Suitcases and Stars

Hi all,

Many of you are probably wondering about all of the suitcases and stars that are displayed along with members' names in forum postings.

So, using my own I will explain the whole thing to you.

First of all appears the member's user name:  wjwoodward (is mine)

Below that may appear a number of suitcases. These suitcases are an indication of the number of posts that member has made. Members who are part of the Expat-blog Team have blue suitcases, all other members have yellow suitcases. So, as you can see from my blue suitcases I'm part of the Team.

Next will appear the member's title: I am the Brazil Animator for Expat-blog. A country's Animator is sort of the official cheerleader, advisor, dictionary, and helper-outer all rolled up in one. We're responsible for keeping the members of our forum pumped up, getting things going, giving out information and answers where we can. As Animators we are members of the TEAM, but we are volunteers as opposed to being paid staffers. Some of the other titles you will commonly see are as follows: ADMINISTRATOR or TEAM (actual employees of the blog); New Member; VIP; Contributor; EB member +; etc. Oh yes, let not forget FOUNDER, if you see anything posted by Julien. (hi guy, how are you?)

Then there will be a profile photo, graphic or avatar if the member has uploaded one in his/her profile... yeah, that's really me, don't laugh too hard OK. If the member hasn't uploaded anything then there will be a generic blue male image or pink female image.

Immediately below the photo will appear a line 'from' which indicates the place where the member is. In my case, Macaé - RJ Brazil.

This is followed by the date that the member joined the blog.

Next, there is a line giving the number of postings from the member.

And finally there may be a number of yellow stars below that. These are KARMA stars, they are like the suitcases, but rather than indicating the quantity of postings they are a rating of the quality and reliability of those postings. There are a number of different factors which determine how many stars and individual member has, one of these factors is the number of +1 thumbs up ratings a member gets on topics he/she has posted. Wow, who would have believed an old guy like me still had KARMA! Way cool.

Now you know all about it.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog