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Admin
01-09-05, 00:00
Greetings Everyone,

For the first four years of this Forum, Senior Membership was awarded to those Forum Members who demonstrated their willingness to adhere to the Forum's Posting Guidelines (standard capitalization & punctuation, no chat room style writing, etc.) However, I eventually came to the realization that this proved to be ineffective as an inducement and time-consuming to manage. Thus several months ago I quietly suspended Senior Member Upgrades as I searched for an alternate method of achieving the same goal of both recognizing the Forum's most prolific contributors and maintaining a minimum level of writing quality.

The conclusion I reached was that Senior Membership would become strictly a recognition for the Forum's most active contributors. This would allow me to use the Forum's built-in functions to automatically upgrade Regular Members to Senior Membership based on criteria that are easily quantified, such as number of reports and length of membership, which brings me to the subject of this survey:

What should be the requirements for Senior Membership?

The two basic criteria are number of reports in combination with a minimum length of time as a Forum Member. The purpose of this poll and the accompanying thread is to obtain some feedback from the Forum Members as to what they believe the exact criteria should be.

Of course, I anticipate the possibility that the Forum's Regular Members may stack the results of this poll, so I'm advising everyone that I will be giving much greater weight to the votes of the current Senior Members, and in fact it's quite probable that I will filter the poll results to display only the Senior Member's votes, but we'll see.

Thanks,

Jackson

Musicman52
09-04-05, 22:09
Hey Jackson, I"ve been a regualr here for quite sometime, and have been given a Sr. Memebership by you on the World site, I was wondering why I havent been upgraded here yet, from your post I should have been upgraded?

Let Me Know,

Musicman52


Greetings Everyone,

For the first four years of this Forum, Senior Membership was awarded to those Forum Members who demonstrated their willingness to adhere to the Forum's Posting Guidelines (standard capitalization & punctuation, no chat room style writing, etc.) However, I eventually came to the realization that this proved to be ineffective as an inducement and time-consuming to manage. Thus several months ago I quietly suspended Senior Member Upgrades as I searched for an alternate method of achieving the same goal of both recognizing the Forum's most prolific contributors and maintaining a minimum level of writing quality.

The conclusion I reached was that Senior Membership would become strictly a recognition for the Forum's most active contributors. This would mean that I could use the Forum's built-in functions to automatically upgrade Regular Members to Senior Membership based on criteria that are easily quantified, such as number of reports and length of membership, which brings me to the subject of this survey:

What should be the requirements for Senior Membership?

The two basic criteria are number of reports in combination with a minimum length of time as a Forum Member. The purpose of this poll and the accompanying thread is to obtain some feedback from the Forum Members as to what exactly they believe the criteria should be.

Of course, I anticipate the possibility that the Forum's Regular Members may stack the results of this poll, so I'm advising everyone that I will be giving much greater weight to the votes of the current Senior Members, and in fact it's quite probable that I will filter the poll results to only count Senior Members votes, but we'll see.

Thanks,

Jackson

Jimmy
09-04-05, 23:13
I would tend to want someone that posts good information as a member. I feel that 100 posts in 6 months would encourage junk posts or fake posting. 25 good informative posts with the bad posts not counting would be a realistic goal.

Hi Jimmy,

I was planning on re-writing the Posting Guidelines to define and prohibit junk posts. Actually this is relatively easy because these "Thank You", "Great Post" and "Please send me her number" posts would simply be deleted without comment.

Thanks,

Jackson

Darkmax99
09-04-05, 23:47
25 posts and 6 months sounds realistic. A rough average of about 5 posts per month. Which is sort of like a post a week. Sounds good to me.

Garthy
09-04-05, 23:59
I would rather see 25 quality posts than 100 fluff posts. There are a few folks out there eho risk a lot personally and otherwise to report solid info for the mongering community. These people should be rewarded PRIOR to the people who only reply to posts with things like "great post" or "thanks for the info."

So, a set number, albeit easier, may not be better.

Hand picked senior members by Jackson is a lot more work, but a lot more worth.

Hi Garthy,

You're right. Hand picking would be more accurate and more valuable, but that requires that I make hundreds of subjective, time-consuming decisions, and I just didn't have the time.

Thanks,

Jackson

Cloude
09-05-05, 03:00
jackson,

what about members who have posts on both the usa and international forum. i'm already a senior member, but was wondering if you can combine the number of posts for members who post in both the usa and international forum when considering senior membership. i have more posts in the international forum than the usa forum.

but, i do agree that 25 posts and 6 months sounds realistic.

cloude

Hi Cloude,

The two forums are completely seperate, and it would be too time-consuming to even attempt to combine the post counts from both forums. Remember, part of the idea here is to make the process automatic so that it actually gets done.

BTW, I appreciate your obvious respect for the Forum's Posting Guidelines.

Thanks,

Jackson

Kool Klyde
09-05-05, 04:38
I agree with most on the 6 mo / 25 post, just hope there is a way to watch those that post the same post in 10 different cities to rack up points.

