Are you talking about anyone specifically here? lololol

I entertain myself by surfing through new profiles, and since it's the early days of the site, am willing to give my little 20 point push for people (especially colored belts and people from more remote communities) if everything reported is backed up by sufficient evidence.

I tend to pretty much go by Daniël Bertina's flow chart though, so preferably they have a competition record and have trained with or coached by people I know of. Also if somebody who is undoubtedly a legit black belt has had first hand experience with them and verified, I have voted if it looks like it could be of help.

Will crank up my voting criteria tighter soon, when there are some more verified people, and balls rolling & bouncing all over everybody. (Might even withdraw some votes once people don't need them, if I have no personal link to the person. Don't be offended.)

I'm helping out people who have documented competition and / or coaching prowess. However I won't do that once profiles are already verified - I'm reserving those votes for my "tighter" criteria which includes we've shared mats. If anything indicates overall knowledge of BJJ is not up to my subjective standard - no vote from me.

We actually once wrote and article https://www.reddit.com/r/[...]dma_about/

I, for one, only paid the IBJJF a bit of money immediately after I got my black belt. Just to get a competition card.
So I got one, life got in the way, and I didn't compete in the IBJJF at all. So I didn't renew my membership, and thus I'm not registered on their site.

My teacher Marcos Flexa is registered with them as a fifth degree.

He has promoted 4 people to black belt. Me, Desmond van den Berg, Olga Lyashevska and Milovan Janjic.
Only Olga went through the hassle of getting officially registered, because she runs a club in Ireland.

As far as the IBJJF is concerned. Des, Milovan and me don't exist.

So I don't think it's the golden standard of verification because a lot of people slip through the cracks.

I agree that verifying legit black belts and good coaches even if you don't know them personally but are aware of his or hers ability. That will definitely speed things up, but verifying a competition blue belt based on a few medals and a certificate is a grey area for me, but I understand why.

Although one black belt said to me that this site wasn't "serious enough" for people to get offended about about how others are voting and that the "site is going to turn into a lot of “fun”...*sarcasm* when more and more people start questioning each other’s criteria"

Which I find very weird since that's the whole point right? Discussing different promotion methods and what makes a person "legit".

Don't want people to not vote just want them to actually have a reason, otherwise their opinion is shit IMO

It's just a blue belt. If a person is an actively competitor at blue belt with some wins in their pocket (and have a picture of black belt promoting them or are promoted by a name I'm familiar with), I think that verifies that their skill is at that belt level.

Verifying brown/black belts should warrant more a careful consideration.

Yeah okey maybe I'm a bit to strict with that, fair point

The IBJJF took it's time to get back to me, but here is their response:

Dear Professor Murphy,

Thank you for contacting IBJJF. We are very sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Once an athlete has completed the Black Belt Certification process, they will remain on the list of Certified Black Belts, even if they do not renew their certification, unless there is a strong reason for the athlete to be removed from the list.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.