Welcome: Understanding Trust Levels on the Cardano Forum

da3aeb4dfa5d146027bc127f7f740d85d0cc6f8b

Hello Cardano Community,

As many of you may be aware, the Cardano Forum utilizes a system of Trust Levels to reflect the engagement and activity of its members. As you progress through higher Trust Levels, you unlock additional features, including the ability to move and edit posts, even without being a moderator.

Due to recent inquiries, we would like to provide a brief overview of the “How to Contribute” category within the forum and discuss how we can further expand upon it.

Upon reaching Trust Level 2, members gain access to the hidden Contribute Section.

Becoming an active and valuable contributor in our community not only benefits the community as a whole but also provides you with the opportunity to unlock your potential and be recognized for your efforts. As you engage, learn, and share within the forum, you’ll naturally progress through the Trust Levels. Each level you reach offers unique benefits and responsibilities that empower you to make a more significant impact on our growing community.

By consistently contributing, you’ll:

  • Gain access to exclusive features: As your Trust Level increases, you’ll unlock new abilities, allowing you to engage more effectively with other members and help shape the community’s direction.
  • Build your reputation: Your active participation will showcase your knowledge and commitment, allowing you to become a respected and influential member of the community.
  • Develop valuable connections: As you interact with fellow members, you’ll form meaningful connections and friendships, expanding your personal and professional network.
  • Enhance your learning experience: By sharing your insights and seeking answers, you’ll deepen your understanding of the subject matter and discover new perspectives.
  • Make a lasting impact: Your contributions will help create a more inclusive, informative, and supportive community for everyone involved, leaving a lasting impression and legacy.

The journey to higher Trust Levels begins with your first post or reply. Start your path today and unlock your potential as an esteemed member of our community. Your knowledge, expertise, and passion will not only enrich our forum but also inspire others to do the same. Together, let’s build a vibrant and thriving community for all!

Trust Level 0 – Newcomer

Initially, all users begin at Trust Level 0, signifying that trust has yet to be established. These users have recently created an account and are still familiarizing themselves with the community guidelines and forum functionality. To ensure safety and a positive experience, newcomers have limited abilities.

Users at Trust Level 0 are unable to:

  • Send private messages to other users
  • Use the “Reply as new topic” via the Link button (UI removed)
  • Flag posts
  • Upload more than one image
  • Attach files to posts
  • Include more than two hyperlinks in a post
  • Insert active links in the ‘about me’ section of their profile (links will be temporarily converted to plain text)
  • Mention more than two users in a post
  • Create more than three topics
  • Post over 10 replies
  • Edit their own posts after a 24-hour period

Trust Level 1 – Basic Member

At the Cardano Community, we believe that reading is fundamental to fostering a healthy community. When new users dedicate some time to read through the forum, they are promptly promoted to Trust Level 1.

To achieve Trust Level 1, users must:

  • Enter at least 5 topics
  • Read a minimum of 30 posts
  • Spend a total of 10 minutes reading posts

Upon reaching Trust Level 1, users can:

  • Access all core Discourse functions, with all new user restrictions lifted
  • Upload images and attachments (if enabled)
  • Edit wiki posts
  • Flag posts
  • Mute other users

Trust Level 2 – Active Member

Active Members regularly return to our community over several weeks, engaging not only in reading but also in consistent and meaningful participation. These users have demonstrated their commitment and are trusted with full citizenship.

To achieve Trust Level 2, users must:

  • Visit the forum on at least 15 separate days
  • Give at least 1 like
  • Receive at least 1 like
  • Reply to a minimum of 3 different topics
  • Enter at least 20 topics
  • Read at least 100 posts
  • Spend a total of 60 minutes reading posts

Upon reaching Trust Level 2, users can:

  • Trust level 2 unlocks the “Contribute”- category (this link will obviously only work if you have Trust Level 2). Learn how you can shape the Cardano Forum and the Cardano Community in the areas:

    • Moderators (including adding new categories and sections),
    • Translators (including adding new languages),
    • Content Creators
    • Meetup Organisers.
  • Use the “Invite others to this topic” button to easily onboard new users to participate in topics

  • Invite external users to private messages, creating a group conversation

  • Benefit from a 1.5× increase in daily like, edit, and flag limits

  • Ignore other users

  • Send private messages

  • Edit their own posts for up to 30 days after posting

Trust Level 3 – Regular Contributor

Regular Contributors form the backbone of our community, consistently engaging as active readers and reliable participants over several months or even years. Due to their constant presence, they can be entrusted with additional responsibilities to help maintain and organize the community.

