What is the voting system?
The voting system is a mechanism that allows the community to verify that a profile look legitimate and is correctly filled out. This way we avoid people creating silly/spammy/fake profiles and we can trust that the information people provide on their profiles is trustworthy. All verification is done by the already verified users of the site.
How does the voting system work?
In order to verify your profile, you need to first provide name verification, profile photo verification and your full belt promotion. Once this is done, your profile will be automatically opened to receive votes from verified members of the community. The number of voting points you need for verification depends on your belt rank. The number of voting points other users can give you, also depends on their verified belt rank.
Can't my instructor just verify my rank here?
This is an option. You can tag your instructor's profile in each belt promotion record and he/she can verify or dispute having done the promotion; the decision being displayed publicly on your profile. The community and individuals are then free to choose if they want to use that as standard for rank verification. However, it quickly pose a fundamental problem. How do we verify your instructor? If we go by instructor-to-student verification only, we would have to do keep track of a hierarchical verification model that would quickly run back so many years that we can't possible confirm your instructor's instructor's instructor. Not to mention that we would need every instructor to sign up before any student could join and be verified. Instead, our system offers an alternative validation system that works by flat community verification, which ensures that anyone can have their rank certified by their peers, as well as their instructor, given this person is present on the site.
How does Beltchecker.com verification differ from verification by an organization?
Beltchecker.com leaves verification to the community, so it's similar to a peer review process. An individual's rank can be verified even without membership on the part of themselves or their coach in any specific organization so long as there is supporting evidence that stands up to the scrutiny of review by the community.
How do I get verified when I don't know anyone here yet?
First of all, make sure you have a well completed and documented profile. Add as much information and photos as you can. As the site matures and the user base grows, verification will be quicker, given that there is a better chance people you know are already verified here. Meanwhile, help build the user base by inviting people you know to join. Another proven way of attracting attention to your profile is to be active in
the forums. Verified users will often vote for strangers with well documented profiles. Statistically, all well documented profiles on the site has eventually been verified.
Why does it take so long for me to get verified?
By design, the verification process takes time and "work". It is based purely votes from people in the community who trust you to have provided the correct information on your profile. If there is not enough people registered on the site that can vouch for your legitimacy, then you can not be verified yet.
By what criteria should I vote to verify or dispute someone?
This is up to you! Organically, many different standards for verification will evolve as the site grows, and this is completely fine. At the end of the day, the combined vote of the entire community will ultimately decide on verification or dispute. The actual voting criteria will become an average of all criteria from the entire community.
Can you also give someone a negative vote?
Yes, verified profiles can both vote to verify and dispute. Disputed votes will deduct points. Any profile with a negative voting point score will be marked as disputed.
I worry that strangers will give me negative votes
From experience since the launch of this service in January 2020, this simply does not happen. The main theory why this works so well is it's because there are no such things as anonymous profiles. Everyone must have their actual face and name on their profile before they can cast a vote. People just act differently when they're not anonymous. Also, if someone is downvoted unfairly, the rest of the community can equally upvote and easily keep your profile verified. One vote alone holds very little weight; verification/dispute happens through a general voice of multiple members of the community. And at the end of the day, if someone receives votes or comments they do not like, they can always just decide to delete their profile again.
Do I need to have each of my belt promotions verified one at a time?
No. The votes are for the profile and promotion history in it's entirety. Make sure to enter all your belts in your promotion history from the beginning, so people vote for your most recent rank.
Can I use my IBJJF card to verify my rank?
No. Aquiring rank verification with IBJJF only requires the approval of one black belt to sign off for you. Beltchecker.com requires several verified profiles from the community to verify your profile, so a single person approving your belt rank is not enough.
What if someone creates a fake profile?
It will never be possible to verify a fake profile since thorough ID verification is required. And even then, if the community get suspicious, they can downvote the profile and it will quickly get status as disputed.
What if someone starts taking bribes for votes?
