Contributions & Corrections: Where the Magic Happens

Introduction

Ever since Smogon's creation, the site has had the competitive aspect of Pokemon as its main focus. Therefore, writing analyses for each Pokemon became a good way to attract new players to the site and aid everyone else, thus helping the community flourish. Now, 7 years and many changes later—both in its name and its organization—the place where analyses and articles are written is Contributions & Corrections and it's still going strong as the lifeblood of Smogon!

There is obviously a lot to say about C&C, but if we were to write everything there is to know about it, we could dedicate a whole issue of The Smog. So what this guide aims to do is to answer some of the most frequent questions users usually have before they start participating. By doing so we aim to make it easier for the users who have just started participating and perhaps inspire some veterans to recall how they were a few years and dozens of analyses ago. Finally, we hope to intrigue you so that perhaps you too would want to write your own analyses, and share the pleasure of seeing your own work on-site!

Brief Description of C&C's Structure

As you can imagine, to write, edit, and upload so much work, a forum needs to be very well organized. Every official metagame from Little Cup to Ubers, while not forgetting VGC, has its own subforum here. In there, you'll usually find two sticky threads that consist of which Pokemon you can reserve and which Pokemon you can't reserve (because they're not viable). The former is also the place where you can see who's writing what and where you can reserve your own analysis, while the latter is where you can argue about a Pokemon's viability and possibly get a QC member (explained later) to agree with you.

Every sub-forum bar Articles has its own Quality Control team, which ensures every analysis is of high enough quality to be on Smogon. They are who you need to look for when you think you've gotten every set on the analysis because you'll need the approval of three of these members to get past the Quality Control stage. They are very good players and will often suggest changes to improve your analysis, so you should always read their posts carefully. Articles work a bit differently though. Here, you're supposed to know very well what you're writing about because there isn't a QC team. You can still use the opinions from other users to improve your article, but outside of that you're trusted to have a quality product.

After you get the three approvals, you need to formally write your analysis to have it ready to be on-site; this is the Copyediting stage. Don't be afraid of having some mistakes on your prose; that is why the Grammar-Prose team was created! They will proofread your analysis and fix most of, if not all, the mistakes and give you the final product. You need two of these members to check your analysis, so you can be confident that it will be almost flawless when the second member is done with it.

Articles have a somewhat different process and need to be HTMLized before they are ready to go. Therefore, after you've received and implemented both GP checks, if you don't know how to HTML, you should PM a moderator so that he can move your article to the Projects subforum where other people will HTMLize it.

After this, your analysis / article is Done! That's right, now it's only a matter of time before a moderator uploads your analysis and you can read your work on Smogon. You're still encouraged to check your analysis from time to time to answer the questions of other members or to fix something before the analysis is uploaded; it will both help you remember your work and teach others.

Finally, the Projects sub-forum is a more complex subforum where you can post new ideas such as a new simulator, translating Smogon into a different language, etc. Then, if someone likes your concept, you can join them and start working on it. If you can finish a good project, you'll get a good reputation and can be sure you'll be remembered for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you still have some doubts about C&C? Don't be worried; it's perfectly normal. Check the following to see if they're answered here.

Q: Can everyone write analyses / articles or are only badged users allowed to do that?
A: Everyone can write an analysis regardless of badges or postcount. To give an example, moderators have allowed users with one single post to write an analysis and it turned out to be a good decision.

Q: I've decided which Pokemon I want to write. What should I do now?
A: In every C&C subforum there is a reservation thread. There you must first check the list to see if that Pokemon is available, and if so, you post saying you want to reserve it.

Q: Well, I know which Pokemon I'm writing about, have played with it, and know exactly the information I need to include about it but... what format do I use?
A: Read the Contributions & Corrections Analysis Formatting Guide, which is in every C&C subforum; it contains everything you need to know. You can even copy the format and edit your analysis there.

Q: My analysis is ready but the QC members don't check it. Is there anything wrong with it?
A: There are a fair number of QC members but there are obviously many more analyses. They're only humans, so it may take a while for you to get the checks. However, you can check every metagame's QC team and PM the members asking for a check, which should speed the process.

Q: How do I have my analysis proofread?
A: Just post your analysis's link on the Grammar-Prose Team Queue or PM it to the GP team leaders (see the list on the Queue's first post).

Q: What if I spot some incorrect information such as poor grammar or inefficient EV spreads on an analysis, or if I think something important is missing?
A: If the analysis hasn't been uploaded yet, post your suggestions on the analysis thread. If the analysis is already on-site, post in either the Small Objective Changes or the Small Subjective Changes thread and a badged user will eventually fix it. Make sure you have good arguments so that other people can understand your point of view and agree with you.

Conclusion

By now you should know the basics of writing analyses / articles. If you still have some doubts, don't worry. Moderators will often help you, and active members (especially those with a Cascade or Hive Badge) can answer your questions, so talk to them! You'll find that you can significantly improve your battling ability thanks to C&C work, while having fun, and seeing your work on the most prestigious Pokemon site!

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