Appreciated Information Resource - New forum User Group

[qusys]

Hi to all!
I have seen that a new title was added to my nick as "trusted advisor".
Is it a step ahead that was recognized by whom? Is it another step vs further improvement?
It is only a curiosity given that recently I also had courtesy recognition access.
I am very proud to be part of this community where I constantly learn lot of items about quality topics.
See you and thanks again

[Marc]

Well, the moderators and I have decided to make a new User Group which is called "Trusted Adviser". As we go through different people we are looking at people who help people a lot and who we feel give good advice / help in threads. In part this is recognition for all the help some specific people give and to indicate we feel their advice is typically very trust worthy. We're just starting this so it will be a bit before we sort through people and make decision on who to add at this time.

Note that this is based upon our opinions, number of Thanked posts, Karma, etc., not the absolute number of individual posts or any other single aspect.

NOTE: Each person with over 10 posts can put in a custom User Title which shows under their name in every post they make, so you can change your User Title in your User Profile (See "Custom User Title" in that page near the top) Anyone who does not put in a custom User Title will show the "default" User Title for that user group. Others will have what ever they entered as a custom User Title. The distinction is by Color.

The User Groups in the forum are shown on the forum home page in the User Group Key which is in the bottom of the box at the top of the page which shows Who's Online.

[Marc]

As a "heads up", this change is something that the moderators and I are still working on and discussing. There are some aspects of this change that I had not thought of. I hope to have resolved issues by the end of this week. At that time I will post the details of the system and how it works.

I also want to apologise for any confusion by my making changes prior to a more full discussion with the moderators and starting the change prematurely.

Marc

[Marc]

OK - This is a somewhat controversial "User Group". It is a long story about how it came about. After some thought I have renamed it "Appreciated Information Resource" because "Trusted Adviser" is too hard to quantify. "Trusted Adviser" also indicates the moderators and I have vetted a person to a much greater degree than I am comfortable with.

When one looks at someone's post here their "Trustability" should be looked at with respect to:

1. Number of posts in which the person has helped others (as opposed to many posts asking questions).
2. A person's "Karma".
3. The number of thanked posts a person has.

These are all displayed in each post a person makes *with the exception* of those who have decided they do not want their Karma to show in posts.

Although the moderators and I may decide to move someone to the "Appreciated Information Resource" User Group, as is stated in the footer of every forum page:

Responsibility Statement: Each person is responsible for anything they post in the Elsmar Cove forum. Neither I, Marc Timothy Smith, nor any of the forum Moderators, are responsible for the content of posts people make. Liability for post content resides with the poster. The moderators and I do our best to monitor post content, however we are not infallible. Liability for post content resides with the poster as does interpretation and/or acceptance and/or use of advice by the reader.

I will say I like the idea of this user group. Our main intent is to honor those who go "Above and Beyond" in helping people with their questions.