Random thoughts and rants...
How we can all identify each other much better.
Published on April 4, 2009 By Neilo In Everything Else

This discussion started across two different threads. To avoid hijacking those threads i have copy and pasted the 3 last and most pertainent replies here for further discussion.

For those just joining in, we are basically discussing the lack of function for ranks since the linking and upgrading of the forums and the SD banners that identify their expertise or position and how the two could be combined to offer all members such a system.

Read on.

 


Comments (Page 1)
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on Apr 04, 2009

Zyxpsilon
How did you get to have "Journeyman(4)" on your membership status, Mumble? If you know some of the details, of course.

Cuz, Neilo & i were having a discussion the other day on how to introduce some kind of banner-types (such as what StarDock staff has) but for Members.

on Apr 04, 2009

Mumblefratz

How did you get to have "Journeyman(4)" on your membership status, Mumble?It used to be that all of SD's seperate forum sites were pretty much independent. They did have a common registration and login but otherwise they grew up as independent sites. About a year ago they put in major forum upgrades that tried to make all of these sites more consistent (that's when a lot of the forum "sharing" came into play).
Anyway it used to be that the GalCiv2 site had an independent forum ranking system along with forum stats associated with the metaverse. Other sites, most notably WinCustomize, also had a forum ranking system in place although I don't believe that they had a similar forum stats function. On WinCustomize the forum rank was used to determine whether folks could directly submit skins or whether they needed to have them "approved" before they could be downloaded by others. I'm not totally sure of the exact details but at least on WC the individual forum ranks had a functional meaning and use.

On the GalCiv2 site they used to have ranks that were quasi game related. There really wasn't all that much that forum ranks allowed you to do other than at the rank of Diplomat and above you had access to a special area. This area is still in existence today although it hasn't been used in a long time. You can actually see remnants of it yourself by going to https://www.galciv2.com/Council/Forums.aspx.

Anyway the GalCiv2 forum ranks used to be Citizen, Veteran, Diplomat, Ambassador, Governor, Avatar although there may be another rank or two between Governor and Avatar. These ranks may also have to do with the early system of users being moderators. Kryo came up through this system until he simply became a SD employee and he could certainly add more detail to all of this. I used to be an Ambassador which correlates to the Journeyman (4) rank.

As far as how one received rank I think it was essentially assigned from above, possibly from folks like Brad and Cari or more likely from Kryo with perhaps Brad/Cari/Zoomba's approval. I got most of my rank from the days of the Metaverse Council, however these days a new unified system is in place that is common to all sites although interestingly enough your forum rank (like karma) does not translate from one site to the next. Basically they still use forum rank for it's original purpose on WC but elsewhere it hardly makes any sense. They only difference that I can tell is that when I give karma it defaults to giving 4 points although I can change that from 1 point up to my forum rank of 4. Prior to the forum upgrades Neilo had been promoted to veteran which translates to Apprentice (2) and he can give 2 points of karma.

Other than giving karma there seems to be no funtional use for forum ranks anymore.

on Apr 04, 2009

Neilo
Good info mate. The uselessness of the ranks, and the banners that the Stardockians have got, got us thinking that perhaps there could be something for all members across all sites that could show ones "rank" for lack of a better term.

Since rank is basically useless now, it's not constant across all the sites as you mention, and nor is karma, it is very difficult to know about the persons you are conversing with in various threads.

The SD banners are about the only constant form throughout the entire SD web and if there were something similar, be it tied to ranks or not, that all members could have it would make identifying others and their levels of and interests in, their various native sites and areas of expertise, far easier for all.

Even if the banners were as generic as what site a member may consider their "default" site (SINS GC2 WC JU and accompanying icons), or perhaps as informative as "Modder", "Blogger", or "Skinner".Maybe a combonation of the two?

It would make discussions easier i think if we are able to easily identify what a persons interest in SD lies in and what site they are posting from.

Though i am way off topic from this thread so I'll make another thread pertaining to this for discussion.

on Apr 04, 2009

(The quotes were not working properly in the OP. I assume Bara is hard at work tweaking... )

That is about the jist of it so far.

I know i have, especially in the OT threads had no idea as to the location (SD site wise) of fellow posters, as many assume they are all reading that thread from their own native site. Also, the ranks being non functional now, (apart from level of karma able to give out) aside from their use on WC has left many of us wondering exactly what our fellow users area of expertise or specialty actually is.

The Stardockians have the very helpful banner that list exactly what function, for lack of a better description they actually perform on the forums and within SD and having something similar for the members would save much grief in cross posted topics and give us a bit more insight into our fellow users.

Discuss....

on Apr 04, 2009

You might want to post in a colour other than yellow/orange, its almost impossible to read

'Ranks' on WC are not forum related, but related to the contribution you make to the site. So someone can progress through the ranks by submitting skins, being helpful to other users etc.

I'm currently Master(5) which comes from submitting skins and 8 years of commitment to the site and to its wellbeing. I was formerly Super Wizop(7) which I held for four years until I 'retired' last summer.

I agree it would be good to have a uniform system across all sites. There was some suggestion it might go altogether but I believe that would be a bad thing. People like to have recognition for their contribution to a site.

I have long wanted a system whereby you knew which site people are posting from. We are all Stardockians, so to speak, but with widely different interests. But we are all here for the common good, namely, to pursue our interests with like minded people.

on Apr 04, 2009

Weird, the yellow has now gone... fuzzy scratches head...

on Apr 04, 2009

Neilo
The SD banners are about the only constant form throughout the entire SD web
I'm fairly certain these aren't consistent either.

