@Tofoon That makes no sense. New (i.e. provisional) players would still be 13k glicko, but “29k” - for the sake of argument - decorated. Non-provisional players are (essentially) those whose rating uncertainty has dropped to acceptable level, say, 100 points).
Provisional players who turn out to be actual newbies would both only see their humble rank - and they would never get (auto-)matched with actual 13k opponents as long as their humble rank isn’t even close to 13k.
Jade’s misunderstanding probably stems from the fact that humble rank only makes sense for provisional player matchmaking, not for everyone. We would merely stress the fact that a provisional rank is extremely volatile. No one claimed the established ranks were similarly volatile. For new accounts, we have no match history to base an estimate on. However, to apply higher uncertainty to established players with a history of matches to base their rating on makes no sense.
In the form of a short play:
Glickman to Newbie: "Hi. I don’t know you, for now you’re labeled average. If you aren’t, you’ll find out soon which kind of not average you belong to."
Humbledore to Newbie: “Hi. I don’t know you, but you’re probably not much worse than these people.”
Glickman to Regular: "Good to have you back. All in all, this is how you’ve performed until now compared to your peers."
Humbledore to Regular: “I was just about to say that. You improved so quickly, too, you must be talented!”
Newbie to Regular: "Wow, I just got here. I am not this bad!"
Regular to Newbie: “Prove it. Jubango, you and me, now.”
Newbie1 to Newbie2: "Okay, I guess I am this bad. But you are about my level, want to play?"
Newbie2 to Newbie1: “Sorry, I just got here, too. From another town. I’m pretty good actually.”