Getting a promotion or demotion in rank

[Makkin]

Hello,

  It would seem interesting to me to be able to rank members here as if they were in the military to some degree. The military has Generals and privates and all those ranks in between and I would be interested what members think about finding a way to rank a member in regards to criteria needed to advance or criteria to be demoted?
  For example I would rank someone who has never been to the FSU as a private E-1 but others might argue that since he's married to an FSU girl he met in his home country then his ranking should be higher? I would rank someone who has three trips to the FSU and is engaged as maybe Sargeant. Some members might say that since he has already been divorced three times to AW that he is and E-2 or maybe even a higher rank...lol
  When does a "Newbie"...E-1? get promoted? Or is this something we continue to guess at? Seems that someone can write 500 posts and they get stars but it might be easier to understand there experience quickly if a method of rank was invented.

  My experience is two visits to FSU. One trip to Russia and one to Ukraine. I'm pretty sure I will be in Ukraine this year so I will have three trips soon. No fiance or marriages for me to FSU woman at this time and I have not lived in the FSU so I don't have a clear idea how to rank even myself..lol?? E-2 at best..

  Does anyone have an interest in establishing a ranking system of sorts that could help a new member look quickly and see the experience of a writer here and his experience in FSU matters that would help the new member realize QUICKLY that the person posting has genuine experience and therefore RANK in these matters.

  I consider myself to be an E-2 since I have had two visits. I can be demoted for visiting Cuba right?..lol

  What do you consider your rank of membership to be here?

Makkin

[Rvrwind]

We tried that here a long time ago & it didn't go over too well then, so I doubt it would go over too well now. JMHO

[Kuna]

Makkin,

I can see value in your thoughts but I think a simple ranking woldn't give a clear enough picture on where a posters expertise is.

I think there'd be great value in putting a number of identifiers under the posters name in the left hand column so you could clearly see what their level of experience is.  Things like the following might be helpful:

Status: Just starting/Travelled and Dating/Engaged/Married <1 year/Married 1 - 3 yrs/Married 3 - 5 Years/Veteran
Cities Visited:
First Visit: [year]

Status would let you know at what stage the poster is at...
Cities visited would help if you were looking for travel advice
First visit would differentiate those like me who've made just one trip (3 months ago) and jb who worked and lived there for a long time.

Even the above might give a distorted view of the value of the advice.  Imagine a poster with over 10 years of travel and a dozen or more trips... a few failed engagements and engaged again.  A newbie might htink this person knows his stuff but other experienced posters in here might see that person in a very different way.

It's a tough one...  but an issue that's worthy of discussion.

Kuna

[Jumper]

deployement records,decorations,  and time in the field,
might be more useful than rank

*shrugs*

[Makkin]

Hello,

  Yea something that would be easy to understand and quick to use would be nice. Like Kuna mentioned in a column or something that lists experience of sorts. Richard mentioned something about this being attempted before and it did not work as I'm guessing?
  It's probably a far fetched idea but it seems that if simplicity was possible to do this then it would already be done and implemented.

  How about something that lists next to a persons name some sort of simple info like "10 FSU TRIPS" and either verified on non-verified/ Now then this would cause work for administration or whomever would verify the trips..lol.

  Just my thoughts about how to make things clearer for new members.

Makkin

 

[I/O]

I see where the author is comming from, but I have seen awards, decorations and the like on forums before and I think it is a bit of BS really.

I wouldn't mind seeing the members screen name or avatar tagged with a "Married" or X number of trips to the FSU or something along those lines, but even that could be fraught with hazards.  Serial failures could receive some kudos simply for their amount of experience and I wouldn't like to see that.

FWIW

I/O

[BC]

I'll ride I/O's wagon..

In the military achieving a particular rank is quite structured with everyone knowing what qualification factors were involved.

Here even stating 'married' does not mean anything more than a knot has been tied.

[jb]

I've alway thought ranking members by experience was a bit lame, (and yes, it's been tried).  After all, who can say their experience was good, or even if they learned from it?

[catzenmouse]

Agree with the last three posts.

 YOU as a reader need to judge the words written and how they relate to YOUR situation.

 A newbie could come in an see a 4 Star General poster and follow their advice to the letter even though that advice would go against the personal grain of the newbie's personality and style causing said newbie to end up in a world of hurt.

 Say I've made 30 trips and been out on 100 dates in the FSU. Does that give me enough experience to be a Captain? A Colonel? Where do you draw the line? Do we break it out into different branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Special Forces, Rambo/Chuck Norris Status) with the different branches being different stages in the process? Sounds way too complicated to me.

FWIW,
 Ken

[Daveman]

Yeah, definitely "workable", but I doubt very seriously if the desired result would actually be achieved. 

Besides, I don't care about all that, I just want to play with Ken's Army Men collection...


Though, I have seen some posts where "Blithering Idiot" should not be removed from the negotiating table..... 

[catzenmouse]

Anytime Dave! If you're really lucky we'll break out the Hot Wheels too!

Speaking of "blithering idiots" isn't it about time for Rocky to throw in a couple of one liners about handcuffs and hot chicks with whipped cream...

Ken

[SANDRO43]

To say the least, any "ranking" system here is bound to raise a storm of controversy ("Me only Major, and he a full Colonel ? WTF, are you joking ?")

[acrzybear]

I've alway thought ranking members by experience was a bit lame, (and yes, it's been tried).  After all, who can say their experience was good, or even if they learned from it?

JB
 If we did the ranking system I would have to say you were the COB (because of your infamous  ) 

[Jumper]

i agree it is generally silly to try and rate any members with something by thier "avatar" or name.

its normally done more for fun than to be rate
the general worthiness of thier advice


and hey , if any rank is given..
wouldnt it need to come from that persons commanding officer??
or group of officers ..
(the RW themselves)

LOL!
 

[MaxxumUSA]

Hmm...

Being prior military I can say from experience...  Rank means very little to do with much in the real world.

It would be nice to see who is engaged, married, and their amount of times to FSU.

[Makkin]

Hello,

  Yes, I knew it was a far fetched idea and one that would have already been tried but I'm just tossing it out there.
  Okay I suppose it could have to do with something other than military ranking. It could be a color code but then it's all too complicated in my mind to implement anything with easy substance.

Makkin