Welcome to the UnderUsed's Official Forum Guide
This thread is a Central Hub for all newcomers and veterans that want to participate in this tier. This thread indicates the current UU Staff Members, the UU Council Members, and important Contributors, all of whom can assist you. Furthermore, this thread will cover all types of resources, link all current projects/tournaments, and will provide introductory access for players to properly participate in this tier. Further questions beyond should be directed to one of the Staff members/council members/contributors listed below.
Please familiarize yourself with our standards, as this will save everyone time and grief. This includes taking the time to check out Smogon's Tiering policies and our Forum Rules so that you can be properly informed when joining the discussion. Note: any decisions we make regarding moderation actions are final.
The UU forum is currently moderated by the following Smogon Staff members:
- Hogg [Tier Leader]
- Pearl [Tier Leader]
- Kink
- Sage
- Eyan
- Amane Misa
The UU Council: check our Tiering Policies here! Check out the Smogon Tiering Policies here! Check out our current Metagame Thread here!
Our Community Contributors are here to help you! Here are a list of other important Contributors in the tier which can help answer your common questions:
- Shiba (Community Contributor, Room Owner, Battling 101 Staff)
- Accelgor (Community Contributor, Room Owner)
- vivalospride (Community Contributor, Room Owner, RMT Staff)
- A Cake Wearing A Hat (Community Contributor)
- Moutemoute (Community Contributor)
- pokeisfun (Community Contributor)
- Accelgor (Community Contributor, Room Owner)
- vivalospride (Community Contributor, Room Owner, RMT Staff)
- A Cake Wearing A Hat (Community Contributor)
- Moutemoute (Community Contributor)
- pokeisfun (Community Contributor)
As for actual rules, all the rules that are applicable to the entire Smogon site also apply here. Additionally, take note of the following:
- We do things a little differently around here. Unlike what you're probably used to, tiering decisions are made pretty liberally in UU, so you will probably have strong feelings about it. Expressing your feelings regarding specific suspects in PM or in public is fine, as long as you do so in a calm and respectful manner. There is a posting guide written by Mazz listed below. Give it a read if you are new or need clarification of what constitutes as a high-quality post meant to contribute to the discussion.
- Do not make individual threads without UU Moderator Approval. Direct all new Project/Tournament requests to moderators Hogg, Pearl, Kink, Sage, Eyan and Amane Misa under this format: http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...ournament-project-guide.3591789/#post-7176025
- Stick to UU stuff.
- Don't be an idiot. Respect each other.
Pokemon Showdown UU Policies:
WIP as of March 16th 2018, if you have any immediate questions contact a Room Owner
Introduction & Posting Guide - by Mazz
This is mainly in response to the influx of threads featuring non-viable Pokemon in UU (ie; Mightyena, Wigglytuff, etc.). The purpose of this post isn't to call anybody out for making these threads; Underused is a very balanced tier where lower-tiered Pokemon can find success. In fact, the moderators here, as well as our more veteran members, encourage people to find things in lower tiers that work in UU. It's great for diversity. The purpose of this guide is to assist the newer (and existing if need be) members see what exactly we're looking for in a quality post. Whether you're posting a new thread, replying to another member, or defending your position, a quality post should have some or all of these elements in them, as not only do they make you look like you know what you're talking about, but they strongly reinforce your argument.
The Basics
- Lurking is never a bad idea if you're brand new to the competitive scene. Take some time to figure out how members are posting and how the tier operates before you dive in.
- Generic 'if' statements will rarely contribute to a topic, unless the point is directly connected to the topic at hand. For example: "... if Jirachi falls to UU, I'll start using x on y."
- Your post / reply should never be rude, overly aggressive, or malicious. Nobody likes being insulted, and by putting someone down, you're not doing your arguments any favour. You just look dumb, and if you maintain this pace, you'll notice a lot of your posts / threads being deleted, and you may even face action from a moderator. If you can keep your posts clean, concise, and manage to avoid stepping on people's toes, you'll gain some credibility around here, and members will be more willing to read your arguments and take them seriously.
- Dry wit / sarcasm / humour on occasion is great, as it can liven up a post and help prove a point. However, don't be a clown. After a while, people will stop taking you seriously. If you want to be funny, check out Firebot, but this subforum is primarily aimed at discussion, reason, and focused arguments.
- Before submitting a reply (or even a post) you need to take a step back and ask yourself some questions, "does what I said make sense?", "is my argument valid?", "why is my argument valid?", and "will other people support my argument?". If you can easily answer the first two questions with ease, chances are, you've got a good post. Making that same post a great one however requires the third and fourth questions to follow suit. If you cannot prove what you're trying to deliver to us, or if nobody is willing to support it, your ideas won't get very far.
- Avoid obscenely massive posts. I've been guilt of this before too, and at the end of the day, not too many members are going to want to read a page-long essay as to why something should be or shouldn't be. Don't cop out on your post either, but avoid writing an article for something that would only need a few paragraphs. If you must throw a wall of text at us, put a TL;DR statement at the top of your post summarizing your ideas. It's polite, and can save those certain members some time.
- Lastly, your reply / post / thread needs to be reasonable. While Underused can be a very flexible tier in terms of lower-tier viability, not everything has its use. Before making a statement that may later on be considered wild, do some research. Try that Pokemon, strategy, whatever it is you're trying to make a point of out on the ladder. Do some calculations. Avoid going into your ideas without being able to support them. Knowing what you're talking about will make your ideas more likely to become valid.
- Whenever need evidence to showcase your ideas, Damage Calculations are an excellent way to get a point across. These give the community hard numbers to look at, and can greatly emphasize your point. The common practice regarding damage calculations is to target the common Pokemon in the tier. So if you were arguing for an offensive Pokemon, use the heaviest walls in the tier to emphasize your point, and vice-versa if you're arguing for a defensive Pokemon.
- Battle Logs are a solid way to prove the effectiveness of cores, strategies, or individual moves / items on a Pokemon, as they're recordings of those things in action. If posting these, try to provide more than one, as the more evidence you can stack up to support an argument, the better. Don't go nuts with it however. Another common courtesy to consider is to indicate the specific turns when the topic in focus takes place, and should be a must for longer battles.
- Logic and credibility, are huge. If what you're saying makes sense, and you're known for being sensible, your post will immediately gain traction. Having these behind a post, specifically logic, will inevitably make supporting an argument easier, as the post and evidence won't contradict each other.
We hope you enjoy your time with us and we hope you're ready to tackle the vicious world of our SubForum!
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