This post is well overdue. I understand that the majority of teams and answers on the RMT are not at all helpful, especially when posted by new members that know nothing about the format they’re playing (or much about competitive battling at all). However, this absolutely does not give our competitive veterans the right to be sarcastic, overly harsh, or just plain rude when responding to low-quality posts. We all want the RMT to improve, right? This community’s harsh feedback might be helpful to a few people, but most will just be turned away from the site, based on their first impressions. Their bad posts will just be replaced by other bad posts, except we won’t have their potential assistance on giving helpful information to other beginners.
Think back to when you first started playing the format in which you’re now an expert. Were you immediately excellent? Did you know all the strategies? Did you know which Pokemon fulfilled what roles? When did you first learn that Smogon’s Viability Rankings existed? I’m willing to bet money you had to learn these things, just as our new posters are trying to do. The “feedback” we’re giving them is toxic and crass. If we want these people to improve, try rephrasing some of the things you say to be positive. For example, instead of this...
“What the hell is this answer? You’ve somehow made this team even worse, which is saying a lot. Don’t you know anything? Learn to play the format before you make garbage like this.”
...try saying this:
“Could you explain why you’ve recommended Zebstrika for an Ubers team? It’s almost always heavily outclassed by things like Zekrom and Arceus-Electric. You might want to try reading the Gen 7 Ubers Viability Rankings ( https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usm-ubers-viability-ranking-thread.3623296/ ) to help you understand the format better. Thanks :)”
Do you see how much nicer that is? I know from personal experience that being friendly and supportive is a much better way to help people improve, instead of beating them down for poor choices. If the first example was the type of reception I got when I first posted on the RMT, I probably wouldn’t have stuck around long enough to be making this post.
Please keep in mind that I’m not trying to out anyone specific here. I can’t pretend I’m much better than what I’m condemning -- anyone that knows me knows that I find most new users pretty insufferable. However, this doesn’t detract from the fact that we should all be a lot kinder on the RMT. Who knows? It might actually start improving if we start trying to make posts better.
And of course, this post obviously doesn’t apply to everyone. If you’re kind and supportive when you say things on RMT (especially to new users), then awesome. I respect you. Everyone that does anything I outlined in this post should know who they are.
TL;DR 85% of people that post on the RMT are more rude than helpful. Be nicer.
