An eerie discovery
Posted by: Massimo Bertola on 15 October 2012
I was updating my profile, and - sort of for the first time - noticed the number after the #.
I then saw the words Community Rank; so I read more, and discovered this:
Your community rank reflects your overall contributions to, and influence within, the community. The lower the number, the better!
The rank is based on your overall community activity points, as well as the number of followers that you have. You earn activity points when you partcipate on the site. For instance, all of the following earn activity points: posting content, commenting, liking content, following other members or content, and voting on polls. Other actions will also earn you points. In general, the more active you are, the more activity points you will earn.
In a word, it's school again, and mine is a School Report. Am I a good guy? Do classmates like me?
Do I take part?
I then started to ask myself: are there automatic criteria for such evaluations? Are they objective or subjective? And if so, who is responsible for them? Is there a poor Bob Cratchit, sitting at a dark desk in black half sleeves, patiently doing the sums and compiling the list of Good and Bad?
And, just like in school, this is prompting behavioral competition.
Even a personal Upgrade Path. Ugh.
So I started browsing: competitiveness was triggered immediately.
Some rankings didn't surprise me at all: I know there are very nice people in this forum, and I am sure they are not being nice on purpose: it would be lousy, like those classmates who have an advantage, those who run for a prize.
Others have puzzled me, like, say, Adam Meredith's #13 and Lord Emsworth's #462 (talk about Aristocracy): they share a similar strong sense of humor, blacker Adam's (a better power supply, probably), snappier and more joyful Emsworth's (a Nait XS, very likely). I like them both, very much; but how will I relate to each, from now on, knowing that one is a Bad Guy and the other a Good Boy?
Because, Adam, really, what's the use of choosing, for your avatar, Duffy Duck - the epitome of nastiness - if then you rank thirteen, definitely a Good Boy?
As for myself, #143: not bad, not good - as always. As so often in my life. Excellence - in either direction - escapes me.
Yes, I know there are those who rank in the thousands: like in Dante's Inferno, very likely 3rd party PSU users. But is it of real consolation?
I can't complain, though: as myself, I did much better than as - oops, better not. Some secrets are best kept secret. I could sink lower, but not lower enough.
Am I then ready to be in school again? After 45 years? Not really. Glenn Gould (god bless him, he would have ranked - anonymously - around 800, I believe) used to say that competitiveness is at the very root of almost all the evil in this world; and I strongly agree.
So, having just ordered a brand new pair of Ovator S-400s (which, albeit net of the very friendly price my dealer did me, sucked 45 days of my monthly wages), I think that homework is done, at least for 2012. Hopefully, nothing more is expected from me until Christmas.
I hadn't realized I was being included in a classification. What do I gain from knowing that 142 people are considered Better Forum Members than me? I have had parents and teachers already.
I respectfully take my leave.
Massimo Bertola
Arcore,
Italy