It seems that Discourse.net is no longer a mere “Adorable Little Rodent” in the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem but (temporarily at least) a (lesser) Maurauding Marsupial. I think that sounds a lot nicer.
TLB's amusing ranking system is based on the number of inbound links from participants. The lowest category are mere Insignificant Microbes, then Multicellular Microorganisms, Wiggly Worms, Crunchy Crustaceans, Lowly Insects, Slimy Molluscs, Flippery Fish, Crawly Amphibians, Slithering Reptiles. I think that by the time I found the site, discourse.net qualified to be one of the Flappy Birds.
It took four mounths for inbound links from TLB members to double from 33 to 66. Does that mean if all goes well it will only be another four months to break 100 and join the “Large Mammals”? (Note that this works, more or less, if one assumes linear growth or sees this as time-to-double, not that there's the least reason to believe either is in the cards; one must plateau at some point.) I certainly would be radically shocked if I ever got beyond the TLB “large mammal” stage, categories that include the highly linked “Playful Primates,” the very highly linked “Mortal Humans” and the mega-linked “Higher Beings,” although it's nice to see Brad DeLong is an actual “human”.
Now if I could just figure out how to get the TLB system to include me in its traffic rankings, discourse.net might just scrape into the top 250 or so….
You also have to assume that none of the people currently in the “Large Mammal” category will increase their number of links.
Congratulations on climbing the semi-evolutionary chain.
Well if it’s really that Darwinian, I’m probably doomed. Unless the links for “self deprecation” start rolling in….