This is technically possible. Remember, there are no set rules for what is acceptable behavior here, it is all up to the community to judge. If someone, for instance, starts offering votes for money and the community disagree on this behavior, it has the power to quickly downvote this person and strip him/her from their voting power. Did the person manage to cast any votes while verified, all of these will be instantly will instantly be cancelled, the moment verification status is lost.
A profile's voting power can only be sustained through continous trust from the community.
What if someone has a personal feud and unfairly downvotes someone else because of it?
A single person's vote does not carry enough weight to make a difference in someone's verification. For black belt, it takes around 10 other black belts to verify the belt rank. So if someone unfairly downvotes a profile, the community can equally upvote and balance out the final vote. A "voting-war" between groups could break out, and it would ultimately be up to the average of the votes to let the system decide the result.
Is verification necessary?
No, you can use the full website without verification. The only thing that will be disabled for you is casting votes yourself.
What is "rank pre-verification"?
In order to get the voting system working, a small, trusted and vetted group of black belts have had their ranks pre-verified so they could start voting. If we did not do this, no one could ever start verifying each other. It is not possible to apply for pre-verification of rank.
Can I verify BJJ black belt degrees based on time here?
The system allows certification of degrees for verified black belts once due time is served and as long as the community agrees by voting to approve it. Compare here the requirements from Beltchecker.com with those of IBJJF:
IBJJF BLACK BELT DEGREE CERTIFICATION
- Time served as black belt
- ID verification
- Membership renewed every year since black belt promotion ($40 first time, then $35 per year)
- Black belt certification application ($400 for first application, then $150 per application)
- First aid or CPR course certificate
- IBJJF referee course within 12 months before request of each degree ($60 per course)
- For some countries: Background check ($20)
- Must train in an academy that has been paying membership fee to IBJJF since promotion to black belt ($70 for registration and $70 for each modification)
- Must be professor in this academy or academy must have an IBJJF certified 2nd degree professor (all costs above)
- If your first registration with IBJJF is as brown or black belt, you’re required to be a paying member for two years (“provisional member”) before you can request black belt certificate or degrees.
BELTCHECKER BLACK BELT DEGREE CERTIFICATION
- Time served as black belt
- Full ID and photo verification
- Full promotion history
- Enough votes from verified community to confirm your profile and promotion history is trustworthy (1000 points required; equivalent of votes from 10 black belts)
"Time served" black belt degrees claimed by verified profiles
465
How many points do I need to receive for verification?
| White belt: | 0 points |
| Gray belt: | 50 points |
| Yellow belt: | 50 points |
| Orange belt: | 50 points |
| Green belt: | 50 points |
| Blue belt: | 200 points |
| Purple belt: | 400 points |
| Brown belt: | 700 points |
| Black belt: | 1000 points |
| Black belt 1st degree: | 1000 points |
| Black belt 2nd degree: | 1000 points |
| Black belt 3rd degree: | 1000 points |
| Black belt 4th degree: | 1000 points |
| Black belt 5th degree: | 1000 points |
| Black belt 6th degree: | 1000 points |
| Red and black belt 7th degree: | 1000 points |
| Red and white belt 8th degree: | 1000 points |
| Red belt 9th degree: | 1000 points |
| Red belt 10th degree: | 1000 points |
How many points is my vote worth?
Once verified, your votes will give the following points:
| White belt: | 0 points |
| Gray belt: | 0 points |
| Yellow belt: | 0 points |
| Orange belt: | 0 points |
| Green belt: | 0 points |
| Blue belt: | 5 points |
| Purple belt: | 20 points |
| Brown belt: | 50 points |
| Black belt: | 100 points |
| Black belt 1st degree: | 125 points |
| Black belt 2nd degree: | 150 points |
| Black belt 3rd degree: | 175 points |
| Black belt 4th degree: | 200 points |
| Black belt 5th degree: | 225 points |
| Black belt 6th degree: | 250 points |
| Red and black belt 7th degree: | 275 points |
| Red and white belt 8th degree: | 300 points |
| Red belt 9th degree: | 325 points |
| Red belt 10th degree: | 350 points |
