PokéBase Rules

Welcome to the Pokémon Knowledgebase, or PokéBase for short! On this platform, you can ask and answer questions about Pokémon. The best answers receive votes and rise to the top of the page, making useful information and advice easy to access.

PokéBase is not a traditional forum — questions should be answerable, not discussed endlessly. This rules page will help you get familiar with the platform. Please read it thoroughly before starting! We've also put together a comprehensive starter's guide that we highly recommend reading.

The community is based around four sections, which are addressed in turn below.

• PokéBase: the main area for general questions about Pokemon. (PokéBase is sometimes used to refer to the entire community area.)
• Rate My Team: (aka RMT) a place to post competitive battling teams.
• Meta-PokéBase: the place to ask questions about this site itself, make suggestions and report errors.
• Chat Room: the chat room allows users to live-chat and discuss Pokemon or anything off-topic. Trading and battling requests should be made here instead of as questions.

Note that this rules list is new as of 2022 — many topics are handled differently than in the past. There are links to several additional questions/posts that give more detailed information.

#0. Site-wide rules

#0.1. Usual netiquette applies. Be kind to other people. No spam, bigotry, etc. Keep your posts productive and on-topic. Don't abuse privileges. Keep content appropriate for children. Do not post your own or other people's personally-identifiable information online.

#0.2. Put care and effort into your posts. Both your questions and answers should be detailed and properly researched. Write using proper English, and use formatting tastefully (e.g. don't bold your entire post and don't embed massive images). Use relevant tags.

#0.3. Make question titles clear and obvious: For example TM question doesn't say much, but Where is TM59 located? is more clear. Try and make the title one complete sentence.

#0.4. Use your own words. Don't mass copy-paste from other websites. You may include quotes, but make sure you reference them and include your own writing. When reasonable, avoid posting links as answers.

#0.5. Post in the right area. Posts made in the wrong section will be hidden. Use comments instead of answers to reply to others. Post different questions in their own separate threads. Create new threads instead of posting questions as comments.

#0.6. Full answers in the answer box. Each answer should be an attempt at completely resolving the question. If you only know one part of the answer, then you should post a comment instead. If you're answering to add onto existing posts, make sure your answer covers what the existing posts do.

#0.7. No duplicate posts. To keep content organised, we will remove any question that is the same as an existing one, or that is covered in the common repeat topic list or starter's guide. If there are already answers to the question, make sure your answer is better or adds something new.

#0.8. Official Pokémon games and media only. No fan games. Don't ask for help using mods or cheats, and don't suggest them to others. Don't link to ROMs and don't ask for help using emulators. Pokémon Showdown! and custom servers (e.g. Wiimmfi) are exceptions.

#0.9. No excessive use of images: PokéBase is about finding answers without hassle, and having lots of images can slow down page loading for everyone and get in the way, so avoid using them for decoration purposes only. We recommend no bigger than 500 pixels in size. For moveset/team questions, please only use standard sprites as these questions have many answers; you can find sprites and the Markdown code to use in our sprites section.

#0.10. Don't make more than one account. Staff can track and ban accounts that break this rule. Please read this post for more information, especially if you know somebody personally who uses PokéBase.

#0.11. Respect the voting system. Vote based on the contents of each post — don't be spiteful. Don't vote the same person repeatedly. Don't ask for up-votes (or ask not to be down-voted). Earn points honestly.

#0.12. Let staff handle the rules. Please don't instruct other people on what they may do here. If something is amiss, it's best to leave a flag, or message us directly. Don't answer rule-breaking questions, and don't derail questions discussing whether they are allowed.

#1. PokéBase (main section) rules

The main section is green. It is for asking questions about anything in the Pokémon franchise, with a focus on the games.

#1.1. No opinion questions, polls, or discussion threads. PokéBase is for answerable questions, not endless discussions. The focus should be on sharing knowledge and advice. Topics like What should I name my Pokémon? can be taken to the chat room or elsewhere.

#1.2. Don't ask for trades, Friend Codes, and the like. It doesn't belong on this platform. You can try the chat room or our public Discord and Pokemon Showdown servers.

#1.3. Do basic research before posting. For example, don't ask questions requesting plain statistics, like what level Piplup evolves at. Similarly, please double-check the accuracy of your answers, and include links to references if they're needed. Don't post silly guesses like Your game glitched!

