Hi Grace,

my post above was more motivated by the fact that there are a few members of the community abusing a great question platform by asking 20+ questions per month.

Many if not all of those questions could and/or shoud be blog posts or sometimes even training posts.

Friends who truly need help and are asking questions may not receive their answers at all or much slower because of that.

I and many other Friends who refer Friends to WA would love to be able to refer in confidence knowing that our referrals are in a supportive community as we can't always be available all 24 hours of every day.

I don't believe that we should go Rank-less, I do believe that the question asking shouldn't count towards gaining rank and that would alter the game rankers from abusing the question asking platform.

That being said, I also believe that Kyle, Carson and most of the WA Community do an exceptional job of being supportive and also for having an almost fault free ranking system. Better than I could do, for sure.

Thank you my Friend for sharing & caring,

Tony

Hey Grace.

I was here before ranking was implemented.

WA was a smaller community, there was no free trial, you had to pay to get through the door to even see what was here, and much of the help was based on asking questions in a forum.

The original idea behind ranking was that as WA grew, new members would easily be able to locate those with the knowledge and expertise to help them succeed in building a business online.

Unfortunately, the main result has been the generation of content solely for the purpose of ranking, much of it poor quality, some even detrimental if the advice offered was implemented, and a lot of it irrelevant to succeeding with WA.

The new algorithm has gone some way to addressing this, and will be tweaked again in the coming weeks. That said, gamers are gonna game, so there will no doubt always be a few sad souls whose self worth is tied to a computer generated number on a virtual leaderboard. It's tragic that they can't seem to resist spending all their time and effort trying to climb the WA ranks, even when they get knocked back with every tweak and update, they simply carry on, trying and trying, again and again.

I sometimes post that "my WA rank didn't contribute a dime to my first $100k month" when ranking gets discussed. I don't say that to show off. I want to hopefully shock those wasting their time playing Candy Crush with the WA ranking system into realising what they're actually missing. The chance to build a really successful online business.

In truth, my only interest in this topic is that newcomers are struggling to be heard amongst all the noise. It's become harder for them to get their questions answered, amid the avalanche of social posting and faux questions. There's also the issue of long standing, highly experienced and talented members — many of whom selflessly gave up their time and energy to answer questions and help newcomers — who are now finding it such a chore to locate those in genuine need, that they have stopped bothering.

This whole issue is important because if newcomers don't get their questions answered promptly, especially in the early days of building a website when it can be a struggle to get started, they end up leaving, which impacts WA, established referrers and all those doing Bootcamp.

That said, and to answer your question, if there was an 'opt out of ranking' button I would push it immediately, and if it ever came to a referendum, I'd vote to get rid of ranking entirely.

Rich. x

That would put an end to "community Pride",and people helping out as Kyle and Carson are pretty busy and cannot possibly answer all questions.It seems to me a lot of people are cutting off their noses to spite their face,live and let live! If the founders really have a problem with it-they'll deal:)

The debate that won't die. Lol

I often have moments where I think rank is useless and should be abolished, but in some cases, it can really guide new members to experienced people who can help them (though, of course that is not always the case).

For me, the only real benefit I see in rank at a personal level is that when I am trying to refer someone to WA, they will possibly see my rank and put a bit more faith in me and what I am saying. I would never try to use that to pass myself off as a great authority, but I definitely want someone to believe me when I extol the virtues of WA, because I truly believe in the value of the platform.

Beyond that, though? I don't see much use for it.

I haven't read Tony's post yet (will do so now), but I wouldn't assume that too many people are trying to exploit the question system. I myself have asked quite a few questions, with some of them having searchable answers elsewhere on the site. I pose the question, however, if I 1) can't find the info myself, 2) don't understand the training/ blogs that I find or 3) want to get multiple points of view on something.

I could probably be accused of trying to manipulate it to gain rank. Questions actually ARE the reason I am at the rank I am. My motives, however, have generally been more about engaging people in conversation.

While some people certainly use the system for rank, or because they are too lazy to look stuff up, I like to think positively about people until I have a reason not to. But maybe I am too naive.

I like the ranking system. I find it fun to have something to shoot for. However, I don't focus on it hugely as my primary focus is building my websites.

I have gained so much from the help, support, ideas, encouragement and suggestions of fellow members when I blog at WA and do my best to offer the same.

Blogging and business is all about relationships and it starts here.

One thing I've found is, as I gain popularity at WA, there is also an increase in visitors and page views on my site. The chance to build connections in this industry is gold.

I think it would be nice if ranking also figured in time spent doing courses, using site content, site comments, keyword tools etc. But it is what it is and it's fine as it is.

I would still help people and ask questions and answer questions regardless! The reason I stopped so much was because of the accusations of "gaming" the system, so now I help people through my email, and private message, and ask any questions through comments! I didn't like being accused of doing that when that wasn't what was happening, so to be honest! I could do without the ranking, and then I would actually feel more free to help people and ask questions again! :)

When you're right, you're right. When I first signed up, I took the first couple days of my free trial period and explored. I didn't notice the rankings at all. I only saw an opportunity to get the answers to a lot of questions I had about affiliate marketing in one place. Not only that, but a lot of that training taught Wordpress, which was something else I had been wanting to master - well, at least learn enough to build a decent site.

When I first noticed the rankings, I watched my numbers go from around 5000 down to where it is now (in top 200). Partly due to spending an inordinate amount of time blogging and commenting and all of the WA things that members do, but also die to the things I consistently do anyway.

For instance, comments and reviews... I wanted comments and reviews for my website while building it out and the only way to get feedback is to give feedback. I have always been good at constructive criticism, and enjoy dolling out advice, so, for the most part, my rank lowered organically. Although I have no desire to be an ambassador, I have thought about breaking the top 100 just to set a goal for personal best, but never at the expense of my website due to neglect. My philosophy is "Everything in moderation".

Finally - If the ranking system ended tomorrow, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I'd still be here as helpful as i've ever been; gladly accepting help from the other members while seeking answers; requesting comments and feedback, and offering it in return.

I know what you are saying. The rank does not seem to affect me, I know I am doing all I can to help others and myself. I have been here 1 month today and my rank quickly went down in the 500's and has not moved one time in over a week. I still do all I can whether it goes up or down.

You make some good points. Personally I want to learn from WA how to do things right and part of that process is also paying it forward as I learn from others here.

I could care less about ranking, (went through that in the military already) unless we are talking about website ranking :)

This is a very interesting question, Grace. I've been a member at WA for a little over a year now and, in my own experience, I remember chasing the WA rank quite fiercely in the beginning. Once I became an ambassador, it honestly felt like I didn't deserve it. I mean, there were members far more deserving than I.

Chasing rank almost became an obsession and detracted from the things that really count, such as Google ranking. In my experience, anyway.

But the one thing that I found the WA ranking system to have helped hugely, was member activity. Because I knew that activity increased rank, I naturally spent more time here. And, in doing so, I was able to get to know other members more closely.

And that's fantastic!

One thing I have noticed, though, is that, for the most part, those members who have been here longer, are far less concerned about WA rank.

For me - a year down the line - I could care less about WA rank. My focus is on my online business and helping fellow WA members where I can.