Rankings

[C0RR0SIVE]

I know the "ranks" are purely based upon post count in certain areas, but what are the ranks?  It seems they are only "updated" once a week on Lithium and it's confusing to tell what rank is what lol

[maratsade]

I'm a Senior now. Not an entirely flattering rank. 

So far we have Freshman, Senior, and Tutor, right?

[Gwalk900]

Sadly based solely on number of posts, not content.

If you peek around you can see the @curtis-m is ranked as a Tutor while @BirdDog is a Senior (I'll grant you that BD is not a Pup but .......)

Hummmm.

Just an observation from the Peanut Gallery.

[maratsade]

"Sadly based solely on number of posts, not content."

Yep, and that's just wrong.

[Gwalk900]

The stuff on the Internet is a lot like the Wild West.

You just have to know how to tell the wheat from the chaff. That to me is where (with all Community Disclaimers aside) the Community Rankings come into play. Nothing of course is absoute, but with limited Mod comments to validate comments made by users and former "Champs" how are they to assess the "Help" posted in our now user to user Community.

For me, that means I am wasting a lot of time making long detailed posts that carry the same validity, the same weight if you will, as perhaps a post by curtis-m.

[maratsade]

---

@Gwalk900, Yep, the rankings aren't very helpful right now, and new posters may not know who to trust or where to turn.  I hope that as the community evolves, maybe HN will restore the Champion title or create an equivalent.

---

[GabeU]

---

@Gwalk900 wrote:

For me, that means I am wasting a lot of time making long detailed posts that carry the same validity, the same weight if you will, as perhaps a post by curtis-m. 

---

That is VERY unfortunate, and IMHO, quite unfair.  

All of that time that you and the other formerly titled Champions spent helping others and earning that former title and you are now relegated to the same level as someone who creates threads that are anything but productive and/or helpful.  It's not right.  I know that you and the others didn't help multitudes of people to earn that title, but the title was earned, nonetheless, and earned through hard work and dedication, and now....

There needs to be a title that confers that you and the others who had the former title are people who can be trusted to help with issues and that you know what you are talking about.  And now, with the revelation that the mods are stepping back, a title conveying such is even more important than before.  I hope you and the others like you eventually get such a title.

[GabeU]

---

@Gwalk900 wrote:

The stuff on the Internet is a lot like the Wild West.

You just have to know how to tell the wheat from the chaff. That to me is where (with all Community Disclaimers aside) the Community Rankings come into play. Nothing of course is absoute, but with limited Mod comments to validate comments made by users and former "Champs" how are they to assess the "Help" posted in our now user to user Community.

For me, that means I am wasting a lot of time making long detailed posts that carry the same validity, the same weight if you will, as perhaps a post by curtis-m. 

---

I couldn't agree more.  It's now much harder for the person seeking help to know who to trust, and they won't know to trust those exceptional people who previously earned that trust through their hard work.  It's disheartening.  

[donsjgm]

Sadly, Gwalk it just keeps piling on. We all know "you're Great"! Don't get discouraged, the community needs you.

Don  🙂

[Liz]

Hi!

So as you have noticed, the ranking system we have has an academic theme. Most of the posters in the community will probably be at a student level (freshman-senior). However, those who continuously make significant, helpul, and positive contributions to the community can rank up to a teacher-related rank, such as Tutor. The Tutor rank is just the tip of the iceberg! We have various levels of tutors, TAs, instructors, and professors!

While we can't divulge the exact criteria for ranking up (to avoid those trying to game the ranking system), we can say that there are a number of factors that help you rank up, not just post count. 

Since helpful contributions are valued in this community support forum, providing info that becomes Accepted Solutions definitely help ranking up. 

Having a ranking system is new to us, so we are learning and finding some loopholes we're addressing. You'll find that some folks' ranks have been adjusted accordingly.

