I am confused about something...
By thorgrym
@thorgrym (675)
United States
January 10, 2009 10:15am CST
When I read a discussion, I will see information about the various posters.
First, you might see a star with a number in it. I don't currently have a high enough rating to have a star, so you won't see one by my name.
Second, you see the poster's name. Mine, for instance, is thorgrym.
Third, you see a number in parenthesis next to the poster's name. This number indicates the user's activity. More active user's have a higher number and at certain levels they are able to do more things like cut-and-paste into their postings.
Fourth, you might see a ranking such as 'ranked ## out of ##### in (insert interest category here).
It is this ranking that confuses me. Where does this come from? How does it improve? I am confused because I recently noticed a person that was ranked 1 out of 25 in one of my interest categories. This person has a rating (the number in parenthesis) of only 1 and has started one discussion and has not been active for over 6 months while another poster with a higher rating (212 at the time of this writing) is ranked 19 out of 25 in the same category. How does a person that has started only one discussion and is currently inactive rank higher than another that is quite active and has posted and replied to many discussions in the same category? This question is not meant to call out the inactive poster. I have no problem with that. It just confuses me as to how this particular ranking system works. At what point are you eligible to be ranked in an interest category? How does the ranking change? Is it based on activity, user ratings, etc.? How does a person get included in the ranking for a particular interest category? As mentioned, I have added the category as an interest. I have started and replied to several discussion in the category. Yet I am not even included in the 25 (should be at least 26 now, as it was 25 when I added it).
Please help me to understand how this works. I don't want to hurt anyone's ranking, I just don't get it.
6 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
10 Jan 09
The interest category ranking is from low to high. The more you contribute under a particular interest category, the higher your ranking in that category.
I am not sure why you aren't included in your own interest category. That sounds weird to me! Check your rankings on your profile page under My Interest Rankings.
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
10 Jan 09
A ranking of 1 would be the best in this particular system. For instance, you are 'ranked 1,561 out of 27,013 in myLot.com' according to the ranking. On the myLot.com leaderboard, the top ranked people are Level 17 while the the people ranked around 1,000 are Level 16.
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
10 Jan 09
Sorry, I hit 'post comment' too soon. I checked 'my interest rankings' - I hadn't realized that existed until you mentioned it, thank you! - and I see that I am ranked in five of my interest categories. It seems that activity has little to play with the ranking system as those five categories are not terribly active ones for me. Ah well, it seems this will remain a mystery for some time to come.
I am not really concerned for my own rankings. I just like to figure out how things work.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
10 Jan 09
I have to say that I found it somewhat confusing - and therefore meaningless!
@AnakSuNamun (2084)
• United States
10 Jan 09
I'm not a pro but it think it's pretty subjective and depends mostly on other users' ratings-if you're good at what you're talking about(or at least everybody liked it) you get a higher rating. It might also depend on the number of discussions you have started/responded to in a certain category. I remember I was surprised too see I had a pretty good rating in some category I only came across once. The less users comment on that,the easier it is to be "good" lol So either you do nothing and become 1 out of 10 or work hard to get a ranking of 1200 out of 45000 lol
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
10 Jan 09
True, it is easier to be 'good' in a small pond yet be one of the masses in the ocean. That must be the case, here. Odd, though, that I don't even appear in some rankings for categories that I am more active in.
Again, I am not concerned about my own rankings...just really curious as to how this works. When it all boils down, it really means nothing in the end. What matters is the discussions themselves.
Thanks for responding!
@mentalward (14690)
• United States
12 Jan 09
I'm no expert on the rankings thing because I never pay attention to it. But, in a situation where someone is ranked 1 out of 25, I'd say that the person with a '1' is the person who created that interest category. Whomever answered first would most likely be a '2', and so on. I may be wrong, but that is how I look at it.
I've seen intense discussions about those rankings, too! I just don't understand why some folks feel compelled to be number one and get upset or angry when they drop down to number two. Maybe they are simply extremely competitive people.
All I know is that life is too short to be caring about things like that. What does first place get you in myLot? Nothing except first place. That and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee!
I've noticed, occasionally, that I'm like 25 out of 25,000 in a category (example only) and have no idea how I got to be that high in the rankings. But, it doesn't matter to me... even if I were 25,000 out of 25,000 it wouldn't make a bit of difference.
I would love to see all that kind of stuff disappear from myLot. Okay, the number of posts can stay, but I don't see where the star rating or interest rankings have anything to do with the discussions going on other than being an ego booster or destroyer to some!
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
12 Jan 09
Yeah, I happened to notice it the other day and thought, "Hmmm, I wonder what that is all about..." Beyond that, I don't think it matters too much. I was thinking along those same lines, though...perhaps #1 is there only because they were first to post a discussion or some such, and they will remain there until someone is first to get to a higher level in the interest group. I have NO clue what dictates the levels, though.
We are, on the whole, competitive though. It is definitely harder for some people to ignore a ranking/rating/level/etc. than it is for others. Ultimately, with myLot, you are right. All that SHOULD matter is the quality of the discussions that we carry on. That is the root of myLot, the discussions. To paraphrase the Wizard of Oz, "Pay no attention to the (ranking in your groups)!" :)
Thanks for the reply!
@momtrying2makeit (3270)
• United States
10 Jan 09
That shows how good they are in the interests group. I know, I did not understand it at first either. This is how I view this, the higher the number the more realiable they are to me in that interest. I try and not judge someone on numbers but if they have many posts and are very active on the site then to me they might know what they are talking about.
This was a great post, keep them coming and happy mylotting to you. :)
@srijshm (1165)
• India
11 Jan 09
From my experience , i can say that with more posts under a particular interst, my ranking grew steadily. One is able to see the ranking only by next day after the cents have bben added.
Regarding your star, it does not mean that you do not have a high enough rating, you will get the star as you hit 100 posts. You do not have to wait much longer for that.
As you increase your posts, you will earn more priviledges. Once you hit 200 posts mylot allows you to post smileys
& when you hit 500 you are also allowed to copy & paste.
Regarding higher ranking in interest category with lower posts, its quite possible that many of his posts have got deleted as the friend is inactive for 6 months.
Happy mylotting.
& when you hit 500 you are also allowed to copy & paste.
Regarding higher ranking in interest category with lower posts, its quite possible that many of his posts have got deleted as the friend is inactive for 6 months.
Happy mylotting.@thorgrym (675)
• United States
11 Jan 09
Yes, i understand about the star. As I said, my rating - the number in the parenthesis - is not yet high enough. The only reason that I even mentioned the star was to illustrate that that was not what I was confused about. I am very much looking forward to that 500 mark, though - more so than getting the star. I don't see myself doing too much c&p, but I have already been frustrated by the fact that I cannot do it yet. :)
Ah well. I think that I am just going to observe the ranking changes and see how things go. Perhaps with enough time, I can get a better idea of how it works.
Thanks for the reply!
@balaajinr (32)
• India
10 Jan 09
hey i'm new to this and i too cant understand the procedure.. but anyway i enjoy being here..
