Do you consider board or global rank when your elimination is imminent in a Public game and you find yourself in a position where you can control (or at least have an effect on) who is going to win ..or who won't win?

Example:

You are rated 1500 on a board in a three-player game.  You can "spoil" the game for an opponent who is ranked 2000, and make it highly likely that the 1000 player will win OR you can spoil it for the 1000 player, guaranteeing the win to the 2000 player.  Just to throw in an ethical twist, let's say that you feel that if you do nothing - or play 'dumb' - the 2000 player will most certainly win.  I.e. doing nothing IS doing something and seals the fates of your opponents.

Letting the the math make the decision..

If you let the 2000 player win, you will lose 15 points, but he will gain 35 and you end up with a net loss of 50 to the board leader.

If you lose to the 1000 player, you will lose 30 points, but the 2000 player will lose 40 points. Net gain of 10 on the board leader - and a net loss of 70 points to the 1000 player.

Of course, these numbers become arithmetically magnified in a game with more players.

BTW losing to the 2000 player does mitigate your overall loss where site-wide membership is concerned. I.e. if you're looking to keep your GR in good shape, losing to 2000 makes more sense.

I try not to consider rank. If I'm without hope I usually surrender or do nothing. If you want to count that as indirect help to the stronger player, then OK.

It could be I've had it happen the other way, though, in my ridiculously overranked state I often find myself outranking the others, and I have been donated a couple of unexpected wins. I suppose that could explain why my ranking has stayed high over time.

IMO the rank and points systems on this site have been reduced to mostly meaninglessness - (Though I am happy to have broken 500 CP's) - 

My bigger consideration in a situation you describe is that I "know" just about everyone on the site and I don't like spoiling a game for any of them. So, if it really is down to threeish players I play the game like I have a chance to win and go for that.

I never look at a player’s board ranking in that situation. In other words, I won’t deliberately try to torpedo any certain player.

I would obviously try to win first, and in trying to win I will keep a slightly closer eye on the 2000 player knowing what (s)he is capable of on that map. I MIGHT spoil the player's strategy earlier on if that will actually put me closer to winning. By spoil I don't mean torpedo, because that would hurt my chances. I mean just obstructing the players path from becoming too powerful.

I've also had it happen to me a few times the other way around where in early/mid game I am knocked a peg or two down.