[quote=@Shienvien]
[quote]an optional rating system[/quote] As long as there is no button for me to hide those fields on my profile so that neither I myself nor any other user can see them, it is [i][b]NOT[/b][/i] optional. It is very much completely obligatory. It was thrown at us without warning, it takes up more than half of the general info section of our profiles, and there is [i]no way [/i] for us to opt out of that.

Not having any popularity systems (and that's what it [i]inevitably[/i] is and will always be, as such is human nature) was one of the things I honestly used to like about RPG... I kind of doubt it would be completely purged (which I'd personally prefer) now that it has been regrettably already been implemented, but I'd [b][i]minimally[/i][/b] necessitate a way for users to hide the statistics panel on their [i]profiles[/i] from anyone's viewing. 

If no one else makes it an option before, I might do so myself, should I find the time.

Edit: Tags still eat spaces. Words still get randomly glued together due to that.
[/quote]

I also agree with this.