To Jem, from MG

Discussion, Advice, and Opinions on the state of Jeremy Sears' "Silver League" and Affiliated Parties, Sites, etc.

	Dear Jem,
To start this off, I'd like to formally apologize for what happened today on the 4th of September, 2017. The timing of the event and pasting of Chris' letter regarding the League was, well, less than fortunate. You were going through a tough time, and I understand that and your reaction towards the discussion brought about by Chris' letter. Again, this scenario is brought about not to attack you, but to give you a clearer grasp of the feelings of SL's members and insight on how we would like the League to improve. Please, do not take anything written in this letter personally; that is not its intent.

AUTHORITY--------------------------------
To begin, I would like to bring up the topic of authority. Covered by me years ago in a letter of a similar, albeit more deliberate fashion, authority distribution within the Silver League, specifically its chat box, causes many issues within the community. Mentioned in Chris' letter summarizing opinions, Owners and Mods simply do not have enough authority and respect to do their intended jobs. Moderators are not respected enough to do their jobs of keeping the chat civil, and often they are berated for their decisions due to conflict of interest. Some are even not respected enough to even MAKE a decision without disagreement within the Moderators. Similarly, SL's Ownership is horribly out-of-scale. Decisions made for the rules of the Silver League should be brought up among the Owner circle, not made exclusively by one person, as this can lead to bias and a conflict of interests within the Owner and the rest of their community. While the Silver League certainly does not need to be a democracy, it would be a step in the better direction to expand amount the decision-making members past one.

BATTLE RULES AND TIERING-----------------
The Silver League prides itself in being a Pokémon League with certain deviations from Smogon that make battling bit more fun for its members. The rules in place allowing Darkrai, Blaze Blaziken, et cetera, allow members of the Silver League to partake in a more enjoyable Pokémon battling experience. However, in order to expand on this, I, as well as many others, believe that the Silver League should have something similar to a "Competitive Tiering Council." This would be a group of the League's best and most knowledgeable Pokémon battlers devoted to expanding the League's unique ruleset to make the League's battles be more interesting, working similarly to Smogon in an effort to keep the game balanced. It could suspect-test or ban certain Pokémon deemed too powerful or centralizing in the Silver League's unique battles and help the League have more entertaining and enjoyable battles overall.

ELITISM----------------------------------
To extend, the Silver League has a very specialized view of Pokémon in the OU tier and the people that use them: that they're bad. This mindset leads to arguments and disputes over people who simply play differently than others. It is my belief that people should be able to play how they want and not be scrutinized for using things that are "better" than others. To bring up an example, someone who enjoys using Landorus-Therian, Scizor, et cetera, in many teams, should not be berated for enjoying and using those Pokémon. The anti-OU mindset only leads to a larger divide within members and brings about people like Sdog who, in all reality, only made things more toxic for those who needed or wanted to use certain Pokémon in the OU tier. Naturally, this goes both ways in the sense that no one should feel obligated to use OU Pokémon for reasons other than their team requires it. I personally feel like this should be addressed with more enforcement.

POKÉMON SHOWDOWN-------------------------
To bring up an exhausted point, the rules surrounding the usage of Pokémon Showdown! have brought up plenty of controversy among members. The site is used as practice only and, despite certain opinions, does not bring about a lazy mindset, at least within us. Us members of the Silver League wish only to practice both their team-building and battle skills, as it is perfect in the sense it allows you to create teams easily and quickly, while still practicing enough to know if the whole team will be "worth" the effort to create in-game. While it is perfectly within reason to not allow it for official matches and matters, it seems irrational to me to ban it entirely, especially when plenty of people use it regardless. The way it was set up prior to the ban of Showdown seemed to have worked fine, as no one on the League would rather battle on Pokémon Showdown than in the official games.

SUGGESTION AND OPINION-------------------
The primary reason this situation came about is through a combination of piled circumstances, but at the bottom, it is because of the inherent fear that we cannot say anything of our own opinions to you. Despite our best intentions, it always seems that disagreeing with you is not so much opinion, but heresy leading to exile, which was only worsened by the whole Cinos situation. While I personally have less of a problem with this, those who wish to express their opinions feel as if they cannot due to these circumstances. As this goes on, more and more people feel obligated to either agree with you or leave because of the nature of the League's rule-making. While there needs to be minimal change here, I personally believe that opinions, so long as they are not offensive, should be shared without fear of punishment due to them being different than someone else's.

THE LEAGUE ITSELF------------------------
Despite me having brought up this topic before, I do feel that the Gyms of the Silver League and, to an extent, the Elite Four, should be tested on a few occasions. While this is not so much of a necessity now with the new meta and a rise in overall general skill, it is still, in my personal opinion, a good idea or thought to have a designated "Test Team" that spontaneously tests the skill level of various members in these coveted positions here on the League to keep the Gym "rotation" alive. I do also feel that the CLTs need to restart soon, but waiting until Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is perfectly reasonable.

PUNISHMENT, BANS, AND BLACKLIST----------
For the most part, punishment issued on the Silver League is justified and explainable. The permanent banning of trolls, "break" bans of heated members, et cetera, are all clearly deserved and as such are perfectly fine. However, the punishment of members of the Silver League should not be clouded by emotional impulse, as this can lead to biased banning and oversight, as seen with various bans here on the Silver League. It is important to keep a clear, level head when deciding punishment for members and, of course, crucial to leave bias and emotional prejudice behind when choosing to promote or demote someone. The same goes for Blacklisting a member, of course.

STRESS-----------------------------------
With all of the tournaments and events going on at the Silver League, stress and tension have been increasing exponentially and, quite frankly, it isn't healthy. I know that you want the League to be your place, but I honestly must recommend that you divide authority among multiple people. I personally believe that:

YouTube Channel and Main Owner: Jem
	As the main owner, you're obviously the most qualified for overseeing everything. However, it would be wiser for the sake of your health to focus on what you do best: your YouTube channel. You will still oversee events and things, but when it comes down to it, you should focus on the channel and allow others to do some other work to help with your stress.

Chatbox Overseer(s): Diogo, Conor, et cetera
	Conor and Diogo are all massive helps with videos, tournaments, the chatroom, et cetera. Allowing them to take hold of the chat will allow you to focus on the more stressful things that come about with owning the League and help the chat be moderated more with a strong administrative team.

Tournament Control: Diogo
	As tournaments take up a huge block of the Silver League's attraction, it would be wise to have someone take the wheel of handling tournaments. Diogo, as a valuable and active member of the Silver League, would be able to easily keep tournaments up and running while making battles take place when necessary. Having a separate team to take care of tournaments would allow for them to be completed in a more timely manner and take stress off of people's backs.

Spriting, Banners, et cetera: Skyfire, Dragon Arbock, TGN, Forums
	Sprites and banners take a long time to create effectively. As such, having one person do all of the work adds a load of stress that can easily be avoided. Skyfire, DA, TGN, and people in the forums are all known for their amazing spriting skills and, were they put in charge, could easily help take stress off of your back.

CONCLUSION---------------------------------
To finish off, I would like to reiterate that this letter is not written as an attack, but as an effort to help you and the Silver League grow and flourish. Please, if nothing else, take these into consideration and do your best to make the League better for all of us.