Deterimining User Ranks Criteria

Hi All!



It seems to me that there are two forms of recognition for a user:

1. Reputation points: allocated to you by other members of the forum.
2. User Ranks: bestowed upon you by the administrators/moderators of the forum.

How do you determine the criteria for the User Ranks? Is it just a gut feeling that the admins/mods get and award or do the recipients have to meet some sort of a standard? Or do I have my definitions wrong?

I've been searching for the answer to this question and haven't found it on here yet. If I missed it please let me know!

Thanks!
RR

 

Depends to the contributions made by the user pretty much. If you, as an administrator, have felt that the user has contributed a lot to the community, some admins/moderators would feel the need to recognize such individuals.

 

In terms of user ranks determined by post count, I look at what the highest post counts are currently and then raise the bar.

 

I've gone through the mistake of giving ranks to real life friends.
First, my current members bashed me for giving ranks to someone who
was new to the forum, and had very little posts.

Second, the person hardly logged on, and their posts weren't very productive.

I also do some staff applications from time to time.

 

If it were me, it would be based on how much or how well they've given to the community.

 

I have mine setup on post counts:-

Treqna White Belt - 0 Posts
Treqna Green Belt - 30 Posts (You become eligible for the Content Dev Team)
Treqna Black Belt - 100 Posts (1st Dan)
Treqna Black Belt - 250 Posts (3rd Dan)
Treqna Master BlackBelt - 400 Posts (11th Dan) (Eligibility for Moderatorship)
Treqna Red Belt - 750 Posts
Treqna Zen Master - 2000 Posts (Eligible for Treqna Board)

Thats how its setup ill probably be adding more ranks cause i already have some users hitting the last one...

 

I think that post count should definately be a factor, but as FMB and Bryce said there needs to be something that gages the amount the person has given back to the community. I wonder if there is a less subjective way to award ranks for quality... Is there an automated way to tie reputation points to member ranks for badges and so forth?

 

I would have the standard post count ranks where you get a new rank after X amount of posts, but then I would have a few admin only given ranks for those who go above and beyond to help out others or something like that.

And one thing about tying rep points into a rank would be everyone would just abuse the rep system in order to get that custom title.

 

i think there is a mod over at the org i believe its called Vbexperience or something like that which allows you to customize all the things u mentioned

 

So true and that's what I'm trying to avoid, however I want to streamline that process so it is clear cut for my members and easy to administrate.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

IMO, the fairest way is via post count. You can't stop people abusing the reputation system, unless you disable it. But you can stop people from posting nonesensical rubbish in a bid to get that higher post count, by advising them that they could be spamming.

My user ranks are based off of post counts

 

This is purely a subjective area. It requires much human factor to see whether the Rank or Role is fitting to the member(s).

I think post counts and reputation criteria are at best only indicators. They are not tried and true as a criteria in all that I have seen, unless managed tightly.

This may not be practical everywhere, but looking for that unique quality is what will stand member(s) out amongst the rest.

Do they show genuine interest with their activity?

-- the kind of person that means well and offers valuable input. sometimes it may not be valuable but can indirectly lead to one later (often not seen).

Are they at an acceptable activity level relative to your needs?

-- are they on as much as you? do you expect them to be? are they responding more heavily given less frequent visits?


Bottomline for this is...look at what kind roles you desire, then determine what you should reasonably expect from the role, then finally you can come up with a criteria. This is all based on your environment which has its own culture. To me, this takes a real personal endeavor to iron out in the end.