Thanks for all your work and the fustruations you put up with upgrading these sites. They are great!

kk

Gtrack
09-05-05, 04:43
I feel you should have legitimate credentials and contacts in order to be a senior member. Also since everybody reads this board you should be cautious in how your information is distributed. If I have good information I generally dont like to give it out unless the poster has at least 20 posts and verifiable posts and contacts. Since I live New York I always go by the saying loose lips sink ships. So far I have never had any problems with LE.

Jackaroe
09-05-05, 07:51
Although I would like Senior membership, I just don't write enough reports by the new criteria to achieve senior status. In over a year, I only have 6 reports. Why, I only send out information that I feel would be useful to other folks on the board. There is a lot of BS on the board that provides no information and just wastes everyone’s time. The minimum number of 25 is a reasonable standard. I do feel there should be a one year minimum as a regular member before senior membership should be granted. Thanks for all the hard work.

J

Pacific Creek
09-05-05, 11:00
Jackson,

I think that having a six month minimum and 25 reports is valid. It will weed out the ones who send questions without posting any valid information and then get Senior Membership with 10 posts.

I understand that it will make more work for you but I think it will in the end allow for more responsible Senior Members than some of the lower posting ones we have now.

Also, I think that if you are too backed up in checking posts, please consider the fact that you have many Senior Members who might be willing to help screen the regular members posts before they are approved.

I am sure there is a way for this to be done and it might help lighten your work load some.

Fly low, be cool and always check your six.

Zebra98
09-05-05, 11:55
Jackson,

Thanks for the work. I don't think any of us realize how much time it takes to administer the forums. I really like the posting guidelines and the requirement for adherance. But if automation is desired, then I suppose a minimum duration oif membership and # of posts criteria is the easiest way to go. My vote is for 6 months, 25 posts. I'd hope that the worth of the posts could somehow be considered.

It is a bit frustrating that those who requested Sr. status on the old combined borad before it was split to seperate servers, were given Sr. status on the world board, but not the US board after the split. I'd trade my Sr. membership there for Senior here and regular on the world board.

Zebra


[blue]Greetings Everyone,

For the first four years of this Forum, Senior Membership was awarded to those Forum Members who demonstrated their willingness to adhere to the Forum's Posting Guidelines (standard capitalization & punctuation, no chat room style writing, etc.) However, I eventually came to the realization that this proved to be ineffective as an inducement and time-consuming to manage. Thus several months ago I quietly suspended Senior Member Upgrades as I searched for an alternate method of achieving the same goal of both recognizing the Forum's most prolific contributors and maintaining a minimum level of writing quality.

<remainder deleted>

LV Fan
09-05-05, 12:45
I know you want to automate this, but I agree with many that there are a lot of useless posts. Is there a way for a member to declare a local board, and once the criteria is met (whatever that ends up being) let the senior members of that board sign off on it? I think most of the senior members are very good at calling BS on the less than quality posts.

James D 2004
09-05-05, 12:59
USG is going to be dead. To determine the quality of 25 reports is as difficult as 100 or 1000 reports using any criteria. So we can forget about the quality issue for now. One would like USG to be reference material with clearly classified topics and every post contains useful information. But that ain't going to happen.

There's not enough incentive. Some other sites make people feel that their report worth $10.

KMP girls seldom work for months, same as some famous agency girls. Many girls are touring around the country. Chinese / Korean brothels change girls every week. SW may work for a weekend, and CL girls change their minds in hours. There's no point in collecting and organizing info in an ideal way only to be useless in a month.

You only need one or two good reports to be snatched up by the local secret societies. Still, you are getting a load of rubbish but at least you don't need to wait.

USG did build up a sense of community over the years. Whether it is useful or desirable is up to you. But what I can see is that, if one post often, he will slip in something useful sometimes even if he has no incentive to.

Of Jackero's 6 posts, one asked for info via PM, and the other?


If you are really desperate, there was a wsw hanging around the Stuckys yesterday (tues) afternoon. A face only a blind mother could love.

Cienega32
09-05-05, 13:19
That's a tough call; trying to establish prequisites for Senior Membership. I do think that Gtrack has a very strong point about the passing of info.

What would prevent anyone from dummying up a bunch of reports in order to achieve senior status and, therefore, slide into the "in crowd"? The rest of the scenerio can be found somewhere "between the lines".

Verifiable, or legitimate, credentials should be square one.

On another note - wouldn't it be nice if the postings from regular members showed as a "new post"? The time delay lets them fall into the cracks sometimes.

Hi Cienega32,

Actually, I've already paid to have the forum's code modified to accomplish exactly what you've suggested, although the report will display a "Report visible pending moderator review." tag line until the report is actually reviewed. This system is being tested in the argentinaprivate.com forum, and I expect to install it here in the near future.

Still, when you run a forum as busy as this one, you learn to be cautious about modifying the software until it's been throughly tested.

Thanks,

Jackson

Seva Lurker
09-05-05, 19:27
Jackson,

There is truly a need for Senior Member status, there are several excellant posters with in excess of 100 reports who are still Regular Members.

I think six months and 25 posts is a good start. It took me a long time to reach the 100 report mark, so I would understand Regular Members being a bit upset having to wait. Some would probably swamp the system with BS to get their required number.

