Moreover, the new rating system makes these ratings a necessary but not sufficient requirement for advancement to the ranks of Vice President and President. Finally, this new system is retroactive thereby representing an imposition of an ex post facto rule to members whose original ratings were made under the old system. I personally would rather see more emphasis given to the message recommendations made by members of the actual messages being posted than to the ratings themselves. If the ratings are to be the prime criteria for advancement then I would recommend that Agoracom post messages emphasizing the importance of and necessity for members to rate fellow hub members. I wonder if either the general membership or the Hub Leaders alone were ever consulted concerning these changes? I would think that this should have been done at a minimum since the changes affect all participants on all of the hubs.

doc, as you have noted, you need both a rating and a number of points to advance to certain ranks. activity points are relatively easy to come by, as long as you keep posting. the rating is another matter. some bashers and other lurkers may be quick to give you 1-star ratings, while the rest of the community may seem slow to give you 5-star ratings. and the way the math works, it takes three 5-star ratings for every 1-star rating just to average out to 4.0.

the good news is that since only 11 people have rated you, a few good ratings will boost your overall rating considerably. i've had 100 people rate me, so now trying to increase my rating would be like attempting to turn an ocean liner. in the end it's all about providing service to the community. if you give people in several hubs good information that they can't easily find for themselves, and you produce original work, the 5-star ratings will come.