@I_like_pie is there a way of seeing the current stats for each user? Introducing a bit of gamification to this would be fun… but I wonder if the tolerances for level three are possible for the current activity levels in the forums…
I agree with @Belg that perhaps there should be some discussion and potential adjustments of the criteria for the Trust Levels, especially Level 3.
Trust Level 3 — Regular
Regulars are the backbone of your community, the most active readers and reliable contributors over a period of months, even years. Because they’re always around, they can be further trusted to help tidy up and organize the community.
To get to trust level 3, in the last 100 days…
- Must have visited at least 50% of days
- Must have replied to at least 10 different topics
- Of topics created in the last 100 days, must have viewed 25% (capped at 500)
- Of posts created in the last 100 days, must have read 25% (capped at 20k)
- Must have received 20 likes, and given 30 likes.*
- Must not have received more than 5 spam or offensive flags (with unique posts and unique users for each, confirmed by a moderator)
- Must not have been suspended or silenced
Admins can change these thresholds by searching for TL3 in site settings.
Personally, I think some of these should be lowered and also reconsidered if and when the forums become more active with a sizable influx of new players.
Right now, I think the visited 50% of days is a bit harsh. For players in an active galaxy that is no difficulty, but I feel that for players on a break or veterans hanging out and playing occasionally, the 50% number is too high. I suggest 35% instead.
Also the offensive posts requirement speaks of moderator confirmation. Well, since moderators have been disbanded, that seems to be unworkable in that format.
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@Belg the per-user stats are hidden, even to the users themselves. This is out of our control, but I do agree with the reasoning behind it. There’s a good conversation about that below that describes some of the problems this could cause:
@Terror_of_the_Night I can see where you’re coming from, but I think it comes down to the purpose of the team and what T3 really represents.
For players on a break and veterans hanging out and playing occasionally, they are still very welcome to contribute their ideas to #roadmap:ideas. The new team isn’t a replacement for community feedback and ideas, it’s a way for our most loyal and active players to help wrangle our priorities and continue to drive the community forward.
In that regard, it’s not unreasonable to limit membership to those who are here 50% of the time. In fact, many players already have met this or are very close, but haven’t met the other criteria. The new team is meant for those who have proven that they’re in it for the long haul, not just returning for an extended visit.
Having a higher bar to strive for will also help stimulate forum activity; if we lower the bar we lower the incentive to participate for those who just want the status.
We are trying this for the first time though, and I can’t say we won’t adjust the various criteria over time. As it stands however, the 10 players it has identified as our most trusted and active is pretty spot on, and it happens to include the recently dissolved moderator team as well.
If anybody feels like they should be on this team but aren’t, the solution is simple: make your presence in the forum here more known. 
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The challenge there is making forum content more interactive.
Discord is useful, but the forums of old were places to go to seek widsom, fun and (more often than note) gentle abuse.
My two penneth is that we should focus on one place for chats about IC. I’ve seen pearls of wisdom shared on discord about strategy or planning that can’t be searched from here. Back in the olden days (how many crap players refer to those golden days now… me included!!) the forum was the place I went to to learn
Could that happen again?
Call me crazy, but I firmly believe it may be wise to have an player or two on the council that is semi-retired but very knowledgeable about the game. People that would not be swayed by current events as active players may unintentionally be,
- Of posts created in the last 100 days, must have read 25% (capped at 20k)
This right here could end up being a concern. Maybe not so much now, but in the future. Appears this includes non-gameplay posts such as What I Ate Last and the such. The forums in the old days had many posts with hundreds of replies for rather mundane topics that are just chit-chat not game related. If it ever were to inch toward that once again, then this requirement should be revisited.
Nothing will ever replace the old forums, but I still go back sometimes for some of that wisdom and reminders of gentle abuse
I don’t see the discourse forums becoming navigable like the old forums were so idk what can be done about it.
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I’m sorry guys! I know I’m not supposed to ramble anymore, but I can’t help it! 
I just miss you all too much. 
@Belg you’re hitting on something very important.
IC-Wiki used to be such a place, and at its height we saw some incredible contributions and discussions. @Terror_of_the_Night himself helped to renew interest in this, but as I’m sure he’s discovered, it’s hard to get people involved in a ghost town. We simply don’t have the network effect we once did for an external tool to be successful.
Thankfully, Discourse also has wiki features, and we do have a network effect here. Despite some early naysayer’s predictions, our forums have proven to be successful and continue to grow:
Forum Usage Stats
Site Statistics
| All Time | Last 7 | Last 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topics | 1.6k | 94 | 258 |
| Posts | 16.8k | 947 | 2.5k |
| Users | 694 | 2 | 26 |
| Active Users | — | 118 | 165 |
| Likes | 4.4k | 113 | 584 |
So yes, we absolutely can and should aim to make the forum the place to be, including making smart usage of our wiki features here (this will be on our roadmap). This is also why in addition to pushing forum activity incentives, I’m testing things like Babble: it allows players to chat and use the forum at the same time within the same UI. It’s no Discord, but the potential for community gains are so much greater. Discord, while sexy, provides us little historical value.
Somebody asked me recently why I’m obsessing over the forum so much instead of focusing 100% on game fixes. The answer is that IC is nothing without its community, and if we truly want to reach our second golden age, we need a unified community identity.
There is a method to my madness. 
@Terror_of_the_Night you aren’t crazy, but “the council” is perhaps an improper way to see the new team. Besides, if a player is semi-retired but very knowledgable, what is stopping them from posting in #roadmap:ideas?
One of the new team’s responsibilities will be to consider feedback from the entire community, which will include such wise oldbies who as you mention will not have the same biases. This new team isn’t a council to ruminate for the sake of wisdom, it is a team that will lead to action. Experience is hugely important, but activity and movement is key.
Regarding that post reading requirement, it is capped specifically to address the issue you mention. If it does become problematic in the future, we can adjust it, but so far the 10 players who have met this criteria already have proven it to be within reach.
You are raising great points, and it’s great that we question these things. We should also however be aware of our purpose. There will be players who want this title for the sake of having clout, and we don’t need egos: we need activity.
@DustyAladdin, we can do a lot about how things look here. 
Discourse supports custom themes. We have a lot of control over this, we just need somebody to do the work.
Any volunteers? 
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Thank you for addressing my specific concern! It’s been great having you around in forums so much this last week. I’m starting to get used to it.
This is definitely important. It would be a shame to not be able to get the discourse forums to something similar to the old ones. Sad that they had to go because of some silly BBCode security vulnerability or whatever it was.
I’ll definitely check out the customization stuff at some point. Really just want to get some sort of followable organizational structure so it’s easier to find things.
I just transferred a few entries from the old wiki, but far from all and mostly just ones that were related to families I played with in the early rounds.
Not knowledgeable about Discourse, but is it possible to set up a wiki and the forums at the same time, or would the wiki be more like a category section within the regular forums? Either way, I’m game for helping to transfer it all from the old wiki to a new place, providing we have a clue what we are doing and can make it work. Probably should divide it into IC History and Gameplay main categories then subdivide it from there appropriately.
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I’m sure, with a bit of work, we could script it…? Assuming we’d want to move all of it… if not, it sounds like a copy and paste job - if so, happy to lend my fingers to the task!
Family Forums are shown on the Main Forums page. Let’s make certain there is no chance that those Topics and Posts are tallied in the requirement percentages. If they are, everyone may eventually get kicked from Level 3.