The place where I train has stripes on the belts. It's been helpful for me as a brand new guy, cause it gives me an indication of how brutal each 5 minutes of sparring will be. I know that if I'm paired up with a blue belt and above, it's gonna hurt, and if I'm sparring with a blue belt or above I'm pretty much a non-compliant tackling dummy. White belts with 2 stripes or above still dominate me, but the'll have to work a little for it. I have a chance to think about how to counter some submissions... usually about 1/2 second before I tap. I can usually hang with the one stripes and below for some amount of time, and can even try to work on passing guard or sweeping from the bottom a little. I have a chance to work on shoulder pressure and keeping my hips low, and if the stars are aligned in just the right manner, I'll isolate an arm and actually get a tap on an americana or kimura. As a noob, I can say that the stripes don't seem to be a part of any sort of concessions to whatever American ADHD stereotype or need on anyone's part to get some contrived sense of accomplishments.
Yep - Roger Gracie's uses stripes, no charge for gradings (because there aren't any, but Stalkachu would be much more informed than me on that ). The commercialism argument would only be valid if there were numerous BJJ clubs who were charging for each stripe, or giving them out at random rather than based on ability. From what I've seen, that is not the case (though the GB Bristol example sounds worrying): as has been mentioned, the stripe is used to denote progression. Much cheaper than a new belt. I'd also agree with what peisistratos just said - I'm a noob, so its helpful for me to know the ability of the person I'm sparring. If it's a fellow stripeless noob, then I know that they should be at roughly the same level. However, if its someone with three stripes, then I need to approach sparring differently. There was a good post related to this on Bullshido, giving one person's opinion on how to go about sparring depending on the skill disparity between you and your partner. Stripes make that much easier to judge.
