The Smogon Discord Server is looking for new live team raters! As the discord amasses users, the demand for live team rating grows. To better accommodate this and provide more robust metagame knowledge in the discord, we are looking for members with knowledge of various metas to join and have their name added to our Team Rater roster.
ON Format: We will be switching to a new format this time, on a trial basis. We will be utilizing Discord's newest Forum feature to try and organize rates a little better. When this goes live, we hope to hear any feedback on it!
CURRENT COMP HELPERS PLEASE NOTE: You don't have to sign up via this thread, you will be grandfathered in for your respective tiers.
Requirements to apply:
- Active on the forums or a Smogon-affiliated discord for at least 3 months.
- Solid knowledge of metagame fundamentals and the tier that you are desiring to rate - this can be proven via replays, interviews, vouches, etc.
- Willingness to adhere to a certain threshold of decorum in the discord/model the behaviors we'd like to see in those channels.
- Once accepted, a minimum level of activity that will be assessed by Server Leaders monthly.
The rewards are a different role color and the ever-desired reacts! After a minimum threshold of rates, your time spent as a competitive helper/team rater will be used in determining the Live Chat Contributor badge award or the Team Rater badge award!
Application format:
To apply, please post in this thread with::
- Your discord name.
- The meta you'd like to rate.
- A brief summary of your experience in that meta.
- Ways you've demonstrated knowledge of the metagame. This can be done via tour matches, articles written, forum team rating examples, tier leaders/council members who would vouch for you, etc. (It is especially helpful if examples of these things are given)
OU
UU
RU
NU
PU
Ubers
LC
Monotype
DOU
1v1
National Dex (and its major tiers)
BSS
VGC
CAP
Any Old Gen OU
Major OMs (case by case)
UU
RU
NU
PU
Ubers
LC
Monotype
DOU
1v1
National Dex (and its major tiers)
BSS
VGC
CAP
Any Old Gen OU
Major OMs (case by case)
FAQs:
Will this get me SDC or Team Rater?
Maybe! Consistent activity in the rater role is a good path to being nominated for those badges. However, we look at the context of your rates and behavior in the discord as well. In addition, quality and quantity are often held proportional to the specific tier you rate. So for eg, if you rate a tier with low traffic you may get the badge with a lower amount of quantity, or if quantity is low but quality is high it may also net you the badge.
How many rates do I have do perform?
This depends largely on the meta you rate for. For current gen metagames, 1-2 average rates per day is ideal. For older gens and lower tiers that don't get much traffic, the number may drop significantly. If you find you aren't getting many requests for your meta, please drop by the #comp_gen channels - knowledgeable users on any metagame are always appreciated there, as the concepts and thought processes are shared by many metagames.
Will we be notified of potential rates?
We're hoping to get a bot up and running sooner than later to automatically ping raters, but in the meantime we'll be reliant on pings from ratees.
How many raters do you need for {tier}?
Slots are more or less unlimited. We're welcoming to any number of raters possible for each tier!
Live rating in the Discord carries with it challenges that make it unique from other areas of Smogon ratings. In order to make sure all of our live raters get proper support (and credit!) for their activities in the discord, we've established some general guidelines and information for rating teams in those channels.
General Guidelines:
Format:
Rules Enforcement:
Downtime:
Absence/Changes:
General Guidelines:
- Be kind and respectful. The discord is home to many players who have just started to venture into competitive play. Things you may consider to be obvious may not be quite so obvious to that player.
- Do not rate for metagames you are unfamiliar with, and always clarify metagame before rating if one is not clearly stated in the request.
- Don't fix what cannot be fixed. If a team is so broken that it would require replacing the majority of the pokemon and sets, or the sets indicate a complete lack of competitive knowledge, please refer that player to the samples for their meta.
- If a team is currently being rated in one channel, try to move a new request to the other channel. If both channels are being used, please minimize back-and-forth chat between the requestor and yourself.
- Stay on topic. If a user asks questions unrelated to their specific team being rated, please guide them back to #Comp-General. The intent is to keep those channels clean so that other players can see the logic being used in the teambuliding process.
- Don't be afraid to ask clarifying questions. If you see information that indicates the user may not be understanding metagames as a whole (building for a meta with several unavailable mons in that meta is a good example), please try to guide them to where they intended to be.
Format:
- Discord's format makes it easy to get confused or talk over individual users. To minimize this, please notify the requestor that you are going to be providing a rate, then keep as much of the text of the actual rate contained to as few messages as possible.
- If submitting a corrected team, please use PokePaste.
- Try to minimize jargon wherever possible - use a pokemon's full name when providing it, and the full names of the moves, to reduce confusion among newer players.
Rules Enforcement:
- If a user is abusing the channels, breaking rules, or being consistently non-contributive, please bring it to the attention of server staff.
- If you have concerns about the quality of another rater's contributions, please let staff know privately.
Downtime:
- If you are not getting many rating opportunities for your meta, please hang out with us in #comp-gen. There are often questions regarding mechanics and metagames that new players will ask there, so it's a good opportunity to be a resource for others.
Absence/Changes:
- If you need to be away for awhile and won't be active, that's fine! Please let server staff know ahead of time, though. Unannounced, prolonged periods of time without rates can result in your competitive helper role being revoked.
- If you no longer feel confident in rating a meta (maybe you haven't played in awhile, or you've focused on a different meta), please let us know.
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