Why are some IDs in bold?

[fern*wood]

I'm aware that mentors are distinguished by having their IDs appear in bold, but what makes others qualify to be in bold?   Certain posting levels?

[eleanor*rigby]

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@*coins wrote:
My question is though - why not just give anyone who hits one of the really high ranks mentor status automatically anyways? Most people don't get 30,000 posts or whatever it is super easily. Just wondering since I would think anyone who posts that much would be a good person to become a mantor.

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Some people are posting comments on the discussion boards from the time they get up in the morning to the time they go to bed at night. That doesn't mean they qualify as a mentor--just that they need to create fuller lives for themselves! Find a hobby, join a club, do volunteer work, whatever! LOL!

[wpt05]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@*coins wrote: ... why not just give anyone who hits one of the really high ranks mentor status automatically anyways? Most people don't get 30,000 posts or whatever it is super easily. Just wondering since I would think anyone who posts that much would be a good person to become a mantor. Maybe there's a reason not. I am just curious....

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As noted, quantity doesn't equal quality.  Some of the Groups have huge numbers of posts that are just chitchat and not substantive, no indication of the member's helpfulness on the boards.

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If you divide total posts by total solutions you may get an indication of how helpful the poster actually is.  Like a stock price to earnings ratio (p/e), the lower the better.  A low number would indicate a very helpful poster in my opinion.  This is by no means is a perfect equation, but it is a good indicator.  

However, some people participate in both activities so this number will be skewed in this case.  For example: I started posting mainly to help people with answers to the questions, but I do occasionally post on the game boards too.  So dividing my total posts by solutions may be a higher number than it used to be.  

I have seen one poster with the rank of Rockstar that had minimal activity in the community.  This would indicate there may be a way to manipulate the equation they are using to assign these ranks.  

[lacemaker3 · Accepted solution]

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@fern*wood wrote:

I'm aware that mentors are distinguished by having their IDs appear in bold, but what makes others qualify to be in bold?   Certain posting levels?

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Yes, community mentors have bold IDs, and so do eBay employees (blues), and the members with the highest ranks in the community (above Rockstar). So most members with bold IDs are mentors, but not all.

Community Mentors are always at least Rockstar rank, but not all Rockstars are mentors. If a member is chosen to be a Mentor, who does not have Rockstar rank yet, then they receive the Rockstar rank when they are made a Mentor.

Originally (around 5 years ago when the Mentor program started) the Mentors were chosen from among the members who had shown some level of activity in the community, and some measure of helpfulness, and had not demonstrated undesirable behavior. The criteria were never published or confirmed. This was before the rank system was started. Some members had multiple accounts that were created Mentors, but now only one account per person can be a Mentor.

Some of the chosen Mentors remained active, some didn't, and some were active on the boards where they had originally been posting, but didn't participate on the new Member to Member board (where only Mentors can post).

When the rank system was started, all the Mentors were automatically at least Rockstar status. Probably most of them met the (unpublished) requirements to be Rockstar, but some members who applied to the Mentor program after it was started were awarded Rockstar status when they became Mentors. Some of these are members who chose to join the Mentor program with different IDs than they had been using before they joined it.

There are 3 ranks that are higher than Rockstar: Legend, Visionary and Superstar. These are all bolded too, whether the member is a Mentor or not. "Visionary" was the first of these ranks, and can only be earned by Mentors (according to Alan) but Superstars are not necessarily Mentors. The Legend rank was added at the same time as Superstar, but so far, there don't appear to be any members with Legend rank. I think they wanted to have something that the higher ranks could strive for.

I was in the Mentor program when it started, and for a number of years after. I figured out what the bolding meant, and followed the creation of the new ranks as they were made. I asked for and got confirmation from Alan for the information about the ranks higher than Rockstar, which I posted above.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Community-Ranks-amp-Badges/td-p/26252971

What are the ranks?

• Legend
• Visionary
• Superstar
• Rockstar
• Guide
• Trailblazer
• Thrill-Seeker
• Scout
• Adventurer
• Rising Star
• Pathfinder
• Explorer
• Enthusiast

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[*coins]

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@wpt05 wrote:I have seen one poster with the rank of Rockstar that had minimal activity in the community.  This would indicate there may be a way to manipulate the equation they are using to assign these ranks.  

