User Ranks??

[MegaSH8]

Beginning Trainer 0
Trainer 120
Advanced Trainer 500
Gym Leader 800
Elite Four 1500
Pokémon Master 3000
Pokémon-de-Superb 5000
Poké-perfecto 8000
OMG - I Have too Much Time on my Hands! 12000
Nobody will ever have this title. 2147483647

Also, I am against the idea of post-based rank images for the reason in the above quote and that there may be an influx of spammy, not well thought out posts due to this being an incentive to get the highest post count possible.

BTW, I don't see how this would bring in more members. "OOHHH!!! PRETTY IMAGES FOR POSTING! I JOIN NOW!" I just don't see that happening.

Those above are basically them right?

So what's the need of having more?!?! LOL

Sounds like a wonderful idea to me:) Would bring a little uniqueness to the forums and might even increase user activity :o

Thumbs down bro.... It wouldn't be persuading.

 

[Nick]

It would be possible for them to be a similar color. However, the size would have to be different. Like I said, a 64x64.

It being a smaller size... then what's the point of it at all? :|

Or we can go Serebii-like and if someone is supporter or staff they don't get a rank.

DURP. Or not.

 

[fenyx4]

I doubt many would spam just to get a new little rank bar >.< That'd be pretty funny xP

Hilarious. :laugh: Spamming just to get tiny little pixels that you won't even be able to see if your computer crashes or PC is offline for maintenance.

I don't mind the idea. I must admit, I'd be surprised if anyone *actually* used the userbars as a way to identify staff. o_O; And that's the ONLY issue I see with this (aside from people disliking them for not matching their sigs or something *shrug*). Staff and supporters have username colours so they're fairly easy to pick out.

And honestly, if anything, people are already spamming for blogs. Something this insignificant... won't have any bearing on that, seriously. XD;

Um...I actually do use the userbars to identify staff. :) I'm using the Seeds of Platinum forum style right now, so regarding username colors (don't know if it applies to other styles): regular members are navy blue, supporters are light blue, and staff corresponds with their staff position. It would be hard occasionally to tell regular members from supporters with that slight color difference using blue.

I don't really pay attentions to username colors, but I definitely pay attention to username bars. IMO, they're that noticeable. That's the easiest way for me to immediately tell how much a supporter has donated, or the position that a staff member as.

What if just for supporters to change their userbar in a certain way? I mean they could put graphic there and such. And not just for something special people cause then it wouldn't be fair. Hmm issues issues issues

I agree that this feature (if implemented) would be awesome, and would help make PC more enjoyable for current members. Granted, it probably won't rake more members in, but it's still a nice cosmetic touch. I mean, people don't usually get Mozilla Firefox just for the ability to change the skins (I think), but it doesn't hurt to be able to choose your color of preference to be displayed while you're browsing...
Regarding supporters, I don't agree that this feature should just be restricted to them, but I'll consent that they at least deserve an additional feature to add to the incentive for donating. Being able to type in a custom rank (i.e., Gym Leader to Head Honcho, etc.) would be a nice bonus for supporters. I know you can technically do this with the usertitles, but I feel those are reserved for giving an introduction of oneself alongside one's avatar.

For all the people saying that there would be too much spam or that it would be hard to distinguish staff from members look at it this way. Serebii does it and its pretty easy to tell whos staff when it say Sppf Staff right there... And the entire mods is to keep spam to a minimum so anyone who was caught spamming would just get infracted. I took the liberty of taking these images of another site that utilizes theses userranks. I am aware that this site is about Runescape. See how easy it is to distinguish between members who have only posted and members who have won special awards? The site has about 40 or so userranks and thought they have only been up for a month they have 2000 members and the spam is at an extrememly low level.

Awesome pics! We could switch the icons to actual Gym Badges and Frontier Symbols/Commemorative Plates, and have the ranks typed out (supporters get custom ranks).

Guys, if you really want this, you can just switch to your default usertitle. There are a number of 'Ranks' for your postcount already specified there.

Honestly, I don't think someone needs a ambiguous banner to tell people how 'important' they are when they have a post count clearly available. That, the way they post, and to a certain extent, their rep is going to give a more accurate assessment of a perspn's character.

Seriously, if you really want to stand out, then donate and get yourself a nice blue badge.

EDIT:

That's a fair observation, but we might as well discuss it, giving out ideas for or against it, and then the staff either takes it on board to consider, or decides against it and closes the thread. Until such time, it's safe to discuss it amongst ourselves.

Switching usertitles to the default ranks won't do anything, as all of them except the last one can be typed in regardless of post count, as someone said earlier. Then you'd have to look at the post count again anyway. With user ranks, they could serve as a legit indication of your post count rank.

