Strats Trust Levels Explained

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User trust levels are a way of...

• Sandboxing new Strats users in the community so that they cannot accidentally (or intentionally!) hurt themselves, the forum, or other users while they are learning what to do.

• Granting experienced users more rights so that they can help maintain and moderate the community they generously contribute so much of their time to.

As documented in Community Building on the Web, there is a progression from...

Strats offers five user trust levels, and your current level is visible on your user page:

0 (New) → 1 (Basic) → 2 (Member) → 3 (Regular) → 4 (Leader)

The following posts outline the levels...

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New (0)

We at Strats do not quite trust new users yet, as they are visitors who just created an account, still learning the community norms and the way our forum works. Whether accidentally, or intentionally, new users can cause problems in the community.

We also want to hide any so-called "advanced" functionality from new users to make the interface less confusing for them and gently land them on the deeper interface as they get more experienced.

Thus, new users' abilities are restricted for safety -- both theirs and ours.

Users at trust level 0 cannot...

• Send private messages to other users
• Flag posts
• Post more than a few initial topics.
• Post many images
• Post many attachments
• Post more than a couple hyperlinks in a post
• Have actual links in the 'about me' field of their profile
• Mention more than a couple users in a post

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Basic (1)

If a user sticks around long enough to read a bit, Strats now trusts them as a basic user.

You can get to trust level 1 by...

• entering topics
• reading posts
• spending time on the forum

Users at trust level 1 can...

• use all core Strats forum functions
• Upload images and attachments
• Edit wiki posts
• Flag posts
• have all new user restrictions removed

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Member (2)

Members keep coming back to the site, and have participated long enough to earn complete citizenship.

You can get to trust level 2 by...

• visiting regularly
• casting likes
• receiving likes
• replying to topics
• entering topics
• reading posts
• spending time on the forum

Users at trust level 2 can...

• Use the "Invite others to this topic" button for one-click onboarding of new users to participate in topics
• Invite outside users to PMs making a group PM

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Regular (3)

Regulars are the most active readers and reliable contributors over long periods of time.

You can get to trust level 3 by...

This is time and activity based, unlike the previous levels. In the last 100 days...

• must have visited at least 50% of days
• must have replied to different topics
• of topics created in the last 100 days, must have viewed 25%
• of posts created in the last 100 days, must have read 25%
• must have received likes and given likes
• must not have received more than 5 spam or offensive flags
• must not have been suspended

All of these must be true.

Unlike other trust levels, you can lose trust level 3 status. If you dip below these requirements, whether from flagging or the passage of time, you will be demoted to Member. However, in order to avoid constant promotion/demotion situations, there is a 2-week grace period immediately after gaining Trust Level 3 during which you will not be demoted.

Users at trust level 3 can...

• recategorize and rename topics
• create new game tags
• access a private "frequent flier's lounge" category only visible to users at trust level 3 and higher
• spam flags cast on TL0 user posts immediately reach the action threshold
• daily like limit increased by 2 ×

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Leader (4)

Leaders are Regulars who have been around forever and seen everything. They set a positive example for the community through their actions and their posts. If you need advice, these are the folks you turn to first.

Introducing: Community Leaders

We're introducing a new concept and role here at Strats called Community Leader. These individuals are Regulars who are active and engaged across multiple interfaces we use to communicate as a community (the official forum, Mumble, Twitch, Discord, etc) and epitomize what it means to be a Strategist. Their role also extends to places where Strats is represented but where we don't have much moderation control (other game forums, reddit, in-game interfaces, etc) as ambassadors of the community. …

You can get to trust level 4 by...

• Manual promotion only
• Capped at roughly 10% of the number of Regulars

Users at trust level 4 can...

• edit all posts
• pin/unpin topic
• close topic
• archive topic
• make topic unlisted
• Split and merge topics
• Daily like limit increased by 3 ×

They can possibly become moderators by...

• manual appointment by another moderator
• a not-yet-implemented election process

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