lordmayo

Does anyone use bboskill regularly ? It seems great to keep track of whether you are improving, but is it reliable or just a random number generator ?

I have read previous links, threads and comments about the concerns about rating and fully agree that it would be terrible to make BBO pointlessly competitive or make cheating rampant. However, if we just have a simple rating system on a 'rated section' that rates people in perhaps 5 broad categories rather than exact points, I think it should have the desired result that I see of - 1) seeing if I am improving and have a goal and 2) playing in broadly similar groups. Chess.com has ratings and it is very easy to cheat there too..but frankly you are only cheating yourself. The vast majority of users find it very useful to make each game more enjoyable. Dining the rating itself isn't that complex. I recognise this is not new but the previous thoughts are lost in so many different posts

Many leading bridge sites have this. It will help create focus, reduce the number of runners and encourage people to join tournaments. The math for it is fairly straightforward and available online. The only exception I would recommend is a strong negative for someone who runs.