I understand now. I was once let in this special area then later on removed without having a clue why.
So trust is earned by making a certain number of posts and mashing the like button regularly?
Got it, keep it to yourselves please.
Do you?
You canāt possibly have read what @fearlessfrog wrote about it earlier.
Itās not about some secret handshake elite club or anything. Itās an automated categorization of users where those who visit and interact regularly can post where not visible to the casual viewer. Regulars are also instrumental in how moderation of this forum works in that their flagging of inappropriate posts carry more weight and they can so some basic changes to threads and posts.
Itās not a perfect system, but thereās no need to make this into something sinister either.
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@Camembert you are seeing this thread because we are discussing if and how the rules for this should be changed.
The current rules were just put in because they were easy to start with and kept bots out, not because we all agreed that you need to āsmash that like buttonā regularly.
What method of access control to the restricted part would you prefer? Reading time only? Votes only? Admin decision? Some combination?
Please do help us in this, we want to be a nice place for friends, not scare people away with unrealistic activity requirements.
Your opinion is valued too!
Fair enough I apologise if my post sounded a bit grumpy. Iām just not a fan of exclusivity sorry. So Iāll leave it there thanks.
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Well I donāt have access to it. I guess Iām not āregularā enough.
I guess my question is maybe the criteria are set more narrowly than they need to be?
You can say itās āobjectiveā who has access based on the criteriaā¦but who chose what the criteria should be? 
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I agree that the requirement could be lowered. @Troll , you said that the requirement for the number of likes you need to have received is often the one that is not met by users who could otherwise be regulars.
Would halving that number make sense?
Then it would become:
To get to trust level 3, in the last 100 daysā¦
- Must have visited at least 50% of days
- Must have replied to at least 10 different non-PM 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 10 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 or silenced in the last 6 months
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The way I see it is that if the minimum replies are 10 in 100 days, getting 2 likes per reply can be a lot. So yeah, maybe 10 recieved is a better number.
The like system (Iā¦likeā¦your Up-Viper better ) is basically the voting system for who should be trusted. The regulars of the forum are usually the ones who keep others in check by flagging inappropriate posts or maybe even suggest when someone should cool their jets a little. Itās what makes this forum more or less self moderating.
Thereās a setting of 14 days when a newly promoted regular canāt be demoted back to member. I guess that this could be extended to 100 days, which is the same as the period to qualify. That should help people stay in the category, but still exclude those who leave for good or at least longer periods. Having regular members who actually participate regularly do makes senseā¦
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Great plan!
10 likes received instead of 20 and stay a regular for at least 100 days.
And then exceptions can be requested by private message to @staff ?
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Prune juice helpsā¦ Sorry couldnāt resist. Iāll show myself out.
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I dunno. if someone is posting nice pics in the screens&aar sec then he is trusted person?
Freak, I definitely consider your āupViperā cool (you see I intentionaly did not use āI likeā in this sentence).
buf technicaly it isnt correct imo, as there is no āviperDownā (inFlames).
so still good old āFightin LIKE Falconā it is.
No, and that was the point I was making.
But, someone posting nice pics consistently over time, can absolutely be a trustworthy member.
I donāt think likes (up-vipering) should be the most decisive factor for trust, but it is part of the system today. You may have noted that weāre discussing a proposal to lower the requirement for up-vipers (and instead use up-Viggens )
But likes isnāt the only requirement. I think that the most important factor is time. If you like coming here every other day for three months, and you actually read and participate in the forum, youāre a regular.
And if you manage to do so without being flagged too much or suspended, you belong here.
People who register to ask a question once, are not regulars. Theyāre not even members. They are of course welcome to come here for help, but should they be trusted to post unlimited pics or links? No thank you! Weād be sorting through tons of spam in no time.
I didnāt make the system, but I have been monitoring it for some years now and it works. But it could need an adjustment or two and thatās what weāre discussing here, arenāt we?
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The way an algorithm worked was better for a larger forum, as in more randoms that donāt stick around. For this forum I personally think itās ok just for @Troll to bypass that and do whatever the hell he wants.
The thing you have to understand is that if the decision is completely subjective and personal then no complaining if you get on the wrong side of it. 
. The only upside of a set of rules like @Freak wrote about is that thereās nothing subjective about them. That allows people you donāt necessarily agree with (but still interact with) to be recognized and included in groups you might prefer they werenāt. My thinking back in the day was that this made it healthier than plain social media, but it all of course has downsides too.
On retrospect I do think now that the Lounge and the Likes were not good ideas, but the latter do stop a lot of spam, so thereās that at least. The other thing the Like does is basically letās people say āhey, nice!ā without having to write it or do a +1, just to save us having to see lots of that when people say āI love planes, anyone else?!ā.
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At the end of the day we arenāt talking about taking away the ability for admins to give someone the boot if they are rude, obnoxious or generally refuse to play by the ārulesā.
I would like to keep those types away from the lounge in the first place because I have posted stuff there that I wouldnāt outside a closed forum (whether that is here or elsewhere) and how we measure and gain trust to let people in is important to meā¦ I donāt think I am comfortable with either extreme - just algorithm or just human.
A hybrid approach would be fairer IMHO? Can we perhaps ālower the barā as it now stands but apply some form of human intervention in the process without putting an undue burden on the Admins?
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I had no idea this site worked like this. The world is much too complicated.
I like hard boundaries. Make everyone have a security clearance.
Just kick me out now.
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On a completely unrelated note, the Apple TV series āThe Siloā is really good, and the book series is worth a read if you donāt want to wait a year for season two:
For those that have seen it, @Troll is the sheriff, which would make me Head of I.T. 
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I agree.
I had penpals when I grew up. The world was much simpler then.
Can I wear a cool hat, like Olyphant in Justifiedā¦?
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I implemented the changes proposed here and the number of Regulars increased from 44 to 66, roughly.
It would be interesting to hear from those of you who hasnāt been bumped to Regular, but feel you should be. That way I can have a look at the criteria again to see where the hurdle is.
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Ive been bumped to trust level 2, but i assume that everyone got the same message this morning
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Yeah got half a heart attack when I read that BeachAV8R wrote meā¦
It was quite demotivating to realize it was an automated message.
Honestly that stuff shouldnāt happen.
Use discobot, pick any of the modsā¦ but thatās just me being me I guess.
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