Gotcha!!!!!
The screenshot I posted, it did have 498 where it is now 442 but I see when I search as instructed, indeed a starter rating is 0. It is a little counterintuitive but thanks for the clarification!
Yeah, it's a bit confusing. I think when a player has no "starter rating" and zero robustness, a random number might appear as their "preliminary rating". In your case, it was 498, and you thought that was the "starter rating".
Also notice when you looked up your name, it should say 442P, instead of 442. The P stands for preliminary. It will go away when you have 200 games.
IDK why the user interface is not very consistent...