Suggestion: don't allow questions like-Is<low tier Pokémon> viable in the OU/Uber tier?

Question

I've seen many questions like this nowadays. Of course some Pokémon are like that, examples - ditto and quagsire
These things are easily searchable in Google and then smogon's page will tell you the answer. Please apply this if you think it's alright. Any edits to this can be given in comments, thank you!

Comments

I feel like this would be a good thing to add if there werent so many execptions. Suddenly, someone might be flagged for finding something that is quite decent in ou but in lower tiers. For example, galarian slowking wasnt ou after the first few tiers changes, but went much higher in useage after it was discovered. Also, some of those you mentioned. Ditto, quagsire, (and what snom said) torkoal, etc. Also, sometimes lower tier mons are quite good. I used mamoswine for a good long while,  as although its uu it can beat many common things in ou like mag and lando. Having no good way to measure this would be problemaric, as good questions may be flagged and stopped. There are also other questions that coukd be easily searched up (for example, something like how many pokemon are in the ou tier ), but are still allowed. Personally, i feel like although it seems a bit unfair, we will have to deal with it, as otherwise things might have to be very complicated.

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(I'm not even part of discussion LoL)

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Well, there is the viability list. If a pokemon even in the zu tier has a niche in a higher tier, then it will be listed on that list. It is even being updated from time to time so when something is discovered, it will be added to the list so just check it every now and then. Better yet, read the discussion. It's not really hard to do since all you really have to do is google the tier, generation and add the words 'viability list'

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yh even though its 2 points, they want it. some low point users even give +1 because they got their answer as BA. I can guess that because that's not worth an upvote.

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just give me a reason why I should post this question. Why should I post this when I'll get points for almost(almost coz I sleep. I'm not on pokemondb 24/7 lol) all such questions?

Answer 1

I don't think a blanket ban on every question like this is a good idea. The answer (and how to find it) is simple if you're already familiar with Smogon/ competitive Pokemon, but lots of people asking questions are new to competitive play. I understand why you would be bothered by these questions, but I think you would be similarly bothered by any repetitive topic posted by the same person over and over.

I would also say that analysis of why a particular Pokemon is not viable is value that people here could add to the rankings. You could argue that you just need to read the discussion, but then you're really stretching the bounds of what questions are simple to look up.

There is also the issue of viability rankings not being updated until the metagame has settled (which has still not occurred for some post-DLC formats). There is also the issue that Smogon's viability rankings are not 'objective' nor perfectly dynamic (as much as they are monitored by people who understand the game). People may want to highlight a niche or a progression of the meta that hasn't been recognised on the thread.

In short, I don't think this situation is very close to the "What level does Piplup evolve at?" type of question we'd definitely remove for the reasons you mentioned.

Comments

I'm pretty sure that they have updated the VR for OU, Ubers and AG. Also, what are your thoughts on what DellTheTrainer does? He asks is X Pokemon via le in nat Dex ag, but my objections is that he doesn't read it's analysis. Regardless lot of answers to such questions are answered by part of their analysis. If they would read the analysis for thatmon first then ask how viable is Kyurem-White, etc it's fine, since it is Ubers and doesn't have a analysis for Ubers and AG, but it's C rank in Gen 8 AG VR for example

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It looks like the last few viability ranking threads released this week (i.e. for NU, PU etc), so point taken on that one. However, I still would be unhappy introducing this rule and then saying "It's fine if the VR thread on Smogon.com doesn't exist". It's needlessly complex for such a minor issue, and basing a rule on a thread from another forum is just silly.
And yes I know the context behind this suggestion. I think that person should do more of their own research, but I don't think we should ban everybody from asking those questions just because one person was unobservant.

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hmm okay.

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If you're not convinced by this you can tell me. I just don't think these questions are going to bring down the experience of using PokeBase in the long term.

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I remain unconvinced. To be honest, I just think the guy should get to the point on why he or she does not check the viability list. I mean, the guys at smogon are usually the hardcore battlers so they know what's best and the list does get updated every now and then

Although, since on the right side of every thread there are related questions and other stuff section, maybe add one for like 'competitive battlers' and under it add the viability list, current gen tier list and maybe some tournaments currently happening on the db atm