Best Tx Monger
09-05-05, 21:48
Jackson,

In reference to that post and membership time in the forum, I agree that a minimum 25 reports and a 6 month membership will suffice.

In addition, I agree that there are many out there that have many post but some are not fruitful and do not yield any valuable information.

Just wanted to take the time and second the 25/6 that 75% of the community is agreeing on. My .02 cents.

Regards,

007

Zoomster
09-06-05, 00:38
Jackson,

This is a suggestion fron a newbie, so please take it for what it is worth. Have you considered establishing panels of senior members whom you trust to review the posts of regular members seeking upgrades? For instance, each state or region could have a panel of four or five senior members review the posts of a prospect. Being familiar with the region, they would be in a good position to determine the validity of the information contained in the posts. When a regular member has, say, reached 25 posts and been a member for six months, his posting history would automatically be passed on to the panel for review and a final decision on the upgrade. This would reduce your workload but still allow a subjective element in the upgrade process.

Anyhow, whatever your final decision, I want to say how impressed I am with your site. Keep up the great work! (By the way, should a post such as this one count towards membership upgrade? Or is this the type of BS post Seva Lurker is concerned about?)

Civ2000
09-06-05, 01:11
Jackson,

It's my opinion that requiring a minimum number of posts encourages quantity over quality. After ten posts, it should be fairly apparent that the member adheres to forum posting guidelines and quality reporting, after that, if the member starts breaking the rules they can be dwelt with accordingly.

I've seen members with only three or four really good posts that I think would make great senior members, yet I've seen others with over a hundred that don't deserve it. For someone who only posts once or twice a month it could take a year or more to become a senior.

Lastly, I've seen an influx of posters to other boards who are only there because they didn't want to wait forever to become senior members over here. Everyone knows that this is the vastly superior board, yet I see quality posters all the time on other boards who have gotten tired of waiting. I suggest making them seniors, and if they screw up then promptly bump them back to regular.

Thanks for all your hard work and a great board.

Civ2000

P. S. All the guys on the Seattle board would greatly appreciate it if you immediately promoted Jimmi Hendrix to senior membership. His outstanding reports and photo contributions make him one of our most valued members.

Maloso1
09-06-05, 01:57
I go along with the 6 months, 25 reports should get everyone senior status, but if you get a$%-h*@!s in here just causing problems and not helping the cause they should be automatically be removed from the board or disqualified from an upgrade.

Maloso

fatsoNOT
09-06-05, 02:49
I think we should have four categories of membership, Entry Level member(less than six months), Regular Member (6-12 months or higher with 6 "meaningful, informative reports), Bronze Member (13-24 months with 12 "meaningful reports), Silver Member (24-36 months with 24 meaningful reports) and finally, Gold Members (36months or more with 36 meaningful reports).

I think at present, the membership category is too loose and also, i think the Photo gallery should have restricted access, may be only available to Silver member or higher but allow authentic photo contributor to jump the line. Also, I promote "meaningful reports" as you have lots of so called reports which has low information content. The emphasis should be on "meaningful", "unique information" reports. In the old days, pre-1997, the guide was real informative and the information was easy to locate/identify. Now, the look of the site is much better (due to the advancement in internet technology and also Jackson's work), however, the information quality is diminished dramatically as compared to the past. Of course, I do appreciate and understand as Jackson has taken the site from a information site to a community bulletin board. However, I think we can do some work to improve the information content of this site. At present, only the Argentina guide segment's quality is comparable to the "old" guide. Thanks.

PsyberZombie
09-06-05, 06:07
It's my opinion that requiring a minimum number of posts encourages quantity over quality. After ten posts, it should be fairly apparent that the member adheres to forum posting guidelines and quality reporting, after that, if the member starts breaking the rules they can be dwelt with accordingly.

I've seen members with only three or four really good posts that I think would make great senior members, yet I've seen others with over a hundred that don't deserve it. For someone who only posts once or twice a month it could take a year or more to become a senior

P. S. All the guys on the Seattle board would greatly appreciate it if you immediately promoted Jimmi Hendrix to senior membership. His outstanding reports and photo contributions make him one of our most valued members.

I voted before starting to read this thread , for Any member with 25 posts

That was before I realized that Jackson 's Goal here is to automate the Senior Up·grade process , in which case adding a minmum time requirement makes the most sense — and six months seems about right

p.s. I 'second' C2K 's recommendation of Jimi Hendrix ; and would also like to proffer the Akron / Canton Board's Amish Made ; and the LV Boards' Wastrel for Senior Status — if you're still doing this the old way

Sam
09-06-05, 09:07
I've never fretted over what my status is or the status of any others. I had not looked up what the criteria used to be for becoming a "senior" member and was surprised the day it happened. But then I don't care if my credit card staus is gold, platinum or lead, as long as it works for me.

You have been posting the number of reports all members have put up under our names and that has been helpful.

Bottom line: If you choose to raise the requirements for senior status, to 100 reports, go ahead. If you choose to offer a perk (photo viewing) to only seniors, go ahead. Your board has been one that I have enjoyed following and participating in as a newbie and now as a senior. You don't owe me any justification for what you choose to do. I owe you a thanks.

