The ratings system has been a hotly debated topic. How many rating categories should there be? Should each category have the same value. What should they be? As long as there will be soiling, there will probably be tweaking to the soil scale. Below is a draft list of soil rating categories.

1. Overall Rating - Your overall thoughts about the soiling. This is highly subjective.
2. Coloration - How the use of color affected your feelings towards the soiling. Rare color palettes should rank higher.
3. Texture - Use of texture is extremely important on soilings with low volcanic explosibility.
4. Shock Value - Train wreck value of the Soiling.
5. Volcanic Explosivity - Modified version of this scale used for volcanos.