The idea was that you tax people, and, instead of what people have in terms of points meaning less, they actually have less. I personally don't see the improvement.

Neither do I, I was very tired at the time.

TheGhostmaker: don't you think this is a sign of how crazy things are getting regarding this ranking system? We have real things which need discussion and development, but this ranking system nonsense (which makes very little practical difference) is taking center stage. What we need is development of a moderator system, giving moderators the tools to remove meta-accounters, pause games, and draw games. How about a new forum system, or an improvement to the terrible game listings user interface?

Instead we have all this talk about rankings with an undefined/incomplete system which no-one knows about being the new hope, yet being constantly revised and suggestions being made before it has even been implemented, and an amount of talk which vastly outdoes the amount of developer will to back it up.


Regarding the suggestion itself; I really value simplicity in the code, and don't see inflation as a big enough problem to warrant this, especially when there are bigger fish to fry. The main reason behind the points system was that it would be autonomous and not require governance, and I think there are other places which really do require overseers (like meta-account detection)

There is certainly a frenzy, in which suggestions are made without the consequences of what is being suggested being implemented being carefully considered. You will notice, if you look at all of the posts, that the most supported suggestion all along has been Elo-rating. That is, I am certain, because I didn't mention it for quite some time after I began considering it. It took a while for the idea to be considered valid, and a good time to come to a decision on how exactly to work it. I looked at an awful lot of different possibilities, and eventually decided on one, and then I made a suggestion, only then did I actually come forward with an idea. Now that NevilleChamberlin has said that he is happy to do the programming, I shall polish of the edges of it, and then come back if everything still works. Sadly all other suggestions seem to be made before any thorough consideration of them. That is the essence of the problem.

Please note that I have not begun any discussion on this topic in this “uprising” of discussion. If there was a thread on Moderators, I would consider suggestions just as much on that as I have on this with other people’s suggestions on point systems. The reason I have looked closely at rating myself, independently, is because Mathematics, which is essentially what we are doing, is the single biggest talent I have. You might note that shortly after the point system was introduced, I left the site for a time: I could see then that it wasn’t right for rating people. When I returned, that concern remained, and eventually I decided to do something about it if I could. Now with NevilleChamberlin happy to program it, we have the developer will you mentioned.

Of course there are other bigger issues, but none that I can help with, this I can help with, and that is why I am trying to do so. If there is to be discussion on any topic, then a thread needs to be made about it, and if there is, I shall be there to talk about the topic, but up ‘till now, only rating has received an airing.

Chrispminis for Mayor! Vote Chrispminis!

He needs a running mute... ; )

I agree largely with Ghostmaker. The primary reason that ranking has been a big issue is that it is something people can see at work and can figure out how to change to make better. Not everyone on PhpDip knows how to code, how the moderator works, how the forum works, and so on. Because of this, many people dont have anything to say since it is simply beyond the majority of the people how that works. Ranking is something people care about and check often. The functionality of the forum is more obscure and not an issue many people are concerned about. I would gladly post suggestions on how to improve these things, but like Ghostmaker, this is not my talent. My talent lies in solving problems and finding means of quantification, not programming.

Here is a suggestion for improving the forum. Split the forum into two categories: Game Issues and general discussion.

Game issues includes posts about new games, questions about moves, accusations of multi-accounting, etc.

General discussion is for the philosophy discussions, improvement suggestions, and other general interest things.

this can be done by splitting 'forum' into two tabs