Is the WA Ranking Really Important?

After reading some of the more recent blogs posted commenting on the WA ranking I felt I should share my experience concerning the ranking system. This is by no means meant to bash the current ranking system but to establish that the current system has a major flaw and it should be noted. This exposure can possibly help in the creation of a better system which can be designed or created to better represent the most helpful and knowledgeable members within the platform.

After the first 2 weeks here on the WA platform, and getting to know the platform, I normally spent an hour a day making comments on blogs and posts throughout the many discussion threads in the community I like doing this because it makes me feel like I am making a difference in the community, even if it is just one comment at a time.

Now you may be asking how this is relevant to this blog, I am working to that point. When I log onto my computer what I do while I am on it, when I log on to websites and what I do when I am on them, I log it all. How else can you track efficiency and ROI if time is involved and little to no money? (Journals)

MY OPINION

On September 28th upon logon on the platform in the morning, I found, a copy of a comment that I post (various versions of and make slight daily changes to) often in a discussion board throughout the platform, posted on my profile page discussion thread.

I felt this to be rather odd, so I contacted the induvial that posted my comment to my profile thread, to see if I was doing something wrong or against the rules. I have been warned by a couple of the older members to steer clear of this individual because they are known to be a bit of a spam reporter. So I tread with caution in my PM to this member.

I sent this message to them:

“Not understanding why did you send me a post that I made in one of the discussion boards?”

The reply I received roughly 2 hours later:

“That’s great advice my Friend.

Do You send it to everyone on the goals post?

It will, as you know boost your rankings hare at WA.”

My final reply, and stated to make sure I did not get reported as a spammer from this individual was:

“I try to send it to many of the goals setters I do make various versions of it so that I am not posting the same material daily.

Is there a problem with doing this is, it against any of the rules?

As far as raising my ranking as far as I am concerned that is a popularity contest! The algorithm only goes by posting and not value of post you could also submit a daily blog of four line each that get no comments and it will increase your creator ranking again popularity contest.

I am sorry ****** I am pretty busy so if there is not something important you wish to discuss with me I’d like to kindly end this discussion.

I do not see the purpose of it or how I am going to benefit from it.

Good day,”

(******name withheld, I am not trying to embarrass this individual - I am a professional)

Regardless, since this conversation has taken place I have increased my time spent on the WA platform but yet for some odd reason my ranking has gone from 39th on September 30th to decreasing to rank 46 this morning. Now I know there are many variables that change the ranking I understand algorithms. But over the past two months as I spent roughly the same amount time and made roughly the same amount of posts my rank has increased accordingly.

But now it seems to be on a bit of a controlled slow decrease as if manipulated by an outside force, and this has been a very emotional discouragement (but I have been taught to get around those types of negative distractions so I continue to truck forward). Remember numbers don’t lie, so I know how many comments I made and where I made those comments (that does make a ranking difference as well, read insert form Kyle below).

My involvement has increased (I have spent 2.5 hours making comments the last 5 mornings just to see how it would affect my ranking and on Friday I spent 1.5 hours also making comments in the afternoon) but my ranking is still decreasing it did flutter from 46 to 45 but then it dropped right back to 46.

So yes I feel very strongly that the ranking system is a popularity contest and since my conversation with this member has happened my ranking has pretty much decreased and I am not doing anything different but actually doing much more and my rank is showing the opposite.

Equally important, I feel that the system needs an overhaul if it is to really help members find suitable members to ask questions to, because to me at least I see the ranking system here as a mere popularity content. The system does not portray the more knowledgeable or helpful members as being the highest ranked.

I think you might what to re/read this blog to get a better idea of the ranking concept here at WA:

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/kyle/blog/be-an-ambassador-a...

KYLE’S INPUT (INSERTED FROM BLOG)

Here is an insert from Kyle's blog (link posted above) on the ranking system here on the WA platform:

"These are the sorts of things that we look for when determining your WA rank:

Helper - How much you help and how timely it is within the community

Creator - Do you blog, do you create discussions, do you create training

Activity - How active are you within the community, do you leave comments, do you interact with new members

Overall Member Rank - Based on a combination of the above

If you go to the Ambassador page, you can see your ranking and see your "points" graphs within those 4 categories."

When Kyle refers to "Do you blog" under the creator category I am under the impression that he is talking about blog posting on the WA platform and not those blogs posted to your website. Also the activity category how much bearing does this number have on the current ranking algorithm determines how much of a popularity contest the ranking system really is.

