Do "active members" need to be active?

[NeoPatriarch]

I have noticed "active members" that have been absent for nearly a decade. Whatupwitdat?

Is there an explanation somewhere with regard to these labels? What goals have to be met to achieve them? Are they automated? Can you lose your status? OAAA? Once Active Always Active. Is that how it works.

When do I become transcendent?

 

[FollowingHim2]

They are automated based on how many posts you have. It really doesn't mean anything. I was an ascended member at one point lol, then that label got replaced with 'women's ministry'.

 

[Keith Martin]

And I'm still (and will probably always remain) an Ass-Ended Member.

I think @NeoPatriarch is making a good suggestion, though. @FollowingHim, could the parameters be changed in the coding to change the Active Member status to being one that can be changed from OAAA to OBNLA?

I ask because this has been a big disappointment to me on more than one occasion: reading in-depth a great deal of what a particular member has written, only to discover that they haven't been around for many years. It makes fellowship difficult, and if someone has hit the trail, what's the point in fellowship anyway?

 

[steve]

I would land more on the side of encouraging a wayward member by allowing them to retain status than stripping of status. That’s too much like a punishment.
Sooner or later everyone learns to check the date of posts. Not being sarcastic, it’s just life.

 

[NeoPatriarch]

Could the previous status not be restored when the account was reactivated? If it were programmed, these wayward types would never need feel such pangs.

 

[steve]

I would imagine that anything is technically possible, but this site pretty much has zero funds.

 

[Keith Martin]

I would land more on the side of encouraging a wayward member by allowing them to retain status than stripping of status. That’s too much like a punishment.
Sooner or later everyone learns to check the date of posts. Not being sarcastic, it’s just life.

Could the previous status not be restored when the account was reactivated? If it were programmed, these wayward types would never need feel such pangs.

I agree. It's much more of a loss of a very minor privilege rather than a punishment as such. How would one know one was even listed as an Inactive Member if one isn't around anymore? It's not like we're going to send an electric shock through their phone wires at the point that the system recognizes them as being absent.

 

[Keith Martin]

I would imagine that anything is technically possible, but this site pretty much has zero funds.

I'm still waiting to hear from @FollowingHim. It may be something that can be easily programmed in with the choice of an alternate html coding or something like that. If it's going to cost money and the amount is significant, then, yeah, it's not worth it. But if it's just buying an add-on or something similar and the cost is low, maybe @NeoPatriarch and I can cough up the Benjamins.

 

[steve]

I agree. It's much more of a loss of a very minor privilege rather than a punishment as such. How would one know one was even listed as an Inactive Member if one isn't around anymore? It's not like we're going to send an electric shock through their phone wires at the point that the system recognizes them as being absent.

Many of us have left for extended periods of time.
To come back and find that you have been penalized for non-participation would not be a positive experience.

 

[steve]

Even if you had an auto reset when somebody signs back on, imagine some guy’s wife telling he that he got demoted.
Seriously, this is a tempest in a teapot.

maybe we really need to just change some labels.
I agree that “active” doesn’t fit for an inactive account.
We could just change all levels to A. B. C. Etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if some found Ascended Member more than a bit off putting.

 

[Keith Martin]

I agree that “active” doesn’t fit for an inactive account.
We could just change all levels to A. B. C. Etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if some found Ascended Member more than a bit off putting.

I laughed out loud the first time I saw that under my face. "Ascended to what, I wondered?" I imagined myself floating in the air, which is why I make fun of it.

I wonder why we even need such labels other than the ones necessary to indicate special roles in the organization (webmaster; moderator; owner; event coordinator; etc.).

I myself have had two significant absences from here since joining, one for a couple years, the other for 8 months. At the end of one of them I was still labeled an Active Member; when that's the case, the word 'Active' just doesn't mean anything. I know some people are attached to their elevated status, but I do have to admit I think it's a paradoxical thing to be going on within an organization that emphasizes that everyone is an equal member of the Body of Christ. It also bows down to the manipulative techniques of social media, designed from the get-go to manipulate people into participating in order to get the buzz one gets from getting public strokes.

But, yes, @steve, I agree; mostly just a tempest in a teapot.

 

[NeoPatriarch]

I would imagine that anything is technically possible, but this site pretty much has zero funds.

Seriously! After all these years there's no on going financial support?

 

[NeoPatriarch]

Of course @Keith Martin. All the labels must be for those who remain, not for those who are absent. It just makes sense.

 

[FollowingHim2]

Seriously! After all these years there's no on going financial support?

Use Brave

 

[FollowingHim2]

Ok, so, these labels came with the change in website/forum software a few years ago. Some people have never even logged onto the new forum and have active member status' they don't know they have.
Yes, it can be changed, Samuel's just never bothered with it. He is very busy the next two days, and it's not an urgent thing.
I don't think we need to remove the labels altogether, but I think a little clarification might help. I don't like the term ascended. While it has been amusing at times, it's also weird.

 

[NeoPatriarch]

Ok, so, these labels came with the change in website/forum software a few years ago. Some people have never even logged onto the new forum and have active member status' they don't know they have.
Yes, it can be changed, Samuel's just never bothered with it. He is very busy the next two days, and it's not an urgent thing.
I don't think we need to remove the labels altogether, but I think a little clarification might help. I don't like the term ascended. While it has been amusing at times, it's also weird.

No rush. I just found myself disappointed on a few occasions, and wanted to chat about it. Just checking to see if I'm missing something.

 

[The Revolting Man]

Ok, so, these labels came with the change in website/forum software a few years ago. Some people have never even logged onto the new forum and have active member status' they don't know they have.
Yes, it can be changed, Samuel's just never bothered with it. He is very busy the next two days, and it's not an urgent thing.
I don't think we need to remove the labels altogether, but I think a little clarification might help. I don't like the term ascended. While it has been amusing at times, it's also weird.

I don’t like the term “ascended” because everyone is it now and I’m not special anymore.

 

[julieb]

@FollowingHim2 , aren't the "titles" linked to the number of postings? It seems the issue is regarding present time spent on the site which is a bit more tricky to define. What comes to mind is the dot color changes on Chat as participators are posting actively and then not so much. Maybe something like that could be added...along with revamping the titles for number of postings? Something to show that a member hasn't been around in awhile or that they are active lately.

Though maybe we are trying to make something more complex than it has to be? This site has been up since 2008 ( I think that is right?) so there are obviously going to be lots of old members and postings. Checking postings dates, is it just one of those things you must learn to do on website Forums as @steve mentioned?

 

[MeganC]

I don’t like the term “ascended” because everyone is it now and I’m not special anymore.

You're always special to us in your own way!

 

[steve]

I don’t like the term “ascended” because everyone is it now and I’m not special anymore.

Yes, the hierarchy has flattened out.
We need more gradations, topping out at The Order of The Transcendent Grand Pubahs.