Ok, so a friend and I have been working on a little project the past few weeks. It is an automated ranking of Twitter users. I leaked the secret url to the rank list and ended up with a few responses that made it clear this explanation was needed. So here are the top ten things you should know about Mark’s automated Twitter chart. You can find the chart by clicking HERE.

While we are working out the bugs, this will be the FAQ of sorts. If this doesn’t answer all your questions, please let me know. This project is as much yours as it is the two guys creating it.

10. The site tracks how often an account tweets the hashtag #metal but only within the last week. The reason it only cares about how often you have talked about metal within the last week is so that users who move on from Twitter will drop from the chart. It will also prune people from the chart that just ‘gamed’ their way to the chart.

9. There is no need to ask me to put you on the list. It is automated. Just start tweeting with #metal and it will add you automatically.

8. I know that this may not be the best way to rank metalheads on Twitter. At some point I may perfect this.

7. No I did not do this alone. I suck at code too much to ever pull something like this off. The concept was mine and I am in charge of most of the design. Code is done by @meltedmatch He’s not a metalhead though. Just a friend trying to help me out.

6. Have I mentioned that the list is 100% automated?

5. This is a work in progress. Please be patient. It will be way less ugly when we are done.

4. Feel free to spread the list around, but the url will change when it is out of beta (finished).

3. This program is new and unfinished. It still has some bugs in it we are trying to work out. So the algorithm is not doing exactly what we want yet. When we are finished the point system will make more sense. For example, the score currently gives people more than one point per #metal tag. We are working on fixing that and making it only give one point per #metal hash tag.

2. No I will not make it track several hashtags. Just keep it simple. Always use #metal

1. If an artist uses the term indie to describe their music, please shoot them. I know it has nothing to do with this chart. I just REALLY hate the term “indie”.

No, none of these were meant as insults at any Twitter user. Those who had questions had good questions. Those good questions made me realize I should make this list. If this top ten list doesn’t explain something, let me know. I’m really a nice guy. I only bitch slap stupid people.

Find the chart at http://markcarras.com/twitter/rank.php

Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MarkCarras