Continuing the discussion from This is Discourse—should we keep it?:
When someone is invited via email to join, they will be able to sign up at a trust level of 1. While there are fewer than 50 registrants, new users will also automatically start in trust level 1. Once we’re at 50 users, the default trust level will become 0.
Trust levels bestow some pretty sweet privileges on regulars, and could provide a handy way to handle our invite-only Steam community in future.
Details of the thinking behind Trust Levels and how they work are on the Discourse site, but here are the bits most people will probably want to know…
(Most of these settings may be changes, so if there is anything you think should be more or less restrictive, please weigh in.)
New (0)
Discourse does not quite trust new users yet, as they are visitors who just created an account, still learning the community norms and the way your forum works. Whether accidentally, or intentionally, new users can cause problems in your community.
Discourse also wants to hide any advanced functionality from new users to make the UI less confusing for them and gently introduce them to the deeper UI as they get more experienced.
Thus, new users’ abilities are restricted for safety — theirs and ours.
Users at trust level 0 cannot…
- Send private messages to other users
- “Reply as new topic” via Link button (UI removed)
- Flag posts
- Post more than 1 image
- Post any attachments
- Post more than 2 hyperlinks in a post
- Have actual links in the ‘about me’ field of their profile (will be silently and temporarily converted to plain text)
- Mention more than 2 users in a post
Basic (1)
If a user sticks around long enough to read a bit, Discourse now trusts them as a basic user.
They can get to trust level 1 by…
- entering at least 5 topics
- reading at least 30 posts
- spend a total of 10 minutes reading posts
- Admins can change these thresholds in…
Users at trust level 1 can…
- use all core Discourse functions
- Upload images and attachments if enabled
- Edit wiki posts
- Flag posts
- have all new user restrictions removed
Members (2)
Members keep coming back to the site, and have participated long enough to earn complete citizenship.
They can get to trust level 2 by…
- visiting at least 15 days, not sequentially
- casting at least 1 like
- receiving at least 1 like
- replying to at least 3 different topics
- entering at least 20 topics
- reading at least 100 posts
- spend a total of 60 minutes reading posts
Users at trust level 2 can…
- Use the “Invite others to this topic” button for one-click onboarding of new users to participate in topics
- Invite outside users to PMs making a group PM
- Daily like limit increased by 1.5×
Regular (3)
Regulars are the most active readers and reliable contributors over long periods of time.
They can get to trust level 3 by…
This is time and activity based, unlike the previous levels. 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
* These likes must be across a minimum number of different users (1/5 the number), across a minimum number of different days (1/4 the number). Likes cannot be from PMs.
All of these must be true.
Unlike other trust levels, you can lose trust level 3 status. If you dip below these requirements, whether from flagging or the passage of time, you will be demoted to Member. However, in order to avoid constant promotion/demotion situations, there is a 2-week grace period immediately after gaining Trust Level 3 during which you will not be demoted.
Users at trust level 3 can…
- recategorize and rename topics
- access a private “frequent flier’s lounge” category only visible to users at trust level 3 and higher
- have all their links followed (we remove automatic nofollow1.3k)
- spam flags cast on TL0 user posts immediately hide the post
- flags cast on TL0 user posts in sufficient diversity will auto-silence the user and hide all their posts
- make their own posts wiki (that is, editable by any TL1+ users)
- Daily like limit increased by 2×
Leader (4)
Leaders are regulars who have been around forever and seen everything. They set a positive example for the community through their actions and their posts. If you need advice, these are the folks you turn to first.
They can get to trust level 4 by…
Manual promotion only at the moment!
Users at trust level 4 can…
- edit all posts
- pin/unpin topic
- close topic
- archive topic
- make topic unlisted
- Split and merge topics
- Daily like limit increased by 3×