To achieve Trust Level 3, within the past 100 days, users must:

  • Visit the forum on at least 50% of days
  • Reply to a minimum of 10 different non-PM topics
  • View 25% of topics created in the last 100 days (capped at 500)
  • Read 25% of posts created in the last 100 days (capped at 20k)
  • Receive 20 likes and give 30 likes* (across a minimum number of different users and days; likes cannot be from PMs)
  • Not receive more than 5 spam or offensive flags (confirmed by a moderator) from unique posts and users
  • Not be suspended or silenced in the last 6 months

*These likes must be from at least 1/5 the number of different users and across at least 1/4 the number of different days.

All the above criteria must be met to attain Trust Level 3. Note that unlike other trust levels, Trust Level 3 status can be lost. If users fail to meet these requirements within the past 100 days, they will be demoted to Member status. To prevent frequent promotion/demotion situations, a 2-week grace period is granted after gaining Trust Level 3, during which users will not be demoted.

Upon reaching Trust Level 3, users can:

  • Recategorize and rename topics
  • Access a secure category visible only to Trust Level 3 and higher users
  • Have all their links followed (automatic nofollow is removed)
  • Immediately hide posts by TL0 users when flagged as spam
  • Auto-silence TL0 users and hide all their posts if flagged by diverse TL3 users
  • Make their own posts wiki (editable by any TL1+ users)
  • Benefit from a 2× increase in daily like, edit, and flag limits

Future changes or adjustments to the Trust Level will be updated in this forum thread.

5 Likes

Happy welcome @ArnarThorarinsson

1 Like

Not sure about this? - I have made hundreds of posts over the years including new topics, replies to topics, like, read hundreds more topics and interacted for years with so many people but yet I am a basic member - :person_shrugging:

You are trust level 2 – (active) member.

The trust levels are shown as badges, so there is a basic badge in your collection, but also a meber badge.

2 Likes

Ah - sorry - I just saw the Basic one before and didn’t realise that Member meant level 2 - thanks for getting back :smiley:

2 Likes

Thank you for helping us understand how to gain trust, I love that!

2 Likes

Precisely! The badge just says “member”:

… and by the way there are many other badges to collect on https://forum.cardano.org/badges, including “Devotee”, one of the rarest badges that usually requires a bit of suffering as can be read here: Race to claim the rarest badge on the forum!

Welcome @NFTNURSE

1 Like

Thank you! I’m happy to be here.

Hello, my name is Yona. I’ve been aware of Cardano for several years, but this is the first time I’ve taken a deep interest in it. I happened to enter the community forum and was surprised by its vibrant activity.

However, I felt that the readability of the current forum page is quite low. I think it needs management. Here are the problems I perceive:

  • It tries to support too many languages. I wish it was unified into one language, ‘English’. Trying to cater to various languages makes it difficult to focus the community members. These days, the language barrier has significantly lowered due to Chrome or Google Translator, so one language should be sufficient. Moreover, the use of translation itself can be seen as the least effort for true Cardano.

  • Apart from ‘Staking & Delegation’, ‘Developers’, ‘Governance’, and ‘News & Announcements’, everything else is in different languages. I think this is very unnecessary.

1 Like

Hello and welcome @i_am_yona22, the idea is to hide languages/categories you don’t want to see. I explained that here:

With this trick, people can build the forums the way they want.

1 Like

Cardano will go to the moon. I love it

I appreciate you providing this thorough rundown of the Cardano Forum’s Trust Levels. It’s excellent to see the advantages and advancements connected with each level explained in detail.