now that class is over, an explanation of my previous post
1000 favorites for loved
a kudosu counts as 5 favorites
a single person can shoot only 10-15 kudosu at a map. they can shoot more but anything over 15 won't count towards the 1000.
numbers can be adjusted, the general idea is that a kudosu is like a more heavily weighted favorite and you can't have one or two people carrying the map to loved status via kudosu
if you generalize the entire community as "the community" then mappers and modders and like-minded people will be mostly excluded. this became very apparent when loved was first implemented and the voting system turned the loved category into generic jump map category. which, yes, is true to the name "loved," but do we really fucking want that? i dont, you dont, and if you do want that, you shouldn't. there are too many amazing maps rotting away in the graveyard because it's too hard or even impossible to rank them. they deserve a scoreboard.
in my opinion, the loved category should be a category that can represent the vast stores of unranked maps. in other words, the loved category should have a broad variety of maps. generic, bland or even shitty maps should definitely have a place in loved as long as they are popular, since there are plenty of those in the graveyard. we'll call these category 1 maps.
there should also be maps that people more knowledgeable about mapping can appreciate; these, we will call category 2 maps. the number of people who vie for category 2 is a lot less than the number of people who vie for category 1 (as evidenced by the voting system), but it's complete idiocy to discount these people and call them circlejerkers and throw them under the bus. they make the maps for you to play and they know more about mapping than the community, give them some goddamn time in the sun. not all of it, just some of it.
these two categories are broad generalizations and not mutually exclusive but i think that they have enough truth in them, for our purposes. previously, category 2 maps were being mostly excluded because community voting was heavily skewed towards category 1 maps. currently category 1 maps are being excluded because of the 100SP requirement. generally, a mapper/modder is not going to throw their stars at Blue Stahli - Anti You.
really, the idea of combining favorites and star priority into one system i mentioned before should solve both of them. do mappers think a certain map is shit, but it's a famous, heavily played map that brings joy to many players? no problem, just toss all your favorites at it. is the map an obscure masterpiece that no pp farmer would even touch but that mappers adore? no problem, throw your SP at it. to prevent a single person or two from carrying a map to loved, make it so that only up to 15 of their stars will count.
regarding mappers using the loved category as an alternate ranking system... just make it more difficult to get a map loved. make the loved requirement 3000 points if you have to. loved maps are meant to be like wine, they get better as they age. eventually it grows in fame and reputation and is played more and more, circulating through multiplayer lobbies, to the point where it's not a map that was submitted one week and thrust into loved section the next, it's a well-known map that people actually, genuinely like. nobody is going to artificially vault it into the loved category because the 3000 point requirement is too discouraging. the only way for it to be in the loved category is if players or mappers or both all known and love the map, and at that point it'll take its place in the loved category.
also making it so that only unrankable maps can be loved is just stupid. that's so subjective. what is unrankable and what is rankable? there's no clear delineation, there's an enormous gray area in between. pretty much any map, with thorough modding, can be ranked. are only 2b maps and 10* jump maps going to be loved? that's a silly restriction. if it's loved, it's loved, and it can go into the loved category where it belongs.