Explaining the rankings

In case you are wondering what that "Raw" (or whatever) under your username means in the message displays, here is an explanation.

Forum software such as this allows for one to define overall levels of a user's participation based upon the number of messages that user has posted. In some cases, this may even be used to allow access to additional, otherwise-hidden parts of the board, but most sites just use them for the users to have a little fun with some bragging rights.

Usually, the rankings are chosen based upon the site's overall theme, but some (such as a site familiar to most of us) also employ some humour, with things such as "Pooh Bah" and "Carpal Tunnel" to indicate a high lever of activity.

Here, they are just for fun, and have been based upon the standard terms for "doneness," with a couple humorous ones thrown in at the top of the scale. Since this site is new and independent, and doesn't have the kind of traffic that a site for a publication or commercial product would have, the gradations have been kept relatively low. Should the traffic volume increase sufficiently enough, these rankings will be adjusted at that time.

Here are the current rankings, and the minimum number of messages required to achieve each:

___0 Raw
__20 Very Rare
_100 Rare
_250 Medium Rare
_500 Medium
_750 Medium Well
1000 Well Done
1500 Burnt to a Crisp
2500 Incinerated