I'm seeing something called BPLRank associated with people. What is that?

try doing a search. lots of info.

I did. Nothing came up.

Something new DrJ has come up with and still a work-in-progress. He has stated that he hopes to tie some type of rewards system to the rank (maybe xtra discount in the BPL OnLine Store???). He wants to give something back to those who help make BPL.com successful.

The general consensus over the last month or so has been that most people are choosing to largely ignore theirs and others ranks. Though some people find them useful.

It is a "top secret" algorithm, so we don't know precisely how it works, but one key to its function seems to be length of time as a BPL Member. This would be consistent with one of the goals of the ranking system.

There are two very long Threads, IIRC, that have many Posts about this new system.

Lastly, it is logarithmic in nature (like decibals and the Richter scale for measuring earthquake intensity), so a score of 3.0 is really ten times "higher" than a score of 2.0.

Hope this info helps to answer some of your questions.

Did you SEARCH the FORUMS using the small text Blue Link entitled "Search Forums"? I just did and after three "hits" in this Thread comes the info that you are looking for. Try the SEARCH PHRASE "BPL Rank" (w/o the dbl-quotes).

It is a "secret algorithmn" that presumes to decide for you the worth of a users words based on data points including how much money they pay to the website, how long they have been on the website, and whether or not they post on the website. Pay no heed...

Thanks for the explanation. I don't think there is anything wrong with the idea although I inherently distrust any scoring system for which the algorithm isn't transparent... like a credit score. Then again it's not like my 'BPL Rating' will show up on a car loan application or anything... or would it?!?! ;)

Length of time a member and degree of participation in forums.

James, i don't think that the BPL Rank will show up on a credit score, but someone suggested that it might be useful for impressing some young lady at a REI Store.

The explanation previously given as to why a "top secret" algorithm is so that no one will be tempted to try to "pad" their Rank with meaningless Posts and/or Reviews, etc.

Edited by pj on 01/06/2007 06:15:10 MST.

Personally, I don't pay attention to the BPL ranking. I pay attention to the quality of posts. I've seen thoughtful, insightful posts from people who have a "low" ranking and inane posts by people who have a "high" ranking. I don't care what the criteria is or by which method it's decided. I just care about the quality of information in each post. That's how I judge a member's "ranking".

LMAO! So THAT is what it takes!!!

>>That's how I judge a member's "ranking".

Jason, Good Post. Wise words.

Yup. Agree with Jason. To me, the concept itself is silly, never mind the algorithms and whatnots.

PJ and Ben,
Thanks. That's a great compliment coming from 2 members who outrank me! (insert wink emoticon here)

Ranking, schmanking. I keep seeing folks who know more and make more sense than I do ranked lower than me. (Insert rueful smile of false humility, here.) And folks with fairly low participation rates pop in from time to time with real gems. The rankings do not reflect reality.

I hereby dub the word "schmanking" to be valid for widespread use.

schmanking - going into the outback with "store-bought" gear, or

"schamkino" - someone who takes store-bought gear, but tweaks it somehow.

A schmankino ranks logaritmically higher than a schmanker.