FYI, I got an automated email today telling me I’m at trust level 0 (because I don’t post much, presumably) and that I need to “Spend at least 10 minutes reading at least 30 posts in at least 5 different topics” to avoid account deactivation. Granted it says later on that making one post every 2 years will also do the trick, but these kind of “log in NOW to avoid account deletion!” emails are … well, to me at least, somewhat annoying and discouraging. Is there an alternative to this?
Also, I’m not sure if the trust system is meant to exclude staff groups but I just checked and I’m in LSSTDM already.
Hi Dan, thanks for posting this. I’m sorry you found my message alerting users to bump themselves up to trust level 1 discouraging - that was definitely not my intent and so it’s useful to hear.
You ask about alternatives to sending warning messages. The alternatives are to either (A) override the Discourse settings to purge inactive accounts every 2 years and allow the accumulation of unused accounts, or to (B) continue to not warn people and let the system delete them.
I have some thoughts on the alternatives. The fact that (B) is the current mode has just been brought to my attention from a user who had their account deleted, and it seems (B) is even more annoying and discouraging. After investigating the Discourse motivation for purging inactive accounts, I think there are good reasons to not adopt (A). Thus, I’ve chosen to start sending warnings to our trust level 0 group every 6 months. (Relevant ticket has details: SP-1853). That said, I suppose there is an option (C), which is to send more encouraging messages – I can certainly do that (SP-1873).
Discourse’s “trust level” system is a built-in default and separate from other staff groups. As you’ve found, joining a staff group will not affect your account’s “trust level”.
Hi Melissa - it would be helpful if the reminders included an explanation of how users can check their trust levels in their Community profiles. Is there a way to notify users when their trust levels decrease back down to zero? I had previously earned the “regular” badge which told me I was at trust level 3, but looking in my profile now I can’t see anywhere that tells me my current trust level.
I also received the message. The confusing part in it was this sentence:
… despite the fact that my account has a TL 2 (and is one of four with an Aficionado badge ).
I concluded that this was an automated message that was, for some reason, sent to all. It may be some wrong setting that is, I suppose , easy to correct.
In addition to sending reminders here, it is much more important to send them email! If someone did not visit the forum for such a long time, there’s not much chance they’ll see this warning.
Therefore, I think that reminders should be sent (option B), by email and here, but only to TL0 members instead of all, and that will be fine.
"Spend at least 10 minutes reading at least 30 posts in at least 5 different topics.
Be advised that accounts that are “inactive” for 730 days, where “inactive” means they remained at a trust level of 0 and have not created any posts, are automatically removed by the system.
I think the requirements are unrealistic for a support model if Rubin Observatory is going to use the Forum for their user support. I actively ready the forum usually looking at the topic titles, but I only read one or two of the topics every few weeks, so asking someone to spend 10 minutes reading 30 threads on 5 different topics to not have their account removed/ move to trust level 1 seems like a nearly impossible bar for most of the Rubin users to meet.
Hi, maybe it can be useful to remind that, according to already mentioned web page: learn more about Discourse trust levels , the trust level shown in the user profile is not numeric (0,1…) but it’s a string (new, basic…). In particular there are these correspondences:
Trust Level 0 – New,
Trust Level 1 – Basic,
Trust Level 2 – Member,
Trust Level 3 – Regular,
Trust Level 4 – Leader
Yeah I agree with Meg. This seems like a really easy way to alienate occasional users, which I would think should be the opposite of the goal for this forum.
It doesn’t sound like much, but I can do a lot in 10 minutes… and I’d rather just have to spend time on here when I need to for science, not when I need to to avoid my account to be deactivated…
Thanks all, and my sincere apologies for my mistakes here and causing so much confusion and annoyance.
The Forum setting clean up inactive users after days has been reset from 730 to 0.
Going forward, no inactive accounts will be automatically deleted by the system, and there will be no messages about trust levels. If/when the accumulation of inactive accounts causes a major problem, I will find another way to deal with it.
I am going to send one more message to all of “trust level 0” with an apology and an update – and then (hopefully) never again.
Side notes to answer some questions, above:
To see all Forum groups, go to community.lsst.org/g. If you are a member of the group, the box will have a green check and say “Member”.
New Forum accounts start in group “trust level 0” and then groups “trust level 1”, etc. are added without removing “trust level 0”, which is why my message accidentally went to pretty much everyone.
AFAIK from reading about Discourse, trust levels are never rescinded. Once an account has gained a higher trust level, it is never lost.
The 10 minutes of reading needed for a Forum account to be added to the “trust level 1” group does not need to be in a single session, I believe it is cumulative. Not that it matters anymore.
Additional comments and questions are, as always, welcome here in thread or as new topics.
).