I'll agree that rep is a slight indication of your posts, but it's hard to assess post quality simply by post number. Post number could be categorized alongside reputation in determining your post quality (someone could spam just as someone could improperly use and abuse the rep system).
And, in my experience, there've been a few members who I hardly ever see posting in some threads. I'm not going to search another member's posts (who I hardly see) just to see whether he/she has good or bad post quality or whether he/she spams a lot. This feature could slightly curtail spamming (I'll explain why later).

Furthermore, I doubt all the supporters and staff will want to switch their usertitle to indicate their rank. Why should regular members have to? (I'm referring to active members) I know I don't have that many posts, but I don't try to spam or maliciously neg-rep others (both of which puts more work on staff) and I actually try to put quality in my posts. A lot of times I'm just looking at threads where it wouldn't seem appropriate for me to respond anyway.
A random person could easily join, donate $10, get the privileged feature, and spam as opposed to another who joins, is unable (not refusing) to donate, doesn't get the privilege, but puts quality posts, doesn't spam or mal neg-rep, and attempts to assist other members with hacks, new forum styles, etc.

I think it would be okay, but they would have to be very different to the staff/supporter userbars, I think, otherwise they lose their impact if you know what I mean...If I use Zenus as an example, maybe you could have a small badge here:

Like, you could start with a red/blue badge, then get yellow, then gold/silver, then crystal, then ruby/sapphire...and so on and so on.

Well, little badge icons would be nice (and put less strain on the PC server) and I guess you could hover over them with the rank...but I think an actual additional username would at least be more noticeable and recognize people with actual quality posts.

...are the rank bars really that striking? o_O I have to admit I don't even notice them. Is it really such a big perk to supporters (and staff, I guess) that members wouldn't be able to have it? Or is it something that needs to be so distinguishable to avoid confusion?

Again, I think userbars really are quite striking; I think they complement the username area nicely... It's a decent perk, I would imagine... I figure many supporters would like to keep their userbars rather than having to edit their usertitle or sig to show they've played a part in keeping PC alive...

One of the question that came to mind when I was reading through the thread was, if this were to happen, what color would the actual image be? It can't be close to the supporter/staff colors, and already there's some problems going on between how close the supporter and moderator color. Since the staff images are already the basic colors, it's hard to really get past that unless you choose to make it something like pink or something. I think that'll eventually lead to another person bringing up that member group color since they'd have a set titlebar color and all... I dunno. I just can see this becoming a hassle. :(

If this idea hasn't been used for any of the current userbars, I'd suggest either black or dark gray, no matter what rank a member/supporter/staff is at. You'd have your rank's corresponding logo at the side, too. Hopefully, this would distinguish User Ranks from Supporter Tiers and Staff Positions.

Beginning Trainer 0
Trainer 120
Advanced Trainer 500
Gym Leader 800
Elite Four 1500
Pokémon Master 3000
Pokémon-de-Superb 5000
Poké-perfecto 8000
OMG - I Have too Much Time on my Hands! 12000
Nobody will ever have this title. 2147483647

Also, I am against the idea of post-based rank images for the reason in the above quote and that there may be an influx of spammy, not well thought out posts due to this being an incentive to get the highest post count possible.

BTW, I don't see how this would bring in more members. "OOHHH!!! PRETTY IMAGES FOR POSTING! I JOIN NOW!" I just don't see that happening.

For this User Rank feature, I think it should be set to be an optional feature for all members. Again, supporters can customize the User Rank. For people who are posting spam just for higher User Ranks, when the staff identifies a spammer while monitoring the boards, they can simply permanently disable said User Rank feature and revoke the option from the spammer(s). This way, the spammer(s) won't have a User Rank at all, and they will have wasted their time posting spam anyway (which I think is a befitting punishment and lesson for spammers).

As for the actual ranks, maybe we could throw in 'Frontier Brain', 'Poke-Maniac', 'Pokemon Researcher' and 'Pokemon Champion' in as well...? The 3 right after 'Pokemon Master' seem slighty uninspired from the Pokemon franchise...
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In conclusion, I'd really like this feature for all members. If only icons can be permitted, I'll still be grateful we even have such an option. :) I'll reiterate that if another 'perk' for supporters is needed, custom ranks could be in place. I hope to see User Ranks in the near future!

 

[Xyo]

Oh man, the badges would be sweet.
Maybe you could change the shape in your User CP?

~Xyo~

 

[jasonresno]

I think this is an admittedly cool idea but we already have ways to distinguish people for their acheivments:

We have reputation and the pips that go along with it.
We have emblems for members who distinguish themselves in certain things.
We have supporter banners as well for those able to pay to help the site.
We have post counts.