Why I Don't Judge People's Llama Stats

I know there are other groups that take stats largely into account. I won't point any fingers. I respect that their values differ from mine.

I personally find that nickpicking and judging people's llama badge stats (given versus received ratio) to be extremely pointless. deviantART does not make it easy to find what a person's stats mean. Someone could give out 10,000 badges, but not return the ones they are given.

By passing judgement on a user (of any kind) for not meeting a give quota, you're most likely discouraging them from entering the llama community. That's why my group is so laid back. I want to make it easy for anyone to enter and give/get llamas without barring their entry. You don't even have to join this group to participate in it.

If someone has a ton of llamas given, they are usually marked as "safe" indefinitely. This isn't a measure of whether the user is still activing giving or trading. It just means they were interested in llamas for at least a little while. With deviantART's limited way of showcasing our llama data, we really can't tell who's trading, only giving.

Anyone who knows how to get more llamas knows that you have to give to a ton of people to get any back. It's way more efficient to just give to everybody on an active list (dADroid-bot's replies for example) rather than look for who has the best stats. Llamas for everyone makes more sense, because it will get you more llamas and pageviews. You gotta put in the effort to get a return.

Giving llamas to everyone doesn't take long when you have the One Click Llama Button and its Helper Tool. Once you're caught up, giving is even quicker.

I can understand that some people value stats because those people could be considered as more deserving of a llama, because you'll get one back, making the time giving a llama worthwhile. However, anyone on dA can lie about being a llama trader. I don't think you should, but stopping you would be as pointless as fussing over stats.

Everyone has different opinions, llama goals, and personal rules for giving. It's part of what makes discussion so fun!

If there were some way to crunch the numbers for llama badge stats, I would love to have a separate journal feature just for those active trading/giving a lot. People who put in the effort deserve praise. There are a lot of improvements/new features I would add if only I knew how to code. Hoping to learn someday.