The order is currently based on an automated estimation of what each person has contributed to the site. The purpose of creating this order is to recognize the individual contributions of the members of the MushroomObserver.org community.
The current formula is a weighted sum of each contribution. The current weighting is:
Thus an observation of a species not previously in the site with 3 images would count as:
These weights or the overall method of ranking is likely to change over time based on feedback from the members of the community.