I've been reading through the FAQ and I think I've found a significant loophole in your verification policy, and I'd like the community's input on this.

According to your system:

If I'm promoted by an instructor as a black belt to my next degree, my profile needs reverification
If I self-update my black belt degree based on time served, no reverification is required
Only colored belt degrees require reverification

So the question is: once someone is initially verified as a black belt, can they update their degree indefinitely based on time served? And if so, what happens when they reach the top of the black belt degrees—can they then move to coral belt or red belt without verification?

This creates a scenario where someone could theoretically work their way up through higher degrees and into coral/red belts with only the initial black belt verification, never needing to verify higher ranks after that.

Your stated mission is to validate ranks from legitimate lineage. But this system seems to allow self-promotion through degrees without ongoing verification.

Can the Belt Checker team clarify: Is there a verification requirement when moving between belts (black to coral, coral to red), or does the initial black belt certification cover you indefinitely?

Since this is a decentralized, community-based program, I'll go ahead and consider myself part of the "team" and answer your questions from my point of view:

1) once someone is initially verified as a black belt, can they update their degree indefinitely based on time served?
- Yes.

2) And if so, what happens when they reach the top of the black belt degrees—can they then move to coral belt or red belt without verification?
- Yes, why not? Coral belt is just a fancy black belt, imo, and progression to attaining it is strictly time-based.

3) Is there a verification requirement when moving between belts (black to coral, coral to red), or does the initial black belt certification cover you indefinitely?
- I suppose I just answered this on #2, but, yes, progressing from regular black belt to fancy black belt follows the same, time-based protocol. Kind of like little kids' belts.

FWIW, I can do the exact same thing in IBJJF, SJJIF, etc. if I pay them enough money and jump through all the hoops. Here it's free.

If you don't agree with it, you are more than welcome to downvote anybody's profile based on any beliefs you have about how ranking should be. I'm not sure if anyone on here has progressed to coral belt via "time served" here on beltchecker, but you could totally go and downvote that person if you don't think they should be doing that.

Bobby answered it perfectly. Black belt degrees are purely based on time served and this platform can verify better than anyone/anything else exactly how long you've been a black belt. So that's by design, not a loophole.

In case you're being promoted to X black belt by someone, it must be community verified to ensure that the information about the promoting instructor, date and location is correct.

Thank you for the thoughtful responses, Bobby and Christian—I appreciate the transparency and the decentralized spirit of BeltChecker. It's clear a lot of care goes into building a community-driven tool like this, and the free access is a huge plus compared to the fees at orgs like IBJJF or SJJIF.

That said, I respectfully disagree on framing black belt degrees (and especially progression to coral/red belts) as purely time-based in a way that allows indefinite self-updates without reverification.

If I get promoted legitimately by my 5th-degree instructor—with photos, a signed certificate, and public acknowledgment—I still have to go through full community reverification on BeltChecker. But if I just click your "upgrade" button after enough time has passed, I'm all good to go, no questions asked. That double standard undermines the very legitimacy you're trying to protect.

While time served is a foundational requirement under IBJJF rules, their system explicitly requires more: an application process with instructor endorsement from a certified 2nd-degree (or higher) black belt in good standing, plus documented "proven activity" (e.g., teaching, competing, or academy involvement). Lineage traceability is baked in to ensure the promotion chain holds up—it's not just a timer ticking away.

Self-updating skips that oversight entirely, which could erode the trust you're aiming to build.

For coral and red belts specifically, these aren't "fancy black belts" in the same casual sense; they're reserved honors (7th–10th degrees) that IBJJF treats with even stricter scrutiny due to their rarity and historical significance. The Gracie family and core pioneers hold most of them, and promotions there demand not just decades of time but verifiable contributions to the art.

Allowing unchecked self-progression to these levels risks turning BeltChecker into a vector for the exact McDojo scenarios we're all trying to avoid—think self-proclaimed "masters" inflating ranks without external validation, à la Master Ken or those viral "10th dan" memes.

I'm all for downvoting as a community check, but that's reactive and subjective; it puts the onus on vigilant users rather than proactive safeguards.

Why not evolve the policy to require reverification (e.g., instructor-signed docs or community consensus) for every 2–3 degrees or when crossing into coral/red territory? That keeps the low-friction time-based updates for standard black belt stripes while protecting the higher echelons. It aligns better with your mission of validating legitimate lineage without the full IBJJF hoop-jumping.

Curious about your take— I'd love to hear more on balancing accessibility with integrity. Keep up the great work!

IBJJF will promote your black belt degrees purely based on time served. As long as you are a member of their organization, they will upgrade your rank every X years you've paid with no other requirements what so ever. They've confirmed that with me by email, but perhaps they changed it in the last few years?

I am not sure I have more arguments than what have already been laid out. If enough people disagree with promotions based on time only, they can use their voting power to make those impossible. Start a movement and see if you can get more people on board with it, by all means! That's what the platform was built for; to have those debates and find out what the general consensus on promotion standards is.