(Exception: if an accurate answer cannot be found on our database, then it is OK to ask the question.)

#1.4. Low-quality questions will be removed. What this means is decided by the community and staff on a case-by-case basis. Questions that fit one of the following descriptions often break this rule:

1. Lacking context and background information, especially if a vague condition is used, like whether something is 'good' or 'worth it'. (For what?)
2. Missing important details that could affect the answer, like the game or battle format that is used.
3. Requesting insider info that fans can't access, or requires pure theorising. Questions like Why is ___ this way? often have this problem.
4. Requesting trivial or highly individualised answers that would not be useful to other people. Possible examples are What are all the times ___ happened? and How can I do ___ in only this way?
5. Joke/spam post, or could be mistaken for one.

#1.5. Questions should be exclusive to the topic of Pokémon. Please don't ask why your 3DS doesn't work, what game you should buy your cousin for Christmas, what your merch is worth, etc. Every question here should be answerable using information from the Pokémon franchise.

#1.6. Don't ask for advice on a playthrough team or moveset. PokéBase questions should be re-usable by anyone, so we don't give advice for individual people's teams. However, you can ask general questions like What are the best strategies to beat Totem Lurantis? and Which of Aggron and Golem is more effective for Emerald playthroughs? Competitive teams and movesets can be posted on the RMT section.

#1.7. Don't post endless questions. This means very broad questions with potentially-infinite valid answers. For example, don't ask for teams or movesets on PokeBase. Where possible, we've made exceptions like the 'good moveset' and 'good in-game team' questions, but variations of these (e.g. movesets for Relaxed Flygon) are not allowed.

If there is a new kind of endless question that you think should be on PokeBase, you can suggest it to the community. If it's received well, you can get permission to post the question/s.

#2. RMT section rules

The RMT (Rate My Team) section is orange. It is for open-ended feedback on competitive teams and TCG decks. Competitive movesets can also be rated here.

#2.1. Include ALL of the following details when posting teams. This helps us give useful feedback.

1. Specify moves, abilities, items, EVs, and natures for each Pokémon.
2. State the battle format, category, game, etc. that applies to the team. Examples of battle formats: Gen 8 OU, VGC Series 10, Battle Stadium Singles. Read here if you're not sure.
3. Include a full team, and preferably test it first.
4. For each Pokémon, give the reason why you chose the Pokémon, and an explanation of the strategy for the set.
5. Include the team in the post itself, not just PokePaste. Descriptive titles are helpful (e.g. Gen 8 LC, Pawniard offence instead of Rate my LC team).

For TCG decks, specify the format (Standard, Expanded, etc.), a full set of cards (including the expansion and number for each), an explanation of the strategy, and whether you're playing online or in person. Note any issues with availability.

#2.2. Competitive teams only. This means teams for battling other people, as well as teams for post-game battle facilities, like the Battle Tower. You must also keep to a 'competitive' standard; that means:

1. Do not post gimmicks and novelties, like theme teams, 'troll' teams, teams of favourites, etc.
2. Be open to any changes that will help you win. For example, if you play a format that allows legendaries, then you must be willing to use legendaries.
3. Know teambuilding 101 — you should have a bare-minimum understanding of the battle format you're playing. If you're a new player, please research before posting on the RMT section.

#2.3. High-quality advice only. Explain your suggestions so that other people can learn. Criticise the ideas, not the person. Don't suggest your own team instead. If you're not an expert in competitive play, please don't post advice.

#3. Meta section rules

The Meta section is grey. It is for discussion about this site itself — including reporting errors, making suggestions, and other community matters. It operates a bit more like a forum — posts here aren't always questions.

#3.1. Be specific. Use descriptive titles and include direct URLs, screenshots, and which browser/device you're using (e.g. Chrome browser on a PC, Safari on an iPhone) when describing errors.

#3.2. Use the mega-threads. We have dedicated pages for certain topics to help organise the section; please use them instead of making new threads. In particular the minor errors thread is where small factual errors should be posted.

#3.3. Use an appropriate tag: Please make sure to include any of these tags on the question where appropriate: pokemondb if asking about the main site, pokebase if asking about the Q&A community, suggestion for site suggestions, or bug if reporting an larger error.

#3.4. Posts should interest the community. Meta welcomes posts on any topic concerning this site and its community, but it isn't your personal blog. Don't make posts there complaining about down-votes, etc.