Me too. I have never actively tried to post and read and like and create likeable posts just to be able to use HTML on an HTML-based web board. It’s ridiculous. It seems like Blizzard just keeps trying to invent things to dissuade users from using this forum.
I was actually amazed that I can at this moment create live links to YouTube and D3 Profile pages, but I still can’t make image links to my own website. So no, I am not reading anything but what interests me, only liking posts I like, not posting meaningless crap just to keep up some arbitrary post count, and I don’t care if anyone likes posts I make.
C’est La Vie.
By the way, for those readers who don’t know, to see your own Trust Level, just use this link, and put your own user name there instead.
That’s because YouTube is on the whitelist of sites that TL2 people can link to / embed. Back when I created a thread asking for some extra domains to be added to the TL2 whitelist (such as d3planner, imgur, diablo3.com and so on) the thread instead got hijacked by people embedding dog and cat videos from YouTube into it. My reasoning was that if there were domains that would be frequently linked to (e.g. for build guides, screenshots, and so on) available at TL2 then almost no-one would care about obtaining / maintaining TL3 except for the people wanting to make guides / wikis on the forum.
Here it is…
It seems ludicrous to me that anyone and their uncle can embed YouTube videos into the forums but we can’t create a link to Blizzard’s own armoury site unless we have TL3.
I had to disable Stylus to see your post. Apparently I added you to my ignore code and forgot about it. I saw part of the reply in someone elses post. (need to look at the code again.
To be honest Forums are a dying medium. Gamers these days are better suited with discord servers and the such. My whole clan uses discord. The built in chat system are terrible. But that is another topic.
If you want an ignore then look up Stylus. You can make the site look anyway you want. Add many features that you want. Mind you there are some limits but not much. Like I am in the middle of redoing the whole theme for the site. Not sure who did the color coding but they need to go back to art school lol.
Trust trackers mean less then nothing to me to be honest. They really dont serve much point. At my last forum we tried adding things like titles that were close to what you call trust levels. Lets just say it didnt take long for those titles to mean nothing.
To be honest, I learned along time ago, unless you are a developer then you are just like everyone else. You really dont have much idea whats going on or any say in the matter. (mind you this is nothing against you personally)
If you prefer transparency then you have picked the wrong company I’m afraid.
Sadly even that wouldn’t be enough for the cosmetics guide as it has hundreds of links to the Diablo wiki on Fandom, and the few images that aren’t linked to from that site are taken from the Akamai CDN Blizzard uses, which obviously wouldn’t be whitelisted since it isn’t normally a public facing entity.
I would argue that since no one was TL2 for 15 days after the introduction of the new forum, it made considerable sense that some posters were manually awarded TL3 to facilitate the forum transition. With the forum now ~250 days old, I wonder if it makes sense to re-evaluate.
No, it does not. It forces folks who only come here to help others to engage a LOT more than they normally would. I would not qualify for T3 on my own I don’t think. Maintaining that TL3 just to help other players is kind of not a good move. The (3) folks I recommended for TL3 manual almost only post on Tech, Bug, or New Player - or to answer questions here. They would lose TL3 based on participation, where as them having links and images really helps players.
I am responsible for making sure they don’t do something against the rules of course. It took SO MUCH to get permissions. They know that though. The rest are Nev’s.
I did not say that anyone should be removed who was manually awarded TL3; however, there is considerable variability in forum engagement. People who help others certainly deserve their status as long as they stay in Blizzard’s good standing.
Many Universities award tenure that is based on historical performance and your perceived value going forward. As you can imagine, there are certain tenured professors whose trust is well-placed while others less so.
That is why it is my role to keep track of the people I recommended for TL3. It is Nev’s job to track hers. If they are no longer contributing (after a long enough time), or breaking rules, they would get removed.
It is much like the MVP program though - it is NOT a job or paid position. Blizz does not set a quota of posts, or tell you what to do. It is totally voluntary. People have real lives and games take a back seat to those. If you vanish for years though …expect it might eventually be removed. It is not on a month to month basis or anything. It took years to earn and it takes years to un-earn.
Actually the requirements of being TL3 is ridiculous. Why one have to real almost every post on the forum, only to put links and gif in his posts?
Also to be a TL3 doesn’t require you to post or to share more knowleage with people. Just keep reading posts. I think TL3 should require more posts but less reading, as the more posts without a ban, the less likely one will post improper posts
The way Blizzard want to build their community is even more stupid than the way they want to balance their games.
I often wonder if I ran a forum where you wanted certain trusted posters to have additional rights (where the forum software could determine if the requirements were met), what criteria would you use.
I think there is no easy answer.
Reading posts/threads mean that you spend time on the forums, but it does not equal trustworthiness. The current requirements seem high (Averaging 200 posts read per day).
Post count is tricky because you do not want forum posters making insignificant posts to boost their numbers.
Likes received is tricky. If I make a thread stating that we need more stash space, it is highly likely I will get a bunch of likes. I could make a thoughtful, well-reasoned post that is unpopular and get far less “likes”.
The incentive itself is not right. If you don’t want everyone to be equal, it should be a few untrusted posters to have less previledge.
Actually, there are few previledges you don’t want to grant everyone. I actually don’t get why posting clickable link requires TL3 while unclickable link does not. Since almose nobody is TL3, when I see an unclickable link I don’t feel the poster is untrusted at all…
And reading, posting, liking, and hoping you get liked on a game Forum takes a back seat to actually playing the game the Forum is connected to.
There are lots of Forum goers who would like to link to information in a way that would make it easier for readers to access, me, Meteorblade, others…who have no interest in posting stupid memes, dog and cat videos, or other time-wasting, useless things. Unfortunately, those who have a compulsion to do so also have the compulsion to put in the work necessary to achieve the status to do so.
Thus, the Forum is infested by TL3 posters who seem to have no interest in the game; only in harassing those who do.
I would track not post count, but frequency, and then simply read read a few posts by those frequent posters. If they seem a decent sort who is courteous and respectful and provides helpful information, thoughtful answers to questions, and engages in lively debate, then elevate their status. If it seems like the person is a douche, then don’t. This can’t really be done by a piece of software, or maybe it could by something that parses the actual threads and looks for various contextual phrases or keywords, but on this particular forum, I think a person could probably keep track.
TL 2 can post links from trusted sites like youtube. Maybe you intend to target those? I don’t see TL3 folks making you miserable due to their permissions that you don’t have. Maybe I missed it.
This is an INSANE amount of work. That is what they did for MVPs and the current manual TL3s. You have to be so super stand out that you get their attention in the limited time they are here.
If you are not offering something of significant benefit to other players, they won’t even consider you.