I concede that my experiences may not be representative. And I know the overall maturity level at those forums was lower than it is at PM. But I’ve seen it happen three times – and in all three times, the ranking was not initially displayed openly, then was, then it was turned off again –, so all my experience so far suggests that such open display degrades the quality of interaction on a forum.

PM might be better able to carry that weight, and maybe even a lot better – but I’m certain that it will lead to some amount of degradation, if only mild.

The question I’d ask is: why should we do this? Is there anything to be gained from it? Are there any real benefits which need to be weighed against the expectable drawbacks?

Makeshifts last the longest.