Posted by Chris on June 22, 1999 at 13:42:12:
In Reply to: Re: the george score posted by MsK on June 22, 1999 at 08:19:00:
:do with the point system. The only thing I ever objected to was being deprived because we lost points every time we entered bills. I dropped from #2 to #5 I felt like we ere being punished. We
Ms. K,
The whole idea of the WG Points system was to use a ranking system that was more dynamic than it had been before. Yes, your rank will go down if you enter more bills, but if your hit rate returns to its normal level, you will have more points than you did before your rank dropped. Basically, you have to take one step backwards so that you can move ahead two steps.
If I have 100 bills entered and 10 hits (10% hit rate), my WG Point total would be 100. If I went an entered 50 more bills, my WG Point total would drop to 67 (150 bills, 10 hits, 6.66% hit rate). However, you would expect that your hit rate would go back up to it's "normal" level. Once it did, you would have 150 bills entered and 15 hits (10% hit rate again) and you would have 150 WG Points.
You aren't being "punished" for putting more bills in when you look at it in the long run. You see peoples' ranks changing more dynamically on a day to day basis, but over the long run the rankings stay the same. Most likely, your hit rate is not going to increase or decrease much on its own (when you aren't entering bills), so the only way to get more points in the long run is to keep entering bills.
Responding to your comment on the true "top users" of the site: I believe Hank's idea of a user is someone who not only comes to the site and enters bills, but someone who also distributes the bills and therefore gets hits. The ranking system to determine the top users was a tool to bring those users who have used and been most successful with the site, not just those who spend the most time entering bills.
I'm glad you and Adam are enjoying the Where's George site. It's certainly provided hours of enjoyment for everyone who has been involved. There aren't many 'net communities out there that are quite this dynamic and focused.
Chris