I think I understand that game you're talking about, but I'd never heard of anyone playing it in order to rank high on the list here.  Is anyone actually doing that?

And hey, 3rd place is not too shabby at all, my man.  If you consider how many members there are (not even including merit sources), 3rd place is amazing.  And hell, I'm happy to see myself at 25th place this time around.  I've really been trying to spread out the merits far and wide--and I don't aspire to anything higher on the list.  I'd be happy to stay right where I'm at, because it means there are 24 members above me who are taking their job even more seriously than I am, which is a great thing for the merit system.