Also, last time I saw suggestions like these, SD ended up reading the Riot Act. (I like 'em though.)

 

on Apr 04, 2009

I'm not sure about the necessity for ranks, apart from the official StarDock banners, but some consistency would be nice. For Karma, but also for things as clicking 'My Posts'. I'm currently posting from the Elemental forums, but when I click My Posts in the GalCiv2 forums I don't see anything, despite this being the Off-Topic forum which is shared between all forums

on Apr 04, 2009

The banners/usergroups aren't actually related to the ranks at all. If you you look around you might find some SD people who don't frequently do anything on the forums, thus ar estill Citizen rank.

Anyway, at presetnt the groups are only settable by the highest admins. I don't really foresee any option for users to add their own or anything like that since that would lead to issues (they could fake an official one) and avatars already let people add their own stuff.

on Apr 04, 2009

Fuzzy Logic
Weird, the yellow has now gone... fuzzy scratches head...

I did have some yellow text in the OP prior to actually posting it but edited it for the reasons you pointed out, never posted it though.....Very Strange.

Anyway, at present the groups are only settable by the highest admins. I don't really foresee any option for users to add their own

I'd agree that allowing users to have any control over this is open to abuse.

My thoughts though at the very least is some kind of indication in each members post of exactly where they are posting from. I admit, i like the idea of member banners reflecting their interests and their native site, but that's not an actual productive feature, where the showing of "posted from" would be invaluable to many.

A great example would be with piderman above. Where Kryo's Stardock banner is piderman could simply have a similarly sized Elemental banner.

Ranks aside that feature would help other users become aware of the other SD sites that are open to them but might just not know about and even increase participation/sales in other parts of the community.

I'm fairly certain these aren't consistent either. Also, last time I saw suggestions like these, SD ended up reading the Riot Act. (I like 'em though.)

Perhaps not. I'm only speaking really of my own experiance in what i have viewed. But it seems that folks like Crazy, Kryo, Zommba, Bara, Brad/Draginol, Shirley, Highlander, Melibee, Zubaz, Jafo.....uhmmm..that's about all i can think of, all those do seem to carry their respective banners across all sites.

In that i would think that such a system is possible to implement. Be it worth the time in SD's eyes is for others to decide but i sure think it would add to the forums.

on Apr 04, 2009

Boy this "view edits" function is impressive, but I wonder if all this effort just to mostly watch people correct their spelling mistakes is really worth it.

All in all I do think the effort at making all the sites consistent is a good thing. I even think that the blurring of sites by the sharing of forums is not all that bad either. I do think that it would be helpful to at least have the knowledge of which site a post or reply is coming from. I also think that since it's been made clear that this is the way things will be then you should go "all the way".

Why is it that I have 80 karma on Galciv2 and 31 karma on Joe User and 0 karma on some other sites? Why if I look at my profile on Galciv2 does it say that I'm a journeyman (4) but on Joe User I'm a citizen (1)? Also if I view my profile on Galciv2 it says I've made 24 posts and 736 replies but if I view my profile on Galciv2 I've made 101 posts and 3935 replies. Why the difference.

Basically I'm all for consistency but if you're making changes that blur the distinction of one site to the next then be consistent and make these functions the same across *all* sites.

on Apr 04, 2009

Also the earlier comment about yellow text brings up another source of inconsistency.

Each site has it's own default color scheme. The game sites are predominately light text on a black background while other sites are black text on a white background along with some other variations.

One thing is that the user has no choice in the matter and I know people have complained about one scheme versus another due to readability issues. It would be nice if the user had at least a limited choice between dark on light versus light on dark.

Also if you stick with the "default" font/formating you're at least reasonably legible on *all* sites, but once you try and use color or font size or anything not default to make your post or reply more legible on the site that you're posting from you run the risk of making your post/reply totally illegible on another site which as far as you know may be where most response is coming from.

[edit] Check out the "view edits" feature on this post to see me change the word "reply" to "response" and to add this edit. I think this makes for more confusion not less. [/edit]

on Apr 04, 2009

I am all for more consistency... the "highlight" function helps a littile with legibility, as you can set the background color if you are using a non-auto font.

on Apr 04, 2009

On TriggerStreet.com (a screenplay writers gathering place owned & operated by Dana Brunetti & Kevin Spacey), i once gave out a set of "bannerlike" ranking images that were tied with people's quantity of posts... i'm sure we could do a much more complex & ingenious system that correlates a number of participatory elements to everyone's Forum status, be it across numerous SD sites or not.

Such as this;

Forum rankings

Want some? Assuming the feature would be implemented and that the overall thematic Icons and background frameworks should be altered to be galactic in nature or games driven or somethin' along those lines.

You'd reach 10,000 replies & posts on TS, you got to ride a maximum reddish stampede reputation (And well, RobinHood as long gained 25,000 and still counting, last i checked!) and be perceived as a "Blue Peeker" for having less than 20!

Lemme know!

 

on Apr 04, 2009

where the showing of "posted from" would be invaluable to many.

Make it a two side coin, then. And flip it, member #2379736 is far from being indicative of someone's site location or participation ratio(s) be it Karma or otherwise.

Admit it Neilo, if it weren't for some TyrannyofEvil friends your own "Karma Value" would be a little less... and mine would spike up in the stratosphere for being helpful!

Fairplay indications to the many by the most is my motto here, only.

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