Rank Criteria and Why

[TashaTurner]

I've gone through several post and grabbed Mark/Co-founder comments on the ranking/stats criteria and why they chose to do it the way they have. I'm going to request he make this a sticky so it stays at the top as this topic seems to come up frequently.

Someone had asked what were the criteria for each rank in the Club. Great question!

Here they are:
1 Star Member: 50-74 backed projects
2 Star Member: 75-99 backed projects
3 Star Member: 100-249 backed projects
4 Star Member: 250-399 backed projects
5 Star Member: 400-549 backed projects
6 Star Member: 550-699 backed projects
7 Star Member: 700+ backed projects


Thought I'd give some rationale for the ranking system, as well as explain what the benefits are.

For now, the main benefits are:
1) better access to giveaways/contests/freebies in the private lounges &
2) the prestige of higher rank.


As far as the ranking system goes, we chose backed projects for a couple of reason, though we are aware that just having a big number of backed projects isn't the only factor that determines a backers seriousness. First off, and probably foremost, is the fact that backing a project at any level, even $1 is a big help to project creators. Having run a number of campaigns myself, I can honestly say that KS backers usually don't realize how much a $1 or $5 thank-you pledge helps. It helps in at least 4 ways: 1) the greater the number of people who back a project, the more it encourages others to back 2) someone who backs even at $1 is another potential person to help spread the word through social media and in their own personal networks, 3) it is another person getting the project updates and who might respond to calls to action later in the campaign, 4) a backer is a backer in the eyes of the KS popularity ranking algorithm and so as a project creator it is wonderful to see someone put in a $1 pledge when they like a project, because even if the $1 itself doesn't make a huge difference toward their funding goal, it can give them more visibility on the KIckstarter site which in turn likely will result in more money being pledged.

So, given all the reasons why a pledge of any dollar amount is so helpful to projects, we felt it was a good number to try and encourage growth in.

Failed projects do count because Kickstarter counts them in the number of projects that they show a member has backed on their profile.

Finally, there is an issue with access to public information that would prevent us from using dollar amount pledged in the ranking here on BackerClub. Kickstarter doesn't make the pledge amounts public like Indiegogo does, so the only way we'd be able to incorporate this into the ranking system here in BackerClub would be if each member gave us access to their KS login info to query their account.

Hope that helps! Of course, we're happy to hear your feedback about the way we have looked at things related to ranking.

Mark - Co-Founder