So it turns out there's been a lot more history on "he/she" vs "it" and "which/that" vs "who" when referring to Pokemon. It's mostly been a mixture for most of Smogon's history, but has been settled to use only genderless language, even for Pokemon that are only one gender, since December 2, 2016.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...writer-looks-out-for.34211/page-2#post-899384
This is the earliest post I can find on smogon discussing GP standards of any sort. It's originally done with "who"
'Pokemon are referred to as "people". Meaning, you use the pronoun "who" instead of "which" or "that".'
Later in that thread, though, there's this, questioning how using the Pokemon as "who", not "which" and more generally as people would work with gendered and genderless Pokemon
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...riter-looks-out-for.34211/page-7#post-2419891
Ultimately, new grammar standards (the first official ones from what I can tell) are compiled and posted here in 2010(?):
https://www.smogon.com/bw/articles/bw_grammar_standards
'You may use the pronoun "who" instead of "which" or "that" and use "he" or "she" to refer to Pokemon as people if you so desire. It must be consistent for the entire article or analysis if this is done, however.'
But some time pretty soon after (still in 2010), there is a proposed rules change.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/standards-for-grammar-spelling-and-style.67445/
In these grammar standards, it says "Pokemon are referred to as "it". You don't talk about how Hippowdon uses his high Defense to wall physical hits, you talk about its high Defense."
Then, still in 2010, we have this thread, saying to use "who" and gendered pronouns
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/setting-the-record-straight-grammar.71222/
In 2011, the standards are back to using whichever you prefer:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.102407/
Still use either in the 2013 standards:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.3490681/
The next standards I think were these ones from 2016, and this is the standard that has held til today. No one seemed to care about the change, though perhaps we were more focused on the many other changes of SM instead.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.3588427/
Here the rule is
'You may not use the pronouns "who", "he", and "she" instead of "which", "that", and "it" to refer to Pokemon; stick with genderless pronouns.'
The reason given was:
- Gendered pronouns to refer to Pokemon are no longer allowed; only use "it", "which", and "that" from here on out. Reasoning is that gendered pronouns carry the nuance that they refer to a singular, gendered character, whereas analyses by default discuss the species as a whole, for which only gender-neutral pronouns are appropriate. This does not just cover arbitrarily assigning a gender to Pokemon like Sylveon, Gardevoir, and Haxorus; also use "it" for the likes of Chansey, Gallade, and Jynx
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...writer-looks-out-for.34211/page-2#post-899384
This is the earliest post I can find on smogon discussing GP standards of any sort. It's originally done with "who"
'Pokemon are referred to as "people". Meaning, you use the pronoun "who" instead of "which" or "that".'
Later in that thread, though, there's this, questioning how using the Pokemon as "who", not "which" and more generally as people would work with gendered and genderless Pokemon
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...riter-looks-out-for.34211/page-7#post-2419891
Ultimately, new grammar standards (the first official ones from what I can tell) are compiled and posted here in 2010(?):
https://www.smogon.com/bw/articles/bw_grammar_standards
'You may use the pronoun "who" instead of "which" or "that" and use "he" or "she" to refer to Pokemon as people if you so desire. It must be consistent for the entire article or analysis if this is done, however.'
But some time pretty soon after (still in 2010), there is a proposed rules change.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/standards-for-grammar-spelling-and-style.67445/
In these grammar standards, it says "Pokemon are referred to as "it". You don't talk about how Hippowdon uses his high Defense to wall physical hits, you talk about its high Defense."
Then, still in 2010, we have this thread, saying to use "who" and gendered pronouns
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/setting-the-record-straight-grammar.71222/
In 2011, the standards are back to using whichever you prefer:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.102407/
Still use either in the 2013 standards:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.3490681/
The next standards I think were these ones from 2016, and this is the standard that has held til today. No one seemed to care about the change, though perhaps we were more focused on the many other changes of SM instead.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.3588427/
Here the rule is
'You may not use the pronouns "who", "he", and "she" instead of "which", "that", and "it" to refer to Pokemon; stick with genderless pronouns.'
The reason given was:
- Gendered pronouns to refer to Pokemon are no longer allowed; only use "it", "which", and "that" from here on out. Reasoning is that gendered pronouns carry the nuance that they refer to a singular, gendered character, whereas analyses by default discuss the species as a whole, for which only gender-neutral pronouns are appropriate. This does not just cover arbitrarily assigning a gender to Pokemon like Sylveon, Gardevoir, and Haxorus; also use "it" for the likes of Chansey, Gallade, and Jynx