NC Wanderer
09-06-05, 12:22
I think automatic Senior status is a necessary step, if only to help Jackson have time to monger hisself. As an infrequent poster who has been much more active sharing information through the PM system, I wonder if there is a way to consider PM's in the count, say add one post for evety 10 PM's. Living in Orlando in the shadow of the mouse makes many of us very cautious of posting details in the public forum. A seemingly useless post such as "visited XYZ AMP last night, PM for details" can solict 10 or more responses, as well as having others share similar experience through the PM media.

Just a thought (for my 25th post after 6 months of membership).

Thanks for your efforts, Jackson.

p.s. Would it be possible to add a spell check feature? I am a horrible speller.

Lapamaniac
09-06-05, 14:53
I've been a member her for as long as I've been mongering. I'm a frequent emailer and an infrequent poster, admittedly.

With the revamping of the forum earlier this year, I see now that I'm offically a member since April of this year. I have no idea what happened to the history on my membership or older posts.

In any case, I'd love to see some way or figuring that one out. For those of us who have been here for many years but have lost history, perhaps a fix would be allowing SM rights to those who have been members for over 3 years (or so) and fewer posts (10?) reflecting the lost history.

And, for what its worth, I'd second Civ2000's motion to get JimiHendrix SM'd as soon as possible. That guy is a classic!

Lap

Phred
09-06-05, 15:44
It would be difficult to automate and also require a substantive report. But Someone like hisark that posts the same one word "report" "streetwalkers" on multiple threads shouldn't count. If the software can count words a minimum of ten might be good, and maybe count a photo posting as some multiple for count of reports.

Phred

Sabor
09-06-05, 19:28
Jackson
I really appreciate everything you've done and know you've caught hell for it. Up till now you've done more than a great job for everyone. I'm sure you know what's best for your website. Whatever you decide the majority of the folks here will back you up. I know I will!

Be safe!

Stoner
09-06-05, 20:30
There is a strong need for a moderator group, or perhaps a "council" if you will. Let them have the ability to recommend senior membership.


This all begs the obvious question: what exactly is a senior member?

In all seriousness, does it denote ability and longevity in the hobby?
Posting History?
Credential?
usefulness to the general populace?

If its purely on activity, then its value is questionable EVEN with some filter logic in place. Longevity is important, in that case, coupled with higher than usual post count/activity.

Beyond that...Senior member status is a community thing. It should offer no incentive other than a looser hand of the admin, perhaps.

As for the usefulness of the board...I do agree that in the past it was simple to get a hold of, but then...the net was very different post 98. Fewer folks, and never a real chance of public backlash or intrusion.

Now...things have changed. Everyoone, including the sanitation engineer, has an email address and possibly a web site.

Kimchi
09-06-05, 21:02
I feel that a minimum of 25 reports should be required to be elevated to the coveted Senior Membership Status. The reports of course must be of substantive information. They should be consturctive in nature and reliable. After all if you are a Senior member of this guide you want to be sure of the information obtained is correct. Just my opinion.

Hutch
09-06-05, 21:30
The reports should be true reports, not comments about other reports or questions for more information.

If a person has had complaints aginst them or been restricted they should not get senior membership without a vote from the senior membership.

I know that you can steer through the non-real complaints.

Thanks for your time.

Spazen
09-06-05, 23:28
I always come up with odd things that may or may not be workable, so here goes.

1. Create a preferences field (area/specific forum) as to where a user would like to be mostly associated with. This field might also be available as a link.

2. Verify that the preferenced forum has at least 25-50% of the posts.

3. Once a specific number of posts/elapsed time occurs. Post to that forum specified in the preferences that "User x has reach senior membership creiteria. Anyone having an objection post in a forum designed for this purpose. Allow 1 month. This forum could even be invisable to regular members and only visable to you.

4. If no objections senior status occurs and member upgrade post deleted.

5. If objections: You weigh objections. If objections are warranted give new category like "I'm trying" and reset posts back to zero.

It's like checks and balances with peer review. Everything happens automaticly unless there are objections.

I know. Too complicated. There might be an idea here that you could use.

Pretty Boy 96
09-07-05, 09:48
Well I've have been made a senoir member but in the international section instead of this section what is up with that ? Now is there any fix to that or should I just reapply?

Hi Pretty Boy 96,

The two sites are completely seperate, and thus Senior Member status on each site is awarded based on an individual member's contributions to the specific site.

In other words, it is entirely possible that the same person could be a Senior Member on one site and a Regular Member on the other site.

Thanks,

Jackson

Flashman
09-07-05, 13:13
Hi Jackson,
Thanks for all you do.

Re: Senior guidelines

Keep it simple, but make it something earned. I think 25 posts over six months is about right, with no more than 5 in one month counting toward the 25 or you will get a lot of BS posts with people just trying to get their number up!

Next step would be to take senior membership away from people who got it under the old rules and don't post much. I assume you could put in an automatic system that would downgrade status on any member who does not post over 6 months--for example. Then they would have to requalify like any newbie.

It would be good to put a little more confidance in the "senior member" classification to avoid those newbies who have an odor of pork about them.

