> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rated.network/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction to Methodologies

> Dive deeper into the methodologies that power some of the most important metrics exposed in the Rated Network Explorer and API.

Methodologies sit at the core of what we are working on at Rated.

Our mission is to promote transparency and good standards as they relate to improving the foundation of blockchains, so that they might eventually become the backbone of a new financial system, natively built on the Internet. But as we outlined in more depth in [Framing the problem](/documentation/getting-started/framing-the-problem), subjectivity is an insidious little demon that rears its ugly head more frequently than one might expect it to.

With our work on open and transparent methodologies, we set the foundation to collapse subjectivity and ultimately advance progress.

<Note>
  To discuss the various methodologies that Rated supports or propose changes to existing ones, head on over to the [**Rated Discord**](https://bit.ly/ratediscord).
</Note>

## Design goals

We believe that a rating methodology for validator and operator performance, as well as all the adjacent methodologies that describe the various agents that make up Ethereum's consensus layer, should be described by the following principles:

<CardGroup>
  <Card title="Generalizability" icon="arrows-maximize">
    To be as generalizable as possible
  </Card>

  <Card title="Legibility" icon="book-open-reader">
    To be as easily understood as possible
  </Card>

  <Card title="Permanence" icon="clock">
    To require as little adjustments after every upgrade as possible
  </Card>

  <Card title="Autonomy" icon="robot">
    To be as independent of the requirement for human action as possible
  </Card>
</CardGroup>