ELO ranking system: what's a good start rank? I'm looking to implement an ELO ranking system. I've read the wikipedia articles and I'm confused about the start rank for players who enter the system at a later point. The common solution is to use a provisional ranking system but I'm curious if anyone can point me to specific numeric details: what K value do new players get? how long does a player stay in provisional mode? how does K value change as rank changes? I'm sure there are many variations, I'd just like to know actual numbers for a system that someone has implemented successfully. Thanks for your time.

I believe the parameters used by the United States Chess Federation in its implementation are given at this link.