Yes, but we were talking about the simulation in which he seemingly made no advancements in rank over a sixteen year period. --Sran
Why would the best Ferengi episode be the one in the hypothetical future where they conformed to the Federation? It's true the Ferengi were really badly written in TNG. I thought Captain's Holiday worked, and I enjoyed Quark's brief appearance in Gambit.
Which didn't strike the real Riker as odd at all. Not only had Worf and Data only been promoted once, but Crusher and LaForge were in the same positions at the same rank. So this must be standard for starship command crews, or else Riker would have had trouble buying the scenario.
What? The kid's fantasy setting made complete sense to Riker. He didn't see through anything until Min made an appearance. So it made sense to more than just the kid!
You look at the Ferengi involvement in TNG and a lot of the episodes they are in just downright suck. I mean look at the list of crappy episodes: The Last Outpost The Price Captain's Holiday Menage a Troi Rascals Suspicions Force of Nature Even in Chain of Command the weakest part of that show was the ferengi in the bar. Only Chain of Command, Peak Performance & The Perfect Mate, and to a lesser extent The Battle, are really the only good episodes of TNG with ferengi involvement (and the ferengi involvement in those shows is quite small).