The Beginner's Guide to NU
With Smogon and PS! growing incredibly quickly, there has been a large influx of new users to the NU community. One of the most common questions that PS! and forum staff get from newer users is how to properly integrate into both the the NU Subforum and the Neverused room on PS!. This guide will hopefully inform new users on how to make quality posts in forum discussions, as well as contribute and lead proper discussion in the NU room. Hopefully all users, new and old, will be able to take something from this guide and improve the overall quality of NeverUsed.
The PS! Room
- Be respectful to the other users, Auth and Non-Auth alike. Nobody wants someone spewing insults at others to take over the chat, and in that same vein, if you have a dispute with someone leave it out of the main chat. Take it to PM or just drop it, since nobody else want's to hear about it.
- Keep the chat generally talking about things related to NU. People come to the room to learn about NU and participate in NU discussion. It's fine to go off topic for a bit, but try not to completely derail the discussion in the room just because you're trying to tell everyone what you did last weekend.
- In the same vein as the last point, don't go on about blatantly terrible sets like SubSeed Skiploom or something like that in the chat. If a moderator tells you that the set isn't viable and explains why, we expect you to drop it and move on. Discussions like that generally derail chat and are counterproductive to the users in the chat.
- Don't openly argue with auths' decisions about mutes/bans. If you feel like you or someone else in the room was treated unfairly, bring it up in PM with said moderator, or any of the other moderators if you feel like you can't approach him/her.
- Speaking of auth, don't ask about your own promotion or try and get information about promotions from others: we won't tell you and it reflects poorly on you as a whole. On the other hand, if you feel like there is a user doing a great job in the room or on the forums and you're not sure if people are noticing, feel free to PM the auth letting us know.
- Approach the room auth (%, @ or #) if you have any questions or if you feel unsure about anything. We want to help you get integrated and will do our best to answer whatever questions you might have. We don't bite!
- Feel free to put yourself out there in chat. We were all new users at some point and the best way to join the discussion is to just throw yourself in and go from there. We understand that it's hard to try and join a group of strangers, but remember we all have one thing in common: we love playing pokemon.
- If you have any suggestions or ideas about improving the room, or any questions about how to get involved, feel free to ask the auth anything. We'll take your idea into consideration and talk about it with the others.
- Similar to PS!, the #1 thing to remember on the forums is to be respectful to other posters. You may have a different opinion than someone with regards to a suspect or the viability of a mon, but that's no reason to personally attack them or their posts on forums.
- Lurking is the best thing that someone can do on the Smogon Forums. While the forums are a super fun place to be, it's much better to take a couple weeks/a month and observe what the best posters in the subforum do, and trying to model your posts after them.
- While having a quick wit, and making the odd joke post can be funny and refreshing, don't overdue it with the dank memes. They can be considered rude, offensive and generally just not funny to others, so think twice before making a joke at someone else's expense
- Read the OP's (Original posts) of threads. I cannot stress enough how nice it is when people read and understand an OP. It takes time away from explaining how the thread works in the actual thread and it makes your actual posts better if they follow the rules of the thread.
- overly formatting a post does not make it seem like a better post. Occasional formatting is ok to
emphasize a specific point, but dont goCrazy - When posting, it's good to take a second readthrough and think, "does this make sense", "what am I trying to accomplish with this post", "am I contradicting myself". The other posters in the thread will appreciate you for it.
- Damage Calculations can be an effective way of proving the effectiveness of a certain set or mon, but people often don't use them correctly. Make sure that when you're using damage calcs, that they're relevant to what the specific set/mon's purpose is. For example, if i'm trying to show that SpDef Malamar is the best set because it uses it's special bulk to set up, i won't put a calc showing that Signal Beam Musharna does 60% or that Scyther revenges it. I'll show calcs with the relevant defensive pokemon like Vileplume and Weezing and how they don't 3HKO it which allows you to set up on them.
- Be able to support your post after you post it. If you post something and someone else disagrees with you, if you feel strongly about it be prepared to back yourself up. If you know what you're talking about, and can strongly back up your own points, it will allow you to come off as a better poster and community presence at the same time.
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