Flashman

PS: I miss the international section. What is the best place to go? Do any of the new sites have your old database?

Golfnutz
09-07-05, 13:43
Well Folks, I never pass up an opportunity to throw in my $.02, so here goes; I know Jackson is trying to automate ( key word: Automate) the system, but I think there should be some kind of info checker for the usefullness of the post. Is that lofty posistion of Senior Member (of which I am not) deserved by someone who posts 15 questions and 10 jokes, or should the posts be checked for substantive quailty? How can this be done? I do like the longer time frame plus the quantiy of posts idea, as long as the posts are moslty of an informational nature. I don't really know, just tossing out ideas.

I2500
09-08-05, 01:26
I like the idea of six months with 25 quality posts. If possible it would be good if you could continue weed out the posts that appear in all caps or without punctuation.

One other thing. Please give Jimi Hendrix senior status when you do this. He's currently one of the most active and prolific posters on the Seattle, Washington board.

Bobby M
09-08-05, 13:33
I like the 6 months and 25 good posts.
What is the possibility of not automatically counting those comments on other's posts and only counting real information posts for regulars and senior members. I hate to have to review all previous posts of a person who asks me a private question to see if they are a serious poster or are LE trying to gain info. Thus I have limited my serious replies to quality senior posters.

Guru
09-08-05, 19:34
Greetings all,

I am a regular member who has been posting on various Virginia boards for about two years. As I see it, the downside of the current two-tiered system does not just impact me but, even worse, impacts the other members in my areas. If, as has happened in the past, I see LE conducting a sting, by the time my post hits the boards the sting is over and the mongers I've tried to assist may have been stung. I recognize that the need to keep LE off the boards exists but let's not fool ourselves; any number of members--and probably some senior members--are LE posting false reports to gain information. The fact is that, given the nature of our chosen source of discussion, situations change rapidly. A post as to where a particular provider has set up shop that is accurate and useful when submitted by a regular member may be stale and useless by the time it hits the board. For that, we all suffer.

I would submit that the solution is not to change the criteria for senior member status but, rather, to grant everyone the privileges of senior status and then let the members use their common sense (number and frequency of posts, accuracy of information, smell of bacon sizzling) to give those posts credence (or not). Of course, idiots and troublemakers should be dealt with swiftly and firmly. Just my two cents. Hey, I don't want to rock the boat too much, I'll be applying for senior status soon!

Keep it safe.

Guru

Member #3098
09-08-05, 20:17
You can add a patron status that can be awarded to senior members with quality posts and participation.

At your discretion, of course

Jaster
09-09-05, 10:54
This may be a little difficult and maybe too much work, but what about a vote? Maybe a regular member with 15 or 25 or a selected number of posts(whatever that number may be) would be up for senior membership, but must be voted in by other senior members. How about the first of the month all regular members with a selected number of posts be added to a page on this site. then senior member could vote yay or nay. This would allow fellow senior members to weed out regular members who only post junk, and to award senior memership to those who actually post useful information. Or you could put a small voting tool under the regular members name on his forum posts. Then when a senior member reads this members posts, they could vote for this member to become senior. This may be too complicated or too time consuming, but its a good way to weed out useless posters who simply post junk to get their amount of postings up and it allows members who have very few posts, but actually have good info in their posts to become senior sooner.

Captain America
09-09-05, 13:40
I feel 6 months is a good time, but 25 posts may not be enough if a lot of those posts are request for infomration etc. If there is not time to review, the number may be as high as 50...

Lets Date
09-09-05, 22:11
Wow Jackson has opened the flood gates for Senior Membership. Senior Membership was always overrated, but it does somewhat assist in seperating many of the real legitimate mongers from the advid "internet messageboard posters." Most mongers have never stumbled upon this messageboard. These mongers still are out cruising the streets, visiting the brothels, and traveling abroad, because those activities are, and have been, independent of the internet.

This messageboard for all of its great usefullness is just a small place that attracts internet sex addicts moreover the true patron of prostitutes. This messageboard provides them with an alternate avenue towards releasing there sexual tensions outside of the normal self gratification. But I'm glad that I found it, and I have fun reporting a portion of my mongering experiences on here.

DrDetroit
09-10-05, 01:46
Jackson:Kudos to you for the new Forum Home Page and for your time and hard work that keep's the USASexGuide the best! As far as seniority guidelines go I feel either a 3 month/10 report or the 6/25 time-report criteria would be fine but no more than the 6/25.Both equal about 1 report a week which IMHO for most is a fair amount of Mongering.I believe any more would result in junk post's in order to gain senior statues.Maybe a compromise of say 15 report's and a 4 month time period would offer a more realistic means to the end and a way of avoiding"The Last One In"syndrome.Well that's my 22 cent's worth.Thank's for your diligence.....Doc.

Nostalgic
09-10-05, 11:44
There is a big problem with the new requirement criteria. It's not fair to those who have been members for a while. It's ex post facto.

It could be a requirement for new members but for those of us who joined under the old requirement and have steadily attempted to built up to that requirement threshold, it is grossly unfair. Twenty five real reports, for some of us under the current circumstances, for example, of rare activity and active LE enforcement, can move the goal posts so far into the future that it becomes a mirage not worth reaching.

