Member Ranks and Reputation Levels

[MikeL]

I can't see any good coming from a negative point option.  An anonymous dislike is the worst possible option.

[wildone]

So I will throw out my ideas.....hopefully to get us back on track. I will do it with a 3 different types of rep points. Not sure if this is even possible to do.

 

Points based on number of Posts

 

0 Validated

1 Newbie (I believe this is needed to enter chat)

5 Good Start (I believe this is needed to get Author status)

25 I'm here for a while

50 Who knew I was this active

100 Catch me if you can

250 What did I post about again?

500 Me thinks I post a lot

1000 I wonder how long it took CJ to get here

5000 I need a life outside of here

10000 Bow and bask in my Glory

 

Author/Poet rep points

 

5 Breaking my teeth

10 Someone is reading my stuff

25 More to come

75 I just cleared the Mod Hurdle

100 I am Peer Reviewed

250 I must post more for more

500 Look out Stephen King, I'm on your ass (insert another word if you want )

1000 Dom Luka is next

5000 Maybe I should publish

10000 GA Superstar Writer

 

Points for rep/likes in posts

 

0 Will someone be my friend?

5 Someone likes me

10 Looks like I have something to say

25 Almost a stellar member

50 Stellar member

100 Want a debate?

250 I wonder how many dislikes I would have if that was possible?

500 I have something to say

1000 People like me!

5000 People really, really, really like me!

10000 The Omnipotent One

 

I do agree with just hiding the posts on the member profile. If there was a way to incorporate the different labels only on the where the post count is it could allow up to 3 lines. If you don't have any on one of the categories, it is not displayed.

 

Eg:

 

A Luminite lost in a Herd of Capricans

• 
• 
• Posts: I wonder how long it took CJ to get here
• Stories: Breaking my teeth
• Rep Points: I wonder how many dislikes I would have if that was possible?
• Gender:Male
• Sexuality:Gay
• Age: 44
• Location:Canada

 

Leave the space available to make a personal tag line that you currently get at 500 posts.

Edited September 18, 2013 by wildone

[Kitt]

I like Wildone's lists but there were a couple previous suggestions i thought were really good and would love to see tucked into the lists somewhere.

 

        Ron's -   Explosive member

 

        Brink's -   Poster child  ( somewhere in the early stages)

                       If the love is the answer, You're home  ( somewhere in the higher ranks)

 

        Mann's-  I'm a big kid now ( sometime after you are out of the review system)

                      I should own stock in this place  ( in the very high ranks)

 

 

 

My two bits.  **shrugs**

[Cia]

First off a few points:

 

1) The system cannot separate likes from the Forums and Stories. We use them, or we don't. As our system does require the likes to separate out new authors for the moderation queue, we need the likes. They're here to stay for that aspect.

 

2) Take a look at a post or story you liked. Do you see how the button now says unlike? Check it out for yourself, it works.

 

3) Negative rep points sucked. They created issues between members when they didn't know for sure who was doing it... can you imagine how people would react to someone saying they didn't like something with that but not saying why? We'd have a ton of mod issues, and we are always trying to avoid that. Written 'abuse' can be reported and it's not subjective. We can see exactly who is saying what.

 

4) Why is it important to hide the number of posts made or not made? What does that say, other than a member does or does not post much? Also, for reference again, once a member makes 501 posts they can change their own member title to whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate our content guidelines (profanity, sexual commentary, etc...)

 

5) Moderation warning points on your profiles are visible only to staff and yourself. Saul Stranger or Betsie Best Friend cannot see that information on your profile. The points serve a purpose, not just as a visible reminder of a moderation directive from staff, but different # of points can be assigned for different issues, with different time periods. For instance, if a person posts a nude image we can assign points to ensure they cannot make a forum post without staff approving it first to ensure they don't do it again, and we can control for how long that happens.

 

6) Validating is an important level as it affects the ability of members to access certain areas of the site. If a person can't validate that they're a live member, who intends to be here, well... we don't want them to be able to do everything active, contributing members can.

