Organize FE results by user/top performance?

[Smitty]

Would it be possible to browse fuel consumption results by user? Or rather, to generate a list of top performers? I think this might add a human element to the site and encourage more networking as other social functions are added.

Overall, I love the site. Been waiting for something glossy and competitive for a long time!

[mathowie]

We thought of that immediately after coming up with the idea of the site, but since all the data is self-reported, we have to be super careful with how we give out incentives on the site, because it is so easily gamed.

So for instance, if we listed the top MPG by user, and someone wanted to be number 1, they could just start uploading a bunch of faked data with 5-10MPG more than they actually get. And once people have a way of getting to the top, they can start to exploit that for other means, so a user could sign up with their domain name for a spammy website as their username, then rocket to the top of the best MPG list and then we're all forced to look at CheapBonerPills.com claiming to get 100mpg from a Lincoln Continental.

So yeah, we're definitely open to ideas on how to reward people (currently we think the "best tank" stars are a good way to do that) but we're also hesitant to do something that would lead to bad, useless data and people gaming the site for their benefit to the detriment of everyone else.

[Smitty]

Very true -- Thanks for responding so quickly. I suppose you'd need a dedicated moderation staff to police the site if such a feature were implemented. Regardless, I think that some sort of additional incentive structure would be helpful in retaining users and forming a community. Keep up the great work!

[mathowie]

Yeah, we'll have to think of more ways to congratulate people on doing better with their mileage, but without the trappings of something that has to be constantly monitored for cheating.

We're planning to do javascript widget badges for your blog, so you could show off to your readers/friends that you've improved lately.