I have slowed down my picking, and I'm really becoming selective now. I don't think you need to add another level and perhaps once members reach guru the points should just stop and not accumulate. That would take away the competitive edge from the top of the pile and perhaps encourage others to reach for the top. These are just my thoughts for the moment, and maybe later when I've had time to think I'll have another opinion.

I am cautiously keeping my head down as I type this .. but most of us, are so far behind, it would be nice to have a ceiling of points for a while .. Because it will just keep rolling over and over for those who have gotten so high up in that stratosphere .. the rest of us on earth will feel too much of a let down.
Just some plain spoken thoughts from a cabin fevered Canuck who is shaking her head over the point system ...
Joy
PS ... I feel that cold wind blowing behind me as everyone else ran for the door ! LOL

Here's a thought that sprung into my head. What if we begin to remove Guru's from the list and give them a separate page of their own. They could still jockey away for votes for positioning or we could just make it as a list ordered by when they became a Guru.

This would obviously affect the front page in some way which may or may not be beneficial to those who have spent a considerable amount of time gathering points and moving up the charts.

Back over to you.... Gee, wouldn't forums be a good thing right now!

I'm fine with whatever you decide to do Stuart. I agree with Joy though, some were late to catch on to the point system and will never catch up. Also would it be better not to have the top user's picture posted on the front page and maybe list the top 5 like the other two sections.

I'm also fine with not striving for another level at the moment.

I think a list of gurus, without points, is good. Eventually you will have quite a list there. Remember that folks joined at all different times and depending on the amount of time they spend here, they will each move up the Blotanical ladder at different times.
I like the idea of displaying something, and I took the liberty of saving the guru sign and adding it under my Blotanical one on the blog. Hope that was okay. If you come up with something different, let me know.

It shouldn't be a case of worrying about 'catching up' to those who started here early on with collecting points. People like Robin, Carolyn, Kate, Crafty, and others with a lot of points don't just pick posts--they also leave encouraging notes to new Blotanical members, and on blogs that aren't even listed yet at Blotanical, cheering them on and encouraging them to register and take part in the fun. It's one large, growing and interesting community, and it's all just for fun. I'm about to get to the Guru level (and only because I wanted to get those extra dozen picks for favourites,) and then I'm going to concentrate on leaving messages for each new member of Blotanical, leaving messages on new blogs I discover, and otherwise just being a gardening/Blotanical/blogging cheerleader, as time permits of course. What I'd like to see, rather than the 'top guru's' photo which may last for days or longer because others are not collecting that many points, is a highlighted blog of the day, like on Blogger; not just the people with the most points, but new bloggers-I love the 'latest blogs' feature and have found many gems that way. But I also like Anna's suggestion, and Crafty's too. Eveyrone's got something great to contribute--that's the beauty of this. Some will always lurk. Some won't even log in, beyond listing. And others will be active. Vive le difference!

I've been giving it a bit of thought and my first thoughts seem to be a bit different than the others given here. I was thinking that I would love to see a separate points page for each of the levels. That way if your looking for a Guru you would go to the Guru page; looking for a Fellow Blotanist then you'd go to that page. So on and so forth. One benefit of this would be that it would be so much easier to find bloggers who are in the middle of the pack on the Most Popular Users Page. A second benefit would be that there would be a Top Guru, a Top Master Blotanist, a Top Fellow Blotanist, a Top Patron Blotanist, and a Top Blotanist.

You could see the "Top of..." each level on the Directory page and maybe make it so that if you clicked on the title you would be linked to the points page for that level. I love the directory page but I always wish that I could click on the titles and to go to the coordinating pages.

I can't wait to see what you come up with Stuart. It's almost like waiting for Christmas morning...

