WhiteTower: in the past we had separate boards for each backgammon type (for every gane type) .... when a user posted a message the rating of that user was shown next to his/her name ... this could be used as an indication of the knowledge (although the rating doesnt have to 100% accurate)
when the boards were combined to have 1 board per main game type i suggested to show the average rating for the all the game types for which the board was dedicated ... i think fencer wasnt against it .. but appearently neither strongly favored it (as it isnt there yet ;))
i would love such a average rating per main game type
but what would you do with the average rating of players who dont play all subtypes ? like playbunny who only plays normal and hyper backgammon
alanback: i have a bit more problems with nackgammon than with backgammon ... i also tend to have more problems with crowded backgammon than with race backgammon .. but i agree they are somewhat similar.
i do like the average rating over all games of this site (as long as you have more than 11 established ratings) which you can see on the statistics page. its an indication of someones general game knowledge (although it doesnt mean much when someone concentrates on just a few game types .. like me .. i wouldnt want to add many chesslike games to established average :))