@The users defending the council: I wasn't claiming these people aren't qualified and didn't put a lot of work into their applications. In fact, my first post said they were extremely qualified. My problem is not with the people but the process itself. Having 9 users instead of 50-100+ deciding on something like a ban on a pokemon obviously will be more flawed and cannot possibly represent the majority of the smogon base. You cannot say it does, look at this thread and all of the people that say Mence is OU, then look at the council who unanimously voted Uber. I'm not saying Mence would have been OU or Uber had we gone with the past suspect process, I'm saying the outcome would have represented what the community thinks a lot more.
It makes everyone else less involved with the process, allowing a select few to make the decisions for everyone. I'm not saying that those players don't deserve their spot on the council, they most certainly do. They have a right to their opinion, but I believe that all of the users able to get a high enough ranking (and submit coherent paragraphs) should be heard as well. It certainly would have caused a lot less upset.
And before you say it, no I didn't try out for the smogon council because I think it is a terrible idea. Would I have made it? Highly unlikely. Would it have changed a single part of my post if I had tried out? Of course not. I'm not hating on the people who are a part of the council, I just think the system is flawed and should possibly be reconsidered in the future.
In that case, why don't you step up and administer/figure out an acceptable system that can involve more members at a fraction of the time of our past suspect procedure.
We are currently nearing the end of 4th generation, and only now are we making this ban that so many in the thread are hailing as one of the most important tiering decisions of 4th generation. While I agree with other users that there will always be 4th gen players, and therefore there is meaning in "finalizing the 4th gen tier list," the fact that everyone refers to it as finalizing points out the issue-- we are reaching the end of 4th gen's life, and we're still not even completely settled with its tiers.
That my friend, is ridiculous. It's just too long a wait to have stable tier lists and stable rules.
The fact is, that "something as important as the tiering of a pokemon," is not all that important in the big scheme. Most of these suspect pokemon are so border-line as to whether they belong in OU or not, there is no real right or wrong, and the meta can live with or without them.
The game will survive. Competition will thrive-- and so we look to a faster process to bring us to focusing on the competition, not the tiering, sooner.
Does that mean more theorymon-based bans rather than experience based ones? Yes. Does that mean less representation in the decision making? Yes. Is that bad for competitive pokemon?
Frankly, not really-- no. Not nearly as bad as having to wait the whole life of a generation just to get a final tier list.
So, unless you are willing to convince Jump/Aeolus that something like fast public poles is a justified means of making tiering decisions (good luck with that, lol), this council system will be preferred to
get the work done. When 5th Gen comes out, the council won't be deliberating on 1 pokemon-- but rather writing up an entire Uber list.
Remember folks:
a) These guys are our own. Come on-- have some faith.
b) It really doesn't matter whether suspect pokemon x is in or not. :/
