Member Status/Karma Rating System

[Reeves]

This is mainly for the new members. It is meant to explain some on the member status you see under each members name.
You will see : New member, Expert Contributor/Expert Member, Expert Member, Administrator/Expert Member, Senior Member and maybe more.

All this indicates is how many posts a person has. (except Administrator...he owns the site  ).

I'll let Larry explain it further. As well as how the karma works.

Long and short of it is, when you see these status ranks, you'll also have to take into account the quality of the members posts.

[RedOakGamebirds]

Karma is basically a way to let a member anonymously know his or her post was helpful.  In this forum we use applaud and smite.  If a member's post was helpful to you then you should applaud them.  This will give them one point in their karma letting them know their post was helpful to you.  If you feel the post was not helpful then you should either leave it alone if the topic doesnt really apply to you or smite them if it does.  What this does is remove one point in their karma system.  This is not a method of determining a members ACTUAL knowledge or experience in this forum but basically a small "appreciation" of what they have done.  Also in order to be able to send karma a member must have atleast 75 posts under his/her belt before it is activated.



Member status works similarly but on a little different key.  Your status is determined by the amount of topics you start or reply to.  This can be a topic asking about gamebirds or simply just chatting with another member.  There are 7 member status ranks a user can achieve in this forum. 

Starting Members (new users)
New Members (between 5-14 posts)
Junior Members (between 15-24 posts)
Regular Members (between 25-49 posts)
Senior Members (between 50-149 posts)
Expert Members (150 posts or more)

Expert Contributor Member is our 7th rank achievable by a member.  There isn't a set amount of topics or posts you must have to achieve this rank.  It is determined by several factors including experience and their overall contribution to this site as a whole.  This rank was created a few years ago and can be seen by six stars in a members name along with their status.  Their username is also shown in the color blue.  This rank is obtainable by special invitation only.  To date only six members have this rank.