 

 

 

This is a social site. Social sites have various groups/areas/ways to differentiate people. I don't think I've come across anyone going 'I'm better than you, I'm a gold member and you're not, ha ha!' and meaning it. They're ways to encourage interaction on the site to see what comes next, gain a level you like, get new banners (if we do those)... If that doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't. If it creates a problem for you, tell us. If someone is abusing the system, we'll find out eventually and correct it.

 

Now, as for the like levels and the member ranks ... please remember when you make suggestion that members come and go. Some people go 'Domaholic? What's that?' just as many have no idea what the Kitty remark references to (and again, you don't want to know). So if you make suggestions, please remember to keep them generic as much as possible. They're meant to be fun and if people don't 'get it'... how is that fun?

[thebrinkoftime]

4) Why is it important to hide the number of posts made or not made? What does that say, other than a member does or does not post much? Also, for reference again, once a member makes 501 posts they can change their own member title to whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate our content guidelines (profanity, sexual commentary, etc...)

 

I didn't understand this one myself. Could it be that people are embarrassed by how much they post or they think people will put undue weight on the poster's opinion if they have more posts compared to a "noob"? If so, I don't think the latter problem exists here and the former doesn't strike me as something to be embarrassed about. If you had 10,000 posts on the forums of a specialty shopping site for bouncing, flashing dildos, maybe I could see being slightly embarrassed, but here? Nah.

 

Now, as for the like levels and the member ranks ... please remember when you make suggestion that members come and go. Some people go 'Domaholic? What's that?' just as many have no idea what the Kitty remark references to (and again, you don't want to know). So if you make suggestions, please remember to keep them generic as much as possible. They're meant to be fun and if people don't 'get it'... how is that fun?

 

 

For my part, I always like putting in joke suggestions that aren't meant to be taken seriously (like the 420 suggestion) and I fully intend to always post a "Mann Ramblings is a sexy, sexy man" joke in all of these types of topics.

Edited September 18, 2013 by thebrinkoftime

[Mark Arbour]

4) Why is it important to hide the number of posts made or not made? What does that say, other than a member does or does not post much? Also, for reference again, once a member makes 501 posts they can change their own member title to whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate our content guidelines (profanity, sexual commentary, etc...)

 

 

I agree. Plus it's useful, when viewing a member's profile, to see how engaged they've been in the forums. 

 

 

5) Moderation warning points on your profiles are visible only to staff and yourself. Saul Stranger or Betsie Best Friend cannot see that information on your profile. The points serve a purpose, not just as a visible reminder of a moderation directive from staff, but different # of points can be assigned for different issues, with different time periods. For instance, if a person posts a nude image we can assign points to ensure they cannot make a forum post without staff approving it first to ensure they don't do it again, and we can control for how long that happens.

 

 

I generally ignore those. 

 

 

This is a social site. Social sites have various groups/areas/ways to differentiate people. I don't think I've come across anyone going 'I'm better than you, I'm a gold member and you're not, ha ha!' and meaning it. They're ways to encourage interaction on the site to see what comes next, gain a level you like, get new banners (if we do those)... If that doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't. If it creates a problem for you, tell us. If someone is abusing the system, we'll find out eventually and correct it.

 

 

 

 

Structuring visible rewards for achievements is a fundamental motivator.  So setting these different levels gives people a slight boost in status to reward them for participating in various ways.  People will say they don't care.  Chances are that they do. 

 

Now, as for the like levels and the member ranks ... please remember when you make suggestion that members come and go. Some people go 'Domaholic? What's that?' just as many have no idea what the Kitty remark references to (and again, you don't want to know). So if you make suggestions, please remember to keep them generic as much as possible. They're meant to be fun and if people don't 'get it'... how is that fun?

 

 

 

I have to give whoever put the "Kitty" reference in there kudos for the blast from the past, for giving me the opportunity to take a playful swipe at Myr, and for bringing up this whole dialog.  It was a good thing.  

 

My personal opinion is that the rep point levels are probably deserving of something a little more staid (and boring).  Those are points you get when people like your stories or your posts, so at some level, it represents an acknowledgment of a good effort.  I think that the levels for forum posts can and should be more playful, since that's the social venue (or one of them) for this site.  Then again, I've been wrong before. 

