[X] My Assistant

[Rookie Roo]

A quick TL;DR for the ones who don't want to read everything: Just pick one theme you'd like us to try and promote for the next Site Wide Shiny Hunt (SWSH), and we'll try our best to make it a reality!
And, when the time comes, consider voting for the theme that won so we can, collectively, make it a reality! Scroll a little down to the "About this month's options" to read more about the reasoning behind the options for this pre-voting stage! And, also, don't forget to check out the "Rules" part just to be in the safe side and not make an oopsie!

ALSO, remember that, from now on, there are going to be a few changes to the pre-poll, which I'm sure you are already looking at up in the options, so keep on reading to know what else changed!

A "small" (but sappy) Thank You Note to You.

SOOOOO...
First of all, I'm so sorry for the late pre-poll.
I'm a little ashamed to say but I got hit with a really bad case of sad times mixed with stress that just... Made me low-key depressed or something because I genuinely didn't want to do anything. And apparently it also lowered my defenses because I got hit with some infections and BLEGH.
Not good.
I will just blame my strange case of "Rookie usually gets depressed when their birthday is coming up" thing. NOTHING REALLY BAD, HONESTLY! The infections are only superficial so I am FINE. But uhhh, idk, I think you guys deserve an explanation so here I am giving one!
[striketrough]Though I'm also hoping most of y'all skip this part because I am a little ashamed of that :'D Sorry[/strikethrough]
BUT ALSO, today's my birthday!
And I know it's not much of a gift, BUT I wanted to have the pre-poll at the veeeeeeery least up for today. I know, it's not the best gift out there BUT I am now low key glad that I am just updating it because:

Guys. I just wanted to thank you all. Thank you all for the amazing support you guys have showed towards these silly pre-polls I one day decided to just... Start making. I prefer to think of myself as a facilitator, and I genuinely believe I am one, since it's also thanks to you amazing people that we have themes to start with. But I think it's just something to celebrate, you know? Almost two consecutive years where the theme that gets chosen in this pre-poll ends up being the one chosen for the SWSH, and we only have them because YOU vote for them in the first place.
So yeah, maybe I am being a little emotional, but THANK YOU.
Thank you for making themes.
Thank you for voting in the pre-poll.
Thank you for voting in the SWSH.
Thank you for allowing and encouraging me to keep posting these.
Thank you for the amazing support.
Just. Thank you.

And I hope I can deliver more and even better pre-polls in the future with you guys, if you allow me. :')

Anyway, sorry. I had to say those things. BUT on to matters of the actual pre-poll and not Rookie being sappy...

Right now, I have 53 themes! If you want to suggest anything, feel free to do so over here or in Discord (be sure to ping me!), or even a PM will do. I can't promise it'll get chosen in the next poll because it's all real RNG, BUT it could happen. AND also, thanks ot the new changes, any theme that has unique Pokemon (that is, Pokemon that aren't repeated with other themes) have a slightly better chance at being selected!
That is because any theme that shares a specie that is in one of the options of the pre-polls will get soft-locked for three polls. Example: Magikarp appears in January's pre-poll, then ALL themes that had Magikarp will have a cooldown of three polls, which means that themes that had Magikarp will have the chance to reappear again until July's pre-poll. This way, I hope, we'll get more diversity in Pokemon species overall, which also encourages people to make themes of different Pokemon and not the most popular ones.

If you want to know which themes are available, what Pokemon can still be combined with others for more themes, or just to know the creativity of people, you can check the full list by clicking these words.

And now, a small introduction for those who are new here (and, if you are a pro with these polls, this is the part where you skip to the actual themes!):

(Real) Introduction

Are you tired of the SWSH being, most of the times, the last three Pokemon that have been added to the site? Are you tired of feeling as if your favorite generation doesn't get enough love, or is swept by the most recent ones? Do you wish you could have a hand in influencing the Pokemon we are going to hunt?
Look no further, you are in the RIGHT place.

