The beautiful thing about this system is that the community decides collectively what the criteria for verification/disputing is. And even what it is for; voting could be for legitimacy of rank, for the correctness of information or even for a certain level of effort put into a profile. It's completely up to each and every one of us and the criteria for verification ultimately ends up being the average of what all users decide on individually. By design, everyone here holds the exact same amount of power in this community based decision making process. Pretty cool, if I should say so myself :D

Disputing is one of the best ways to draw attention to something. Also, what Christian said.

This is my vote, as part of the community, that we should only dispute ranks for good reason. Not because someone lost interest in filling out their profile or they're not as computer savvy as others. The lack of info will prevent verification and 'disputes' - as implied by the name - should be reserved for disputing the veracity of a claim.

Disputing is one of the best ways to draw attention to something. Also, what Christian said.

The best way to stop the disputes, is completely fill out your profile. If some info is missing explain why. Otherwise disputes will continue.

I'm not concerned about my profile

Otherwise disputes will continue.

If my students get promoted to the next belt rank and neglect to update their rank on beltchecker within 48 hours, I downvote their profile and call them sandbaggers. This is pretty much the only time I've ever downvoted anybody. We don't f*** around here at Open Source Bjj.

Yep! And one of the ways of promoting/debating one’s opinion of voting criteria is here in the forum; thank you for exercising your right to vote! :D I do personally agree with Jorgen that a dispute is something that really quickly gets people out of their chairs to fix things. I’ll do it if there is something obviously incorrect, for instance wrong dates for promotions or generally wrong belt rank. But each to their own :)

If someone just hasn't completed their profile and doesn't have enough votes to verify their rank, just leave them be, no need to do anything - they're not verified anyway.

This is one of those divisive topics which always has a wide variety of response. I raised the same topic not long ago on the forum. I understand both sides of the debate but personally would only downvote on a serious discrepancy. I would offer advice like what was offered to me by Johan to improve/correct elements of my profile. I do however see how it is used with advice given on what to correct which whilst I wouldn’t do myself, I understand. Everyone has a different approach and criteria to voting which is a good thing. I’m yet too see any signs of malicious downvoting on Beltchecker which is also a good thing. I guess the top tip to learn is make sure you fill in and populate your profile with as much info as possible, therefore leaving no questions to be asked..

Disputing a rank because of an incomplete profile only takes away from the validity of a real dispute. It’s called a “dispute.” You’re disputing their claim of rank, not their ability to finish filling out a form.

Unless it’s a person giving themselves rank or flat out fabricating rank, how can anyone be disputed? I know some who I would never promote that have been promoted but I wouldn’t dispute it.

but is more (!) than substandard of a grappler

Only black belts should vote. They're the only ones that matter...

Thank you for your service :D

Ha! YES! Some lower belts (brown) vote for every Tom, Dick, and Harry. I guess it's a way to curry favor. Not Anthony. lol

Maybe if someone doesn't fill out their profile completely their account should be erased or hidden after a certain time. I've seen some profiles that don't even have a verified name sitting on this site for more than a year.