I think we can agree that ELO is intended to be a ranking that displays relative skill in a given area. And that things which aren't a demonstration of skill shouldn't be a factor in one's ELO ranking.
As mentioned in another thread, debates with no votes (and, in my opinion, full-forfeit debates), aren't really measures of how well a person debated.
In the first case, no one actually weighed in (by voting) to judge either side's debate skill (in contrast to a debate where people did vote and it still resulted in a tie) and in the second case, the other debater never presented a case, so there was nothing to judge the debate against.
Mike is looking for discussion and feedback on the idea of changing the ELO ranking so it does not factor in debates like these and basically treats them as if it never happened. Coding-wise, I doubt this would be retroactive.
1. Should the above debate scenarios (no vote ties; full forfeits) be included in ELO ranking?
2. Are there other scenarios that warrant ELO exemption?
