Hey guys! Yes, I'm still alive, no I've not given up. I was just watching The International and got caught up in that, but I'm back and will hope to wrap up the major things I want to hit on before I go to college, so without further ado I will get onto this big eyesore: the RMT section.
Yes, I am fully aware the RMT section is absolute shit. Yes, I am fully aware no one wants to do anything about it. Yes, I am aware we're discussed this before. Time for discussing is over. I want action, and I'm going to explain what I think we should do and why we should do it.
1. New Dedicated Mods for the RMT Section
This one should be intuitive. The current mods (all 16 of them) don't seem very interested in having a massive reworking of the RMT section. On occasion will you see one of them lock a thread and tell the OP why it's locked and what they need to do to change it. That's not enough. We don't need occasional, we need all the time. It's very clear the RMT section is where new players go, players with little to no forum experience who don't get how things work. They don't read the sticky, they don't look at well-written RMTs, they just know they need help and go there and want it as soon as possible. For this reason we need to get a handful of mods who only moderate over the RMT section. They will police over the RMT section with a fist clenched tighter than a virgin asshole, and they will infract, lock, delete, all bad users, threads, and posts until it is clear what is and is not acceptable on the forums. People will learn in time, and it will be a hard road for some users who don't get things, but this is what must be done if the RMT section will ever improve. There are people who would gladly sign up for this position. I wouldn't mind stepping up myself and having some responsibility over the forum, and if a mod is slacking in their duties, the team can ask for another RMT mod to be created to help them in their duties.
While there certainly have ample mods to cover it, a lot of them aren't active and if they wanted to do something about the RMT section they should have a long time ago. This is why I suggest we create new mods who reign over the RMT section. They will be motivated to do something, and will actively and continuously do something to make it better. Also, if being extremely authoritarian and slightly rude to users is what it takes to turn the RMT section from absolute shit to something worthwhile, I am all for it, and I think others will be inclined to agree with me. I'm not saying we tell users their teams are garbage, but be strict and consistent with rulings and make examples out of troublesome users to encourage better quality. It will always be a work in progress, but something must be done about it.
2. Dedicated RMT Raters
This is something Smogon does, and for a very very good reason. It makes it very clear to the OP who is experienced enough to offer good advice, and who's advice you could take with a grain of salt. Of course, other posters may feel less valued, but the fact of the matter is that it is an obtainable goal to work toward and people will strive to obtain a user title, or to have to say "RMT Rater" under their username instead of member. The best thing Smogon ever did was get a stupid 8-bit trophy system. People work so hard all the time for those trophies because they carry weight and bring prestige to the user and that garners respect from others. It would be much of the same here. It's not as flashy as having a million in a half trophies like Obi or Phillip do on Smogon, but it makes you feel important, and people will always work toward that. It's hard to gain respect on NB nowadays when now a lot of the big names are around, and this is a sure fired way to get noticed and I think people will try to obtain that.
But how do we get these dedicated raters? Do we just pick good users and ask them to step up? Or do we pick people who volunteer? Once again, we steal an idea from Smogon. Very frequently, Smogon does something called "Rating Practice" where a user posts a team with obvious flaws that users then have to pick out for practice. This is something we would use to test people who want to be dedicated raters. They would try out. We would do a handful of rounds and then have the modding team decide which raters did the best job and then ask them to be dedicated raters. Again, it is the RMT mods who will run this, the RMT section should be almost run entirely by them since they are the ones interested in making it not shit.
Also, if the modding team feels a particular rater is slacking in their duties or aren't perform as well as they use to, it is easy to remove their user title and give it to someone else. They can PM the user and say "ayy fam you gotta step up" as a warning, but they need to make room for new users who are trying to make a name for themselves.
3. Temporarily Lock the RMT Section
The RMT section needs help, so I am suggesting we temporarily close it and then pick the modding staff, start the rating practice, pick the dedicated raters, and then open it back up for the public. It shouldn't take a whole lot of time and it will be open before Fall Regionals for new players to get advice on their team. This is the perfect time to do it. No world's players are posting their teams in the RMT section and the metagame is going to massively shift after Worlds anyway, so there's no need to make an RMT at the moment. Players who want to can just ask in Showdown or PM a user for help. But we need to get it open before Regionals. It will be the first major test to see if the RMT section can be improved, so we need to start soon if we want shit to get in order.
4. New Stickied Threads Showing Examples
The Stickied threads we have now are good, but they explain what needs to be done instead of showing what needs to be done. We need to show them what a good RMT looks like, what a good rate looks like, and how to format them. A simple guide explain how to use the forum toolbar would be much needed to users trying to format their thread, and a very simple to follow guide about how to format an RMT prevents people from making bad threads (in theory). If they do not, then it is very simple to lock the thread, redirect them to the thread and say once they meet the qualifications set by the forum modding team then they thread will be unlocked. Simple, effective, clear. This is what it will take to get the RMT section out of the cesspool it currently wallows in.
Once again thank you for reading. I hope this one gets the ball rolling ASAP because we desperately need to change this one. As always, please send comments to the NB thread, please share this on Twitter or whatever. (Much appreciated)
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