SVU Requirements

If they change the name to something less, people would still want $25 refunds. Whether or not they diminish the title, or completely eliminate it; people will still want a refund, assuming that's why they "donated" 25 dollars. Whether or not the website refunds is up to them either way.

I support removal.

 

the 25$ donation is entirely separate from Sythe Verified User. You only pay 5$ for the rank of SVU. And if they changed the name, I wouldn't see why people would be demanding a refund. Changing the name to something that more accurately describes the title is only beneficial to all.

 

Because they paid for the title of SVU, if they're not getting that title, I think they'd want the money back.

 

I paid and I don't mind if there was a name change at all. It was just an added security thing that I got so when people traded me, they felt a little better about it. I think the title of SVU also does more harm than good because it can be misinterpreted.

 

Not completely true, im sure there are some people who donated $25 with the only reason to become SVU (you need to be $25 donor tonget SVU ). I know that's a minority tho.

I myself wouldn't mind extra requirements/name change.

 

Extra requirements seem to have been shot down by the large majority in the previous pages.

I think a change to the following:

Sythe Confirmed User

The reasoning for confirmed is that it more accurately describes what the tag is, with less confusion as to what it could mean. Confirmed means that they're details have been confirmed. You could make the argument that people would be confused that they have been confirmed by sythe as being a legit user; however, I think the word confirmed has less of a chance of being mixed up with that than verified. The sticky/announcement (below) would also help to explain this.
Would be decent. Potentially a link so that when you click it, it takes you to a post claiming what it actually entails. Possibly a sticky somewhere, not exactly sure where this would go, but some form of announcement would be ideal.

 

I feel like the fact that SVU has its own rank means that it carries a lot more trust than it should. This is because the vast majority of ranks denote either donator status or staff/OMM positions which are pretty significant trust symbols, meaning that ranks like SVU or even fun ranks are perceived as being signs of trustworthiness under the perception that "regular" users wouldn't be given them. In my opinion, the best option would be to change it into a minirank instead..

 

Hm. Since it's meant as an extra "security" measure of sorts, possibly similar to the reason 2FA is a minirank. Not too sure if this would work. People still would put it on their threads, giving it the same false sense of trust. Also, the image would need to be changed, as it would look to similar to the end of the year awards.

 

Personally, I think we rid the rank and apply each user with a minirank of sort. This will avoid any confusion as to whether or not someone may be portrayed as trusted but ensuring users still provide their personal information. This alongside the implementation, as iterated on the first page, of the different levels of verification - although, as far as I am aware, Matthew had a spanner in the works for this already.

I don't think the image itself would need to be changed, albeit very similar to end of year awards. But I wouldn't object to opening discussion about potential images.

 

I also support a mini-rank for SVU. When people see titles, it's usually "village drunk" or "legendaries" or "OMM" etc.. Usually means trust or a valued member of Sythe. A mini-rank wouldn't be the same imo.

 

Having to pay for the rank only means the chances of the person scamming is higher. I mean, theoretically, wouldn't paying for the rank ensure the person obtains the rank faster and with less hassle?

The rank itself should be chosen as if the person was an Admin, as with any rank that holds an enormous amount of hypothetical power. I mean, I could scrap together 25$, act like someone I'm not for a few months and then scam someone, it would be inconspicuous, fast and efficient. If I'm going to piggyback off of what I said on the previous thread, Gaming Gutter had, probably, the most efficient, trustworthy staff team and middlemen out of any single forum I've ever been to, and that forum was a Black Market website, so scamming was without a doubt a common occurrence.

 

I'm sorry, but this doesn't make any sense to me? Care to shed more light and elaborate? I think the trust factor, albeit minimal, comes with the idea of a conjunctive arrangement between a small donation and providing some personal information.

The SVU rank isn't meant to be one that is obtained difficulty. It is to assure other users' that this user has proactively provided Sythe with some information that could be used if the circumstance shall ever arise. There are other funranks that are extremely difficult to obtain - i.e. highly trusted, which has been obtained by >5 users on Sythe.

 

When the rank is called, "Verified User', I would assume the person is verified. Not, "Buy the rank and hope you give us your actual personal information.

Technically this is convoluted considering you're replacing the factual knowledge that the person requesting the rank is trusted or not, with a small donation, instead of intuitively knowing that person is a verified and trustworthy individual, I mean when a new person jumps onto the forums, their first action is getting acclimated with who is in charge, who is trustworthy and who are the staff members, I would insinuate someone with the rank "Verified" would be a trusted individual, but personally I take ranks like these with a grain of salt because of the loose terms the person has to commit to, to actually obtain the rank. Anyone can donate 25$, say they are so and so, scam, then do it all over again with different information.

With any rank, the circumstances are that anyone can be behind that name, could be a convicted pedophile, it could be one of the staff members on this forum, it could be Barack Obama, Hitler's son it could be anyone; albeit the trust gained from that individual is supplementary, every rank that holds some power, hypothetically or not shouldn't be just some rank that is possibly a dice roll with who owns that rank, I mean how do you guys hire your staff members, middlemen, trusted members. Taking this from a personal experience, I've worked with countless of communities, shaping and molding the experience for members, and when I say anyone can scam, be deceptive or anything in between, I'm not saying that loosely, anyone can be who they say they are, do a 180 degree turn and deceive everyone. Now I understand this rank isn't a shining beacon for those looking for the most trusted individual; I personally think the rank name should be changed, to something like Scythe Sponsor, or Scythe Supporter.

 

I say get rid of it, or change the rank's name and make it into a mini-rank.

 

I wish more people actually read and understood various functions of the site like you. But this sums up the issue. What are your thoughts on either changing it to a minirank, changing the name of SVU, or potentially both? Been searching for an alternative title, with little success. They either sound bad, or still are misleading.

 

The first thing you would have to do is change the indirect power that follows it. Even if you don't feel the rank gives any form of power, indirect or not, it does. At the end of the day, a person is likely going to favor the person with the verified rank other than the person with a donator or member rank.

Changing the name to directly hone on what you have to do to get that rank is key; making it Scythe Sponsor or something like Scythe Affiliate, the rank for all tense and purposes is a member, down to the core a member. You can toss around the term all day, it has different inherent meanings when it comes to things like, "Well then what do you call people that register for the forums". It's a person affiliated with a group, making it a mini-rank would be equally supplementary.

Personally I would rather the rank changed to a mini-rank as it's technically a badge, like a Boy Scout, each badge means something different they either earned or were given.

 

Makes sense. The issue is, every minirank has a title. If you hover over them, they'll say something. For example, the fire minirank i have will say "Some Like It Hot". While changing it to a minirank would stop quite a bit of confusion as to what the rank actually means, I still feel people will solely show that minirank and parade that similar to the way they would for the SVU rank as is.

The next thing is, the image would need to be changed. Reasoning is the sythe yearly awards are the same background image, with the number on top.

 

You could name it, Sythe Official Member, then give it an icon like this. Something along those lines.

 

Problem with this will be what to do with the 5$ everyone paid for. Since that pays for the text confirmation system, the money is gone. Therefore, would we just not be refunded. I'm personally fine with that, but others might not be.

 

Technically, you paid for the rank, and just the rank. The power the comes with it is indirect, it's perceived to some that you have power, but in reality its just a rank. You're essentially getting the same exact thing if we change it to a mini-rank, but it will be named differently.