How the Player Score works.

Two numbers, never one

A paddle page shows two scores side by side. Nico's score is one person's verdict after hours on court, written up in a full review. The Player Score is the members' verdict: people who own the paddle and rated it on the same 10-point scale. The two are never averaged together. When they disagree by two points or more, the page says so.

What a rating is

• A member rates a paddle line (for example, Six Zero Coral Pro), and records which variant they played (Hybrid, Elongated, Widebody).
• Five scores, each from 1.0 to 10.0 in half steps: Overall, Power, Pop, Control, Spin.
• Hours played, required. It is self-reported and it is shown next to the rating.
• Optional written notes.
• One rating per member per line. Members can edit theirs at any time; the latest version is the one that counts.

What counts toward the Player Score

• Only the Overall score feeds the Player Score. Power, Pop, Control and Spin are shown as plain averages beside it.
• Nico's own ratings are excluded. His opinion already has its own number.
• Ratings by a declared brand ambassador of that brand count like any other and carry a badge, so readers can weigh them. Undeclared ambassador ratings are removed.
• Ratings hidden by moderation (see the guidelines) do not count while hidden. If they are restored, they count again.
• There is no verified-purchase requirement in this phase. A rating counts the same whether or not we can prove ownership. That will change; when it does, this page will say how.

The 5-rating gate

A line shows no Player Score until 5 members have rated it. Below that, the page shows the count (“3 of 5”) and the individual ratings. Two or three opinions are not a community verdict, and a number that early is easy to game.

The math

The Player Score is a shrunk average, not a plain one. With n ratings whose Overall scores sum to S, and a site-wide mean m:

Player Score = (S + 5 × m) ÷ (n + 5)

In words: every line starts with 5 imaginary ratings at the site-wide average, and real ratings pull it away from there. Five members giving a paddle 10.0 does not produce a 10.0; it produces a number that says “very high, but only five people so far.” As ratings pile up, the imaginary ones matter less and the score converges on the plain average. The site-wide mean m is the average Overall across every published rating on the site, recalculated continuously, with 7.0 used until there are at least 25 published ratings site-wide. Scores are rounded to one decimal.

What is shown with the score

• The count of ratings, everywhere the score appears.
• A histogram of Overall scores, so a split crowd looks different from a unanimous one.
• Averages for Power, Pop, Control and Spin.
• How many members have the paddle in their bag, by slot: main, backup, retired, want to try.

The bag and the ranked list

A member's bag records what they own: one main paddle, any number of backups, retired paddles, and a want-to-try list. The bag counts on a paddle page come straight from those slots. A member's ranked list is built from their ratings plus head-to-head answers (“which would you rather play?”). Those answers order the member's own list and never change any score.

Publishing and removal

Ratings publish the moment they are saved. A written rating is hidden if an automated screen finds a link, contact details, promotional language, a slur, or obvious spam; Nico reads it and publishes or removes it. Any member can report a rating. Ratings are removed only for breaking the guidelines, never for being negative, never at a brand's request. Removal decisions are logged.

What is not in place yet

• Verified ownership. Planned; not built.
• A “last 90 days” view of the score for paddles with many ratings.
• Automatic holds when a paddle gets an unusual burst of ratings. Until that exists, Nico watches the queue by hand.

Questions about a specific number: nicothelefty@gmail.com.