Are they useful? Are they more trouble than they are worth? Do you think they should still be used?

Vote and be heard.

Chojun Miyagi never awarded a belt in Goju. Good enough for me.

I like them because it helps to pair people on the same skill level during class and is a good indicator of their rough skill level. to be continued

Belt rankings also sustain the challenge to the student, especially the newer or younger ones, to practice well and hard as a barometer of their increasing skills.

Just be careful belt rankings are not simply issued to increase the teacher's income.

I can see, that as usual, I'm in the minority.

Belt ranking & the lack thereof can be useful.

The problem is not with the belt, but with the comparisions. It is not fair & not really possible to compare from one to another. That is where the inherent problem comes from. Belts mean different things to different people. Belts have different measures of worth across the spectrum of what we do. That is what feeds the controversy. It is not the belts in & of themselves, it is the attempt to measure/define/compare/evaluate across that is the problem. It is simply just impossible.

I've been in a room with a 7th Dan, and 6th Dan, and few students. Everybody wore street clothes, everybody sweated...and nobody needed a belt to know who was who.

Perhaps belts also help systems that have grown too large to appreciate the individuals?

I'm against belts on principle that they're an artificial projection of credit onto someone who may or may not have the skill and knowledge to back it up. If belts were standardised and ranking systems were compared amongst federations and martial arts, I would support them. However, this is unlikely to happen.

I guess the poll results speak for themselves, at least at this point! (80% in favor of)

I am in the minority.