USCF Floors - When I see people who are "stuck" on their lower floors...

Why is this a good thing??
I see people like this and they are constantly stuck on their floors.  A huge list of tourneys where its 1500  >> 1500, 1500  >> 1500, 1500  >> 1500, 1500  >> 1500, , etc, for eternity.

Seems very strange... What was the original point of this?  Is it really still valid?  Seems like negatives outweigh the positives but I am maybe missing something?

what in the world?

wait what?

😂

Yeah I find this really weird, I hope someone can explain why this is.

it's a positive to have and a good thing and shouldn't be gone. you get people who get old or don't play often after a while and when they do they still have the potential to play good but aren't necessarily at their best consistently, yet can play extremely powerful sometimes. and you don't want them being able to play in a lower section or being worth less than what they potentially can play at.

I believe it keeps people from sandbagging their rating intentionally to win przes.

Aaaah, gotcha... very interesting.

People aren't always stuck on their floors because they are performing below the floor. A friend moved to a new city and new club a year ago. Before that he was stuck at his floor for years. Sometimes getting 30 points above then falling back down. After a year at a new club which requires the use of clocks, he has increased his rating by a little over 100 rating points. It is not that once they get old they can't improve. They just need a change that forces them to work on their weaknesses.

Once you hit the USCF-rating of 1400 you get your first floor: 1200. From then on you keep getting floors once you hit under 100's place; ex. (1550 = 1300 floor, 1605 = 1400 floor, 1999 = 1700 floor, etc.) But yeah, I'm pretty sure it's just so people don't sandbag..

I am an older player (but not yet a senior!) who has been stuck near his 2200 floor since 2019. I refuse to make myself eligible for expert sections, at least for now. Call it a matter of pride. Still I occasionally lift my rating above the floor, only to drop back down. By the way, I have won two substantial money prizes already this year, in addition to one brilliancy prize. I can still play this game, floored or not!

Another substantial point to consider if you didn't know floors help fight the deflationary nature of the ELO (or in this case Glicko 2) rating system. new players enter at a substantially lower rating than the top players and essentially in order for the best players to achieve a higher rating they have to "take" the elo from those lower players. meaning that the more players that enter the scene the stronger the pull toward the entry rating. a rating floor allows rating to be "added" to the system as a whole, thus preventing top players from losing rating over time just because more players come to the scene. as a matter of fact this bears out in practice too. When there was the massive surge of new players to chess during the height of the pandemic many top players found it increasingly difficult to maintain their super high ratings (because some percentage of the new talent to chess is going to be GM material). 
To summarize rating floors 
1.Help prevent sandbagging
2.Retain the dignity of the players that achieve them by acknowledging they still know a lot about chess even though they are no longer at their prime. 
3. prevent the best players rating from slowly dropping outside of their control (because draws become more and more painful the more new players are introduced to the system because in a draw the lower rated player essentially takes rating from the higher rated player.)

4. helps reduce the amount of people stuck at or around entry rating.

thanks so much everyone very interesting to learn

My floor is 1700. I hope to stay over 1800 until I’m 70 in a few short years. Then, the floor will protect those above me from giving up too large of an upset when I have an occasional good day.

this system works just like the economy: chess players are getting better even if their rating stays the same, cause its just overall improvement from everyone. When a floored player doesn't do well, they give rating points to others without losing rating themselves, which introduces free rating into the "economy". Think of it like the money printer. I call this "rating inflation", but just like in the real world, a bit of inflation is necessary to keep the economy going. So thank the floored players that we still have this game, or else everyone would be hoarding their rating points forever.

I was in the 1500's USCF for quite a while. I don't think I've gotten worse, but others have bypassed me, improving much more than I have. So I've been pushed down to my floor of 1300. It's discouraging, but at 73...

There is also deflation in the base Elo system. The base system is zero sum, thus players that start tournaments too early getting low ratings will take points away from others as their rating climbs. Yet, to total points in the base system stays the same: zero sum. Inflationary methods are needed to balance it.

For instance, if a 1450 eventually dropped below 1200, where the floor didn't exist, they would be playing in a lower section which would make it easier for them to get prizes. It's almost like a fair play measure.

@nandhangummi True, but then the question comes up: Why has the player dropped so low? Which rating (1200 or 1450) truly reflects the player's ability and knowledge NOW? For example. I may occasionally play a decent game, reflecting my former (approximate) 1600 rating, but more often than not I'm playing BELOW the 1300 floor that USCF now rates me at. :-(

Sometimes ratings drop due to illness then when that is over or they learn to handle it, the rating returns up. Auto assuming that ratings only go down due to long term skill drops is a flaw.

I didnt read every comment, so maybe someone said this, but you can also request to have your floor removed or lowered, I believe.