I've been demoted to the ranks. Why?

You didn't do anything wrong. You probably just have less activity this week.

Most likely you haven't been answering as often in your TC category as often as you were before. If you maintain the level of answering that earned you the badge in the first place, then you'll keep the badge.

What the requirements are exactly to earn TC is a Yahoo! secret, however most of the experienced users here believe it is earned by answering a minimum number of questions in a category and getting a minimum BA% with those answers..

You can only lose the badge by dropping below the minimum TC answering requirement for an average of 3 weeks. If you don't answer in the category at all it can take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to lose, in rare cases 4 or 5 weeks.

Doesn't mean you did anything wrong (and it's not a 'demotion').

Just means that your level of participation in your previous TC category has decreased (over the past several weeks) enough to fall below the criteria used to determine Top Contributor status in that category.

The TC badge is pretty easy to regain (if you want it back) ... just focus on answering more in that category and give good answers so that some of yours are chosen Best Answer. You'll have the badge back pretty quickly.

You did nothing wrong. Once you get the TC badge, you must re-earn it every week. If your level of answers, BAs, and total activity falls back below the threshold for the evaluated period, you lose the badge. It normally does not happen week to week, but it is possible.

It's no big deal. The TC designation is dynamic and can be removed if your percentage of BA and answers in a category drops below the Yahoo requirement. If that happens spend a little more time in that category answering questions and quite possibly you will regain the designation.

http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&id=SLN...