I recently noticed, we have a ton of posts ranting about the rating system.

Either I missed out on the other compos, or people suddenly started disliking it?

Why now? I’ve been here for almost 6 compos now, and I very rarely heard someone complain about the rating system. Ludum Dare isn’t about winning after all! So, basically if we go for actual LD-esque rating there would be only one solution:

We disable the ratings altogether, and people just give their opinions in the comments.

If it would work like this, we have the basics of LD summed up in the rating. I quote Mike (PoV) here now:

“Our (Ludum Dare’s) role is to start something, to plant the seed of that next great indie game..”
- Mike Kasprzak, Ludum Dare 18 Keynote

And comments are perfect feedback for that:

• You can point out what’s good and what’s bad.
• You can make suggestions on what to change or add.
• You can point out any bug that’s in the game.

Thus, I conclude: Rather than changing the rating system, you could just disable it. People get their feedback in the comments, and there is no prize for winning anyway.

Now, let the flaming, which points in my general direction, begin.