To discourage unscrupulous behavior - and encourage forum activity - on the Photics Forums, the User Ranks and Promotions have been updated. The system has been changed to grant additional forum privileges as more activity has occurred.



Here's how it works...

• Guests - Not logged in
  Can view the forum, member lists, blogs, events and attachments
• Users Awaiting Email Confirmation - Register for an account
  Can edit account options and profile. (If the email address is not quickly verified, the account will likely be deleted.)
• Neophyte - Validate Email address
  Can post to forum (unmoderated), Can add comments and blog (moderated), Private Messaging enabled, can choose from small avatar icons
• Page - 25 Reputation Points or 30 Days Registered + 25 Posts
  Can add attachments, can view and join Social Groups, comments and blog (unmoderated), Private Message storage increased, can choose from medium sized avatar icons
• Squire - 50 Reputation Ponts or 60 Days Registered + 50 Posts
  Private Message storage increased, Photo Albums
• Knight - 100 Reputation Points or 90 Days Registered + 100 Posts
  Private Message storage increased, create Social Groups, Name: Blue & Bold

This places greater importance on reputation. If you see a post that you like, click the reputation icon and add a reputation point to show your appreciation. If you see a post that you don't like, click the "Report Post" icon. Also note: with this change, Private Messaging has been slowed down. A new message can only be sent once every 15 minutes.

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

This seems pretty neat.. I was wondering what the point of the reputation was before, now it actually has a purpose

Planning anything different for Moderators?

I have two types of moderators... "Realm Guard" and "Elite Realm Guard" ...but I haven't tested it out yet. I'm nervous about opening this site to moderators, especially since the forum could be self-moderating.

With bonuses for reputation, there can also be penalties. For example, I could set the system to automatically ban a user if their reputation falls below a certain point. That means the community could monitor itself. Although, the wisdom of crowds isn't always reliable. Sometimes you need leadership to keep things going in the right direction.

That means there should be moderators. That's part of having a good forum. I have to figure it out. Right now, my main project (aside from that secret project I've been working on) is to restore the third database. The newest two have been merged already. I'm trying to revive the posts from the days of Cavalon and older. When that's nice and stable, I think that will be a good time to test out moderator privledges.

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Note: I changed the way avatars work. When you first join the site, only the small (32x32 pixels) profession icons are selectable as an avatar. When you reach the rank of Page, the medium sized icons (64x64 pixels) are selectable.

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Ahh, so thats why my blog posts arent working. I think, cause im going to start excessively posting, id better get 25 posts.

Hey Photics,

This rank thing isnt working. I have been registered for over 30 days and done 25 posts but my blog is still moderated. Why is this?

There's something wrong with the automation. It's supposed to run every hour, but it didn't work as intended. I manually activated the User Promotions and now you're a "Page".

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Congratulations burning!