Hey, all!
So, I’ve been reading around the forums as usual, and a big issue that seems to be coming up with a lot of people is the essence of the “trust” system. They do have a short explanation on the announcements page, but not too many people have read it. Therefore, I just wanted to offer some clarification, and offer some ideas for the Trust System.
Just to note, I’m just a 19 year old college student taking guesses at the system. I’m just sharing what limited knowledge I have, and offering ideas. Some of this may be wrong, but it’s just to try to help people who have no idea what anything is. Just take it with a grain of salt.
The Rundown of Trust
What is “Trust”?
- For those who don’t know, the new forums works under the newly implemented “trust” system. It hasn’t been clearly or implicitly explained yet, but some of the community do have a slight guess at to what the trust system is and how it works.
- As of now, it would seem that all new users start out on a basic level of trust with no discrepancy. You have a limit of 50 likes, 100 posts, and 3 threads per 24 hours. You have the ability to make posts, include emojis, reply to others, and quote others. You can also use any of the text editing tools available.
- This is how everyone starts out. The only way to go below the basic trust level would probably be to be flagged constantly, which would probably result in a temporary ban or even a permanent ban via the Code of Conduct. So be good!
How Do I Gain Trust?
- Again, I have no idea how it works, I’m just running off of my limites knowledge here.
- Based on what we’ve seen and been told, you gain trust by being an outstanding member of the forums. This means:
- Offering good and constructive feedback.
- No spamming or trolling.
- Consistent activity.
- Have a positive attitude.
- Don’t be rude or toxic.
- Doing these types of things would seem to give you gains on the trust meter, which will eventually increase over time as you continue to be a good member of the forums.
- Some also speculate that there could be a post-to-like ratio taken into account, but as of now this has no validity. It’s just speculation.
- Disobeying any of these things, however, will lose you trust, and you may end up losing privileges that you once had.
What Does Trust Do For Me?
- It would seem that gaining trust unlocks a number of features for the users who work up the ranks.
- Ability to share links.
- Ability to embed GIFs, images, and videos into your post.
- Access to more likes, posts, and threads per day.
- I think this is it, but there may be more. These are just the things I’m pretty confident on. Again, I’m just guessing based on what I know. I don’t claim to be 100% on any of this. I’m barely 50% on any of this.
My Thoughts on Trust
Speculation of Limitations for New Users
- My only concern is that the new trust system can limit the potential of new users to share ideas or important links and images for their topic. Say a new user has a lot of videos showing bugs in the game. They come on the forums, and they want to share the videos they found! But… they can’t. They haven’t gained enough trust yet. Then, they have to try to gain enough trust though the system to post their important links, but it takes them too long, and they lose interest. Now, a person who had good intentions was discouraged from sharing important information on the forums that could better the game.
- This system also rewards being a “somebody.” People like RichC, Titanium, JellyandJam, PyroPanda, NerdGurl720, SunDragon, SunsetHippo, and other popular users will gain trust very quickly (if I had to guess). They’ll be rewarded with cool new features, while casual users will be left with less interesting things, and may be discouraged from engaging in some posts (maybe).
My Opinion on Having the Trust System
- I think the idea is an amazing one, but with one caveat - the extra things that trusted users can do does not limit the potential of a new user to make the best post they possibly can.
- The most important of these is sharing links. Maybe not embedding links and making them fancy, but at least sharing them. People have been getting around this, anyways, by just putting spaces. Making it a limited feature seems futile.
- If the new features for trusted users simply makes the user look and feel special (images, GIFs, embedded videos, etc.), I am 100% all for it. This will easily promote and reward good behavior, and can be ripped away permanently from anyone who abuses it. My only worry is for those who can’t make a post because of limitations the system puts in place.
My Suggestions for the Trust System
- Have a Visual Gauge to see your trust level.
- This will allow users to know why they can’t use certain features, and allows trusted users to know what they can use. It could be a very simple implementation on the Profile page (although I don’t know how the coding on Discourse works, so I don’t know if that’s possible or not). It’ll clear confusion and allow people to see other’s trust levels.
- Remove the inability to post links.
- This is bad for people who want to make very long, in depth, analytical threads that rely on citations of links and videos. People will get around it, anyways. They already have. Keeping the system in place to prevent it is, in no offense, kind of pointless. It’d be best for all to have it be free for everyone.
- Have more useless but fun rewards for trusted members.
- Just a dumb idea, but it’d be cool if highly trusted users could start polls, get custom player borders (like the Devs and Community team, but different and more subtle, just to help them stand out as upstanding members), access to special emojis, special borders to threads, and unlimited likes.
- These small things could heavily encourage people to act in a proper manner to gain the rewards, while only the few most trusted members get the most special rewards. Just a dumb idea that I think would be a nice way of thanking the very active members who obey the rules.
- Increase the like limit to 100 per day at base trust.
- I like liking things. I know a lot of people like liking things. Let people share the love! I really wanted to show everyone in my Introduction thread that I read their post, but I couldn’t like enough posts to show them that I was reading. I felt bad.
- It’s a minor thing, but it would help the positive environment we’re trying to create.
Trust System TL;DR
- You gain trust by being a good member of the community. You unlock links, videos, GIF, images, more likes, more posts, and more threads.
My Personal Thoughts TL;DR
- The idea of the trust system is great, and could be used to give so maybe beautiful but pointless rewards to trusted memebers. The only thing is that the trust system should not disable someone from making an amazing thread just because they’re new.
Well, those are all my things on the new Trust System. If you know anything more about how the system works, or want to share any new ideas on how it could be improved, feel free to share! I love reading people’s ideas!
I’ll see you all around! 