That's an awful lot of em-dashes btw, I might downvote your profile for actually just being a robot posting in the forum 😂

Here are the options for "staying active" in the IBJJF according to their most recent edition of the IBJJF Graduation System (article 4.2):

"The year(s) an athlete completes any of the activities listed below will be counted towards the degree certification.

1) Active membership: Maintaining active membership through the year(s).
2) Academy registration under IBJJF: listed as a Head Professor or Additional Professor.
3) Approving students: Professors who regularly approve athletes’ membership requests under IBJJF through the year(s).
4) Black Belt/Degree Certification previously granted by IBJJF.
5) Titles won by the athlete in an IBJJF championship
6) IBJJF Referee Training Program Certificate and Rules Course Certificate, both granted by IBJJF.
7) As long as the applicant is recognized by the IBJJF as an athlete or teacher of significant importance in the development of
Jiu-Jitsu, or if they have made substantial contributions to the legacy of the sport during their career.

The year(s) an athlete does not complete any of the activities listed in Article 4.2.1 will not be counted towards the degree
certification."

You'll notice that all of these options involve the IBJJF getting paid for something.

To contrast beltchecker.com with the IBJJF, the IBJJF is basically saying, "you must have the minimum time in grade, and you must pay us", whereas those of us on betchecker.com are saying, "you must have the minimum time in grade".

I think it's hard to argue that the IBJJF somehow has higher standards when, according to article 4.2.1(i) of their rulebook, you can continue to "stay active" simply by keeping your membership current with their organization. You can literally just sit on your ass and do nothing, teach nothing to anybody or even interact with another human being so long as you keep your membership active on the computer.

If you keep doing this for the requisite amount of time, you can attain coral belt and even red belt.

Reference:
https://website-ibjjf-pro[...]f829d056b0

On the IBJJF website there are 57 seventh degree athletes listed. Renzo and Royce Gracie are NOT listed on there. Most people outside of Brazil train BJJ because of Royce Gracie whether directly or indirectly. And Renzo Gracie is probably more responsible for the current top American No-Gi players than anyone else.

There are 33 eighth degree black belts listed. Rigan Machado is NOT listed. Rigan Machado is a LEGEND of the sport.

9th degree has 22 people listed and Rorion Gracie is not listed there. Without Rorion Gracie there is no UFC. Without the UFC there is no worldwide attention on BJJ.

The IBJJF isn't that concerned with identifying who was important to the growth of BJJ if it doesn't match up with their politics. Crowd sourcing for verification has it's problems, of course. But it should, in theory, overcome the types of problems that occur when you have a smaller pool of people validating.

This is the key. You pay your money long enough and they will recognize you as anything you want. It wouldn't surprise me if this is why they continue to list minimum time in grade for promotion. The longer it takes you to promote the more money they get paid to acknowledge that promotion.

I'm pretty sure all these guys could get certified fairly easily under article 4.2 (#7). They'd still have to pay up though. Also worth noting that all these guys are Helio guys, with the exception of Rigan. That might have something to do with it as well. But, just like beltchecker, you have to set up a profile and all that, or else you're not going to be listed.

Christian, Bobby, everyone,

I need to clarify my concern, because the FAQ and your responses don't align.

Let me quote the very first thing I wrote in this thread (which nobody has actually disputed):

• If I am promoted by my instructor to my next degree: My profile needs full community reverification.
• If I self-update (by clicking a button) my degree based on time served: No reverification is required.

Your FAQ explicitly states: "The system allows certification of degrees for verified black belts once due time is served and as long as the community agrees by voting to approve it."

It also lists four requirements for black belt degree certification:

• Time served as black belt
• Full ID and photo verification
• Full promotion history
• Enough votes from verified community to confirm your profile and promotion history is trustworthy (1000 points required)

But your responses in this thread state:

• Bobby: "Yes" to indefinite self-updates based on time served
• Christian: "Black belt degrees are purely based on time served... So that's by design, not a loophole."

Here's the problem: A self-timed self-upgrade adds a brand-new line to the promotion history that has never had a single piece of evidence uploaded and has never received a single community vote.

That means the moment anyone uses the timer button, the profile instantly and permanently violates two of the four bullet points you yourselves wrote as mandatory:

1. No evidence in the "full promotion history" for that degree
2. Zero community votes confirming that promotion is trustworthy

So which is it?

Option 1: Does the community need to actively vote to approve each time-based degree update (as the FAQ states)?

Option 2: Do time-based degree updates happen automatically without community voting once you're initially verified as a black belt (as your responses suggest)?

If it's Option 1, then I misunderstood the system and I apologize - problem solved.

If it's Option 2, then the FAQ is misleading, and the only way to make the site obey its own rules is to require the same evidence + community vote for every degree increase, no exceptions, no special "timer bypass."

Can you confirm which interpretation is correct?

Respect and thanks for the work you do,

Dalan

Option 2 is correct. You are just reading the FAQ "wrong": It doesn't say "For that degree" or "for that promotion". Time based promotion just requires your promotion history + active community verification + time served.

We could maybe reword the FAQ so it's even more clear, but I'm honestly not sure that's totally necessary here 🤷🏼‍♂️

I wouldn't consider them "self-updates", but rather "community updates", based on community standards. If community standards change at any point, I will have to comply.