The answer is complex and multi-levelled I’m afraid, and starts with the words it depends…
Firstly, the user interface on Discourse is easier to use and should be quicker to respond. Everyone that has asked for a login has been really impressed by it.
Secondly, the software attempts to make the community more ‘sticky’* by staying in touch with lapsed users via email. You get a really nice email summary of what has been going on since you were last online.
Imagine that hitting your email box, you’d likely see something that would draw you back in to post.
Thirdly, all posters aren’t equal. At the moment at Sotonians we’ve got great posters that post every day and work hard to keep the momentum of the site and community moving in the right direction, but they get no more recognition than people that might log in from time to time and snipe at others or the world in general.
Discourse provides 4 levels of users - at level 1 the user has limited posts and by level 4 the user is effectively a moderator. To move up the levels you have to make a certain number of posts per day and post in a certain number of days in each month and obviously be upvoted for your contributions. It’s possible to move back down the levels if you don’t keep contributing too.
So, someone like yourself who contributes regularly might be given the power to edit other people’s posts, move posts from one category to another, merge posts, etc. Just to help the smooth running of the forum.
Fourthly, the forum software handles a lot of the moderation itself. The owners / Soviet would set the parameters for the software but then the software makes decisions about whether a proper discourse is happening or if things have gone wrong.
This would see people that attract a lot of flagged posts (downvotes) have their ability to post removed for a short period. If multiple people are each receiving downvotes on the thread, then the thread might be automatically closed for a while. The idea is that posters are given time to reflect, step back and think again.
Lastly, the software has an API (geek talk) which means programmers can get information in and out of it really easily. This would mean that we could make social media be a real part of the forum to promote and provoke discussion based on provocative comments in the outside world. We could also tame Optimus Trousers and make it more focused on providing shorter more informative posts.
If you want a login, PM me your email address and I’ll set one up for you.
As with most modern software the software degrades gracefully (it’s called being responsive) to use all of the available space - and hides stuff that can’t be shown at lower resolutions.
More information on the trust levels in Discourse can be found here. As you’ll see there is a bit of science behind the concept.
User trust levels are a way of…
Sandboxing new users in your community so that they cannot accidentally (or intentionally!) hurt themselves, the forum, or other users while they are learning what to do.
Granting experienced users more rights so that they can help maintain and moderate the community they generously contribute so much of their time to.
(Yes, we intend for you to be able to rename the levels, though this is not quite supported yet. If you gotta have level 4 be Ninja and level 3 be Pirate, so be it!)
New (0)
Discourse does not quite trust new users yet, as they are visitors who just created an account, still learning the community norms and the way your forum works. Whether accidentally, or intentionally, new users can cause problems in your community.
We also want to hide any so-called “advanced” functionality from new users to make the UI less confusing for them and gently land them on the deeper UI as they get more experienced.
Thus, new users’ abilities are restricted for safety – both theirs and yours.
Users at trust level 0 cannot…
Send private messages to other users
“Reply as new topic” via Link button (UI removed)
Flag posts
Post more than 1 image
Post any attachments
Post more than 2 hyperlinks in a post
Have actual links in the ‘about me’ field of their profile (will be silently and temporarily converted to plain text)
Mention more than 2 users in a post
Admins can change these limitations in…
newuser_max_mentions_per_post
newuser_max_links
newuser_max_images
newuser_max_attachments
Basic (1)
If a user sticks around long enough to read a bit, Discourse now trusts them as a basic user.
They can get to trust level 1 by…
entering at least 5 topics
reading at least 30 posts
spend a total of 10 minutes reading posts
Admins can change these thresholds in…
basic_requires_topic_entered
basic_requires_read_posts
basic_requires_time_spent_mins
Users at trust level 1 can…
use all core Discourse functions
Upload images and attachments if enabled
Edit wiki posts
Flag posts
have all new user restrictions removed
Members (2)
Members keep coming back to the site, and have participated long enough to earn complete citizenship.
They can get to trust level 2 by…
visiting at least 15 days, not sequentially
casting at least 1 like
receiving at least 1 like
replying to at least 3 different topics
entering at least 20 topics
reading at least 100 posts
spend a total of 60 minutes reading posts
Admins can change these thresholds in…
regular_requires_topics_entered
regular_requires_read_posts
regular_requires_time_spent_mins
regular_requires_days_visited
regular_requires_likes_received
regular_requires_likes_given
regular_requires_topic_reply_count
Users at trust level 2 can…
Use the “Invite others to this topic” button for one-click onboarding of new users to participate in topics
Invite outside users to PMs making a group PM
Daily like limit increased by 1.5 ×
Regular (3)
Regulars are the most active readers and reliable contributors over long periods of time.
They can get to trust level 3 by…
This is time and activity based, unlike the previous levels. In the last 100 days…
must have visited at least 50% of days
must have replied to at least 10 different 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 20 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
* These likes must be across a minimum number of different users (1/5 the number), across a minimum number of different days (1/4 the number). Likes cannot be from PMs.
All of these must be true.
Unlike other trust levels, you can lose trust level 3 status. If you dip below these requirements, whether from flagging or the passage of time, you will be demoted to Member. However, in order to avoid constant promotion/demotion situations, there is a 2-week grace period immediately after gaining Trust Level 3 during which you will not be demoted.
Admins can change these thresholds in…
leader_requires_days_visited
leader_requires_topics_replied_to
leader_requires_topics_viewed
leader_requires_posts_read
leader_requires_max_flagged
leader_promotion_min_duration (grace period)
Users at trust level 3 can…
recategorize and rename topics
access a private “frequent flier’s lounge” category only visible to users at trust level 3 and higher
spam flags cast on TL0 user posts immediately hide the post
flags cast on TL0 user posts in sufficient diversity will auto-silence the user and hide all their posts
make their own posts wiki (that is, editable by any TL1+ users)
Daily like limit increased by 2 ×
Leader (4)
Leaders are regulars who have been around forever and seen everything. They set a positive example for the community through their actions and their posts. If you need advice, these are the folks you turn to first.
No, it’s about the management of personal in formation, how it’s held and what it is used for - anyway a weekly update to those who don’t or rarely post is marketing isn’t it? So I guess there are two things to check 1) is the personal info held caught by GDPR and 2) do you need to ask everyone to opt in to receiving emails.
considering that we the users signed up for the “service” provided by the forum, then the forum can claim to have a legitimate business interest in processing your data including keeping you abreast of updates to the site / threads.
I take it the Soviet will be level 4 users in order to get the necessary powers. Bletch has implied that there will be an election process to get to L4.
I understand that pap is already in discussions with Cambridge Analyticia.
Well, we had a long Soviet discussion about ways to develop the site and get more than 6 people posting per day. I suggested papxit, everyone agreed this would help retain posters but not get new ones. Bob wanted porn, bear 2nd it bit the welsh one insisted on sheep. As it is lambing season bletch got cold feet and said no porn at all. Bear flounced off for a month causing bletch to go rogue. He decided the best way to get more users is to implement a highly technical posting system then spend 10,000 words explaining it to us all.
I still thing a papxit porn combo would have been better.
OK, I should have been a bit more specific, that point that your are asking about emails and that specific part of GDPR seems to only apply to marketing emails.
However you have to specifically ask userrs if they want to opt in to emails, you can’t just assume they have given consent just because they have signed up to your service.
Gone are the days when the opt-in checkbox is ticked by default, it has to be unticked and the person has to physically tick it.
Now don’t get me started on obfuscation of data in non-live systems.
As @dubai_phil has alluded to, GDPR is a license to print money for the EU. Oh and don’t forget it also applies to non-electronic data…