[TetRefine]

I gained the majority of my 648 points from posts I made in the Soapbox when it was still around. Its ironic because I was one of the most hated participants in most of the political discussions that took place there.  

[Zombie]

Happy days, eh?

[thebrinkoftime]

That reminds me of some past internet adventures I've had.

 

*hum this next part to the Star Wars scrolling blue text theme, it will make it better*

 

Long, long ago, in a forum far away, somebody found a peculiar political discussion site. Everyone there had really bizarre political views and nobody used proper grammar, so terms like President Bush just became "bush." A young and reckless thebrinkoftime registered there to screw around with the residents. He called himself lolzpowermysoulz. This young rapscallion would post clueless things. Like in the aforementioned bush threads, "y u hatin on woman's anatomy, not their fault they like it thick" or "the burning bush is a + image in the bible, respect god's word, god dammit." Or in rather scandalous gay threads, he would post using the old meaning of the word like, "want to have gay time at bbq 2nite, pls advise" or "gay experiences in movie thtr, what's urs?" and not one single user would pick up on it. And then there were the times when it way over their heads and hit a dart board behind them, like in gun control topics where he posted things like, "pc mouse or dual analog, even waggle, all can be valid, respeck others, peace out."

 

As people became suspicious, lolzpowermysoulz used the "I'm 12 and what is this" tactic to defer suspicion, which galvanized the residents into a sympathetic effort to indoctrinate the young one into their views. But even the strangest customers can sometimes catch on and although it was a long time before they found out the true meaning of a username like lozpowermysoulz, when they did, it started an interforum war that would be a tale for the ages.

Edited September 18, 2013 by thebrinkoftime

[Graeme]

Thanks everyone for the reminiscing, but can we keep this on topic, please? A.J. is looking for suggestions on new member ranks and reputation levels

[W_L]

I like reminiscing over that old box too...

 

Well ranks can be broken by higher post counts to describe the general reader/poster state of mind:

 

For post counts

0 - Untainted

50- Nervous

100- Drawn

500- Engrossed

1000- Active

5000- Defined

 

(Hmm... I made a hidden message ranking system )

[MikeL]

UNDEAD?  LOL

[Sasha Distan]

i like that the forum posts display our number of forum posts. i think it's helpful. lets you know who posts lot and will therefore have the answers to all life it's questions like "how do i do that thing with the spoiler code again?" or apart from last post wins what in the purpose of this  smiley?

[advocatus diaboli]

Member Rank                    Number of Posts

Validated                      0

Newbie                         1

Member                         5

Active Member                  100

Contributing Member            500

Forum Fiend                    1,000+

                                                                        

Member Reputation              Level

Neutral                        0

Moving in the Right Direction  25

Cleared the Mod Hurdle         75

Peer Reviewed                  100

Moving On Up                   250

Doing Well!                    500

Prolific                       1,000

Well Known                     2,500

Out Of This World!             5,000

Almost/Practically Divine      10,000+

Philosophy here is K.I.S.S.

 

There doesn't need to be ten different forum post levels and two dozen different rep levels. Given how few people have a very high post count, I don't think anything over 1,000 really needs to be addressed. The reason that there's more rep levels is because, as Cia said, it's integral in how authors function. With that being said, once the 100 rep milestone is cleared, there's fewer milestones and they're more meaningful.

 

I mentioned this to someone else, but I removed the reference to Dom Luka. It was brought to my attention that he helped make the site what it is today. I appreciate that, deeply, but I also feel like naming someone is counter-productive. It feels like a barrier of entry. It feels elitist and a little bit like a "cult of personality" which could very well turn future users off and away from GA.

 

As well, I removed the cheating reference, because, well... that's just not a nice thing to say, right?

 

Edited to add:

 

2 users have over 10,000 posts.

6 users have over 5,000 posts and less then 10,000.

17 users have over 2,500 posts and less then 5,000.

37 users have over 1,000 posts and less then 2,500.

 

10,000+ = 2

5,000+ = 8

2,500+ = 23

1,000+ = 60

 

---

 

Only 60 people on the site have more then 1,000 posts. This is why I think that having forum post levels over 1,000 isn't necessary.

