Yeh, explained well here klaus
Pretty much what i was trying to say, but with the added extras which sound great

Definitely the best idea so far from Klaus (imo)

Yeah, great idea, but its exactly this: http://www.autemo.com/competitions/?m=leaderboards

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, it's all been taken into consideration and been useful. I've been thinking about this one for the last few days now - and in fact I have been putting it together and building up the algorithm for this system already.

I'll spill a little info of what I can so far: It is going to be POINTS based. AND it will incorporate a combination of things like other choppers RATING your chops. You will earn points for completing various actions and participating/winning events such as competitions (i.e. +100pts) as well as things like posting chops etc. The system will revolve heavily around the average rating of your posted chops. It will be weighted appropriately to compensate for choppers who have only a few chops, to choppers who have heaps of chops. Obviously a chopper with an avg chop rating of 9.5 across 20 chops, is a lot more competent and a better chopper than someone who has only one chop and gotten a 9.5 average rating on it.

Here's the bombshell: How much you CONTRIBUTE to the community as a chopper also comes into play. Be a helpful chopper, and write quality posts and this will enhance your standings. There is a lot that goes into becoming a great chopper: Your chops, comps you've won, tournaments you've won, tutorials you've written, people you've helped. All this builds upon your reputation on the global chopping scene. And that is what makes a great chopper.

You will also be awarded bonus points, by earning awards (end of year 'best brusher award') etc admin can give you bonuses for helping out etc as well.

In SUMMARY: It's primarily driven by your SKILL in chopping, but you can do other things to build your rep up and make your way up the ranks and get closer to the top. But again BOTTOMLINE of course it is based upon your skills as that's what matter's most.

Anyway there's too much detail to explain here. The best thing is for me to finish the system, put it live and you guys can start using it. You'll then see how it works and see the results it generates. I think it will be rather accurate. Again this is all experimental and never been done before in the world of chopping so who knows. If the system needs to be adjusted I'll do that. It might not need changing at all. Only time will tell!

I'll put a formal announcement when I think it's ready. Expect it to be not too far off.

sounds awesome and i cant wait

good luck with the programing process

Awesome! Im sure you will do a great work. Cant wait to start earning points

Can't wait! It will be interesting to see how it works out

Good summary there Mark - looking forward to seeing it in action!

That looks very interesting Mark. Looking forward to see how it works out.

I haven't read the whole topic but I can't really figure out why would we need to be put in a ruthless ranked order. Ranking in, say, sports is easy because there are scores and times to compare and to put into order. That kind of comparison doesn't work in creating images because you can't measure the artist or the work. Yeah, you can rate them in different qualitites but the measurement would be down to the raters' personal preference, relation to the artist and again, personal preference. See what I did there? You can't compete in creativity or style.

I know you are meaning to develop autemo but this is not the way imo. The loose ranking from beginner to elite is well enough.

I think underlying beneath every chopper lies this simple wonderment: who is the best?
That's a solid question. A worthy question to give it a shot at tackling. I'd certainly like to know.

I say you can measure the artist and their works. Yes, it is true that quantifying an art piece falls into the realm of personal preference. However, this realm isn't as out there or as daunting as it may first seem - Gather the collaborative personal preferences from a mass of peers in a community like this then the data becomes quantifiable and viable. 1000's of personal opinions put together is tangible data, and with it you can see trends, you can see what is the most popular chosen piece of art within the community. You'll ask yourself, Why is so and so's chop number 1? The answer is because the community said so. And that community just happens to be built up of artists with similar perceptions/preferences/skillsets etc like yourself, so that data, all their opinions crunched together, clearly means something.

The ranking is a joint collaboration of personal preferences all added up. I.e. a huge culmination of all opinions in the community. What better way to answer that aforementioned question of 'who is the best' proposed in the first sentence.

How do they rate videos on youtube? Same principle: a rating system (however, even they have dumbed it down now to a simple like/dislike feature. Not a 1-5star rating system anymore).

Also a comprehensive ranking system like one that has been proposed resolves a lot of staff overhead of admin having to determine manually who is to be ranked up and who isn't. It also means we've got data to back up our actions: i.e. when we refuse to promote somebody up who's been nagging and nagging us, we can say look: your ranking/avg rating shows that the community agrees with us. That's important and means we can justify our actions (or lack thereof).

As long as the algorithm is correct it will be the most accurate way of going about it too.

Keep in mind, as it is now chopper levelling is governed by admins personal preference and opinion right now anyway.... So this whole 'personal preference' thing is around already. We're simply taking it off the hands of the admin and extending the control out to the community.

Global rankings are good, as choppers it gives you a solid foundation to see and watch your progress over time. You can see yourself literally climbing the ranks one rung (or ten or fifty) at a time.

Lastly, and most importantly, is the key principle about this is it rewards active members of the community. It will enhance activity rates, it will be fun for users, and that is important for the growth and longevity of this community and for it to prosper.

If that all isn't enough justifiable information for giving this a shot I don't know what is! For me, just falling back to that age old question at the top of this post is worthy enough of giving it a crack in itself.