There needs to be a grandfather clause.

Member #2652
09-10-05, 15:28
Jackson,

Approximately six months ago I was upgraded to Senior status on the World site, but remain a regular member on the US site. Is it possible to be senior on both
sites or is each treated independently for senior status?

Thanks again for the great work you do.

Hi,

Senior Membership status on each forum is independent of the other forums. In other words, it will be entirely possible for the same individual to be a Regular Member on one forum and a Senior Member on another forum.

Thanks,

Jackson

Older Guy
09-11-05, 02:49
Jackson,

I am a firm believer in quality over quantity. I also realize that your review of a member's reports for quality is time consuming and tedious. In order to reduce your workload, consider enlisting the senior members' help in recommending a regular member for your review.

If you set a numeric criteria of quality reports as well as a format requirement, a regular member that wants to be considered for senior status must request a review from a senior member. If the senior member considers the regular member's reports to be relevant to the purpose of the forum and meets the criteria you set, then the regular member's name can be forwarded to you for your review.

This should allow you to review fewer requests and also help you validate the quality of the senior members.

The point made here by some of too many poor quality postings is a valid concern to serious members. If a senior member recommends too many poor quality regular members, you can use that fact to send a poor quality senior member back to regular member status. You may also use this system to have senior members reviewed later by "gold" or other designated senior members for possible demotion to regular member status thereby weeding out those that only post for quantity rather than quality.

Something along this line would serve as a warning to those that just want to become senior members by meeting some number and duration criteria and help you weed out poor senior members who met the criteria in the past by just number crunching.

In time this would help assure senior members that when they PM another senior member with detailed contact information that they are relaying the info safely to a serious senior member.

Stay safe,
OG

Marlowe
09-11-05, 17:05
There cannot simply be a numeric criterion, some level of quality, similar to what you had previously must be applied, to determine what constitutes a quality post. A member with 600 "junk" posts such as "Seinfeld" (vets know to whom I am referring) should not receive Senior status just by a sheer volume of meaningless posts.

I would suggest membership for a minimum of 3 months with 50 quality posts containing salient information about mongering experiences, information about SW or AMP that are available, or LE stings that have been witnessed (or suspected) to qualify for Senior Membership.

Older Guy
09-11-05, 17:29
Jackson,

Some members seem to question the benefit of the senior designation.

The greatest benefit I have seen during the time I have been a member is that senior membership allows a report to be posted immediately to the forum. This allows other senior members to post immediate replys and for the original poster to then immediately respond or request that the continuation then go to PMing. This saves the senior members quite a bit of time to exchange the relevant subject information.

This is a very helpful benefit when a trip to an unfamilar area pops up for a member who may have some "spare time" on their hands.

On the subject of the number of quality posts to qualify for senior membership, I think that a number like 10 or 15 is fair if follow-up postings of details (which should have been in the original report) are not added to the count to meet the criteria. I recommend the number of quality reports not be set too high (like 100) since it would tend to discourage reqular members from trying to qualify for senior status.

I also feel quite strongly that you also provide for a senior member to be penalized in some way other than banning from the site should his behavior become unbecoming to that of a senior member. I've noticed over time that the criteria at the time of my promotion to senior member of using a non-chatroom format seems to be ignored more and more frequently.

The demotion of a senior member back to a regular member or a "probationary senior member" would have the effect of limiting the number of his postings to the forum until his behavior improves and he is again recommended for review for re-instatement to full senior status.

Since I believe we are looking for contributions of quality information and behavior to become of "a senior member in good standing" of this site, I hope some of my postings help in your decision regarding new criteria and again I strongly recommend you use the senior members to help you in screening for membership level in this site.

Stay safe,
OG

Rodman 2
09-11-05, 17:49
One comment on the Senior mebership question.

I have had some requested via IM for specific information (such as digits or reccomendations, on contact info) from Senior memebers (with relatively lower numbers of posts), who when I researched there posts seem to be always asking for info and never posting any information.

Its hard to tell if these are LE or just selfish, lazy SW lovers. This is a problem that I suspect will get worse under new system unless information posts can be separated from chit-chat and information requests.

Bx Loco Gringo
09-11-05, 19:01
The only thing that I would want to make sure is that there are at least a couple good reviews . not some one with a couple iffy ones that can make senior member

Bx Loco

Paul D Pounder
09-11-05, 22:56
you really should have been a member for over a year first. I feel you need at least 40 quality post. I myself have many post, they cover multiple cities and states, cover LE info, have pics posted, and have given good advice on a range of topics. If you are not similar, regular membership is where you need to be!

Nostalgic
09-12-05, 13:14
What many of you are missing as you recommend criteria that you may easily reach but not others, is that you will at the end hurt yourself by possibly missing out on some good reviews from other, even if less active, views.

Make it difficult to reach senior status and less will participate. On most boards senior status is meaningless. Not so here where some only PM with others of senior status and posts are instantaneous.

If people know they can never reach senior status, based on their possible number of reviews, what motivation do they have to post any reviews?

