Well deserved black belt after 13 years

Also looking for the same.

I'll vote for you as soon as I'm allowed to. Congrats!

Won't vote in either direction now, but will give an up vote if you add the real and full name of Caique as promoting instructor instead of just his nickname.

A clear down vote from me! Ronald Romero shouldn't had promoted anyone to BB in 2024 as he was a no degree BB and got his own BB as late as 2023 (so shouldn't promote anyone to BB before 2029, if his lineage and own promotion checks out). Looks like a 1:st stripe BB in attendance, but that isn't enough to promote either and not the person you wrote promoted you. See https://smoothcomp.com/en[...]ile/598913 for source of info on Ronald's 2023 BB. He also has a Beltchecker-profile (https://www.beltchecker.c[...]p?id=45904), showing BB in december 2023 (so it was really only a year before trying to promote you!), so you should in either case tag him in your promotion history.

I always feel bad for people in this position. On one hand, sure, you should know that these types of promotions aren't really kosher, but on the other hand, what do you do now? Renounce your rank and wait for someone who is qualified to promote you?

In this particular case, Roger was just recently promoted, so maybe that's an option for him, but for those who were promoted years ago?

Personally, I think it would be enough to find someone who was a 2nd(+) degree bb at the time of promotion, to vouch, even retrospectively, for that particular promotion, and that would be good enough for me.

Personally, I think that the whole process is retarded. Yes I said retarded. I'm actually starting to think that this whole database is retarded. Problem is, I don't have anything else to do at work. I'm not going to work, that's for sure.

On the one hand, by black belt, you really should know that a promoting instructor with anything less than 2:nd degree BB won't result in a universally recognized BB for you in the BJJ community. Knowing that, you should also know what you're putting yourself up to when asking for verifications by joining Beltchecker and making your profile voteable by filling in the promotion history.

On the other hand, I agree with you that it's mendable, with a 2:nd degree or higher at the time of the promotion not just "signing off" or "approving" but (even if retroactively) stepping in as the actual promoting instructor. As long as it's clear that there was a connection between them and the promoted at the time of the promotion and preferably also for some time leading up to it (can be shown by old together-with-pics). E.g. the promoting instructor of the <2:nd degree BB who first tried to hand out the promotion.

Those promoted years ago and without any (then) 2:nd degree or higher that could step in, they have themselves to blame for not having done their due diligence before the promotion. Same is they had done their due diligence but put their head in the sand, ignoring their findings or being awkward about not accepting the BB from their long term teacher. So if they're really BB material, there really shouldn't be the need for anyone else to point out that they should have their BB date (and the time based degrees following) moved forward counting from when they actually had a 2:nd degree supervising their development and agreeing to be their promoting instructor.

I think it was about two years ago that we had that bloke who learned that his promoting instructor had lied about being a Carlson Gracie BB but still wouldn't move up his degrees to a date 2-3 years later, when he actually had a legit BB who was willing to stand for giving him his BB. He preferred to leave Beltchecker altogether.

Remco had better luck, claiming and getting verified on a 1996(!) BB from Fernando Yamasaki (who has denied it), even though there's video of Remco competing in BJJ as a purple belt almost a decade later. Though he took the route of first humbly claiming just a no degree BB, which was widely accepted without looking closer at the claimed year, and only when the voting points had amassed then claimed a full number of stripes based on time. Still today having less down vote points than you get from frequently down voting those lacking evidence or claiming BB from a <2:nd degree BB.

We also have those who (themselves or their promoting instructor) have not made sure to document their BB promotion, ensuring they have future evidence, and then having a falling out with their promoting instructor. Sorry to say, but those are from an outside evidence point of view indistinguishable from those not having been promoted to the degree at all and have themselves to blame, just as those not promoted by a legit BB with high enough degree. Although I have on several occasions put more effort into trying to find evidence than they themselves have. E.g. very recently, I managed to use Wayback machine to find an earlier version of Royce Gracie's list of who he has promoted to BB, showing names that have now been removed. Thus being able to verify the claimed lineage. Won't be able to continue helping out as much, so I hope others in the Beltchecker community step up as well instead of just up voting blindly.