Forum Trust Levels (Changes)

How do you know which level you are?
I dont use the forums often enough, but…

Click/tap a username to bring up the short profile. It says there.

I don’t think “losing regular status” is going to properly punish the people abusing flags. I don’t think they’re making sock puppet accounts at level 1 to do it.

I think the solution is to take away their posting privileges for repeated offenses.

I know full well I could fall afoul of this. I guarantee you I’d hesitate more to repeat offenses if I’d spent a forced week-long vacation from posting than if I suddenly noticed the forum I don’t post in is inaccessible.

I say go warning → 1 week no posts → 1 month no posts → no posting ever.

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Well, they cannot use lvl 1 accounts, on Salty OP there’s written you need at least lvl 2 to use flags and is gonna take longer get it from now on.

ops nvm, shouldnt post when tired, misread.

But well, Salty can see who flagged something no? so maybe wa smostly alt accounts hence that solution.

I think it’s a softball because they know the guilty parties are people who contribute a lot to the forums in terms of “engagement”, so they’re scared to kick them out of the clubhouse even if they’re bad for the club.

Personally, I’d consider using sock puppet accounts to commit flag fraud a bannable offense. It’s not like it’s an accidental or impulsive thing, it takes quite a bit of effort compared to hitting “reply” without thinking too hard. I think the posting vacation would be best for that kind of person’s mental health.

But on the other hand, I’m 99% certain I’m wrong about how frequently that abuse happens, so I don’t feel like going down a rabbit hole or guessing who did it. If I had all the knowledge I’m sure I’d be surprised, for better or worse.

I’ve heard of bans in global chat applied to main accounts based upon what alt accounts have said in chat. I’ve also heard of bans based on filing false reports. I don’t see why these forums would be any different.

I’m not an IT guy, but I imagine it wouldn’t be difficult to identify ip addresses of these so-called sock puppets. I could be wrong tho. It happens quite often. Still, if the devs can determine who is banned in global, why not here?

New accounts can’t flag from the get go. You have to reach Level 2 in order to flag posts. (Or, this is how it should work in theory!)

I’m sure this is a noob question, but where do you see these trust levels? I looked on my profile and didn’t see anything obvious.

image

You’re a “Member” which is trust level 2.

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So to “be regular”, either post more or eat a high fiber diet. :crazy_face:

It seems like a funny name for the hardest trust level to earn, especially considering the slang meaning of the word. Hopefully, at least one person laughed at the joke.

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Where can I find out how often I need to post to maintain Regular Status? Thanks.

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@Bernice They may have changed the original settings, but it will most likely be the same as here (our forums use Discourse):

Maybe longer than 100 days, then – not sure about losing the status, though.

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I hope for 2 things:
(1) This change does not motivate people to flag for the sole purpose of getting someone’s status reduced.
(2) The inverse of this change is also true where the flagger’s status can be reduced if many of the flags are not approved.

We know you’re busy and appreciate you looking at the activity because the numbers will speak for themselves.

[Time to change things]

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Of the 5-10 flagged posts that were maliciously handed down to me yesterday by someone who was clearly not a developer nor a real moderator like Lyya.
This was the only post that was unflagged:

The post where I pointed out the abuse.

I get that the devs (and Lyya) have way better things to do than to unflag every post of mine that shouldn’t of been flagged. And to their credit, it appears that my account isn’t punished at this time due to underserved flags.
But I ask that you use your outsiders perspective. If you know nothing about me and just see my name attached to flagged posts (and don’t even bother to click to unhide them) then it’s easy to get a negative outlook of me. Which I believe would be the intention of this anonymous flag abuser. I am fully aware that I can be controversial. Folks have the right to think whatever they want of me based on the comments I post here (hopefully they are able to see the context at least). But in this case they aren’t even able to see those comments without more effort on their end to judge my words for themselves. Instead all they see is “AWRyan and flagged”.
Again I never have an issue taking responsibility for my words. Nor will I ever dispute responsibility for a flag that I deserved (there has been at least a few… In the distant past though). But I shouldn’t be responsible for petty flags because the system was abused.

If you’re too busy to unflag posts (which it’s understandable if you are). Then no one besides you should be able to get posts hidden automatically. I thought that was the whole point of the trust level changes. And if somehow this individual did earn enough trust to get posts hidden automatically. Then I hope that they have made it :100:% clear to you now that they don’t deserve that much trust.

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What also happens is that ppl misperceive their “flaggers” and then systematically flag in retaliation. That’s childish so please make flagging visible. Thank you. It’s becoming a new snowflake issue.

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“Someone hurt my feelings by flagging my post and that made me sad enough to post here so they’re snowflakes,” lol.

20200403_175438

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:black_flag:

So evidently having an opinion about a prank pulled by the devs for April fool’s while considering the climate of the game is “off topic”.
Someone clearly has a lot of time on their hands. I wish we all could be as lucky.
I was right though. The real mods aren’t going to bother policing the flag abuse.

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Real mods elicit respect without favouritism or having to resort to selective warnings/bans.

Real mods care about their community to be around on and off after office hours…

Real mods don’t lie to the customers, or keep standing behind a product (e.g. claiming the customers wanted the latest whimsical changes) when the product is increasingly defective…

…anyone with access to the past 18-24 months of forum evidence should be able to decide how much of the above applies here.
:relaxed: :face_with_monocle: :vulcan_salute:

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How do I even find out what trust level I am?

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Click on your profile:

:relaxed: :vulcan_salute: