Suggestion Adding a trust system to the forum

[Matt Derrick]

Suggestion: Adding a Trust System to the Forum

Hey everyone,

We’re working on introducing a trust system for the community, similar to what Discourse uses. The goal is to reward positive participation, give active members more abilities, and help keep the forum safe without overloading moderators.

Here’s how it would work:

Trust Levels

• New accounts start at Level 0 (new user).
• As you spend more time on the forum—reading, posting, reacting to content, following our guidelines -- you naturally move up to higher trust levels.
• Each level unlocks small perks (like posting in more areas, being able to upload files/images, editing posts, or flagging content).

Why This Helps

• Encourages healthy participation.
• Builds a sense of progression without needing paid features.
• Keeps potential spam/troll accounts sandboxed until they’ve proven good intent.
• Lets long-time, trusted members help with moderation by flagging/reporting issues more effectively.

Example (not final, just a sketch):

• Level 0 – Can read and reply in most areas, limited posting.
• Level 1 – Can start new threads, react with emojis, more daily posts allowed.
• Level 2 – Can edit posts, upload attachments, and help flag content.
• Level 3+ – Can vote in polls, access special forums, gain more visibility in community projects.

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Draft Trust Levels Overview (example, open to change):

Level	What it means	Abilities & Perks
0 – Newcomer	Just joined, getting to know the place	Read most forums, reply to threads, limited daily posts
1 – Member	Starting to participate regularly	Can start new threads, react with emojis/likes, more posts per day
2 – Trusted	Active and following the rules	Can edit own posts, upload images/files, flag/report posts
3 – Regular	Long-term positive contributor	Access to polls, community projects, custom titles
4 – Veteran	Highly trusted, very active	Extra forum features, possibly access to hidden/bonus areas
5 – Elder (rare)	Deeply trusted community member	Can help guide discussions, advanced permissions (to be decided)

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This table is just a starting proposal — we’ll adjust based on community feedback.

Your Input Matters

This is a suggestion thread, so we want to hear from you. Do you like this idea? What perks or limits would you want at each level? What should we avoid?

Vote and leave your feedback below!

 

[MetalBryan]

Great. I like the idea to spread out the various mod tasks amongst the levels. Lvl 3 is when you can report is great, but maybe 4 you can temporary mute instead of just flagging for the lvl 5 review, etc.

It might be useful to have the ability to filter by level for users that are online, sort content in the forums, etc. Not that lvl 0's don't have anything to contribute, but often times when I'm trying to find a specific topic or bit of info it can get overwhelming if my search parameters aren't specific or use common words.

Since I'm always looking for opportunities to advocate bringing back Den of the Banned, maybe there could be a level assigned to banned accounts so they can be referenced as a whole.

 

[Matt Derrick]

It might be useful to have the ability to filter by level for users that are online, sort content in the forums, etc. Not that lvl 0's don't have anything to contribute, but often times when I'm trying to find a specific topic or bit of info it can get overwhelming if my search parameters aren't specific or use common words.

This sounds like (to me) that you'd like to be able to do custom searches for content posted by people at a specific trust level?

If I'm reading that right, I think that would be a separate suggestion thread from this one. I believe that kind of search is indeed possible though.