My question is a simple one: what do the titles that appear with members' usernames mean, such as senior member, contributing member, etc.?
Yes, I am glad you love me, and thanks for saying so. The labels (as you well know, you cheeky bugger) relate to how pleasing a posters comments are to the fellow members.
@Friederich Kugelschreiber It says you're a Senior Member so you must be an old G by now Or at least get a discount at breakfast joints.
They're essentially "tiers" based on how many posts or likes you have. Take a look at the Usergroup Legend for a list of all of them: https://www.writingforums.org/faq/usergroups.114/ Some of the usergroups change the label below your name (New Member, Senior Member, etc.) while some give you a "banner" (e.g. Supporters, Reviewers, Contributors). ETA: Hmm, just noticed that you are marked as a "Senior Member", although you shouldn't be...
Senior Members are community members who've been here for at least 180 days (6 months), have made at least 250 posts, and have earned at least 50 post likes. You hear that @Friederich Kugelschreiber? You better get cracking before you get demoted Pssst, I hope ya know I'm kidding and mean you no ill will. @Komposten Thank you for the info!
Of course, if this bug only occurs a few times it isn't really a big deal. But if a large amount of members are put in the wrong groups we have a problem as several parts of the forum requires you to have reached specific tiers to gain access.
Oh this isn't fair (stamps foot) I have been here longer than Freddy! How come he gets to be a senior member and I don't? (Pouty face) You always loved him more than me, it's just not fair! I am going to my room! (Slams door)
I think that user groups explained post is probably out of date anyway - the criteria described on contributing members is definitely wrong , and I haven't seen a community leader or a community volunteer at all - and it says "super moderator" rather than "staff". I think the senior vs Active thing is backwards as well - you'll note that Pinky is 'active' when the criteria say he ought to be senior My suspicion would be that since it was written in 2013 it probably related to the VBulletin days and is all to cock for xen foro
I think the Senior Members are of that age beyond us whipper snappers. Because I am an active member, and I have here almost two years this August.
I don't think we have any community leaders. Current community volunteers would be the contest administrators. I (and the other mods) are super moderators, and that is what the colour means. However, the banner says "Staff" because it applies to all staff members (i.e. Admins and Super Mods). Member/Senior/Contributor have all been working properly even after the migration to XenForo. I think the problems started occurring at some point after the Active Member group was added (which was within the past year, I believe). The usergroup FAQ page maybe have been posted in 2013, but it has been updated several times since then. And no, @Pinkymcfiddle should not be a Senior member as he has not been a member for 6 months yet.
But I shouldn't be (not that i'm bothered either way) as I've not been a member for a year. The unlamented Mr Sixpak was showing as a contributing member before he got banned despite having neither the time nor the posts (nor being a main player in the community)
Obviously there is an issue at the coding level. Apparently we have bats in our bellfry. Who is our IT person?
Technically you're only 50% contributor, since you only have the label and not the banner. Serious, though, there is definitely a bug underlying this. I think I've even seen new members (i.e. doesn't meet Workshop reqs) that have been classed as Seniors... @Daniel is aware of this, but I don't know when we can expect it to be fixed (all depends on how much time he has, and what other forum-related things have priority).
@Daniel will have to be the one to resolve this. He is the only person with the keys to that particular little room in our metaphorical Downton Abbey.
I seem to recall that contributing member is different from contributor - the latter gets the banner, but the former is just a user status.... I can't recall off hand what makes you get the banner ( a vast shipment of sangria to peurto rico may have been mentioned ) Incidentally whats the score with the reviewer status - i generally try to give a fair number of reviews (although not two a week) anyway.... just as part of being part of the community... I didn't realise reviewer was a thing until just now, and I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild
If I recall correctly the Reviewer group was a somewhat temporary thing during a critique-drought in the Workshop. The group still exists, but it's not too active anymore (with only a few people having the status).
It goes kinda' like this: For a number of reasons - not least of which was a MASSIVE T-BONING by a gestalt swerve into Mob-Mentality Politics in 2013, which is why I have the opinion I do concerning the discussion of such topics here in the forum - there was, as @Komposten mentions, a critique-drought in the Workshop. I was doing anything and everything I could to take hold of the wheel and guide us back on track. The Reviewer Status was one of those things. It's actually the second incarnation of that idea. We had a similar deal when I first joined the forum, which faded out. It's not an easy thing to keep alive because it imposes a kind of expectation on the person, and forum dynamics being what they are, everything here answers to people voluntarily showing up. You can't really make anyone do anything. All the tools for the program still exist and I get asked about it occasionally, but it's pretty much run its course and the Workshop, thankfully, is quite active without the need for something like this to "fuel inject" it, so to speak.