Edited September 19, 2013 by advocatus diaboli

[Myk]

I'm not entirely sure why people are still taking my negative points joke seriously, but maybe I should post that we should all be cheery and nice and I will get a bunch of likes. Moving along....

 

could also do themed rankings for say holidays or change them up to keep it fresh every now and then.

 

ie halloween

pumpkin

skeleton

ghost

jack the pumpkin king etc

 

xmas

elf

reindeer

Rudolf

santa

mrs clause (for all those with a wife, admit it, you know who wears the pants )

 

blah blah, this stuff serves a site purpose but otherwise is boring. So maybe keeping it fresh will keep some interest in it....

[advocatus diaboli]

In theory, I like the idea. But it seems way too confusing. It'll be difficult to keep track of and will create a lot of extra work for whoever has to go in and change all the names.

[Graeme]

2 users have over 10,000 posts.

 

For the record, C James has more posts than me, and he joined after me.

 

Just saying....

[advocatus diaboli]

No one here is judging...

[Daddydavek]

At 500 forum posts, members can change their own title.  That being said, some members have been given titles by an Admin prior to reaching that milestone.

 

Since members can change their own title at 500 forum posts, they can just change it if they don't care for the one assigned.  I think AJ's original idea has some merit but I too vote to not include an unlike button that subtracts points.  If someone wants to criticize, write a review or PM the the person.  That being said, criticism with a bit of humor is the preferred method of torture. 

[Krista]

For the record, C James has more posts than me, and he joined after me.

 

Just saying....

 

Chatty Kathy-s..  

 

I'll have to agree that the Kitty reference is a bit dated... and the reference with Dom has sadly lost a lot of relevance as well. (Don't lynch me please! ) And other Reputation ranks with member references shouldn't be added. Like Cia said, people come and go and references lose relevance pretty easily.

 

Cheat So Good - referenced the ability people had to like their own posts, which also has been fixed.

[Krista]

We are thinking about adding some new member ranks and reputation levels and would like your input.  Please list your suggestions for new ranks and levels in this thread.  Some current ranks/levels may be removed or changed when the system is adjusted.

 

Member Ranks are tied to the number of posts you have in the forums.  Member Reputation levels are tied to the number of likes your stories, forum posts and gallery pics have received.

 

As an added bonus, when you post your ideas in this thread you will increase your forum post count AND someone might like them increasing your reputation level.  See, this is a win-win situation.

 

 

Member Rank          Number of Posts

Validated            0         

Newbie               1

Member               5

Active Member        25 

Gold Member          50

Diamond Member       75

Prolific Member      100         

Cool Member          250         

Manic Poster         450

 

 

Member Reputation                   Level

Neutral                             0     

Moving in the Right Direction       10     

A Little More Kick Ass              25     

Cleared the Mod Hurdle              75     

I'm Almost Peer Reviewed            90     

Moving On Up                        100     

Getting There!                      200     

Winning the Popularity Contest      500     

My Name is DomLuka                  1000     

Cheat So Good                       1750     

I'm Definitely Not Kitty            10000

 

I struck out the ones I didn't like. Some of the ones left, are informative to new authors so I think they should stay - they serve a purpose.

 

Maybe edit the first post with everyone's suggestions. They have been lost in all the side-discussions, cut down on repetition.

[Myr]

Well, I can say with certainty that we are not going back to a negative reputation system.  Too much trouble.  You can only unlike something that you have previously liked. (ie, you can change your mind about what you like)

 

Thanks for the suggestions.  we're going to compile them and look them over.

[MikeL]

Well, I can say with certainty that we are not going back to a negative reputation system.

 

YAY!

[Sasha Distan]

I struck out the ones I didn't like. Some of the ones left, are informative to new authors so I think they should stay - they serve a purpose.

 

Maybe edit the first post with everyone's suggestions. They have been lost in all the side-discussions, cut down on repetition.

 

There has to be something after 500 rep. there are too many people up there for there to be nothing

[Former Member]

I would suggest to remove both ranks and reputation completely. I cannot see any use in it.