RMT Rules READ BEFORE POSTING!!!

RMT Rules - (Created by BAM)

Obviously "RMT" stands for "rate my team", making this the place where you go to get your team rated. However, getting a team "rated" isn't exactly the best thing for you if you want to improve on it - somebody saying that your team is a "9/10 good job " may make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but in reality it does nothing for the team. This is where other, more appropriate verbs come in, varying from "analyze" to "tear apart" to "praise if I look like I know what I'm doing", but for simplicity's sake I'll just leave it at RMT.

Posting a RMT

When posting a RMT, there are a couple of things you want to do. Among these are:
- use correct grammar
- state what generation (RBY/GSC/RSE/DP/Plat) and tier (UU/BL/OU/Ubers) the team is created for
- state if the team is meant for Shoddy Battle or WiFi

All of these rules are fairly obvious; grammar makes it easier for raters to understand and read your post; listing what generation and tier the team is for will allow the rater to know what set of Pokemon and rules you'll be playing with; and stating if the team is for Shoddy or WiFi does the same - Shoddy features a very different metagame from that of WiFi, and in some cases even has Pokemon that are unavailable to WiFi (such as Shaymin-S or the Rotom forms).

Aside from those rules, there is a bit of flexibility on how you post your team. It's always helpful to write your team up in a specific format, but there is no nazi-strict way you have to do it. Just make it readable - something like this works:

Quote:
Pokemon @ Item
Nature, Ability
EVs (and IVs if you feel the need to post them)
- Move 1
- Move 2
- Move 3
- Move 4

Description: blah blah blah...

Aside from that, there are just a few other things. It's very common for a user to post a picture of a Pokemon next to its mention in the RMT to make the post look nicer, but any post with obnoxiously-large images will be edited to make it easier on the eyes/a reader's computer. In a similar manner, colored fonts may be used for emphasis, but please try to stick to colors that are clear and easy to read; that means no bright yellows, greens, or white. Doing so will result in your post being edited.

Rating a Team: Guidelines

Some of the teams posted are really great, and some of the ratings given for teams (whether the team is top-five status or hasn't one a single match yet) are top quality. However, the general response to a team posted consists of:
- "give [Pokemon] [move], [move], and [move] instead of what it has"
- "replace [Pokemon] with [other Pokemon]"
- "lol cool"

Think I'm kidding? Here's two examples:

Quote:
That's a cool team.Arcanine is my favorite.
Quote:
well I would put u-turn on glicor with the pleanty conters of it running around, and try giving jirachi thunderbolt and give deoxys shadow ball.

When somebody posts a team (I'm not counting in-game teams here), they expect good feedback, not whether or not you think it's cool because you like the Pokemon they have. Good feedback consists of stating the strengths of the team ("this seems like a great offensive team because of..."), stating the weaknesses of the team ("your team is Weavile weak because..."), stating what changes should be made to the team ("I would suggest ScarfHera over ScarfMedicham because..."), and stating why those changes should be made and how those changes will effect the team. Doing so gives the team's creator a full sense of what should be done and why, rather than leaving the creator with an empty feeling of "why did I just do what I did".

I understand that sometimes you're just posting in a RMT because you're friends with the poster or that you just want to have fun, but you should at least try to give the OP a full team rate out of respect of his request. Here are some good, short examples of what I (and others) would expect:
Quote:
I do see a fairly high problem coming from a Life Orb Gyarados. With SR out, with 1 dd and timed correctly, it could practically sweep your whole team. EQ on Starmie is a OHKO, Celebi is 2 ohko'd, Scizor I'm not sure on but at least a 2 OHKO, Bronzong is 2 OHKO, Heatran is OHKO, Gyarados is the only problem, but SR will seriously damage it not to mention it only can use waterfall to the Gyarados.
Quote:
Naive is a way better nature on Deoxys f, as you can then outrun Choice Scarf Kyogre and hit with Thunder/ Grass Knot. Superpower is a must, for Dialga, Bliss, TTar, Tran, etc. Thunder or Grass Knot is up to what your team needs to hit, really. Pursuit or Shadow Ball in the third slot, Pursuit allows you to hit fleeing Lati twins, while Shadow Ball has a higher base power. Last slot is Ice Beam, needs it to beat Ray.

Things to NOT DO while Rating a Team
- be anything more than positively critical of the user's team. It's just a game, there's no reason for getting on the OP's case, calling them a retard, or bagging on their mother. Doing anything similar or anything that might be considered abusive will result in punishment. And us mods will decide whether or not you were "just joking" >:[.
- ask for somebody to give/make you a team. This is a "rate my team" forum, not a "give me a team" forum.
- not following any of the regular forum rules.

Posting an in-game team is fine as long as you let it be known that it is an in-game team. The same rules apply to the RMT, but posting EVs isn't required.