First, umm. Wow. I did NOT expect the response I got off the earlier post about ranking and popularity and obscurity. I was certainly not whining for attention - just recording my feelings as they popped into my silly li'l head.

Whether it's being an INTJ, a child of an abusive alcoholic or HFA/Asperger's, understanding and even just cataloging emotions has often been faaar beyond me. So if I can manage to put myself in the correct frame of mind to examine feelings and record them - I do it. I really, really need the practice.

So the point of my post about the rankings was 2 things:
1) what is for me, a VERY public discussion of my feelings - something that is exceedingly fiddicult for me to do. ... and
2) at the same time it was a blatant attempt to put up "fresh" content and hopefully improve my rankings.

Wow. Talk about an attention whore!

And now it would appear, upon a very fast glance through the Buzz that perhaps the algorithm for ranking has been "fixed."

However, all of this has simply reminded me why I dislike rankings and external signs of popularity or affection.

You see, according to psychologists (and I've seen little to make me think differently) humans are a hierarchical creature. We crave hierarchy and putting things into some kind of order. Look at how militaries organize. Businesses. Look at how we have classified the animal kingdom. All hierarchies.

Now, a hierarchy can be really efficient for a business or military organization. Can you imagine trying to run a military by acclamation instead? It would never work!

And a part of that reason is because we are such hierarchical creatures.

At the same time, hierarchy is something I have attempted to buck my entire life.

Presumably this is my oppositional "disorder" at work.

But even whilst hierarchy allows for efficient organization and can therefore help us accomplish a great deal - it also creates a lot of turmoil as we've seen on Cre8Buzz this past week.

By definition, ranking puts one person above another. By definition, some people are out and other people are in.

I hate that, regardless of where I am, but like most humans, I hate it even more when I think I'm out.

I try not to. I personally, would love it if I could simply ignore rankings. If I could manage to let it go ...

But I obviously find that difficult.

That's the major reason that I think it would be nice to perhaps only show the ranking numbers (for whatever category) for let's say the first 20 spots. That allows someone who's close to the top 8 to keep competing if they so choose. But it reduces some of the hurt feelings to not see a number next to a post instead of seeing that post is #8742. Or that your favourite snapshot of your cat has been ranked #9727.

On the other hand, if you see that your picture is ranked #19, you have a choice to decide if you should "market" yourself and your picture and try to get it more exposure. It's a bit less of a constant battle and maybe a bit more of a chosen one? Less a reflection of our psychology, perhaps?

At any rate, it would appear that our good dudes at Cre8 have straightened out what had so many of us in an uproar.

Here's hoping the next time the algorithm gets changed, more of us remember that rank shouldn't matter so damn much.