In the future we may have a private "Teachers' Lounge", but like the general discussion board pitched in BirdDog's thread, we may have that up as a trial. The concept of both boards are pretty similar so we may need just one or the other.

[C0RR0SIVE]

Well, I was hoping for at least a list even if we don't get the criteria for each "ranking". xD

[Liz · Accepted solution]

Distinguished Professor I-V
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Senior Instructor
Instructor
Adjunct Instructor
Teaching Assistant
Advanced Tutor
Tutor
Senior
Junior
Sophomore
Freshman
New Poster

Lurker rankings:
Scholar
Researcher
Learner
Observer
Spectator
New Member

[C0RR0SIVE]

Lots of ranks! I love that there are lurker ranks as well, that is trippy! 

[Liz]

IKR. Lots of ranks to look forward to!

It's funny, you'll never see those lurker ranks on a board because as soon as a lurker posts, they become a New Poster. 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I have seen Observer and Spectator. 😛

[maratsade]

So I was looking for information about how to change the channels on an Xfinity router to help a clueless person who has Xfinity, and I found the Xfinity board, and they have this to mark their forum experts (Champions):

Every time an "XFINITY Forum Expert" posts, this shows up under the text of their post.  I thought this was pretty cool, if a bit on the biggish side.  It would be nice if we could have something like this to mark the experts on this community, because if I post 35 inane posts every day,pretty soon I'll have a higher rank than people like @BirdDog or @Gwalk900.  And that's just not right. 

[Gwalk900]

However, your insights and contributions add value to the Community and offer knowledge to new users.

[maratsade]

---

@Gwalk900 wrote:

However, your insights and contributions add value to the Community and offer knowledge to new users.

---

Thank you, GWalk! (Check's in the mail). 

I think though that there are people here who are actual experts.  The real McCoy.  You know who you are, and you all know about the system, about networking, about the ins and outs and ups and downs, beams, maps, tests, routers,gizmos, doodads, and all of that. There ought to be something that brands you as experts, so users can easily see who they're interacting with and what level of authority and expertise to expect.   A badge like Xfinity uses would be very useful, I think, especially when given by the system every time an expert posts. (I also liked that the badge clarifies that the person is not an employee -- we often have that slight misunderstanding here). 

[GabeU]

---

@maratsade wrote:

 Every time an "XFINITY Forum Expert" posts, this shows up under the text of their post.  I thought this was pretty cool, if a bit on the biggish side.  It would be nice if we could have something like this to mark the experts on this community, because if I post 35 inane posts every day,pretty soon I'll have a higher rank than people like @BirdDog or @Gwalk900.  And that's just not right.  

---

That's interesting.  I do think, though, that they should at least have the description of the site (Customer to Customer Solutions) be a little more visible when one comes to the site.  You can see that description as a title of the page by your address bar, but nowhere on the home page itself, unless I'm simply missing it.  It's alluded to in the "Announcements", but it should be more plainly visible.  

As for the rankings, Liz alluded to it taking more than just the number of posts to increase in rank.  I have yet to see evidnece of this, as there are examples of rank increasing on post count alone, not the content of the posts.  Perhaps it has changed, as of today, due to this new info.  I certainly hope so, as if it hasn't, you are correct....that's just not right.    

[maratsade]

"I do think, though, that they should at least have the description of the site (Customer to Customer Solutions) be a little more visible when one comes to the site.  You can see that description as a title of the page by your address bar, but nowhere on the home page itself, unless I'm simply missing it.  It's alluded to in the "Announcements", but it should be more plainly visible.  "

YES!  The new dynamic is not very clear as yet.  The info on the home page (https://community.hughesnet.com/) is:

Welcome to the new and improved HughesNet community!

The HughesNet Community is here for you to find answers and ask fellow HughesNet subscribers for help. This is a great opportunity to discuss and share your expertise to enhance your HughesNet experience and that of fellow subscribers.

The info is there, but it's a tad vaguely expressed.