PokeBase is a question and answer system. Put simply, members ask questions about Pokemon, and other members answer them! PokeBase is not a traditional forum - we like questions that can be answered, rather than discussed at length. Please check the rules below (at least the first two parts) to help keep this place running smoothly.
What kind of questions can I ask?
Almost anything about Pokemon! The site is mainly geared toward the Pokemon games but you can ask about the anime/TCG too. Questions can be simple or complex, all are welcome (as long as they follow the rules).
Remember, good questions will usually have one correct answer, no opinions.
What kind of questions can I NOT ask?
* Poll-type questions like "What is your favorite Pokemon?" - these questions have no right answer, it's just everyone's opinions.
* Vague questions like "Is this a good pokemon team?" - please make it more specific, for example "How can I improve my team?" perhaps with more information.
* Moveset questions - we already have a huge set of questions dedicated to this! Just search for the word 'moveset' with the pokemon name, e.g. 'moveset metagross' to find some great suggested movesets. If you think you have a great moveset, post it as an answer to the question, and others will vote it up or down accordingly.
* Questions about online Pokemon RPGs - they are unofficial web sites with their own rules; go and ask them if you have a problem.
* Battle/trading requests are not allowed in the questions part, but you can use the chat room to organise them if you like. You can also post your Friend Code and add others' to your Pal Pad on this question: What is your Friend Code?
* If you have a question about how this site works, or suggestions for Pokebase or the main site please ask it on our meta-site here.
You can use the chat room feature for off-topic discussion.
Writing good questions and answers
Before asking a question, do a quick search by putting a keyword or two into the search box (top right) - we have over 1,500 questions here so it's likely that a similar question was already asked! Check the repeat questions to the right for some of the more common requests.
Make the title short and clear - for example, "How do I do it?" is a bad title because it's impossible to tell what the question is about. But, "How do I EV train?" is a good title.
In the next stage you can add more detail to your question. Please write in normal sentences, not in text-speak or shorthand.
Tags are "keywords" that you can use to identify your post. Simply choose the most important words from your post. This can include the game you are playing (e.g. "heartgold"), a pokemon name (e.g. "dragonite") or a move name (e.g. "tackle"). Use a hyphen if the keyword has a space in it, for example "hyper-beam" or "mr-mime".
When answering, don't add repeat answers, unless you can add more information. If someone else has answered a question correctly, simply vote up the answer to "agree" with it.
As with questions, please write in normal sentences, not in text-speak or shorthand. If you find information from other web sites, do not copy-paste it. Preferably rewrite it or if it is too long, put a short answer then link to the original site for more information.
Voting
You can also vote on questions and answers. If you see an interesting question, vote it up. If you see a good/correct answer, vote it up. Answers with the most votes will appear at the top of the list so that anyone coming to the page will see the right answer straight away!
If you see a question that is very poorly written or breaks one of the rules here, then vote it down. If you see an incorrect answer you can vote it down. If you vote something down, please consider adding a comment so that it can be improved!
Please don't vote down for the hell of it or if you don't care about the question/answer. Questions can range from very simple to very complex, but as long as they follow the rules above, all questions are welcome!
Users also get points if their questions/answers are voted up. At the moment the points don't do anything special, apart from maybe giving you a feeling of superiority over other members :p In the future they may allow you to aid in moderating the site and so on.