For those who don't know me: I'm usually one of the organizers for past SWSH themes we've had! Particularly, I helped with a lot of 'em and, in fact, we already have more than a year with consecutive themes being chosen thanks to YOUR help and imagination! So, hooray! Honorable mentions are Moth Month (March 2021), Changing Seasons (November 2021), Sparkling Gems (January 2021), and the last one Witchy Things (Purrloin, Gothita, Hatenna) and now, once again, I want YOU to decide which theme you'd like to see in the next SWSH!

Again, all of this effort couldn't have been made without YOUR help, so thank YOU for making them a reality! Here's for the future themes you guys decide to go for!

"Ok, sounds nice, but what do I have to do again?"

The plan is quite simple: every non-SWSH month I'm gonna post a thread just like this with 3 themes + a blank one, and you just have to choose the one you like the most! Then, the next month (the SWSH one) you'll see posters or info graphics inviting people to vote for the theme that had the most votes. PLEASE, consider voting for it and help out the other people who are already excited for a certain theme!

You can also look at it this way: if they get their theme quickly, it means we can get to the one you'd like faster than if you didn't help them! Mutual help! \o/

"Uuuuh... What is this blank option for...?"

Well, I'm glad you asked! Basically, the blank option is there for anyone who DOESN'T want a specific theme. If you don't want to hunt any of the themes proposed, select this option. But BEWARE, if this option wins, then there's not going to be a specific theme to be encouraged to vote for in the actual SWSH voting phase. And that's important to note because, if there is no collective push for a specific mon, then it's likely we would get the last three mons added to the site.

So if you are one of the people who prefer thematic SWSH, but aren't inclined to a particular theme, I suggest you don't vote at all in the pre-poll, and just join forces once a theme wins in the SWSH voting phase.
However, if you just don't want any of the themes to win, or you just want chaos (which, valid!), I'd suggest voting for the blank option. After all, if it wins, you most likely will get your wish! \o/

But wait that's not all! You can also help in other ways!

Personally, I encourage people to express themselves and ask for what they'd like. So, if you have a theme you'd like to see come true, please, go ahead and comment in this thread with it!
If you can, please tell me the reasoning behind them if there's any (for example "Pidgey, Fearow, Farfetch'd, because I like Kanto AND, more importantly, BIRBS") so I can try to think of ways to make them more appealing! Be that with a brand new story like I did with Lovecraft Lovers, OR by bothering Gajeel Redfox into using thematic images related to what you wanted!

So, think of one theme and post it if you want! Be sure to check this link, and make sure that the Pokemon you want haven't been hunted before!

Again, currently we have 53 different themes, but you can always propose more!

About this month's options

It's going to be our first SWSH of 2023 so let's start with a bang! You know the drill: three themes, and now with a blank. Choose wisely, 'cuz either way multiple themes will get soflocked due to the new rules!

These are the month's that I got using real random number:

- A Thanksgiving Month: Farfetch'd, Munchlax, Swirlix. Who said you only give thanks in November?
Proposed and named by Shadow Darkrai, description by me.

- Brawns, brains and gains: Machop, Tyrogue, Meditite. The gym isn't the only place to get some muscle...
Proposed and described by me. Named by Oschara.

- Salty Pricks: Mareanie, Qwilfish, Pincurchin. Yeoowch! Don't you hate it when you poke your finger in the deep sea? These briny spinies have been causing a commotion across the ocean and are here to make a point!.
Proposed, named and described by Professor Eucalyptus.

- Blank option. Refer to the corresponding section, a little bit up from here!

So, which one will you choose and would like for us to promote? Be sure to vote in the poll!

I also can't stress this enough, but: Your participation is important, both in this pre-voting stage and in the actual voting stage! So, please, consider participating!

Okay but, did something else changed? Are there any new mechanics we should be watching for?

Yes! Let me refer to this explanation I gave a few months ago (and omitting the ones I already explained up there):

- Special themes WON'T be locked to their specific month, but can be chosen for the poll IF RNG decided it. It's just that the month they are supposed to be selected makes them have a higher chance of being chosen (so, you know, I strongly recommned you guys start choosing specific months for your themes! nudge nudge).

