I was thinking about XP and levels earlier today and wondering... have XP and levels changed to relative to the increase in users? I mean, I'm all for leveling and would like to reach a higher level sooner, but by having more users on the site, doesn't that "bloat" my XP in comparison to the XP required to go up levels?

With a smaller user base it would have been harder to reach the higher levels, and would have taken more writeups... No offense, but I wrote 4 articles and reached level 4... of 10. I would like to reach Saint as soon as possible, and I'm sure there are many others out there who feel the same way. But at the same time, I would like this accomplishment to mean something. If we have so many users that those posting can quickly become saints... what's the use of being a saint?

Also, the breakdown of users by level shows a majority of the users at level 1, with bubbles at 5 and 10. I find it somewhat interesting that there are more level 10 users then level 9 users.

Has this been considered on PM before? By adjusting up the XP required to get to the next levels, it would make level 10 be something that only a few people obtain. Or, since the Catholic church requires a saint to perform a miracle, how about only making users who meet the XP requirement and have some sort of "miracle" or contribution to PM be a saint. Possible ideas I have are: a node with a rep over X (implying that this node has had great impact on a large number of people), some sort of site changes (re-org-ing the FAQ, writing some script to do X, etc..) or perhaps an ordination from the gods?

Lastly, how about a -1 level for those with neg XP? Or would that be uncalled for?
--
Ben
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart."