How do you handle newbees in whats-app-raid groups?

I don't care with leecher, newbie, or even a flyer or cheater player (call them lazy trainer). At least they help little dps.

But I'll quit when there are so many lazy trainer in there. I meant they bring Blissey, Snorlax, Chansey.

I still remember, when fighting against Lugia with just 8 people, idk all of them tbh. And the time was about 30 seconds left, all of them quit. WTF with them??
But I'm still cool with my best Ttar, Finally I defeat Lugia by my self in very last time. lol

Lugia in 4? And at level 35? Are you sure? Easiest one, extra/Sky attack will be at the extreme limit and using only Gengars, Tyra and Zapdos at lvl 3.5: https://www.pokebattler.com/raids/defenders/LUGIA/cp/42753/attackers/attackerLevels/36.5/strategies/CINEMATIC_ATTACK_WHEN_POSSIBLE/DEFENSE_RANDOM_MC?sort=TIME&dodgeStrategy=DODGE_REACTION_TIME#results

Regarding your answer, you may just say as you did, with the extra info that "btw, it was video proved that 5 (or 4?) top level players manage to defeat Lugia." so that you give also the other part of the message you want?

I just grab their phone, look at their inventory and make the selection for them.
OFC you need to earn the respect from them beforehand. For example, I show my 14k battles won to them and no newbie argues with what I say anymore xd.
Seriously, you need to make them feel that they are important. They are needed. I observed that sometimes they don't use good mons because they think that we're gonna do it anyway so they don't treat it seriously. You need to create a crisis, let them feel the responsibility. In short motivate them correctly and they will sweat for you

To help highlight what the best counters are I usually say something like (for Moltres) "It's a factor of (X number) Golems. Maybe X Vapes added will do it. We used X and beat him with 3."

Which was true for Moltres. We beat him with three one morning and lost the first try with either 5 or 6 later. Similar things happened with the other birds too. Lugia was tougher though because thanks to HP you could never be total surevof where you stood until you fought him.

I was attempting to solo a Machamp (C/HS) just now, and failed many times. A "leecher" came, and thanks to the 10% of Machamp's HP he took, Machamp was taken down.
Don't be so salty. Sometimes they can save you.

i usually start my answer to the how-many-are-needed question with a 'that depends'.
then i simplify.
i explain that its all about the damage a pokemon can do to the raidboss in 300 sec. that some pokemon can do more damage than others because they have higher base stats and/or a type-advantage which can even double the damage of their moves. that they are called counters and that they are the really important factor.
therefore the question is not so much how many trainers but how many of those counters are needed at the very minimum to deal enough damage to a given raidboss to down it in time. if you need e.g. 14 of those counters, you can say that three players are needed. (i skip the rest)
but what really matters are their pokemon.

Ha, I also say the same thing. I usually explain "12 to make it comfortable, and ensure we can defeat it even with network errors". I refuse to come to the raid there are less people than the safe estimate.

We had a few people severely underestimate numbers with Moltres, though. We had 12 people for a raid (4 35+) and one person did the math that we could have managed with 6 people. Next raid they tried with 6, but none of the high level players came to it, so they lost.

Anyways TLDR, people will either figure out that different players contribute different amounts of damage the hard way, or if people are giving you a lot of questions about it, you can just explain that on average you need 12 players, to be on the safe side.

I have ever timed out in a Lugia raid with a full 20 man lobby. Some people were like "WTF? How is that possible?"

Thanks to the usual Blissey and Chansey users, and worse still, at least 4 Machamp users. Come on, even Blissey does more damage! When someone approached them to ask them why they were using Machamp, they said they spent hours at a Machop nest for a few days, to build an army of the "most meta relevant Pokemon".
I doubt they even know what "meta relevant" means. And even then, being the most meta relevant Pokemon doesn't mean it's the best counter for everything!

The old game is over. 90% of the rewards now are you level 35+ players handing rare candies, TM's, and Tyranitar and Legendary mon to new players. That's the new game. It's a cooperative hand holding game. I'm in the middle at level 33 wondering if I like any of this or not. I'll probably tire of it soon. I know I have not spent a nickel since raids started.

Well, here in my city we usually kill Lugia with 12 players, and all other birds with 8 - 10 players, when the newbies need help we help them picking the best (or least worst )attackers for that raid, we only see blisseys and chancey when the game is really laggy, but is rare.

I dont see any problem at all here in Rio.

because social politics is a thing, and I don't want to be "that guy", I will often say we need 10 for Lugia, 5 for Moltres, 6 for Zapdos. I know that fewer high level players with the best mons can do it, but I don't feel like I have to teach everyone which pokemon to use. I would rather just go in with a safe number and walk away with new friends who will wait for me at the next raid if i'm running late, or will message me if something cool appears. If you think you're so much better than everyone else, lmao it's f-ing Pokémon.

I just talk to the folks standing around with me about the best counters, what level they are, and how many people we will need to be safe.

It hasn't been an issue.