Some of you may have noticed that the Forum has ‘trust levels’ and may have wondered what this is all about. Trust levels are part of Discourse (the platform that we use for this Forum) and they are a fundamental part of building a strong, healthy community. It allows us to protect our Forum from spam and from new users who are still learning the ropes. Not to mention, it also allows us to grant more rights to experienced users who in turn will help maintain and moderate the community.
About Each of the Trust Levels
Below you can read about each of the trust levels starting from zero, which all new users must start at. There are requirements of activity to reach each new trust level and achieving a higher level means you can do more within the Forum.
Trust Level 0 — New
By default, all new users start out at trust level 0, meaning trust has yet to be earned. These are visitors who just created an account, and are still learning the community norms and the way your community works. New users’ abilities are restricted for safety – both theirs and yours.
Users at trust level 0 cannot …
- Send personal messages to other users
- “Reply as new topic” via Link button (UI removed)
- Flag posts
- Post more than 1 image
- Post any attachments
- Post more than 2 hyperlinks in a post
- Have actual links in the ‘about me’ field of their profile (will be silently and temporarily converted to plain text)
- Mention more than 2 users in a post
- Post more than 3 topics
- Post more than 10 replies
Trust Level 1 — Basic
Get to trust level 1 by…
- entering at least 5 topics
- reading at least 30 posts
- spend a total of 10 minutes reading posts
Trust Level 2 — Member
Get to trust level 2 by…
- visiting at least 15 days, not sequentially
- casting at least 1 like
- receiving at least 1 like
- replying to at least 3 different topics
- entering at least 20 topics
- reading at least 100 posts
- spend a total of 60 minutes reading posts
Trust Level 3 — Regular
To get to trust level 3, in the last 100 days…
- must have visited at least 50% of days
- must have replied to at least 10 different topics
- of topics created in the last 100 days, must have viewed 25% (capped at 500)
- of posts created in the last 100 days, must have read 25% (capped at 20k)
- must have received 20 likes, and given 30 likes.
- must not have received more than 5 spam or offensive flags (with unique posts and unique users for each, confirmed by a moderator)
- must not have been suspended
- These likes must be across a minimum number of different users (1/5 the number), across a minimum number of different days (1/4 the number). Likes cannot be from PMs.
All of the above criteria must be true to achieve trust level 3. Furthermore, unlike other trust levels, you can lose trust level 3 status . If you dip below these requirements in the last 100 days, you will be demoted back to Member. However, in order to avoid constant promotion/demotion situations, there is a 2-week grace period immediately after gaining Trust Level 3 during which you will not be demoted.
More information can be found here:
The Lounge in the Cardano Forum
Achieving Trust Level 3 in our Forum has greater meaning because we have created an exclusive Lounge for these members. The Lounge is a secure and private place for the most engaged and active Cardano community members of the Forum to hang out and chat. Only those who achieve Trust Level 3 will gain access. Access will be automatic based on the requirements listed above. But note, that because trust levels can be lost, you’ll need to keep joining us on the Forum. 
We look forward to seeing our Cardano community grow on the Forum!
this made me lol! 
