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• Formatting Posts
• Handling Annoying Users
• Trust Levels Overview
• Other Groups
• Help Email
Formatting Posts
For formatting posts, we have these options …
CODE: You can use Markdown, BBCode, or HTML. See more discussion of our BBCode: BBCode for Better Games
TABLES: We also have a custom class installed to create tables with horizontal lines (sample below), in case you don't like the default lineless style. To use it, add <div data-theme-table="lines"> before the table html code and </div> after it. To make table creation easier, you can auto-generate your table html code at a site like this one: Free BBCode Table Generator
| Item Name | Price |
|---|---|
| Book | $5.00 |
| Shoes | $10.00 |
| Flowers | $3.00 |
SPOILERS: We also have an extension installed to let us use spoilers. This is particularly useful for play by post campaigns.
Handling Annoying Users
Our forum has a LOT of options for dealing with annoying users. Here's the rundown:
PUBLIC PROFILE: You can review all public activity by a user in their public profile. Click the user’s avatar or username in a topic, their avatar in the topic list, or search for them, then click the Activity tab under their name.
BLOCK USER: In your preferences, you can mute a user to suppress all notifications from them. You can also ignore a user to suppress all notifications AND posts from them. That page is at https://forum.atlas-games.com/u/USERNAME/preferences/users where USERNAME is your own username.
FLAGS: You can also flag posts to bring them to the attention of the moderators, by clicking on the "..." next to "Reply", then the little flag icon. Posts with 3 flags, or a flag from a trust level 4 user (or a level 3 user on a level 0 offender), will be automatically hidden without waiting for moderator action.
The flag dialog has 5 options: Message User, Off-topic, Inappropriate, Spam, and Something Else.
- Message User does not cause a flag, it simply opens up the PM dialog.
- Off-topic, Inappropriate, and Spam cast a flag notifying the moderators, and the user is done.
- Something Else allows for a custom message and then casts the flag.
There are 4 options for moderators handling flags: Agree, Disagree, Ignore, and Delete. All of them generate an automatic PM to the user who flagged the post.
- Agreeing with a flag confirms the post is problematic, and opens a dropdown with options to handle it with moderator powers (see below).
- Disagreeing removes the flag from the post, and unhides the post if it has been hidden.
- Ignoring the post means the flag will stay in place, but the flag will be removed from the Pending flags list for moderators. If a flag that has been ignored has caused a post to be hidden, the post will remain hidden. Posts that are hidden for more than 30 days are automatically deleted.
- Delete lets a moderator either ‘Delete Post and Ignore’ to remove the post but not penalize its creator with the flag, OR ‘Delete Post and Agree’ to delete the post and penalize its creator with the flag.
MODERATOR POWERS: Moderators can do the following:
- Put up a warning post or send a warning PM.
- Put up a staff notice, which is a call-out that appears by a post, which can be used to remind users of forum rules.
- Move/merge/edit/hide/delete posts.
- Close a topic permanently or just for a few days.
- Silence users for a certain amount of time, so they're prevented from creating new topics, posts, flags, or PMs on the site. They are still able to complete other actions, like “liking” posts, reading topics, replying to PMs, etc. Additionally, they can communicate with moderators via PM.
- Lock the user to trust level 0. This will limit the number (and frequency) of topics and posts the user can create, as well as prevent them from including too many images/links and prevent the user from casting flags.
- Suspend users for a certain amount of time, to prevent them from logging in and thus from completing any actions on the forums.
- Delete a user if they have no posts, or if the posts are less than 60 days old.
Want to know more? The full Discourse Moderation Guide is here: Discourse Moderation Guide - Part 1: Getting Started - Site Management - Discourse Meta
Trust Levels Overview
TRUST LEVEL 0: NOVICE
New user profiles are hidden from the public until you post for the first time.
