Points, badges and ranks
How members earn points, which rights the points open, the starter badges, your own badges, ranks and the leaderboard.
Points
Members earn points (also called karma) when others find their posts useful:
| What happens | Points (you can change them) |
|---|---|
| Confirming their email (once) | +5 |
| Their question gets an up vote | +5 |
| Their answer gets an up vote | +10 |
| Their answer is accepted | +15 |
| They accept an answer to their question | +2 |
| A down vote on their question or answer | -2 |
| A post of theirs is marked as spam | -100 |
A vote or an acceptance that is taken back takes its points back too. Change the numbers in Settings > Points & rights. Your team can also give or take points by hand on a member's page, with a reason the member sees.
Rights that open with points
New members can ask and answer straight away. As they earn points they can vote up (5), flag posts (10), make new tags (30), post links and pictures without approval (30), vote down (50), change tags (75), close their own questions (100), edit anyone's posts (300), accept answers for others and close any question (500), and moderate on the site (1,000).
All the numbers are in Settings > Points & rights. A forum can have its own numbers (Forums > Edit > Own points rules). People of your business with a Forum Admin or Moderator role always have every right.
Badges
Badges are given by themselves - gold, silver and bronze. The starter set includes Nice, Good and Great Question and Answer (4, 6 and 15 votes), Popular, Notable and Famous Question (150, 250 and 500 views), Enlightened and Guru (an accepted answer with 3 or 15 votes), Teacher, Student, Scholar, Supporter, Critic, Editor, Commentator, Autobiographer, and more. Turn any badge off on Badges & points.
From Professional you can make your own badges with your own rules, and give badges by hand - for example a Thank You badge for a great guide.
Ranks and the leaderboard
Ranks follow points: Newcomer, Member, Regular, Helper, Expert, Guru - rename them or change the points in Settings > Points & rights. The Leaderboard shows who earned most this week, this month and of all time (your team and banned members are left out). Turn the public members list and leaderboard off in Settings > Forum site.