[wp-forums] Volunteer Titles

[Scott Merrill]

Peter Westwood wrote:
> 
> On Fri, July 1, 2005 2:33 pm, lorelle at cameraontheroad.com said:
> 
>>>Regarding the discussion of titles, I would like to suggest that some
>>>form of distinction be made for Support Forum Volunteers and "members".
>>>This is not to make one person "better" than another but to recognize a
>>>volunteer as someone who understands the "rules of conduct" and "is here
>>>for something beyond their own self interest". I think these people
>>>should get the "title" of "Volunteer" under their name on the forum.
>>>
> 
> 
> Sounds good.

This proposal really appeals to me.

While we're talking about it, why are people even listed as "members",
since we do not allow anonymous posting?  Shouldn't regular users have
_no_ title?

>>>* A Volunteer is "recommended" by two or more other Volunteers to Podz
>>>or one of the mavens.

I lke this idea.

>>>* A set of criteria is established, like X months on the forum, X
>>>postings, or whatever method there is a "counting" a person's contribution.
>>>
> 
> 
> Time / Post count don't always correlate with contribution.
> If we had some way for the originator of a post to hilight the answer/s that they found helpful and thereby give
> people karma which led on to the possibility of being a "Volunteer"
> 
> Maybe a tick box against each post to enable it to be identified as helpful?

This could be gamed just as much as post counts.  It also significantly
complicates the forums for no substantial benefit.

>>>* Or Podz or one of the mavens just hands out the designation to whoever
>>>they feel deserves it.
>>>
> 
> 
> I would think that if we want to recognise people well we don't want a single path to becoming a "Volunteer" but a
> combination of the suggestions above - probably the status change should require the support of more than one
> Volunteer/Maven

I agree that a single person's point of view is insufficient for this
kind of recognition.

Arbitrarily, I would say that any user who sticks around more than 6
months _and_ has at least 50 _responses_ would be a reasonable candidate
for "volunteer" status.

The 50 responses is not new posts.  Nor is it 50 "I have the same
problem." posts.  It's 50 _answers_ (or attempted answers) from someone.
I don't think there's any decent way to automate this calculation, though.

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