The board will deteriorate to the same people posting all the reviews while perched at their exalted senior level. Others will just leech. Force the leechers to post something in order to leach and soon you have what ruined the old JAG board.

PsyberZombie
09-13-05, 06:15
I have had some requested via IM for specific information (such as digits or reccomendations, on contact info) from Senior memebers (with relatively lower numbers of posts), who when I researched there posts seem to be always asking for info and never posting any information.

Its hard to tell if these are LE or just selfish, lazy SW lovers. This is a problem that I suspect will get worse under new system unless information posts can be separated from chit-chat and information requests.

Senior Member or not , it's always a good idea to scope out the past posting of any·one PM 'ing you asking for info

I've had almost universally BAD experiences giving out Digits , fer ex

Want some numbers from Yours Truly ??

Read My Policy (http://www.usasexguide.info/forum/showpost.php?p=330552&postcount=1537) first

Webcams
09-13-05, 21:15
Get rid of the folks who only copy and paste craigslist ads.
6 Months 25 posts sounds fair. But you should have a way to Report members who abuse the system, It can turn into a free for all with spam if not.

Civ2000
09-13-05, 21:38
Jackson, Have you come to a decision yet on this? I only ask because it appears that a ton of members were just made senior members in the past few days, some with less than 25 posts. I'm just wondering if we're debating a dead topic. Thanks.

Wallie
09-14-05, 03:22
1. Create a preferences field (area/specific forum) as to where a user would like to be mostly associated with. This field might also be available as a link.

2. Verify that the preferenced forum has at least 25-50% of the posts.

3. Once a specific number of posts/elapsed time occurs. Post to that forum specified in the preferences that "User x has reach senior membership creiteria. Anyone having an objection post in a forum designed for this purpose. Allow 1 month. This forum could even be invisable to regular members and only visable to you.

4. If no objections senior status occurs and member upgrade post deleted.

5. If objections: You weigh objections. If objections are warranted give new category like "I'm trying" and reset posts back to zero.

It's like checks and balances with peer review. Everything happens automatically unless there are objections.
Keep it simple, but make it something earned. I think 25 posts over six months is about right, with no more than 5 in one month counting toward the 25 or you will get a lot of BS posts with people just trying to get their number up!
I think we should have four categories of membership, Entry Level member(less than six months), Regular Member (6-12 months or higher with 6 "meaningful, informative reports), Bronze Member (13-24 months with 12 "meaningful reports), Silver Member (24-36 months with 24 meaningful reports) and finally, Gold Members (36months or more with 36 meaningful reports).As I write this, I am a Regular Member. I'm OK with that. I have asked Jackson for an upgrade to Senior Member status once, at a time when Uncle LEO was actively performing stings in my area. I was concerned that the delay my warnings were getting for review might cause some of our brethern trouble. I also requested it shortly after I had met the old guidelines for upgrade. Jackson explained that this Automation process was in the works, and didn't upgrade me at the time. Again, I'm OK with that, it's his board, we're just taking up space on it; thus his rules apply.

I completely understand, and appreciate, the need for differences in membership status. I don't have a ton of posts, but, when I do post, I try to make sure the info is valid, and important. Generic posts such as: "I found a girl and we did this or that..." without any location info, time stamp, prices, or other relevant information are pretty much worthless. Hence, someone posting that type of information doesn't, IMHO, need to be carrying a Senior status.

That being said, I think the 6/25 ratio is probably about right; if some of the ideas in the quoted posts above, such as peer review, and/or multiple membership levels are too expensive/difficult to implement directly into the coding of the forum program. However, if they are able to implemented, I think they would add to the value of the board.

The concept of multiple levels would allow a board member who posts to be "rewarded" gradually as they post when they see their status upgraded to, say, Bronze level. They would feel appreciated in a way, and know that their prestige and reputation on the board is growing.

Peer review would probably be a pain in the ass to implement, but it would be the best way to ensure that a member who is posting in a locale is posting information that the other members on the board appreciate, and find useful.

Two things worry me about any strictly quantitative requirement for upgrade to Senior status. First, and others have brought this up as well, is that people will just speed load the board with junk just to achieve the coveted Senior status. Second, and just as important, is that the quality of the posts might suffer. The requirements as to spelling, punctuation, and non-chat style, might fade a bit, and the readability of the board will suffer as a result.

That being said, I think Jackson has a good idea on how to keep a hold of the board, the quality of it, and how to best manage his board.

Thanks for all you do Jackson, and whatever happens, I think most of us will support whatever decision you make. Keep up the good work.

Wallie

Best Tx Monger
09-14-05, 17:14
Jackson,

I honestly think that there needs to be more variation on the kinds of membership. It is almost like being rich and poor, it is either one extreme or the other.

There are Regular Members and Senior Members. Instead of being that way I think that there should be like 4 or 5 Classifications. Regular - Freshman - Sophomore - Junior - Senior.

That way there is more respect among current members and it will effectively filter out non-participating members. This will also give variation to the field

Jst my .02 cents.

Regards,
-007

Love To Gawk
09-16-05, 11:36
I would like to suggest that members joining in or starting these BS flame wars which waste everybodys time suffer a reduction in status. Senior members should be above this but are not. I am not referring to constructive debates, we all know the difference.

