Senior Membership Criteria

[Nostalgic]

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.

[Paul D Pounder]

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!

[Bx Loco Gringo]

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

[Rodman 2]

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.

[Older Guy]

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

[Marlowe]

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]

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

[Member #2652]

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

[Nostalgic]

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.

[DrDetroit]

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.

[Lets Date]

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.

[Captain America]

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...

[Jaster]

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.

[Member #3098]

You can add a patron status that can be awarded to senior members with quality posts and participation.

At your discretion, of course

[Guru]

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