I've read it and I think it gives a good overall view of the new system, without getting too wordy or complicated.
savin,
Did you know Reyn my alter ego?
Even though Reyn has given it a clean bill of health I'd say it might be improved with some appropriate editing.
Given the many problems associated with your target audience (SNC subscribers world wide) being such a broad church, e.g. language/literacy but one problem, it should suffice for most. "You can please some of the people ..."
I suggest reducing your established/provisional players definitions from 3 to 2.
Here's my 'tweaked'version:
#
The following glossary is designed to help explain some of the terms found in the rating reports. It is not meant to give players an in-depth understanding of the rating system.
Player Status:
Provisional Players: When a player first registers at the site they are assigned a ‘Provisional’ status. Once these players have completed 25 games against established players they are given an ‘Established’ rating.
Established Players: Players who are given an established rating after completing 25 games against established players.
Player Level: Five (5) levels are tracked in the system. From the lowest (Category 4) to the highest (Expert) they are:
(1) Category 4,
(2) Category 3
(3) Category 2
(4) Category 1
(5) Expert
Levels are primarily used for organizing tournaments.
As a general rule you should have a good game if you play someone within your own level. You need to be a little careful with the top and bottom levels since the range of players in those levels are much greater. Once a player becomes established their level is based on their highest attained rating. This is why a player can never have their level reduced, even if they deliberately lose 20 games in a row.
Player Title: There are 3 titles that can be awarded at Stan’s NetChess. These titles are awarded automatically upon reaching certain milestones. These titles are:
1) Stan’s Candidate Master
2) Stan’s Master
3) Stan’s Senior Master
Stan’s Candidate Master: This title is awarded to players that are Expert Level (level 5), have a player rating of over 2100, have completed at least 6 games against players with the title of Stan’s Master or Senior Master, and have a NORM in those games of 2100 or higher.
Stan’s Master : This title is awarded to players that are Expert Level (level 5), have a player rating of over 2200, have completed at least 15 games against players with the title of Stan’s Master or Senior Master, and have a NORM in those games of 2200 or higher.
Stan’s Senior Master: This title is awarded to players that are Expert Level (level 5), have a player rating of over 2300, have completed at least 35 games against players with the title of Stan’s Master or Senior Master, and have a NORM in those games of 2300 or higher.
Player Ratings:
Current Rating: The player ratings are calculated once per week. All new rating reports have an ‘as of’ date which is the date the player ratings last calculated and updated. The Current Player rating is the player rating at the time of the last update.
Established Games: Only games played between two established players effect player ratings.
Games played between a provisional player and an established player, including games played between two provisional players are put in ‘suspense.’
Games in Suspense: These games do not impact the player ratings.
However, when a player is awarded an established player rating the system reviews all of their games in suspense and retroactively impacts all player ratings. This in effect means that games played against players who never achieve an established player rating and leave the site have no impact on the player ratings. Games played against provisional players who do eventually get an established player rating will effect player ratings.
Forfeits: A player is considered to have forfeited a game if they lose on time. The system will track and record the number of player forfeits on the site.
Highest Rated Result: The highest rated opponent player drawn or beaten.
The reason why a win or a draw against a higher rated opponent is considered a ‘result’ is it tells us something about the player’s ability. For example; if you have a player rating of 2400 and you are playing someone with a Highest Rated Result of 2105, your chances of winning are very high since this player has never even drawn with someone over 2105.
Lowest Rated Result: The lowest rated opponent that the person has drawn with or lost to.
The reason why a loss or a draw against a lower rated opponent is considered a ‘result’ is that it tells us something about the player’s ability. For instance, if you are rated 1400 and you are playing someone with a Lowest Rated Result of 1755 your chances of drawing or winning are very slim.
Master and Senior Master Games: The system tracks a player’s results against Stan’s Masters and Stan’s Senior Masters. This information is maintained as an interesting statistic and is also used in identifying players that should be awarded titles.
No Shows: A player is considered to have ‘no showed’ if the game ends before the completion of the second move. No Shows have no impact on the player ratings, although the game is still counted as a loss from the point of view of a tournament. The system also treats games that forfeit on time before the completion of the second move as a no show. In addition, the system also looks for trends and if a player is not active at the site and is mass-forfeiting games all of the losses are treated as no shows.
Player Performance Rating/Master Norm: A player performance rating or master norms are two terms for a slightly different approach to calculating a player rating. Player performance ratings can be calculated for a player’s results in a tournament, or for their results against any group of players. The player performance rating is equivalent to saying “this player performed in these games as if they had a player rating of xxxx.” However, be aware that player performance ratings are only accurate if:
1) They are calculated using no less than 5 games.
2) There is no more than 400 rating points difference between the player and the average rating of their opponents in these games.
Win %: The Win% is a chess calculation to see how you did in a group of games or a tournament. It’s calculated by awarding 1 point for a win, 0.5pts for a draw and 0 pts for a loss. For example, let’s say you played 10 games in a tournament and you won 3 games and drew 5 games. This would be 5.5 pts out of a possible 10 points, or a Win% of 55.0.
#
I would have mailed it to you had I your email address