- Themes can only be selected ONCE per year. So when a theme "loses" against another, it will have a cool-down of a year until you can see them again.

- Special themes are exempted of this last rule ONLY in the month they were proposed for. Example: if a July theme was selected for the January pre-poll and lost, it would still be rolled for the special option on July and compete with any other special theme of that month, the winner taking the "Special option" of the pre-poll.

- A particular species of Pokemon WON'T appear twice in the options of a particular pre-poll. Example: Of the three possible themes to choose from, Magikarp will only appear in ONE of them. This is to avoid forcing one specific specie into the SWSH.

These new "rules" might get small changes here and there depending on how they are working, 'cuz they MIIIIGHT be too restrictive... We'll see, we'll see. If you have any other suggestion tho', PLEASE let me know so I can bring it up with the community (mostly anyone that reads the #gpx channel on Discord) to discuss the idea, and to see how to implement that change! grin.gif

Hopefully these changes make for better, more diverse pre-polls while also trying to cater to everyone!
Hope you enjoy them!

PS: If any rule seems hard to follow PLEASE let me know so I can look for another way to reword it so it makes more sense!

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

This project is, by NO MEANS, replacing the official SWSH nor officially associated with it. This is just a COMMUNITY project that focuses on trying to organize future SWSHs to give them an extra flavor.
As such, I CANNOT and WILL NOT promise that the winning theme of this stage will be the official SWSH next month, but you can BET we'll do our best to make that come true! That's why your cooperation in voting for the winning theme is also encouraged.


And that's all. Now I'll just leave the official rules just to be in the same page. Catch you soon!

RULES

- Do NOT harass people into voting for what you want. Encouraging people is okay tho', so choose your words wisely.

For example, you shouldn't say things like: "DUCK THIS, VOTE FOR THE CLEARLY SUPERIOR X THEME!", "UGH, that theme is so LAME, EVERYONE should just vote for X". Things you could say: "Oh, I like X theme! Think of all the shenanigans we could create with it!", "This thread had my curiosity, but now X theme has my attention". Heck you could even go Hailey's route and go "VOTE FOR STUNFISK YOU COWARDS", though I would suggest adding a little smiley face (because they DO help to make your tone feel less inflammatory and friendlier) or "jk" at the end so everyone can understand it's, mostly, meant as a joke.

Basically I want to diminish the opportunity of people trying to throw shade at others and just bring negative emotions to the thread. Come on guys, we are all interested in hunts in here, we CAN find a way to coexist and help each other out!

- Regular forum rules apply! So don't double post, or don't ask for clicks every time your party's full again!

- Don't post your shinies here. Rather post them over here, since more people would be able to see them! ;D

- You wanna rage about something? We actually have a place where to vent any negative feeling you might have, so click on that link so you can go there and release some tension!

- Try not to use swear words! This is a feels-good space, y'all!

- Memes are PERFECT in here, BUT do remember that they can stretch the page, so if they are big or a lot of them, remember to spoiler them so it doesn't get too bad!

- Try not to make BIG quote pyramids! Why? Because of page stretching, of course!

- We love to talk around here, so if you wanna comment something, feel free to do so and evade SUPER short posts if possible.

This post has been edited by Rookie Roo: Dec 10 2022, 04:39 PM

[PuppyToast]

Happy Birthday Rookie! Thanks for doing so much community stuff, you're truly a star.
I hope you feel better soon, good times ahead!

[Jen]

Happy birthday, Rookie! <3

[Gato]

Something I didn't see suggested (outside of blank, which I chose) was Rabbits for Lunar New year! Alongside the recent Cinderace raids that were just featured on Scarlet and Violet, Scorbunny would be a perfect pick! Alongside Bunnelby and Buneary you've got your trio for the new year! You could even throw in Azuril as Azumaril is also classified as a "rabbit."

Just a suggestion though!