Do ratings matter to you?

Of course! But not more than improving and playing well. High ratings are only important in as much as they reflect the growth and quality in one's game. Otherwise they are meaningless.

Yes and No.
I dont care if i lose points here and there, but its a good way to measure your progress.

Well they dont in casual
U dont lose points

basically I dont understand ratings. chess.com I've high rating here low I mean a difference of 500 points. However i'm in the same percentile on both sites. Why not trash ratings altogether. It's something very very old. Looks to me that percentile is ALWAYS superior to a rating.
Also ratings inflate. Now on gets a +150 points bonus. WTF why? doesn't that mean that ratings say absolutely nothing or maybe I just really don't understand ratings Help!

"High ratings are only important in as much as they reflect the growth and quality in one's game. Otherwise they are meaningless."

Somehow I'm not quite following that.

@MrPushwood #25 I'm just stating the obvious. If we accept the old adage that we often learn more from our losses than our wins, then it serves to reason that losing rating points can be a good thing. Likewise, gaining rating points might not reflect much learning or growth if recent opponents have been weak. I'm saying I would rather put up a good fight and learn something while losing than win without much effort or learning. Eventually, our rating should reflect our growth and development but in the short term, that's not necessarily the case.

@clutchnutz agreed.

I love my rating.

Yes, I lost 500 points on Chess.com and deleted my account. In fact, I keep losing here and I am tempted to have my account nuked.

I too love Phoenix's rating!