FSM FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

What's an Ultra Farktographer?

Active, Total, Elite, Ultra, these are all labels that the FSM applies to Farktographers to give some sort of idea of how involved a particular Farktog is. The actual number of votes a Farktog gets really doesn't come into play, but the FSM only counts entries that have at least one vote. That's sort of important. But that's the only place that votes come into this stuff.

I needed to put some thresholds in place when I calculate averages. Otherwise, the best average votes report turns simply into the one hit wonders report. I arbitrarily chose 10 entries as the original threshold. This worked for a while, but I noticed some people who had 10 entries, but they were way in the past and they hadn't participated for months. So I needed to add another threshold and finally decided that I'd figure out when a Farktographer's initial contest was and then set the 2nd threshold to the number of entries equal to 1/3 the total number of contests since that Farktographer's initial contest.

e.g. if I entered 12 contests ago, the 2nd threshold is "4 entries"

Both thresholds need to be met to be listed. The "10" threshold means that the Farktog has a demonstrated interest in Farktography and the 2nd threshold ensures that the Farktog keeps at it.

Then I started to think about Fark and Farktography. There are Farkers, Total Farkers and some super secret thing that no one is supposed to talk about. I wanted that for the FSM so I created:

Farktographer - anyone who entered any contest (and got a vote)

Active Farktographer - anyone who meets the 10 and (1/3*contests) since Boobies criteria

Total Farktographer - anyone who meets the 10 and (1/2 * contests)

Elite Farktographer - anyone who meets the 10 and (1 * contests)

Ultra Farktographer - 10 and (2* contests) criteria

For example, assume your boobies contest was "What's on My Horizon" and your weeners was "Bridges II". That's contest #41 and #127, respectively, for a spread of 86 contests - 86 contests you could have entered. To be an Active Farktographer, you need 86 / 3 entries, or 28 and 2/3s (I can't remember if I round or truncate the fractions). Here's a table (assuming truncation):

You have to be "active" to get into the average reports and all Total Farktographers are Active Farktographers. Every Ultra is also an Elite, &c. I shade the rows in the average listings based on your "level" and give you the label in your portfolio.