WHY WUZ TEH BANT (Contest my ban lounge)

[Steady Hands]

We don't have a system for promotion, but honestly, it's worth thinking about.

Agreed. For members who want to nominate others for recognition I would suggest that they consider posting in the CIK Member Appreciation Thread, not here in the trolls' lounge.

If sincere, I admire the effort from @Seng Hock. However the placement of the post in the trolls' lounge seems incongruous. Also, if a nominating member describes the nominated member's "worthiness for promotion by consistently contributing high-quality posts to this forum" then, at the very least, one example of these posts should be included in the nomination.

I would give these new guys a rep point if we had that system. I'd say some kind of bump in forum rank would be justified.

There seems to be three main ways to offer the equivalent of a rep point here:
(i) Write a post on their profile (if they allow profile posts via their account settings)
(ii) Write a post in the CIK Member Appreciation Thread.
(iii) Use 'thumbs up', 'seal of approval' or other positive reactions.

I don't see a need for a hierarchy here even if it's a meaningless one, I think we should all be on equal footing.

I'll explain a few reasons why it is useful to have a hierarchical system that offers higher ranking members privileges such as access to private sections, additional posting privileges, etc.

1. To reflect how meritocratic organisations function. Just showing up to a company and "wanting" things doesn't lead to dinner with the CEO. Hopefully this can help teach young men something useful, like how present effort -> future rewards.

2. To protect personal or sensitive topics. We have a private sub-forum where we can share things without putting them on a web/Google archive. A random member with no link to RVF, no contributions here, and/or no meetups doesn't deserve access to that section.

3. To help newbies learn who is who. Most rookies aren't keen on rankings because they're at the bottom. However rankings can give hints at who is worth listening to.

4. To encourage effortful participation. Initially, CIK sign-ups via RVF were rewarded, with higher rankings allowing enhanced posting privileges as determined by time committed to RVF, quantity of postings, and the general status of the member.

On RVF, members offered others supportive comments on their profile reflecting (a) recognition of contributions, in particular high quality singular efforts on a certain topic and/or (b) a statement of meeting up. Wutang referred to this rep system below:

Those ranks were earned simply by the number of posts you had on the forum. They weren't recognition of contributing quality. For that there was the reputation system where users would award each another user a point.

5. To encourage meetings and connections made in real life.

In a largely bygone era of men's groups online, there was usually a public section and a private section. The only way to get into the private section was to meetup in real life. This represented an incentive for new members to get verified and exert effort in the real world. In any case, making real friends was by far the clearest benefit of taking a chance with a random meetup.

I do not judge anyone here for not meeting others, as I cannot know their circumstances. This is important to emphasize.

Nonetheless, I do have a custom of e-introducing members who state that they would never meetup with any other member, even if the opportunity was safe and feasible



Final note. This system shouldn't foster arrogance in higher ranking members or permit them to insult others. "Respect my rep sheet, newb, I don't need to explain my fortune cookie one-liner wisdom to you!" No sir, that's counter-productive to the spirit of the forum.

That said, if a new account signs up and makes numerous enquiries about another man's beard... well... you know the deal (GIFs away).

 

[Matsufubu]

You asked for it...

 

[Caduceus]

I don't see a need for a hierarchy here even if it's a meaningless one, I think we should all be on equal footing.

ok commie

 

[Seng Hock]

We don't have a system for promotion, but honestly, it's worth thinking about.

Thank you for considering my concerns. However, I must admit that I am disappointed that members with low or no rank have no opportunity for promotion.

As it stands, the only way to achieve a higher rank is through posts made in the old RVF forums, which are then carried over here. Yet, even after contributing hundreds or even thousands of posts in this forum, attaining a prestigious rank like Heritage remains impossible. As a result, members are indefinitely stuck as Remnants or remain rankless, regardless of their contributions.

The only alternative path to gaining rank is by donating to the forum, which grants the Philanthropist status. While I understand the incentive to encourage donations, this approach essentially creates a pay-to-win system. There should still be a way to earn promotions based on merit.​

Agreed. For members who want to nominate others for recognition I would suggest that they consider posting in the CIK Member Appreciation Thread, not here in the trolls' lounge.

If sincere, I admire the effort from @Seng Hock. However the placement of the post in the trolls' lounge seems incongruous. Also, if a nominating member describes the nominated member's "worthiness for promotion by consistently contributing high-quality posts to this forum" then, at the very least, one example of these posts should be included in the nomination.

I understand why my post might be perceived as a joke, but I assure you that it is not.

What prompted me to write it was seeing PurpleUrkel’s post, where he expressed surprise that his meetup thread had gained significant interest. The irony is that he was the one who started that thread, yet it was later moved to the private forum, where, as a low-ranking Remnant member, he no longer had access. As a result, he is literally unable to participate in the very discussion he initiated. This issue would not have occurred if he had at least reached the Heritage tier rank, which grants access to the private forum.

I posted this in the troll thread because I noticed that multiple members had used it to defend their positions—Magoo at the start of the thread and MusicForThePiano across several pages. I also previously used this thread to advocate for TrainedLogosmotion’s right to have his Christian status reinstated instead of being classified as Agnostic.

Additionally, I included a screenshot of PurpleUrkel’s profile as evidence of his quality contributions. With around 1.000 posts and a reaction score exceeding 3.000, I believe his posting history speaks for itself.

That said, I see merit in your suggestion. Moving forward, I will make an effort to post more in the appreciation thread and in members’ profile posts.​