Ratings:

[telkanuru]

A poll. I'm just curious what sort of dispersal we have

[Derstern]

Which weapon??? Or should it be the rating of the primary fencing weapon?

[Victor]

Is 'A' the highest rating we can register?

[fencerontheline]

Should I give you my foil and/or epee B? or my saber E?

[telkanuru]

Primary, I guess.

:glares at victor:

[Army Fencer]

I was expecting something a little more... aesthetic.

Or at least bell-ish.

[Peach]

I remember some months ago oiuyt did an analysis of the classifications in the US, and there were very few As but substantial numbers at the bottom of the scale. So the scale should probably look more like a mudslide than a bell.

[Inquartata]

Sounds like a lead-in to the Monty Python `What`s brown and sounds like a bell?` joke...

[noodle]

Classification     Epee                 Foil               Sabre
A                  116       0.82%      211    1.49%        83  0.59%
B                  281       1.99%      353    2.50%       160	1.13%
C                  534       3.78%      534    3.78%       295	2.09%
D                  876       6.20%      666    4.72%       466	3.30%
E                1,336       9.46%      934    6.61%       741  5.25%
U               10,982      77.75%   11,427    80.90%   12,380	87.65%

?

this is from 2003, a little less than a year old.
i got this from this board, not from any current or official information

[Peach]

Speaking of which, what happened the proposed change in the drop-off date for classifications? I was hoping I could fence Div II again while I won't need a walker.

[kalivor]

Originally Posted by noodle

Classification     Epee                 Foil               Sabre
A                  116       0.82%      211    1.49%        83  0.59%
B                  281       1.99%      353    2.50%       160	1.13%
C                  534       3.78%      534    3.78%       295	2.09%
D                  876       6.20%      666    4.72%       466	3.30%
E                1,336       9.46%      934    6.61%       741  5.25%
U               10,982      77.75%   11,427    80.90%   12,380	87.65%

?

this is from 2003, a little less than a year old.
i got this from this board, not from any current or official information

Note that all columns add up to 14,125 which would make this a percentage of all fencers. Thus, it's entirely possible that half those epee Us have classifications in either foil or sabre.

Though it certainly looks like it should still be a mudslide-ish graph, going by *best* rating, if not quite as mudslide-ish as the numbers above appear to indicate.

[Army Fencer]

Originally Posted by kalivor

Though it certainly looks like it should still be a mudslide-ish graph, going by *best* rating, if not quite as mudslide-ish as the numbers above appear to indicate.

We are asking here about people's best weapon. I think I have a D and an E in the other two weapons, and that isn't represented here. I think that truncation caused part of the flatness.

Also, as we've discussed ad nausum before, this sample set is from fencers who have internet, know about fencing.net, and decide to answer the poll. It's possible that the better fencers are going to be more involved in the fencing community and, therefore, are over-represented.

Those would be my two theories on why it looks so flat.

[Artisan]

Originally Posted by Army Fencer

It's possible that the better fencers are going to be more involved in the fencing community and, therefore, are over-represented.

...or are arm-chair athletes and prefer talking about their sport to playing it...

[MikeHarm]

Hmm.. my D rating in foil puts me as one of 666. Someone get a new D rating, thats an evil number. I don't expect the ratings poll to look like a mudslide though. I suspect that we have a higher than average number of rated fencers reading this. Most unrated fencers I know don't watch videos, talk on the net about fencing etc.

[Army Fencer]

Originally Posted by Artisan

...or are arm-chair athletes and prefer talking about their sport to playing it...

Hey now, we had to get on top somehow.

But I also find it interesting that at the beginning of the survery, there were more A's than the other guys.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by Peach

Speaking of which, what happened the proposed change in the drop-off date for classifications? I was hoping I could fence Div II again while I won't need a walker.

Was floated as an idea that would have been raised at the July BoD meeting. It wasn't on the agenda and wasn't discussed in any other form. I strongly suspect that this was one of those many trial balloons that quietly disappears after opposition to the idea is presented in unofficial personal discussion.

A slightly more public demonstration of this is the B and above "requirement" for Div I NAC's, which has been announced but not presented for even a first hearing, much less a vote, for each of the past 2-3 seasons. Ideas like this get floated, people respond more or less privately, and the ideas get dropped, modified into a different form, or presented as-is as motions. Until such changes actually come up for discussion at the BoD/Exec. Comm. level treat them merely as ideas rather than as things that are likely to happen (despite the fact that they are typically presented as things that WILL happen).

-B :)

[hpfencing]

This is a cool idea.....

WOW i had not seen the overall numbers in USFA before, thats, cool stats. to know

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Army Fencer

I was expecting something a little more... aesthetic.

Or at least bell-ish.

The rating system isn't really focused around an average, but instead it's more of an earning system. In other words, you don't start out with a C, and then lose or gain letters according to your skill. You start out with a U, and the more you work, the higher you get. This gives you a very small amount of A's, and a very large amount of U's.

On the other hand, most people who go on to a fencing forum are far above average. These two cancel out, making the amount of people in each ranking very close to constant.

[Peach]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

On the other hand, most people who go on to a fencing forum are far above average.

Or, as Garrison Keillor said, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." I doubt that assumption. It's possible that people are likely to be willing to post their classifications if they think they have something worth showing off, especially when they know their member-names will be visible.

[mrbiggs]

Good point, the public thing might affect the results. And people might lie, too, to make others think better of them.