Welcome and FAQs

[JHutch]

It is time to get the recognition you have earned!

Since the launch of these forums, we have had a very basic set of ranks in place.  People saw rank titles below their names such as Newbie, Visitor, and Contributor.  While functional, there is nothing very fun or exciting about such bland names.  There also wasn't very many titles, so people probably never even realized much of a difference.  They definitely didn't change often for people.

So, which no further ado, we are rolling out a brand new list of ranking titles.  We aren't going to provide a listing of the titles (I personally think it will be fun to see what comes next for folks!) and we're not even going to tell you what criteria are required for each level.

I will say that there are different ways to obtain the ranks.  Our ranking formulas look at 

• # of Posts
• # of Kudos Received
• How many posts you've read
• How many minutes you've been "online" in our forums
• # of Accept Solutions you've authored
• # of times you've logged in

Now, while some of them seem easy (how many minutes you've been "online" in our forums), those may be the harder criteria to meet for many people because it takes a LOT of minutes to qualify for the higher levels.  In fact, we broke down our top forum members in each category and adjusted the ranking so that even the most prolific will take over a year to attain the highest rank.

We've also tried to keep a sense of humor in the rank names.  They are all automation related (and I'll be the first to admit, some are pretty corny).

To whet appetites, here are the first 3 ranks in the new system.  You'll have to poke around to find out more ranks as peope obtain them:

• Automation Enthusiast
• DF1 Deviant
• Legacy Legionnaire

JHutch

PS No one's stats have been reset for this roll out, so some people will start out with slightly higher ranks right from the get go.  But don't worry, we have a LOT of ranks that no one is close to qualifying for yet.

[Ken_Roach]

Josh,

Frankly, I liked the boring ones.

I realize the titles are supposed to be fun or amusing, but they seem to me a little off-putting and maybe more confusing to our members who don't have a lot of experience with Rockwell Automation terminology or even with English.  

"Why is the forum calling me a deviant ?  What is a DFI ?" 

If I had a vote, I'd stick with "Newbie", "Contributor", etc.

Just my two cents.  Keep up the good work in making the Forum increasingly popular and useful. 

[JHutch]

Well, personally, I voted for "DF1 Debutante" ...

Anyways, thanks for the feedback.  So far, most of the private feedback has been very positive, but if anyone has a problem with any of the ranks, let me know.  (I always thought Deviant matched better with DeviceNet, for instance.) 

JHutch

[JHutch]

Ok, found one spelling mistake (Diety should be Deity).  Fixed.

Changed DF1 Deviant -> DF1 Devotee.

JHutch