Recently, Articuno64 proposed in his thread that the subcommunities of Smogon should embark on a policy of self-determination. Certainly, as he stated, it is difficult to maintain cohesive working relationships in such a large and loosely-bound community, and of course the fractious and often vicious bickering that has occurred supports this premise. Nevertheless, fragmenting into federal groups, despite superficial advantages, is unpredictable and risky business, given that essential ties between all parts of the site run deep. As such, we, the leaders of the predominately singles facets of Smogon, hereby affirm our commitment to continue our current cooperation and deprecate any suggestion that splintering would benefit our areas of responsibility.

We do not deny that the past year in particular has provided ample disappointments. With the changing of the guard and the chaotic situation surrounding the release of a new generation came territorial and procedural disputes with no clear resolution. All of us have fought our battles and some of us have more cause for disillusionment than others. Even now, we do not all get along perfectly, and there remains much dissent among us. Even now, it would still be slanderous to claim that any of us, be it Ubers, OU, DW OU, UU, RU, Little Cup, C&C, tournaments, tutoring, RMT, CAP, the Smog, or another related group, feel alienated enough that we would separate from our community.

Why do we feel this way? Because we understand that although we have differences in opinion, it is undeniable that separately, none of us could ever attain the success Smogon has experienced through the years by building, collectively, a robust knowledge base covering all of singles. Beyond our idiosyncrasies and provincialisms we appreciate that we are all integral to the Smogon enterprise, to our chosen task of learning about, playing, and educating others about competitive Pokemon. Together, we have emergent resources exponentially greater than those of a smaller community that make possible all the progress we have made. The combination of tiering, writing, and playing for myriad formats is what has transformed Smogon into a powerhouse and the dominant website of its niche. For this reason we will not scatter for illusory efficiency. Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien, so we forsake relative autonomy and content ourselves with improving that which we already have as a community. It is not the economical way out, but of course for every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.

Nothing hitherto said here, however, should be interpreted in any way as a declaration that all of Smogon must remain with the status quo. We are aware that there are locales of discontent festering, and we wish these subcommunities the best, whether they choose to stay or to go. Let us be unambiguous in our resolution that we wish that these disaffected groups join our united effort to construct an ever more vibrant, diverse, and vigorous Pokemon community, a goal we know that we all share. Yet, should their dissatisfaction not cease, que sera, sera. So we beat on, boats against the current, perhaps as separate communities.

It is our objective that through this joint statement, we have confirmed absolutely the unyielding mutual commitment of the singles community to concord. Our declaration is in accord with Articuno64’s plan of self-selection; we elect to maintain our integration, and to strengthen it. Afterward, there can be no question as to where we stand: we stand against the possible cleavage of our community and for the union that best promotes our common goals.

Here are the section leader "signatures" that agree to this declaration of unity:

Contributions & Corrections:
-Great Sage
-Colonel_M
-Setsuna
-SevenDeadlySins
-bojangles
-Vader
-Fatecrashers
-Bloo

Battling 101:
-Mekkah
-Bloo
-Kevin_Garrett
-Setsuna

Tournaments:
-Earthworm
-Kevin_Garrett
-Bloo

Rate My Team:
-Bloo

Tiering:
-Bloo
-Matthew
-Nails
-Aldaron

Dragonspiraltower:
-Matthew

Administrators:
-BlueKirby
-mekkah

Pokemon related IRC:
-Aldaron
-jumpluff

Pokemon Simulator and Server (PO and developmental):
-Sarenji
-Aldaron
-BlueKirby
-Aesoft (taking a stance of overall neutrality)

The Smog:
-SevenDeadlySins
-bojangles
-Setsuna
-Fatecrashers
-Mekkah

GBU and Smogon Wifi:
-Solace
-WildEep

CAP:
-tennisace
-wyverii

Little Cup:
-Vader

Ubers:
-ibojangles
-GreatSage

RU:
-Nails

Dreamworld OU:
-Matthew
-kd24

Clear Skies:
-Aldaron

I have been unable to directly speak with Haunter (RMT) and Jabba (BW OU and BW UU), but I am confident both will agree to declaring unification and standardization of at least one "official" set of tiers.