Originally map ranking was used to signify whether a map was balanced or not. The ability for authors to unrank their map was given to be a way for authors to unrank a map if it was later found to be unbalanced due to bad terrain or bugs.
@espiranto said in On the upcoming removal of a map uploaders power to 'unrank' a map:
Is that an GAP hype with off rating or what? xd
That discussion did inspire this discussion: before this change the author of a map was able to leverage the rating system to force players to play on a specific version of a map. That was never the intent of said functionality and in my opinion it conflicts with the longevity of the project as a whole.
A more proper word usage would be to consider a map balanced
or unbalanced
, as Balthazar states. That is something the author can fill in when he uploads said map: at that point he / she considers it balanced or not. That map remains balanced until it is (objectively) proven that it is not balanced. At that point the vault team can unbalance (unrank) it accordingly.
To re-iterate what Balthazar said: you are still free to hide your map.