The monthly top highlights the members who keep the settings database alive. Every month starts from scratch: only points earned since the first day of the current month count, which gives a newcomer a fair shot against a long-standing contributor.
Three actions move you up. Publishing a complete setting — machine, source, material, thickness, power, speed, number of passes — earns the most points, because that is what makes the site useful. Confirming another member's setting after actually testing it also earns points: that cross-confirmation is what separates a value tried by three workshops from a number copied at random. Finally, answering a catalogue request — a missing machine, source or material — helps fill the gaps in the database.
The podium and the photo of the month are then decided by community votes: one vote per member per month, changeable until the month closes. Winning pieces join the Hall of Fame and their author can download a keepsake certificate to hang in the workshop or share online.
A setting disputed by several members is pulled from the count while it is checked: a smaller trustworthy database beats a ranking inflated with rough values. The final review stays manual, so the race for points never degrades the quality of what you find here.
Just getting started? The simplest move is to publish the settings you already use every day on your own machine, even the ones that feel obvious: that is exactly what another maker looks for before their first cut on the same material.
The scoring is deliberately readable: one complete, confirmed setting is worth more than a dozen half-filled cards, a confirmation is worth more than a comment, and voting earns nothing. In practice, a workshop that publishes three solid settings in a month often lands in the top ten without spending its evenings here.
The ranking is not only symbolic. Podium members get a badge shown on their profile and on every setting they publish, which helps a visitor decide which value to try first when two cards disagree about the same machine and the same material.
When the month closes the counters reset, but the history stays: winning pieces remain in the Hall of Fame, and published settings keep serving people months later, including for machines that are no longer sold. That is where the ranking really pays off: it rewards what stays useful, not mere activity.