Site problem [reputation]: Percentile meaning

Question

Hello. In my profile I found, in the reputation section, that I was in the 98th percentile.

The problem is that "percentile x" means the point in which you are over the x% of the observations, in quantity of observations, not the measured characteristic. Here, it would mean to be over the x% of users, reputation wise.

For example, if I have 200 observations, 50th percentile marks the point where you are over the lowest 100; the 99th percentile is over the lowest 198 observations, and the 1st percentile is over the 2 lowest observations.

I really think I'm in the 2nd, not the 98th percentile.

Answer 1

Nevermind this question. The number is all right.

Turns out that the reputation isn't "well distributed". For what I've seen, the 50th percentile is under 20 ponts. With 40 points you are over the 70th percentile, and with 1000 reputation points you're in the 97th percentile (within the top 3%).