What would be good is to have a list of principles with which you are ranked by go along with your rank.
I do have a feeling about where someone is when I know their rank and their organization - becuase I have a sense of what the valued principles are in many organizations at various levels.
When an unaffilited person reaches 6th dan, they might as well say they are 36th dan for all the good it does me in trying to get a sense of where they are comparitively.
If I ever go solo I'm going to tell people my rank is a googleplex or infinite plus 1 just to outshine the current doshu.
Rob