Why this page
A marketplace only works if you can trust what it shows you. This page explains the machinery: how search results are ordered, what a subscription buys, how badges are earned, who moderates and how. No secret sauce — what is written here is what the code does.
How the smithmagus directory is ranked
The smithmagus search offers two orders: relevance (the default) and newest profiles. Whichever you pick, smithmaguses with an active premium subscription are grouped ahead of the rest; within each group, profiles are ranked from newest to oldest.
Nothing else moves a profile up or down. Ratings, response times and job counts are displayed on the results so you can judge for yourself — but they do not change the order today.
Filters (server, specialties, Super Smithmagus only, 4 stars and more) only narrow the list. They never reorder it.
How the maging request feed is ordered
On the smithmagus side, the request feed offers three orders: publication date (newest first, the default), highest budget and lowest budget. Whichever order you pick, requests posted by members with an active premium subscription are grouped ahead of the rest; within each group, the order you chose applies as usual.
Badges and statuses
The premium badge means one thing: this user pays for a subscription. It is a visibility feature, not a quality judgment.
The Super Smithmagus badge is earned, never bought. It requires an average rating of at least 4.5, the signed community charter, and points collected by completing your profile (200 points) and finishing jobs (at least 100 points each, with loyalty bonuses). Three tiers exist: 7,500, 15,000 and 30,000 points.
The presence dot means the user is connected right now. It comes from live activity, not from a setting.
How moderation decides
Moderation is human. There is no algorithm silently hiding profiles or requests; when content is removed, someone decided it, for a reason taken from the terms of use.
The ladder is proportionate: content removal, warning, suspension, deletion. Fraud, scams and real-money trading go straight to deletion. The rules are the same for everyone, premium or not.
Where the numbers come from
Every number on the site is computed from real activity. Response times come from actual reply delays in conversations. Jobs done are completed requests. Ratings are the plain average of real reviews.
The public counters on our marketing pages are real database counts, rounded down to an honest landmark — never up. When we have no data, we show nothing rather than a made-up number.