End of gurus?

[kfarnell]

I only noticed because I got a set of notifications saying I'd been simultaneously made a 'member', 'new community member' and 'community member' tonight. And on looking at a couple of threads, it appears that some people have been downgraded to 'read only access' - which means what? (Of course, by the time someone sees this, I may well have been downgraded to 'sometimes hangs around this place'.)

So Upwork have decided to remove any indication that some people may have been here longer and participated more than other people? Not that I especially want to be a 'guru', but at least that suggested 'maybe they know what they're on about'.

I can't find any announcement about the change, and I'd appreciate it if someone could point to it so I can follow the plot. It's hard to understand the difference between 'member' and 'community member' and if I was 'new' earlier today, presumably I'd been revoked at some previous point without anyone bothering to tell me?

?????

[25005175]

It's hard to understand the difference between 'member' and 'community member' and if I was 'new' earlier today, presumably I'd been revoked at some previous point without anyone bothering to tell me?

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My theory for the "New" cycling (I didn't even get a notification that I upgraded to "Community member") is that when Upwork launched the new titles, there were not any 1:1 transitions put in place, so everyone started at "New community member", then those that qualified for higher level titles immediately progressed in series.

As for the criteria for becoming just "Community member", I think that it is based on two triggers (either one can initiate the elevation):

1. Be in the community an unknown X number of days.
2. Post an unknown X number of discussions/replies.

I say that B is a trigger because I have seen some very new people get elevated to "Community Member", where the only difference between them and other users of the same age (and even older age) is their activity level.

[kfarnell]

That makes sense from a tech point of view. The rationale behind it is something else.

Without the 1:1 transition, this has effectively wiped posters' history. Why? Not only can I find no announcement, today the search bar isn't working on the forum so I can't even look further to see if an explanation is hidden in the forum rules.

It would be nice to know what's going on. Although it may not seem much of a big deal in the scheme of things, other things could have changed at the same time that we're equally unaware of. Things that could make a difference in some way.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Kim, 

The ranks you're referring to, i.e. Community Guru, were removed last year. Here is the announcement about that and here is a thread where Stan provided more information. We have been revamping the ranks and badging programs not only to give recognition to experienced contributors but also to encourage participation, engagement with various aspects of Community including the Academy courses. 

The ranking update you've received a notification about yesterday was due to us making some changes on the backend. Specifically, we're working on ways to better filter and prevent spam in private messages. Unfortunately, that triggered notifications about rank changes, for which we apologize. Please, disregard those notifications; all ranks currently are the same as they were before this change. 

[kfarnell]

Thank you.

I still can't find an easy to read breakdown explanation of what the different ranks are supposed to mean, but that might not actually exist. To make sure I'm perfectly clear: the revamping now downplays long-term engagement so posters are either 'new members' or 'community members' if they've engaged with the forum at some point? And the new 'read only access' category is a punitive category, so if someone transgresses rules, they can read but aren't allowed to post again and they're publically called out for this? 

The actual titles aren't so important. Obviously, you need to differentiate between official spokespeople and plebs, but rather than highlight positive engagement you've chosen to make the negative stand out? Am baffled as to why you can't have both ends if people have to be graded at all. 

Never mind, your playground.

[kochubei_valeria]

Kim, 

I'd like to reiterate that public ranks currently are exactly what they were back when the removal of old ranks was announced here and you and other members had a conversation about it with Stan here.

• All members have a public rank "Community Member"
• Upwork team members are differentiated by ranks "Moderator," "Community Manager" or "Staff" and have an Upwork logo next to their name.

The other ranks and notifications you're referring to that were briefly showing on January 3rd were due to our testing certain changes on the backend. Specifically, we're working on ways to better filter and prevent spam in private messages and I've shared a bit more about it here. Please, disregard those notifications and ranks; again, the rank for all members currently is the same as it was before January 3rd. 

All of that said, I  do agree with you that we need to better reward and differentiate members who have been positively contributing to the Community and helping others a lot and over long period of time. We launched badges last year for that reason and are planning to bring the ranking program back but with some improvements. 

[25005175]

Wow that Stan thread was insightful!

[researchediting]

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Valeria K wrote:

All of that said, I  do agree with you that we need to better reward and differentiate members who have been positively contributing to the Community and helping others a lot and over long period of time. We launched badges last year for that reason and are planning to bring the ranking program back but with some improvements. 

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It's been said before, but apparently bears repeating. The badge program as currently constituted has demonstrably had the exact opposite effect from the one claimed to be intended for it.