- EastBeast
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- Exalted Legendary Member
I think the only system that could feasibly work on such a large scale would have to be invisible, at least for the start. For instance, if the mods had a system where they could click next to a post to add a point to someone's profile. That user would have no way of knowing that he had just been recognized (at least for the first few months). When you reach, say, 30 points, your status increases, which opens access to all the stuff mentioned on here already.
I don't think that the issue of "just" distribution of privledges would be a problem because a) it would be invisible (for the initializing of the system) and b) the members who I would consider worthy (like VII Toast) are so active that the mods would be blind not to see his name covering the "last post" column. It is true that some really helpful posts would be missed. (Often, I am the only reply to someone asking a very specific question. Then, my link to a HBO post long ago is very helpful, but very likely to dissapear off the mod's motion tracker very quickly because of the one reply)
Hopefully, the active members would be obvious to the mods.
Of note is the reliability of post frequency as an indicator of helpfulness and activity. If data was collected for that, it may be shown to be very reliable. Most people who come here occasionally or spam the forums aren't active for long, so post frequency over the active lifetime of a user could be very accurate. However, without testing, the tru7h is shrouded.
Then again, that system would likely require a lot of the Overlord's time, which is clearly better spent on other things (like a search function). Therefore, think the best system would be one where only people who have been members for over 6 months are able to be considered and mods have the ability to "nominate" them. When, say, half the mods have noted a user as worthy, the new rank is gained. That way, only a small amount of extra work is delegated to the mods.
Or, perhaps we are underestimating the mods? Maybe, off the top of the heads, they could each easily name a few users who they would deem worthy. If they can do that for at least the initial group, a tier system could be formed with feedback controls for the promoted ones.
This issue is too complicated and I'm not getting paid to think about it. Time to do some homework!
-EastBeast314