Jeff anticipated this problem. Our work-around for now is to go through about once every week or ten days and update everybody, so... please stand by...

Hi Chris and Everyone,

Now that the DV-L seems to be down (over a month and a half . . . so much for new servers)
I would love it if this community would work the same way. All posts/replys are
sent via email. Yes, lots more stuff to go through, but much easierIMO to see everything
than clicking through web pages. I am interested in all subjects.

P.S. I assume you're working NAB again this year. . . Canopus or ?

Great idea to allow more choice. I prefer my web pages with
the "what's new" feature. Use it all the time. I get swamped
by e-mail everyday, so please, no more :) ..... but options are
always great to have.... now about the Email notification option
that is default enabled on every post..... Chris?

I appreciate the suggestions, but the advantage of a web-based message board over a mail list server is that everyone who can find the site can read the board. It's open to everybody. No need to subscribe to a mail list.

DV-L will return to action very soon (see Resources page at dvinfo.net for more info about what the DV-L is).

These message boards allow on-site archival for all discussion topics; we can always go back to an old topic and renew the discussion. For now, I recommend using the "e-mail notification" feature to stay on top of favorite discussions.

Additional input/debate/suggestions are always welcome of course.

Hi Chris,

I can't find any explanation for the titles given to some folks. For example, what distinguishes "Regular Crew" from "Contributor"? And is there a chain-of-command heirarchy? E.g., is there a Vice Kennelmaster to take over in the event of the death or incapacitation of the Kennelmaster? (Heaven forbid!)

Understandable bewilderment, Robert. The titles are based on the number of postings the member has made. The exceptions are the titles "Wrangler", which designates a moderator, and "Kennelmaster" which designates...Chris. No, there's no real hierarchy around here. Moderators can move threads, delete threads, etc. Chris has top control of the site. We're all volunteers and pitch-in as needed and as available. Chris has designed the warm-body support such that there's someone available nearly 24hrs a day.

But it can't be based entirely on numbers of postings. That's why I asked about the Contributor/Regular Crew distinction.

Yeah, 'tis. I don't have the exact title/count table at hand but I believe your next change will come when you pass 50 posts.

How come some members are marked Regular Crew, with a wide range of post numbers? For example, at the time of this post, Peter Koller has 57, EdwardTr has 43, and ronluc8667 has 27. They're all marked Regular Crew. This will be my 42nd and I'm a Contributor.

Also, some Tourists have fewer posts than some New Boots.

I'm guessing that it could be time-based as well as post-based, but I can't pull out a pattern.

I'm sure DVInfo.net title rankings are the product of a genius formula better guarded than Coca-Cola's.

Robert,

This is part of a post from Chris in Jan, hope it clears up your confusion.

For anyone who's interested, here's how your user titles break down. These appear on the boards when you post, just below your user name.

less than 5 posts: Tourist
less than 20 posts: New Boot
less than 50 posts: Regular Crew
less than 90 posts: Major Player
more than 90 posts: Trustee

User who has an article on the XL1 Watchdog or elsewhere on DVinfoNet: Contributor

User who chips in resources to insure success: Sponsor

User who happens to be Jeff Kramer, the community's server wizard: Warden (hope it's not too warm in the engine room, Jeff)

Sweet, thanks Adrian. (I completely forgot that Chris published an XL1 review of mine when the site was young. That was a whole girlfriend ago!)

How many earth time slots is a "girlfriend" ? :)

Howdy from Texas,

From personal experience, a "girlfriend" can be anything from a day or two, up to about six months. Before I got married, the longest I had been able to sustain one was about six months. I've heard that some can go on for years. I'll accept that as a valid measure of time.

There's no guarded formula about the rankings, but it is a mix between the number of posts and levels of contribution. This is still a very young board with a small population (yes, over 1,050 members is still considered small, but I like it that way). The counts required for a step up in ranking have changed up, and will probably change up again in the future as things get bigger and busier. Here 'tis:

a Tourist has made fewer than 5 posts -- this is somebody who might just be passing through, or wants to use the board to get a specific question answered. Obviously this is someone who's just recently joined; no way of knowing yet how long they'll stick around.

a New Boot has made more than 5 but fewer than 25 posts -- this is somebody who seems committed to using the board but is still fairly new. It's like a probationary status. They're here and are part of the team; let's see if they can stick it out.

a Regular Crew member has made more than 25 posts -- these folks are the backbone of the community, who have earned the right to full-fledged membership status by virtue of all the posts they've made. They have "arrived."

a Major Player has made more than 75 posts -- it seems like they swing through here quite a bit, and they're very vocal, we always hear from 'em. At the rate these folks go, they don't remain Major Players for long, as they're always moving up.

a Trustee member has made more than 150 posts -- someone who's obviously committed to making regular use of the boards, answering questions and helping out. If this person asked to borrow the Ford, I'd probably toss 'em the keys. They've been around often enough, I feel like I can trust 'em.

an Inner Circle member has made more than 250 posts -- beer drinking buddies for sure. But you don't see too many of them because I've invited most of 'em to serve in a different capacity, as forum moderators.

It's very important to note, however, that these rankings which are based on post counts really don't mean anything at all except to give you an indea of how often somebody is using the board. It certainly is *not* intended to be any measure of skill, expertise or knowledge. It's really just for fun, and that's all. There are no smiley's or emoticons or avatars, so to make up for that, we can have some minor fun with the titles.

a Contributor, as was pointed out earlier, has an article on the XL1 Watchdog or elsewhere on DVinfoNet -- I wanted to acknowledge these folks somehow... this title doesn't reflect any number of posts. Whenever I recognize somebody who has something on one of the sites, I just go in and give 'em this custom title.

a Sponsor, to repeat, chips in resources to insure success -- these are the vendors who have banner ads on the site. When they post on the boards, I want you to know that they've kicked in monetarily, which makes them truly wonderful people.

a Wrangler is a forum moderator -- they mostly come from the Inner Circle group, like Adrian and John, but sometimes they get suckered into the job because they know what they're talking about (Don Palomaki). There is one Uber-Wrangler who has more power than the rest, and that's Ken Tanaka. He and server-meister Jeff Kramer qualify as "vice-kennelmasters," I guess. What really worked out in this regard is that with Adrian and John in the Far East, Rob in Europe and Ken and others here stateside, there's somebody around pretty much all the time.

Finally, there's a smattering of custom titles here and there, but they're fairly rare. Consider it as kind of like an Easter Egg hunt. I'll start you off with an easy one: who is the Machinist Mate?

;-)

Hope this helps Robert, if you don't like your Contributor designation just let me know, since we know each other personally and have had breakfast together a few times at NAB then you qualify for a rare custom title. But it better be a good one!

I'm probably spoiling it for others... but I found these:

Kennelmaster - Chris Hurd
Machinist Mate - the graphics guy
Number 1000 - Adam Brooks
Warden - jeff

What have I won?

Ha! Even though, in Texas, they don't have much of what we in Washington refer to as trees, maybe Chris could scrape up enough to carve you a new pair of wooden shoes, and send it over filled with some real Tex-Mex! :)