I am curious to know how RD is calculated and if there is any way I can quickly/efficiently lower mine. Following the merger between chess.com and FB chess, it appears that my FB chess RD (from an almost completely inactive account) has been taken for the combined RD, leading to extreme rating volatility where I spent a while bouncing 100 points in either direction after every game. Even now, my RD is listed as 93, which (assuming chess.com's idea of RD is similar to the one on FICS) lists me as an inactive player, leading to very exaggerated ratings changes.

Just play as normal to bring your RD to its usual number. A new or inactive player has an RD of 350.

Help entry

Edit 2012 01 21 -  http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/16/0/how-do-ratings-work

I have seen the "RD" value on my stats page ... what is it ?   Is it important ? Mine is currently at 108.

BTW, Good luck in the Scotch Game Tournament !  Cheers.

The more you play, the lower your RD gets, so you don't have great swings in your rating.