THE MOST SCOIALABLE

The concept of the highest ranked individuals here at WA being the most knowledgeable is utter nonsense. Most of the higher ranking individuals are most likely the most knowledgeable here at WA but not all are, the reason is because:

A. The system does not detect whether the post is:

1. Strictly conversational

2. Information adding to the blogs message

3. A simple comment or a question to the poster of the blog

4. A compliment to the blog poster

5. A simple post just to improve ranking or help sustain it.

In other words if you were to post "Very nice and informative blog" on every blog created for the WA platform your ranking will drastically raise.

B. There are many members within the top 200 that have not even completed the training (there are even a couple within the ambassador rankings).

C. Some are in the higher rankings, simply because they are sociable with other members, while other members wish to only contribute when they feel they can add value to the discussion at hand.

Since I have been a member I have seen an ambassador go into chat and spend hours chatting with fellow members and not even offering help to other members (not because they didn't know the answers but because no one was asking questions at that particular time). So they had causal conversations with other members about personal events and other topics. Those posts to me, should not have been counted toward their ranking.

This same ambassador, on a different day, asked how to find a list of affiliate programs within their niche. I think someone with knowledge of the training should know how to create such a list for their own private use or at least know they can go to the search box in the tool bar at the top of the WA platform and find out how to do this; but to ask in chat, when I seen this I asked myself, “How did this person get to become an ambassador?”

Then there have been times that I have watched chat and there were so many questions being answered that four or five members were answering different questions almost on a constant basis for well over 30 minutes. I didn’t chime in to help because it was rolling so fast I could not even keep up with the conversations and I was just watching – LOL To me, I fell all of those posts should have counted toward the ranking.

I have personally had a conversation with one member about them replacing a fence, of course we were answering questions that other members asked but between responding to the inquires we were able to continue our conversation but the point is the system does not recognize the difference.

Therefore the algorithm only detected that the posts were being made, the amount of content within the post/comment and not the relevancy of the actual posts made by that individual. Sometimes those algorithm detected posts, were concerning WA or website oriented information, but often times are not, many of the posts were members asking personal questions about their families and what not.

THE MOST KNOWLEDGABLE

So the ranking system unfortunately it not a reliable system to fall back on when looking for someone to ask an advanced question about the training, the platform, your website, or the plan you have in place to market your website.

So prior to asking someone those kinds of questions check to see how long they have been a member of WA if not a long time, check there profile page see what badges they have earned, see if they have finished the training, if they post blogs on the platform, made training courses or tutorials, or if they mention having prior experience in there profile’s introduction section, on the topic you are wanting to get an answer to.

Do your research just like you did prior to coming here (not everyone did, :-P well at least most of us did) and it helped us to find what it was we were looking for. The same applies within the platform; you don’t want to ask someone that has no internet experience to look at your website (they are not sure themselves on what to do with their own website so how can they help you?).

Just like you should not ask someone how to best market on Instagram if they don’t have an Instagram link on their profile page, chances are since they don’t have an account on that social media platform most likely they are not using it or they don’t know how to use it either. Unless they do not have any links at all posted on their profile page which is a matter of personal preference to post our links on your profile page or not.

IN CONCLUSION

So to answer the man question of the title to this blog, the answer is yes the ranking system is important here at WA if you are worried as to how popular you are within the platform. However if you are concerned about how respected you are within this community as an authoritative figure on any given topic, then no the ranking system is pretty irrelevant to that factor. Additionally, can the ranking system help members to find a knowledgeable member to ask questions to, unfortunately no. Again, it falls short of distinguishing helpful and informational comments from other non-relevant ones so how could that determine if the person helps other members or is simply being very sociable.

The ranking system has no influence on your money making abilities, your knowledge on topics concerning your blog. Nor will your WA ranking help you make more money, it certainly will not help you make money faster, or increase traffic to your website. Don’t fall for the shiny object syndrome that little trophy next to your profile name will not improve your search engine ranking therefore it does not affect your overall blogs authoritative influence of your audience.

I know I have read a couple of blogs on here disagreeing with my opinion of this, and stating how important or influential being an ambassador is, but until the ranking system can distinguish the difference between quality comments and bs it is not that reliable reviewing a members profile and seeing their accomplishments will tell you more than the ranking system currently does.

For those of you that normally just click on the "like" button at the beginning of the blog, I would actually love to hear your opinions instead of remaining silent on this one your opinions are just as important as those that comment often. Me I would rather here what your thoughts are on this matter and what you think of the current ranking system, than to receive a like!

Without knowing how everyone feels about it how can it ever be changed or improve for the better?