As someone who is not yet even a patron but is "picking" like crazy to get there because of the promise of participation in the forums - don't you dare move the goalposts Stuart :) - I have to say I feel daunted by the idea that things that I might want to participate in could be restricted to a level that, with the best will in the world, I can't see myself getting to for years. Much as I'd love to quadruple the time I spend here, with a company to run and a family to look after I just don't have the time. Already it's tempting to cheat and pick without really evaluating or even reading, just to earn the points. (I'm resisting the temptation, I promise.)I love the community in this place and I want to participate 100% in everything I can, whenever I can, and contribute as much as possible. And I'm sure lots of other people do too. I understand that you want to reward the most active members - but please don't shut the rest of us out too much from areas where we might really have something to give.

if you want to stay with points, this could be achieved by ranking quality as much as quantity. (Don't misinterpret me, this isn't an attack on anybody, and certainly not on the gurus and near-gurus, all of whom deserve to be rewarded for providing both quantity and quality.) I don't know how you'd do it, this is just tired Friday evening rambling, but an occasional quality contribution which really contributes to the community should surely rank as highly if not more highly as, for example, indiscriminate picking just to earn points.

Anybody got any ideas as to how???

I accumulate lots of points from visitors to my plot and all those messages as Jodi mentioned. I love interacting with other members and that is what it is really all about.

Yes, I almost forgot--we get points when someone visits our plots! I like visiting the less frequently visited ones to help encourage them. (plus I find great new reads.)

I'm really, really glad this discussion is taking place, because I've been embarrassed that others might think that my racking up points is rooted in selfishness to be on top. It isn't. My husband has traveled a lot these last few weeks, I don't live near family, my children are just about grown, it's been a brutal winter, I don't work outside the home. I have time for the interactions and I've thoroughly enjoyed the "community". It honestly has helped me maintain my sanity these last few weeks.

The more you pick, encourage and comment, the more visits you receive. The points just snowball.

Regarding Picks: Not every post appeals to everyone. Pretty pictures appeal to me and if a post has one that I like, I usually pick it. Who is to say what posts do or do not deserve a Pick? Obviously some post are better than others, but honestly, I hope I don't offend anyone, but it is beginning to sound a bit like post snobbery. That some post are not deserving of any pick just because they're not liked by someone else. I think it would be horrible to join a community of bloggers with a pick system and never have a post picked. I'm very glad that this is an inclusive group and everyone at least gets a few picks and no one to my knowledge has been ignored.
Anyway, I hope this bit of tension doesn't ruin the great atmosphere here. Let's please continue to play nice and just have fun.

Awesome comment Robin. I'm planning to do a post on the credibility of Picks next week but it seems you've mentioned some key points in this comment already.

I had one person recently tell me that they didn't like the post that was at the top of the Top 10 at that time. Like...so!!! Who gives an individual the right to dictate which post should or shouldn't be listed at the top? No-one. That's why it's been chosen by a larger number of readers.

If someone's post doesn't make the Top 10 then find out why those that are, have made it. If you're writing to please the populous then we need to understand what the majority like and appreciate.

I agree about picking the apparently less popular posts and in fact often check out the "no pick" posts first. Sometimes it's clear why they've not been picked - often because they're purely commercial with no interest value (Again, don't get me wrong - there are also predominantly commercial posts which do have interest value, and they do rightly get picked). But there is another category which gets ignored, unjustly, and that's the foreign language posts. Check them out - as Jodi says, often the pictures can make a post worth a visit even if you don't understand the text. There were some great cat photos in a Finnish post the other day, for instance.

There's also the fact that some posts come in new way down the list, while others sit at the top for ages and accumulate loads of points before they move on. I don't know if it's an inevitable consequence of time zone differences or if people are purposely forward timing their posts to fool the spiders. But it's a bit frustrating.

Re messages : Any chance of upping the character limit just a bit Stuart? I'd like to send more but it's hard to say anything other than "Thanks for the fave" within the existing limit.

But anyway - it's still a great site, and that fact that we can all come in and say how we feel about it is one of the reasons it's so good. Keep at it Stuart. Even if nothing changes, you still have my "pick" :)

Some thoughts from a newbie: Someone above mentioned giving the Guru's a spot of their own, like their own page, kinda like a special gallery, where we can all visit, etc. I think that's a super idea & each week or month a selected (randomly or by number of points?) Guru could be highlighted/honored with a special logo or some form of distinguishment. I would love to make it to Guru level. However, I don't know yet if I have the amount of time that has to be spent on the computer to achieve that.