Only members which offer consistently usable information or advice should be senior members. I will probably never qualify under my own criteria, since I do not contribute as much as others. Just my opinion, but whenever I see an area referred to alot, it goes away.

Queen City Guy
09-17-05, 08:33
I think you have to ask what is the purpose of Senior Membership in the first place.

I would say the main idea is to seperate the serious contributor from the board monger. Then again you don't want to set the post number too high thus encouraging mindless post for the sake of racking up numbers.

The other criteria would be persistance. A reasonable length of active posting would met this.
In other words the guy who never does any mongering or posting but makes a once a year trip to Airmpit, New Mexico for a convention doesn't need to be pming senior memebers for phone numbers.

Gem Finder
09-21-05, 15:33
The number of reports is not nearly as important as the quality of reports. Any fool can post 25 or 50 or 100 times with any version of: "Hey, tell me where the ho's are." Or, "I drove around the zone last night and saw nothing." There are already too many on this board who post just to see their post count go up, without actually providing anything useful. If gaining senior status is based on post count, it will only incourage more useless posts.

10 or 15 detailed, informative, descriptive reports should be enough.

Daddy Lows
09-23-05, 06:43
IMHO, Jackson, if you really value the opinions of senior members, would there be any way to do a referral(sp?) system. For example, let's say I was a regular member with 250 posts (like I was) and I applied for senior status. It would behoove you to rely on local senior members as to the overall quality of said posts. Perhaps, if one could also get 5 senior members (in addition to the 6 months/25 posts minimum requirements) to vouch for them, you could avail yourself of some respected well-earned knowledge. In reality, I've PMed dozens of posters here in Southern California with info, requests, and general comments. I've only met one poster (Sapman) and exchanged my personal phone number with a few (Sapman, Geneious, Marlowe, Joe Monger to name a few). It's really, really difficult to earn trust on the boards as it is a public board. A referral system would really cement the high standards (besides the grammar :rolleyes: ) that one would think a senior member should embody. Hah hah. But seriously, 5 senior vouchers isn't too demanding, and it would be difficult for some acerbic moron who posts garbage to attain senior status. It's a win-win. RIght???? Heh heh heh. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Peace

Best Tx Monger
09-26-05, 18:54
I know that this thread is pretty much dead but perhaps Jackson stumbles upon my question.

Let's say that I am a Senior Member on the USA Forum and I am interested in going to Brazil, which I really am. I want to view the photos and post from that great country.

Since you now have to pay to view photos, my question or request is that I should be able to view such photos, shouldn't I?

I feel that I have earned my right, but according to the new regulations that have been set in place, I can't. I know that you have many things pending Jackson but was wondering if you could provide me with a terse but effective remark that embodies it all.

-007

Zepplin
09-27-05, 01:25
I agree with Daddy Lows and Stoner in that having some type of a peer review would be more effective than an automated selection process.

You could select or have a process to select some members to periodically accomplish the reviews. The downside of course is it would be somewhat more labor intensive.

Your web sites are great and really expanding fast. I hope you will to continue enjoy the fruits of your labor. If that means an automated process will work best, I vote for the 6/25.

Z

Traveler23
10-13-05, 11:14
I would post more if my post were not delayed. My work requires me to travel all over the US. When posting is delayed I am already in another area and the information is too old.

What can be done about the frequent traveler?

Hi Traveler,

I moderate all reports twice per day, every 12 hours, which means that the average wait is 6 hours. Personally, I think it's a small price to pay to have such a SPAM-free forum. Believe me, I've tried running an uncontrolled forum and it was a disaster with dozens of SPAM reports being posted every day.

I'm curious: Please tell me what kind of information is it that you would want to contribute that can not wait for an average of 6 hours to be visible?

Thanks,

Jackson

Double Nickle
01-11-07, 13:14
If a member doesn't get it in 25 instances of having his posts edited by Jackson I don't think we should up it to 100 posts and quadruple Jackson's work. Maybe we should declare the perpetual newbie fair game and let the Philadelphia Fight Club and others nuke him to charred embers.

Double Nickle

Benchseats Rock
01-17-07, 23:59
I know that this thread is pretty much dead but perhaps Jackson stumbles upon my question.

Let's say that I am a Senior Member on the USA Forum and I am interested in going to Brazil, which I really am. I want to view the photos and post from that great country.

Since you now have to pay to view photos, my question or request is that I should be able to view such photos, shouldn't I?

I feel that I have earned my right, but according to the new regulations that have been set in place, I can't. I know that you have many things pending Jackson but was wondering if you could provide me with a terse but effective remark that embodies it all.

-007


Were you a Senior before the split? If you were, you were probably grandfathered in and you should try logging in.

BSR

Big Red50
01-18-07, 01:44
I am still a regular member, and think that the current senior members should vote, in some manner on new senior members of the fraternity. Let your posts speak for them selves, If you don't want to contribute intel, just lurk, you can still post, just not immediately. There is nothing I post that can’t wait 6-24 hours.

I will stand on my reports

Newbie forever

Big Red