>>26772161Smogon is doing as much as can be done to bring balance to a game that is almost unbalancable. To an extent, Smogon even goes beyond actual pokemon in making the game accessible to newcomers by allowing their favorites to shine, and removing some of the more frustrating features of battles.
There was an old man in ORAS's battle resort that up and said it after almost 20 years. You might have to use pokemon you don't like to win. Karenfags btfo by some dude, and whatnot. Smogon tries its darndest to make each pokemon usable in some form.
I think of "Smogon Rules" as a gentlemen's agreement to make the game more fun and interesting.
Where this goes wrong is when people attempt to enforce such a gentlemen's agreement on another. That just isn't how it works. Following or not following Smogon Rules doesn't make you a better or worse person, and holding others to optional rules when they didn't agree to them is ridiculous.
The way Smogon suspect checks does favor stall. It is much easier to see that a pokemon is overpowered when it OHKO's everything than when it just sits there, after all.
Some Smogon users, especially newfags to it, have a tendency to carry an air of pretension and superiority about them, and refuse to battle with anyone once they see the words "Double Team" show up on screen. This minority gives the community a bad name, as people begin to associate all of Smogon with similar assumptions.
Smogon does fine work, and is fun to base your games around. I know I'm not alone when I say that playing against a Dark Void spamming Darkrai or Smeargle for the umpteenth time gets annoying quickly, and sometimes I just want to use Farfetch'd for more than revenge fodder.
