radiX said:
I really appreciate the PM to give me an update on what's going on. I did quite a bit of reading/scanning over the normal FL rankings thread. From what I could tell SFL seemed to want to keep FL as one rankings (since they don't feel shafted) while CFL wanted the separation, with a number of exceptions.
I think the most compelling argument is to keep FL united.
If y'all do separate, I think it will create a division that won't be easily reconciled. While we are a semi-divided state already, we are still FLians and root for each other. If we separate in rankings, it will become representing your regions over your state when you go to national tournaments.
The CFL rankings kinda identifies you as a "B Team." While the idea is to allow for more CFL players to be on the list, it takes away from the validity of that list, to the point where you'd probably be doing more harm than good. It also gives the impression that CFL players have a big head and want to be on top of the list. If they can't make it themselves "through hard work," they'll make their own list. Makes you look very arrogant. Other communities who do not know of the "SFL bias" will get this impression.
That said, believe me I know it is impossible to get an unbiased overview of FL's scene, I was well enough involved with the Melee community for those years. And I certainly understand the SFL bias.
It is obvious that there is a problem with the current rankings. Obvious from the fact that CFL is
so unhappy with them that they are willing to separate. SFL needs to be willing to compromise in at least one of the following ways:
- There needs to be more than 3 panelists. I was shocked when I saw that 3 people ranked the whole state, with little consideration as to where they were from. With a state as large as ours we definitely need to approach with a house of representatives over senate appraoch. 5 people MINIMUM on the rankings, from each of the major areas of FL (SEFL,SWFL,MEFL,MWFL,NFL.) More than that is ok too. 3 is way too few. I guess their idea is to get total agreement on rankings between the panelists, but that's not how these things work. Power Rankings are one huge compromise which means that nobody gets what they want. Everyone suffers a little.
- The way the rankings structure works needs to change. SFL has no good argument against the difficulty for a new CFL player to make the rankings when all they have available is HRNUT and Halberd to play. If 4 new people joined the CFL scene and started beating everyone, they would not make the list but HRNUT and Halberd would be taken off. Tourney records should be used to supplement panelists opinions--not to form them. Hopefully their opinions are based on personal experience playing the person. "Travel Moar" is not a good counter-arguement to this.
- There should be a disclaimer about potential bias in the rankings in the introduction to the thread. OOSers should be able to understand that FL is very difficult to rank overall, so there's no guarentee that the list is accurate. The FL rankings should be forward with that probability, and not try to pass themselves as the word of God.
- There should be a list of honorable mentions/up and comers. This expands the list (which honestly should be more than 10 anyways,) without requiring definite ranking. Keep top 10 and maybe honorable 5-7 others. Expand to 15 and honorable 5-10 others. This suggestion should be done in conjunction with some of the others, not by itself as it does not really address the heart of the issue.
Preferrably all of these should be followed. Definitely one of them. SFL says they want to keep FL united, they need to be willing to back that up with some action.
If the "FL Panel" is not willing to compromise with any of these suggestions (or others you may come up with which are better than mine,) I'll allow the CFL rankings. Although I personally think you should just put out CFL's version of the FL rankings--supervised by HRNUT--that would be a much better way to send a message to SFL. Remember the only thing that makes the FL rankings official is just their claim.
