told some people at this point yeah.

What's your opinion about the CAP project?

I have never actively followed the project and don't really see myself participating in the future either, but I always find it pretty interesting / impressive to see how they're able to come up with something pretty legit completely from scratch.

How do regular people become admins? Do we need to submit our SAT scores?

Don't aim for becoming one tbh. The best way to move up the ladder still is by being a good and consistent contributor with leadership skills that is there and steps up when needed. Actual promotions will happen when there's a vacancy and you've remained consistent, but promotion angst is the easiest way ever to burn yourself out and forget why you're here in the first place.

Favorite Pokémon spinoff game?

Pokémon Ranger - Shadows of Almia, cool game mechanics and amazing story. The only downside is that it's not challenging at all, but it's honestly better than several of the core games imo.

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

Can I also name three? Playing-wise I don't have any significant accolades of course, but (albeit in a significantly easier format) hitting all the legendary numbers Jumpman set in Gen 4 during my Maison run made me feel really proud of how much I had improved from being a complete nobody. Contributing-wise there's definitely the fact that, despite being on a double release schedule to make sure all Gen 6 stuff got out on time and dealing with the activity issues that the beginning of the new school year always tends to bring, we were able to get all the TFP articles during the last two-three months leading up to SM released pretty seamlessly, without going completely insane. 1000 GP checks in C&C also felt insane and was my last big personal goal that I had on the site, and I've probably been even happier about the fact that I was able to stay pretty consistent even after hitting that number, rather than losing motivation and fading out without having something clear to shoot for, like often happens to people in that sort of situation.

Disregarding moderator, site staff, tour director and administrator badges, what do you consider to be the most rewarding badge?

This is really where I would've wanted to answer site staff haha because the power to just fix on-site errors and stuff that I come across without having to rely on a middle man is way more awesome and handy than any moderating power, but since that's not an option I'll be going with contributor too because knowing that stuff you wrote / helped write has made it on-site is Pretty Cool.

If there is one more thing you were to achieve on Smogon, what would it be?

2000 GP checks in C&C lmao.

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

I was flattered that people approved of me having the position I guess but otherwise mostly indifferent. I was told I was being promoted to oversee the site content, which I agreed was a position that should exist and which was a role I had kind of been moving into anyways, which was why I accepted; but I was told nothing much was gonna change about what I did and I wasn't planning on going out of my way to change my role(s) around here either, so there was not much to have an opinion about tbh.

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

I'm not gonna single out any experiences in particular, but as I mentioned in a prior question, or will be mentioning in a later one, I don't know yet in which order we're publishing these, the one thing I like most is "building things together". There's no better experience than working together with someone to get something done and knowing that you guys blindly cover each other without even having to really discuss. The worst thing on the other hand is when you pour a ton of time in getting something done and somehow the only thing people seem to notice (and meme about) is that one beat you missed. We're all just humans trying their best to make people happy, and I wish people would remember that more easily.

What do you tend to do outside of Smogon or is Smogon your whole life at this point?

In my free time I listen to lots of music and always try to explore new stuff, and I also play some other video games (primarily Zelda / Ace Attorney), and like to read on occasion (fantasy stuff mostly, think Eragon / Harry Potter / One Piece falls under this too I guess). Otherwise I lead a pretty uneventful life, just doing what all of us to do to stay alive tbh.

What was the hardest part of your job/personal experience?

People issues in general.