@Olin, I did notice that the “current state” says:
Would it not be enough for the super competitive communities you have been in to have a leaderboard that uses the “under the hood” calculations? It would probably even be possible/agreeable to show the current formula on said page, as well as the raw numbers next to each name.
This way, those that live for the competition can still have it, but those that don’t care never have to see it or think about it.
I think Olin posted previously that his use case was that he wants to be seen to have a high reputation on the site, so that people will hire him in real life, iow he wants to maximise the public visibility / advertising of one’s reputation.
My sense is not that it was so people would hire him, but rather that in his particular profession (and others in the same Community), this is a way to get some public recognition that other professions may be able to get in other ways that don’t apply to his profession.
Maybe in some communities, but not the ones I’m specifically thinking of. Remember that the point is to provide some public recognition as a reward for providing a lot of good site content. That works better the more public it is. If you have to go looking for it, then most people wont see it, hence it will be less valuable.
Again, this is all very site-dependent, as I described earlier in this thread. I can see how some sites might not want this sort of dynamic, but it will be important on other sites.
I really don’t see the big deal why something simple, that is probably computed under the hood anyway, can’t be enabled for display on those sites where it will be important.