Author Topic: A silly question (Read 15034 times)

limr · « **on:** January 19, 2015, 06:08:27 AM »

I figured this would be the best board to post this question: what do the little yellow squares above our avatars mean? It's an irrelevant detail but I hate not being able to figure it out. Kinda driving me batty

All I can figure out is that the mods have blue squares.

Is it the kind of thing that is so obvious that I will kick myself when someone tells me the answer?

jojonas~ · « **Reply #1 on:** January 19, 2015, 08:29:48 AM »

yeah, I've wondered that too! ... for five years, on and off

position is bound to posts atleast. that I know

Ezzie · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2015, 09:52:54 AM »

The more you post, the more you get. Apart from that, no idea.

Francois · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2015, 02:49:25 PM »

I think it's related to the number of posts you have. Yellow for regular users, blue for admin.

Ezzie · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2015, 03:47:33 PM »

If it related to number of posts, why do I see you have just the one Francois, and I have five? Maybe what we see is relative to who is viewing what?

Francois · « **Reply #5 on:** January 19, 2015, 09:36:13 PM »

I might have gone 'round the counter a few times

I actually did a bit of research and the number of blocks indicates the member's role and permissions in the forum.
The less blocks you have, the more posts you have. (that's such a badly phrased sentence...)

limr · « **Reply #6 on:** January 20, 2015, 01:46:10 AM »

But I've only got one square and other members who have fewer posts have more squares - sometimes someone with something like 300 posts have 5 squares and then there's Francois into 4 digits with only one square. So if it is related to posts, then I think it's broken ; )

jojonas~ · « **Reply #7 on:** January 20, 2015, 06:58:27 AM »

Maybe it's like att car meter and starts over after att while?

Francois · « **Reply #8 on:** January 20, 2015, 02:17:39 PM »

It's related to both visit frequency and number of posts.

SLVR · « **Reply #9 on:** January 20, 2015, 02:56:03 PM »

On some forums Ive seen it as a "rep" as in how helpful you are or how sound your advice is. Not sure how that's possible on this forum though since we have no rating system. It could be related to your total time logged in vs posts or your posts per day statistic. I think some members post more than I do though so again I'm not sure how it works.

Bryan · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2015, 03:39:49 PM »

Maybe it does have to do with how much time someone is on the site. I leave it open on a tab on my iPad, right now it says I've been logged in for 14 days 17 hours and 23 minutes and I have 4 squares. I definitely don't post as much as some people that have less than me. Does anyone notice the number of squares changing much?

Francois · « **Reply #11 on:** January 20, 2015, 10:17:57 PM »

Well......
48 days, 1 hour and 24 minutes
8,850 messages (2.803 per day) since 2006-05-29, 17:17:47.

I guess that has something to do with the single block...

But then again, I just checked a new member and he's got only one block too....

I wonder if these things are supposed to be colored but have been set-up as only yellow by Ed?

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #12 on:** January 23, 2015, 09:41:38 PM »

I did it on purpose to see who'd ask WTF, first

Seriously.....I have no idea. Looking into it right now

Bryan · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2015, 09:50:06 PM »

The guy with blue squares doesn't even know.

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2015, 09:56:02 PM »

OK, I looked into it and those yellow squares are called 'badges' and correlate to the Membergroup that you are in. There appear to be 2 types of Membergroups on FW:

Those to which you have been specifically added (i.e. Moderator or Admin)
Those to which your find yourself based on the number of posts you have made.

So, why does François only have 1 badge, despite having posted on FW more than the rest of us put together (almost)? Well, he is also a member of the ill-fated 'Magazine' membergroup which has a single yellow badge as its badge. Clearly membership of a specific group overrides any badges you have been 'awarded' by the forum software for posting a lot. Anyway, I'll sort this out and change the colours in a minute, but I've included below a screen shot of the admin page as it related to membergroups at the time that Leonore asked the original question.

p.s.
Thanks, as always Jonas

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #15 on:** January 23, 2015, 10:02:03 PM »

Bryan: My thoughts exactly. Who's running this damn show?

ANYWAY, spurred on by the interest in the forums Badge system, I have done something I meant to do about 8 years ago and sorted out some custom icons for our badges. I have also tweaked the post numbers associated with each 'step up' the FW badge hierarchy. We've been around 9 years now, so those original thresholds seem a little on the low side.

limr · « **Reply #16 on:** January 23, 2015, 11:15:31 PM »

Hey, neato! I just came here to post a "What in the what??" when I noticed that the badges had turned into little cameras (which I love, btw.). And I got an answer as well!

You rock

jojonas~ · « **Reply #17 on:** January 24, 2015, 10:23:10 AM »

Quote from: Ed Wenn on January 23, 2015, 09:56:02 PM

p.s.
Thanks, as always Jonas

just glad to be of aid

anyway; well sorted, ed!

8 years pass by quickly, eh?

Francois · « **Reply #18 on:** January 24, 2015, 02:29:12 PM »

So that's the trick!
I can see you had some fun with ms paint

tkmedia · « **Reply #19 on:** January 25, 2015, 06:33:32 AM »

I'm back to sheet film!

jojonas~ · « **Reply #20 on:** January 25, 2015, 06:00:56 PM »

Quote from: tkmedia on January 25, 2015, 06:33:32 AM

I'm back to sheet film!

for 22 posts more

limr · « **Reply #21 on:** January 26, 2015, 02:39:57 AM »

Quote from: tkmedia on January 25, 2015, 06:33:32 AM

I'm back to sheet film!

Yup, me too.

jharr · « **Reply #22 on:** January 26, 2015, 07:19:19 PM »

Thank goodness I'm back to sheet film. Self-coating was killing me!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #23 on:** March 13, 2015, 08:24:46 PM »

Just picked up on the disappointment I caused by tweaking the thresholds (nope, not a figure of speech!); sorry about that, former Self-Coaters

You could form a support group. "I couldda been somebody. I couldda been a contendah." etc.

or

You could post even more and get back to the glory that is Self Coat status.

Me? Well, I started FW so I wouldn't have to worry about things like that. FW is just an exercise in me giving my self the biggest number of the coolest badges.

limr · « **Reply #24 on:** March 30, 2015, 08:11:37 PM »

Quote from: Ed Wenn on March 13, 2015, 08:24:46 PM

Just picked up on the disappointment I caused by tweaking the thresholds (nope, not a figure of speech!); sorry about that, former Self-Coaters

You could form a support group. "I couldda been somebody. I couldda been a contendah." etc.

or

You could post even more and get back to the glory that is Self Coat status.

Me? Well, I started FW so I wouldn't have to worry about things like that. FW is just an exercise in me giving my self the biggest number of the coolest badges.

Now I have a purpose in life!