Community Announcements

[#1]

Community Members,

As part of Verizon Community Forum’s evolution, we are looking to streamline/clarify the ranking process and provide additional functionality to our most valued members.  In the simplest terms, the Verizon Community Forums Team wishes to reward frequent participation and helpful behavior, as well as protect the community from spam, trolling, and objectionable content. 

To that end, we’ve significantly revised the community ranking system to meet the needs of our members.  The section below illustrates the enhanced ranking levels and the functionality granted once each rank has been achieved.

Community Rank	Functionality Granted
Default Privileges	Create new Forums threads and Read/Reply to Posts Read and Blog or Idea Exchange entry Setup profile, e.g., Location, Avatar, Device, etc. Subscribe to Boards/Threads via RSS Utilize Private Messaging system Add Tags to any post
Contributor	The ability to give Kudos to other members.
Copper Contributor	Create a custom signature in posts
Nickel Contributor	Ability to select Animated GIFs as Avatars
Bronze Contributor	Ability to to upload images into message posts (JPG & GIF)  Add attachments to posts (TXT, DOC, RTF, and PDF only)
Silver Contributor	Use externally hosted Avatars
Gold Contributor	Kudos worth double Upload Video to Gallery and in message posts
Platinum Contributor	Kudos worth triple Ability to create Polls in posts**
** Coming Soon

We recognize many community members will ask (and have asked in the past) exactly what the criteria is for achieving each rank in the hierarchy.  To eliminate the likelihood of system abuse or forum ‘rank climbing’, we have decided not to publicize the exact ranking criteria.  That said, community members will gain higher ranking by excelling in the activity components below.  The list is not in order of importance and some elements are weighted greater than others.

• Kudos Given
• Kudos Received
• Length of Time on the Community
• Number of logins
• Posts marked as “Accepted Solution”
• Total number of Posts (minus deleted posts)
• Total Number of Tags applied throughout community
• Time spent online in the Community Forums

As members achieve higher rankings within the Community Forums, they will automatically receive additional functionality – while maintaining the functionality rights previously achieved.  Administrators may invite certain members to become Community Leaders at their discretion.  We reserve the right to modify, change, or discontinue the Ranking program at any time without notice. 

As always, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or feedback you may have.

Verizon Community Forums Team

Message Edited by Jay-VzW on 08-20-2009 08:40 PM