TTLB rankings mystery

Though I noticed that traffic was down a bit for the last couple of days, The Truth Laid Bear has decided to stop giving me the bird ... now I'm an Adorable Little Rodent. If you drop the qualifier "Adorable," I've been called that many times in the past.

Here is the real mystery of TTLB for me. I understand that the rankings go by unique links, and I understand that the community rankings go by links within the community ... but The Academy TTLB Community has a weird dynamic in opposition to the main ecosystem.

First, let me clarify that I am not complaining. The Academy only has about two dozen members, and I got in way back in my amphibious days when the Wordhoard was brand new. No doubt I was invited primarily out of the professional courtesy of Dr. Taylor over at Poliblog, since we're at the same institution. My goal here is not to dominate that community -- indeed, I'll be happy just so long as I don't embarrass it. I'm lucky to be in it.

But the dynamic is odd. Except for one time when I cyber-wept for being last in the community, and the community responded by pity-linking to me, as my main ecosystem ranking rises, my community ranking falls. After I made "Flappy Bird," I was consistently third from the bottom. Now that I'm a Rodent, I'm in the penultimate position ... a place I haven't been for a long time.

Perhaps my posts simply aren't as academic any more, and as I get links outside of the community, I lose them within the community. Maybe they didn't like my post on ID. Or Tolkien. Or something else. Who knows?

And now for a confession: Though I have said in the past I didn't care what my ranking was, I discovered that I didn't like being a reptile. It seemed too sinister. The whole time I was a reptile, I was hoping either to rise to Flappy Bird or drop to Crawly Amphibian. Though rodent might not sound a lot better, at least I am "adorable."