Lurker?!?

123street · Jun 3, 2008

I have yet again been reduced to a lurker status. This is really annoying me. I, personnaly, cannot come onto this website that often, and I do post when I am able to visit. I just do not think the current system works.

Should your status not be reduced to lurker if you do not post after visiting the site 10 times or something?

Pojo · Jun 3, 2008

If you don't post within a week, then your status goes down I believe...Read the update about it here: http://www.adisc.org/forum/announcements-news/2757-new-promotions-system.html

Martin · Jun 3, 2008

For a regular it's 2 months before you're demoted to lurker status.

Moo said:
To get promoted from newbie to regular, you have to have posted in the last week.
To get demoted from regular to newbie, you have to have not posted for the last two months.
I diddn't put that in the announcement, because I was trying to keep things simple.

To get promoted from regular to VIP, you have to have posted in the last week.
To get demoted from VIP to regular, you have to have not posted in the last week.

So: if you don't post for a month, you'll slip to regular but no further than that.
All you'll have to do to get VIP back is post once.
That shouldn't be hard for you to do. You're averaging almost 10 posts a day.
Even if you went away on holiday for two weeks, you'd only have to post once and wait 0-60minutes to get VIP back.

See this thread: http://www.adisc.org/forum/administrative-stuff/2761-activity-requirements.html

quattrus · Jun 3, 2008

I had the unpleasant surprise yesterday evening, after some days of complete absence from the forum, and "a little" more days without posting at all, mainly due to lack of time to do that.

Even when I visit the forum daily I'm not an heavy poster, I tend to prefer just reading unless I have something relevant to say that hasn't been already said by someone else. But yesterday evening I admit I felt the need to post to get rid of the unpleasant status, and I forced myself to find a thread in which I could say something pertinent (not a difficult task, since there were more than 2000 new posts since my last visit....).

I'm not criticizing the status assignment system per se, I just want to point out how I felt kind of "betrayed" because of it. I mean, it's like living in a house with some friends, then going away for some days, and when you come back... you're still a friend to them, but not the same way as before.

Trevor · Jun 3, 2008

quattrus said:
I'm not criticizing the status assignment system per se, I just want to point out how I felt kind of "betrayed" because of it. I mean, it's like living in a house with some friends, then going away for some days, and when you come back... you're still a friend to them, but not the same way as before.

I'm not a fan of this for the reason you stated above. I haven't wrestled with it enough to know if I think no one should ever be demoted through lack of activity, but even if they should, it seems like it's happening too quickly. As it stands now, anyone who isn't intimately involved with the inner workings of the forum comes back and either gets sort of a cold administrative reception or thinks that perhaps something is broken, which is a fair assumption.

If we're going to keep this (and if I had to vote between using it as is or not at all, I'd say not at all), is it possible to provide notification to people logging back in after an absence that has shifted status that we don't hate them, their pets, or plushies, but indicates what steps they must undertake in order to get back to full functionality?

fifigal · Jun 3, 2008

Some very funny posts in this thread,they made me giggle.

boogalah · Jun 3, 2008

Haha, oh wow we have a Lurker status.

Rissy · Jun 4, 2008

Whaaa? Two months until you become newbie from regular... I was on here less than a week ago and found myself newbie when I got here...

fifigal · Jun 4, 2008

I screwed-up,again.

My previous post in this thread was a mistake.I meant to post it in the thread called Activity Requirements.Please forgive me,I was not trying to disrespect anyone posting in this thread.Sometimes my stupidity even amazes me.

123street · Jun 4, 2008

I just think there is no point in the system at all.
Fair enough, if you want to point out those who simply sign-up not to post. I can completely understand that. But the system forces you to post, when you may not actually want to (if you want to maintain a good status). And it just leads to people posting random crap just to gain their allready-earned status back.

Why not have more status's (stati?

) and make each harder to reach, and scrap the demotion system altogether?

Martin · Jun 4, 2008

Of course you need a demotion system, if you can get promotiions you need to also be able to get demoted when you don't meet the conditions anymore. Those things don't work like a one-way street.

Rissy · Jun 12, 2008

Oh great... I'm a lurker again... stupid system... I come by once a week so why do i always lose my regular status... It's mean...

123street · Jun 13, 2008

Its not thats it's mean, I just see no reason why a forum needs a demotion status.

What do we wish to encourage by saying "you must post every so often or we will brand you a lurker even though you have creditted to the site".

Do other forums have this system? Certainly none I'm a member of, and they still recieve tons of posts a day...

Sorry, but out here in the real world, shit happens. Recently, a close family member of mine passed away, and to be frank, posting on a forum was the least of my concerns. This then resulted in me coming back on here, after a bit of a hard time to try and escape the mess around my life, and instead I'm called a lurker after allready contributing to the site, making 3 threads, over 30 posts and gaining a rep point?

Go ahead, take the crap if you think I'm being a baby about it (pardon the pun), but I think it's unfair.

Pojo · Jun 13, 2008

Lurker isn't a bad name...Why does everyone seem to see it as the worst thing ever on here? If you don't want to be one, then there is a simple remedy...And that remedy is posting...You just have to post once to no longer be a lurker...And then wait no more than an hour to return to your former status

Martin · Jun 13, 2008

See this thread: http://www.adisc.org/forum/administrative-stuff/3172-remove-activity-system.html
Like I said there, I'm going to close the thread until Moo comes by and makes a decision or starts an other topic (or reopens one) about it. All people have voiced their opinion about it and this is just repeating it.

*closed*