What messes up the ratings is when new players come along and are actually quite good, but it's going to take them quite a while to get up to a ranking that accurately reflects their skill level. Some players may never get there because they'll never play enough. I feel like the starting rank should be a little higher than it is. Somewhere in the pink zone perhaps. The more popular this site becomes and the more players join up, the more this becomes an issue. I've been losing lots more points lately because of this dynamic -- usually later at night to newcomers who are actually at the same skill level as me, but are ranked much lower.