Thoughts on progressive user groups?

[Shortie]

When it comes to running a forum, you can either have user groups that are based on whether you are a member, staff or say a VIP or something else that you may have as an incentive, or you could make it so that people progress through user groups the more they are active on the forum say by their post count. So, for example 1 - 20 posts could be say Newbie or New Member and then 20 - 50 posts could be something else and so on.

I remember doing this back when I started out my general chat forum in 2009 but after a while, I moved it to just members and staff and left it at that. I guess it really depends on the kind of forum you run as to whether progressive user groups with different permissions would work.

What are your thoughts on progressive user groups?

 

[Cedric]

I've seen that before and I've done it as well. If anyone remembers the SkinPanel forum owned by Jared (I think 2008 era) they had a Level 1-3 system which I thought was pretty cool back in the day.

I don't see this fitting anymore though.

 

[Cory]

I don’t think I’ve ever used progressive user groups, just progressive user group titles. I think progressive user groups could work well with post count increase, where you advance further depending on your post count and the higher you level up the more benefits you gain. Contributing should often be rewarded, it can help keep members sticking in.

 

[Shortie]

I don’t think I’ve ever used progressive user groups, just progressive user group titles. I think progressive user groups could work well with post count increase, where you advance further depending on your post count and the higher you level up the more benefits you gain. Contributing should often be rewarded, it can help keep members sticking in.

I agree, it's one way to give members and incentive to be active on the forums, especially when it opens up new stuff for them as they get another user group as well. I barely see it used as much as I used to anymore now though and wonder if maybe it's something that just slowly phased out over time. I know that it's still possible with all forum software but just doesn't seem to get used as much as I remember.

 

[Cedric]

I have once seen a forum where you need to post in order to unlock more forums. Like, if you posted an introduction you were able to see a general discussion. After 5 posts you unlocked a sports forum. Ten posts would unlock a technology forum, etc. That was really cool to see and was pretty popular too. Don't know if such thing would work out nowadays though but it would be interesting to see it.

 

[Shortie]

I have once seen a forum where you need to post in order to unlock more forums. Like, if you posted an introduction you were able to see a general discussion. After 5 posts you unlocked a sports forum. Ten posts would unlock a technology forum, etc. That was really cool to see and was pretty popular too. Don't know if such thing would work out nowadays though but it would be interesting to see it.

That is really interesting and I can honestly say I have never seen anyone do anything like that before with that system but it really is a good idea. With using that feature for that purpose you could do all kinds of things such as have them register and the first forum they see is say a forum with rules in, once they agree to the rules and it gains them one post it opens up more areas. That is one great incentive to keep people active and posting for sure.

 

[Cory]

Unlocking forums based on post count is something I too have never seen and is an interesting concept.

 

[Cedric]

That is really interesting and I can honestly say I have never seen anyone do anything like that before with that system but it really is a good idea. With using that feature for that purpose you could do all kinds of things such as have them register and the first forum they see is say a forum with rules in, once they agree to the rules and it gains them one post it opens up more areas. That is one great incentive to keep people active and posting for sure.

Unlocking forums based on post count is something I too have never seen and is an interesting concept.

It was a forum on ZetaBoards back in the day when we as teens had nothing else to do. Would love to see someone try something like this again.

 

[Arantor]

I think post count groups are a relic of a different era and would be quite glad to see the back of them across platforms, including the ones that have them as standard.

I've seen post count groups used to allow extra areas, it rarely goes well. Many of the 'permissions' people give out to them are better handled in other ways in any case.

 

[Kyng]

I have them on my board, but not out of any strong feelings for or against them myself: they were just what my board's members wanted . And I think most of them still do: they're just a bit of fun.

There used to be privileges attached to them (things like larger avatar sizes), but that's no longer the case. The only thing that kind of survives is the Private Lounge, which used to be restricted to members with 500 posts or more - but even that's no longer automatic (and there are ways to get into it without making a set number of posts!)

 

[Kale]

I see some still, but it is mostly just for fun and not serious. Yeah, post count groups are super relic of the past and will never come back. I recall the cool ranks/titles on the old NSider forum when Nintendo had their official forum.

 

[SpookyZalost]

We do have some post based usergroup stuff but not unlocking individual boards no... though that being said it would make sense for larger forums I suppose?
Like hey you've been here 2 years and have over 300 posts? Yeah join our elite forum group

 

[Cory]

Like hey you've been here 2 years and have over 300 posts? Yeah join our elite forum group

Seems fairer than randomly picking who you want to be an elite member. You could come off biased that way.

 

[Smokey]

I've seen this done before, not sure if I would ever do it myself outside of user titles. I suppose it keeps people engaged and wanting to continue to post on your forum.

 

[Arantor]

There is the approach that Discourse takes which... I'm not entirely a fan of, where you have 'trust levels' and the default 'trust level 3' is arrived at based on a combination of number of recent posts/topics, number of recent likes both given and received and that you've read a certain amount of recent content.

The downside is that once given it's not permanent and you have to keep doing it to keep the status. You also get some minor (move topics, rename topics) permissions by default if I remember rightly for having the status which is not easy to change last I checked.

I'm not sure I like this either because it can be deeply disconcerting for long-time members if they have a period of absence for life reasons and have to re-earn the status afterwards.

 

[Strawberry]

I used to be part of a forum that had progressive user groups with a different rank, coloured username, access to more forum features etc... but the criteria was based on three things (I'm sure this was a vB forum) - post count, reputation rating and registration date, however it was so random that it was never disclosed what the threshold for each was. I found it pretty fascinating, I have no idea why, it was just something I'd never seen before.

For example, Group 1 to Group 2 would maybe require 13 posts, +4 reputation and being a member for 40 hours (very random)... but someone who had been around for 2 weeks would maybe still be in Group 1 because they hadn't hit the 13 posts or the +4 reputation yet.

 

[Reverie]

I've had the groups for the 500 Club and the 1000 club before. It was good on a general forum, and allowed people to feel like they hit the next level. I could see this being good in a gaming forum perhaps too. "Guru" "Advanced Gamer" etc.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I usually always have post based ranks on my forums. On my current forum, if you reach a certain amount of posts you'll be granted with a trophy. I'm thinking about adding post based usergroups so members who have posted a certain amount can stand out from the others.

 

[Tracy]

What are your thoughts on progressive user groups?

On my site, the get the standard banners.... for new members, their banner shows New Member and after 5 posts in the main areas, they get a promotion ran that moves them into Member status with an updated banner.
I also use the XF user title ladder that displays on their profile.

 

[Arantor]

I am firmly of the belief that having a post count progression ladder is counterproductive for a site's members. And I say this as the person who was the first to hit the 50,000 and 75,000 post groups on a given site. Inevitably it breeds a clout-chasing mindset for many.