How the new system actually works

[eastwood]

Now that the kinks have been worked out and I was able to devise a better plan for giving everyone appropriate permissions, etc, I can explain the way this thing works!

First off, unlike many other such boards, this board is not one where post counts raise your status... (which is one reason that everyone's post count is now accurate.)
Frankly, the ability to press "reply" a lot doesn't necessarily equate to a quality addition to the family - nor are the once-a-month posters less valuable or worthy simply because they are quieter!
This is actually more of a meritocracy, where your mature behavior and upright attitude will quickly earn you both respect and increased abilities and functions across the board.

It starts like this:

When a person first registers, he or she is immediately able to view and post across the standard board in most of the various rooms. This is an upgrade over the unregistered guest, who is only able to post in the Guest Lounge. (One room that remains closed to posting is the KJV Bible Study room, as that is an earned priviledge at the higher levels. It's because we regard the Bible as sacred, and intend for that room to be special. However, you can always comment on anything you read in there... just copy and paste it into a new topic on the Front Porch and discuss away!)

You'll notice that until you have made your fourth post, the phrase "Learning the ropes... " appears under your name. The reasons for this are esoteric at best, and have to do with the way this software works. Suffice it to say, after a few posts, the phrase permanently changes to "Registered". All-in-all, that's all meaningless, so just ignore it.

The important category that defines your specific permissions is your Member Group, ranked as follows:

• New User
• Junior Member
• WoP Regular!

As soon as a human has confirmed your registration, you'll be a New User, with only two levels above you. It's not that tough to rise, either... especially if you love the Word.

A fourth group exists that is virtually equivalent to WoP Regular!, which is Old Skooler. It's an honorary title for people who were with this board for years before our complete restructure in July 2005. Mostly a way to keep tabs on each other, for nostalgic people whose memories are fading fast!

That's all there is to it. A few quality posts, and someone will recommend that you be bumped up a level.

                               

Unfortunately, there are also trolls that come floating through an open forum, and ours has certainly not been the exception. When you serve God, satan gets very jealous and sends in some insurgents to crash the party. We've had some real classics over the years!

But as Christians, saved by Grace and not our own efforts (Thank God!), we try to be as patient, long-suffering and forgiving as we can - just like God has been to us. So we tend to give such people every last chance, hoping that they will change their tune and come to the Lord - on His Terms.

But some are just poops. The ones that get ugly have three strikes before they're out:

• Probation
• Double Secret Probation
• Temporary Ban

Each level takes away more priviledge until there's nothing left. It's gentle and allows plenty of time for remorse and repentance!

However, for the really nasty ones, we have all kinds of great security with this software - and I hope we'll never have to use it. I really hate nuclear fallout...

                               

If you have any questions, or think you are missing something, please ask me about it here in Issues and Answers. I am still tweaking, and surely something is still goofy out there.