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I think that the badges help ranks go up, and the longer you have been a member and more badges you have for that, the higher rank you get...I know that sounds pretty silly, but it seems to be true. Just what I think based off what I have seen. That may explain why a user with few posts has a higher rank.

[doug@ebay]

Hi everyone, hopping in here.

@lacemaker3 did an excellent job filling in the details and has been around longer than I have! 

@fern*wood I would recommend that you accept @lacemaker3's post as a Solution if you think it's answered your question.

Rockstar, Superstar, Visionary, Legend, are all bold.

Just to add to the conversation, badging and acknowledgement have been a part of online communities since day one. Sometimes these concepts are called "gamification." Some are very subtle, some are not, but the concepts are vital to an online community. Online communities were the precursors to social media, and you'll find a lot of the concepts basic to online communities have been carried over to social media, including incentives, acknowledgement and even some badging. In fact, Facebook groups have moved more towards an online community look and feel over the last year.

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

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@fern*wood wrote:

I'm aware that mentors are distinguished by having their IDs appear in bold, but what makes others qualify to be in bold?   Certain posting levels?

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Yes, community mentors have bold IDs, and so do eBay employees (blues), and the members with the highest ranks in the community (above Rockstar). So most members with bold IDs are mentors, but not all.

Community Mentors are always at least Rockstar rank, but not all Rockstars are mentors. If a member is chosen to be a Mentor, who does not have Rockstar rank yet, then they receive the Rockstar rank when they are made a Mentor.

Originally (around 5 years ago when the Mentor program started) the Mentors were chosen from among the members who had shown some level of activity in the community, and some measure of helpfulness, and had not demonstrated undesirable behavior. The criteria were never published or confirmed. This was before the rank system was started. Some members had multiple accounts that were created Mentors, but now only one account per person can be a Mentor.

Some of the chosen Mentors remained active, some didn't, and some were active on the boards where they had originally been posting, but didn't participate on the new Member to Member board (where only Mentors can post).

When the rank system was started, all the Mentors were automatically at least Rockstar status. Probably most of them met the (unpublished) requirements to be Rockstar, but some members who applied to the Mentor program after it was started were awarded Rockstar status when they became Mentors. Some of these are members who chose to join the Mentor program with different IDs than they had been using before they joined it.

There are 3 ranks that are higher than Rockstar: Legend, Visionary and Superstar. These are all bolded too, whether the member is a Mentor or not. "Visionary" was the first of these ranks, and can only be earned by Mentors (according to Alan) but Superstars are not necessarily Mentors. The Legend rank was added at the same time as Superstar, but so far, there don't appear to be any members with Legend rank. I think they wanted to have something that the higher ranks could strive for.

I was in the Mentor program when it started, and for a number of years after. I figured out what the bolding meant, and followed the creation of the new ranks as they were made. I asked for and got confirmation from Alan for the information about the ranks higher than Rockstar, which I posted above.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Community-Ranks-amp-Badges/td-p/26252971

What are the ranks?

• Legend
• Visionary
• Superstar
• Rockstar
• Guide
• Trailblazer
• Thrill-Seeker
• Scout
• Adventurer
• Rising Star
• Pathfinder
• Explorer
• Enthusiast

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[doug@ebay]

Hi @*coins,

There's more to being a Community Mentor than high Community activity and longevity. Here's more info on the mentor program: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Community-Mentors/ct-p/Mentors.

Some Community members aren't interested in being Mentors for one reason or another.

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@*coins wrote:

My question is though - why not just give anyone who hits one of the really high ranks mentor status automatically anyways? Most people don't get 30,000 posts or whatever it is super easily. Just wondering since I would think anyone who posts that much would be a good person to become a mantor. Maybe there's a reason not. I am just curious. 🙂
Good luck!

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[lacemaker3]

doug@ebay wrote:

...

Rockstar, Superstar, Visionary, Legend, are all bold.

...

Thanks, doug@ebay, but I think there's a couple of little corrections needed.

Rockstar's aren't bold unless they are Mentors.

And you and the other eBay employees are also bold.

[doug@ebay]

Thanks for the clarification @lacemaker3!

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

doug@ebay wrote:

...

Rockstar, Superstar, Visionary, Legend, are all bold.

...

Thanks, doug@ebay, but I think there's a couple of little corrections needed.

Rockstar's aren't bold unless they are Mentors.

And you and the other eBay employees are also bold.

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