New users cannot:
- Send personal messages to other users
- “Reply as new topic” via Link button (UI removed)
- Flag posts
- Post more than 1 image
- Post any attachments
- Post more than 2 hyperlinks in a post
- Have actual links in the ‘about me’ field of their profile (will be silently and temporarily converted to plain text)
- Mention more than 2 users @name in a post
- Post more than 3 topics
- Post more than 10 replies
- Post faster than once every 30 seconds
- Edit their own posts after more than 24 hours
Get to Trust Level 1 by…
- Entering at least 5 topics
- Reading at least 30 posts
- Spend a total of 10 minutes reading posts
TRUST LEVEL 1: APPRENTICE
Users at Trust Level 1 can…
- Use all core Discourse functions; all new user restrictions are removed
Send PMs - Upload images and attachments if enabled
- Edit wiki posts
- Flag posts
- Mute other users
Get to Trust Level 2 by…
- Visiting at least 15 days, not sequentially
- Casting at least 1 like
- Receiving at least 1 like
- Replying to at least 3 different topics
- Entering at least 20 topics
- Reading at least 100 posts
- Spend a total of 60 minutes reading posts
TRUST LEVEL 2: JOURNEYMAN
Users at Trust Level 2 can…
- Use the “Invite others to this topic” button for one-click onboarding of new users to participate in topics
- Invite outside users to PMs making a group PM
- Daily like, edit, and flag limits increased by 1.5×
- Ignore other users
- Edit your own posts for up to 30 days after posting
To get to Trust Level 3, in the last 100 days…
- Must have visited at least 50% of days
- Must have replied to at least 10 different non-PM topics
- Of topics created in the last 100 days, must have viewed 25% (capped at 500)
- Of posts created in the last 100 days, must have read 25% (capped at 20k)
- Must have received 20 likes, and given 30 likes.*
- Must not have received more than 5 spam or offensive flags (with unique posts and unique users for each, confirmed by a moderator)
- Must not have been suspended or silenced in the last 6 months
* These likes must be across a minimum number of different users (1/5 the number), across a minimum number of different days (1/4 the number). Likes cannot be from PMs.
TRUST LEVEL 3: MASTER
Masters get access to the exclusive Masters’ Lounge forum!
Unlike other trust levels, you can lose trust level 3 status. If you dip below these requirements in the last 100 days, you will be demoted back to Member. However, in order to avoid constant promotion/demotion situations, there is a 2-week grace period immediately after gaining Trust Level 3 during which you will not be demoted.
Users at Trust Level 3 can…
- Recategorize and rename topics
- Access a secure category only visible to users at trust level 3 and higher
- Have all your links followed (we remove automatic nofollow)
- TL3 spam flags cast on TL0 user posts immediately hide the post
- TL3 flags cast on TL0 user posts in sufficient diversity will auto-silence the user and hide all their posts
- Make your own posts wiki (that is, editable by any TL1+ users)
- Daily like, edit, and flag limits increased by 2×
Get to Trust Level 4 by…
- Manual promotion by staff only
- (Possibly via a to-be-developed election system in the future)
TRUST LEVEL 4: GRAND MASTER
Grand Masters get access to the exclusive Masters’ Lounge forum!
Users at Trust Level 4 can…
- Edit all posts
- Pin/unpin topic
- Close topics
- Archive topics
- Make topics unlisted
- Split and merge topics
- Reset topic bump date
- Daily like, edit, and flag limits increased by 3×
- Any TL4 flag cast on any post immediately takes effect and hides the target post
- Send personal messages to an email address
Other Groups
We also have special user groups for Patreon Supporters, Play by Post Players & GMs, Moderators, Staff, Admins, etc. You can see our full list of groups here.
Forum Help Email Address
Having problems with the forum? Have a suggestion for the Forum FAQ? Please send an email to this address:
forum AT atlas-games DOT com
(Don't forget the dash in the middle!)
If it's a more general website issue, contact our webmaster at:
webmaster AT atlas-games DOT com