Custom Ranks?

[Skyblade]

In some forums, members can replace the default rank with a custom one. This is done in Fiver's Honeycomb, for example, and Mafiscum.net (granted, in this site, the title is earned. But the concept is there).

From my perspective, default ranks are a little boring. Making one's own fosters originality and creativity, and adds fun and flavor to the site.

Considering that we've done things like a Personal Note, Country, Quote, Thanking Posts... I don't see why we can't consider this.

The only problem I can think of is people creating inappropriate titles, but I don't think that'd be an issue on our forum, where members generally follow the rules.

Thoughts?

[Rosie Willowwater]

That sound like a great idea Skye!

[Groddil]

If Simple Machines functions similarly to Brockhall, then it either might not be possible at all, or you might need an administrator to do it for you. I know that over there, custom titles are possible, but only Staff can actually implement them. For an example, take a look at either my or James's profile over there, and you'll see that we have another title underneath our names. Custom ranks, on the other hand, do not, unless the user is added to a whole new usergroup. In Brockhall, for instance, the member ranks are hard-coded to appear as the ones set based on post ranks, unless that person is a staff member, or the season namer. These members are in custom groups which changes their rank.

If Loamhedge functions similarly, it might not be possible due to the effort James would have to go to, to create a whole new usergroup for every member who wants a custom rank. Unless you can have custom titles as well as ranks, ala Brockhall.



To show you what I mean, here's a post from Brockhall.



"Administrator" replaces the post rank due to me being in a different usergroup.
"Sheriff of Modingham" is the custom title, which staff members can add to anyone's profile. I know of a few different forums, not just ones that run on the same format as Brockhall, that can do this. But I don't know about Simple Machines.

If it were possible, adding a custom title rather than making a new membergroup would probably be the best solution. But unless Simple Machines can allocate the privilege of custom titles to members rather than just staff members, you'd need to have a moderator do it for you.

[James Gryphon]

Custom titles aren't an uncommon feature for more advanced boards, like phpBB, Invision, and SMF. It's actually available here, just disabled, like some other features I/we decided against or didn't feel were necessary starting out. I could turn it on right now if I wanted to, by clicking a checkbox.

That said, I don't know that I like this idea. I think there's a sufficient amount of room to express yourself as it stands, with both the personal text and more recent addition of the status, and it seems like having yet another customizable line would clutter up the profile area a bit.

I'm willing to mention this idea to Matthias if a lot of you want it, but I prefer things how they are, and think any changes to the ranks should entail just adding more of them.

[Groddil]

^ Do custom titles replace the post ranks on SMF, rather than create a new line?

[James Gryphon]

That was my belief when I made the above post. I've tested it now, though, and it looks as though it does add another line (up above where "Administrator" is at present, in my profile).

That said, that makes the profile area more cluttered.

[Skyblade]

I doubted this would be well received, but that didn't stop me from trying

Preview-Edit:
Alright, if ranks create another line, sign me out. It'd be too cluttered (in fact, it already is more lines than to my liking, if one includes everything (gender, status, and country)).

[Chipster of Noonvale]

...

[Skyblade]

The stars go with the rank, like the paws on Fiver's Honeycomb

[Chipster of Noonvale]

...

[James Gryphon]

We could conceivably get rid of something like the post count-based usergroups to declutter it, but that takes us back to my original point of contention with the idea, that it destroys a lot of the flavor and atmosphere.

As far as why less stars, it's because staff groups and Season Namers automatically have five stars.

[Skyblade]

Staff members and the Season Namer automatically have five stars.

Preview-Edit: Dang it, I was late

It's fine. I suggested the idea if it would be a quick fix, but otherwise, there are probably other site things more worthy of attention

[Ashleg]

If Simple Machines functions similarly to Brockhall, then it either might not be possible at all, or you might need an administrator to do it for you. I know that over there, custom titles are possible, but only Staff can actually implement them. For an example, take a look at either my or James's profile over there, and you'll see that we have another title underneath our names. Custom ranks, on the other hand, do not, unless the user is added to a whole new usergroup. In Brockhall, for instance, the member ranks are hard-coded to appear as the ones set based on post ranks, unless that person is a staff member, or the season namer. These members are in custom groups which changes their rank.

If Loamhedge functions similarly, it might not be possible due to the effort James would have to go to, to create a whole new usergroup for every member who wants a custom rank. Unless you can have custom titles as well as ranks, ala Brockhall.



To show you what I mean, here's a post from Brockhall.



"Administrator" replaces the post rank due to me being in a different usergroup.
"Sheriff of Modingham" is the custom title, which staff members can add to anyone's profile. I know of a few different forums, not just ones that run on the same format as Brockhall, that can do this. But I don't know about Simple Machines.

If it were possible, adding a custom title rather than making a new membergroup would probably be the best solution. But unless Simple Machines can allocate the privilege of custom titles to members rather than just staff members, you'd need to have a moderator do it for you.

You have your own forum?

[Groddil]

If Simple Machines functions similarly to Brockhall, then it either might not be possible at all, or you might need an administrator to do it for you. I know that over there, custom titles are possible, but only Staff can actually implement them. For an example, take a look at either my or James's profile over there, and you'll see that we have another title underneath our names. Custom ranks, on the other hand, do not, unless the user is added to a whole new usergroup. In Brockhall, for instance, the member ranks are hard-coded to appear as the ones set based on post ranks, unless that person is a staff member, or the season namer. These members are in custom groups which changes their rank.

If Loamhedge functions similarly, it might not be possible due to the effort James would have to go to, to create a whole new usergroup for every member who wants a custom rank. Unless you can have custom titles as well as ranks, ala Brockhall.



To show you what I mean, here's a post from Brockhall.



"Administrator" replaces the post rank due to me being in a different usergroup.
"Sheriff of Modingham" is the custom title, which staff members can add to anyone's profile. I know of a few different forums, not just ones that run on the same format as Brockhall, that can do this. But I don't know about Simple Machines.

If it were possible, adding a custom title rather than making a new membergroup would probably be the best solution. But unless Simple Machines can allocate the privilege of custom titles to members rather than just staff members, you'd need to have a moderator do it for you.

You have your own forum?

I have the back-up forum. It's in my signature. :p

[Ashleg]

The back-up forum has a back-up forum?
What did I just say? XD