To ensure a positive and well-organized environment, permission levels are used to guide user participation. Each level offers new capabilities as you engage with the Community. Here’s an overview of each level, what you can do, and how to progress to the next one:
First Steps
This is where all new users begin. It’s a great opportunity to explore the forum and learn the basics.
What You Can’t Do Yet:
- Send personal messages to other users.
- “Reply as new topic” via the Link button.
- Flag posts.
- Post more than one image, any attachments, or more than 2 hyperlinks.
- Mention more than 2 users in a post.
- Create more than 3 topics or post more than 10 replies.
- Edit your posts after 24 hours.
How to Reach Newcomer Level:
- Enter at least 5 topics.
- Read at least 30 posts.
- Spend a total of 10 minutes reading posts.
Newcomer
At this stage, all initial restrictions are removed, and you can fully participate.
What You Can Do:
- Use all core forum features, including PMs, uploading images/attachments, and flagging posts.
- Edit wiki posts.
- Mute other users.
How to Reach Contributor Level:
- Visit the forum on at least 15 non-consecutive days.
- Like and receive at least 1 post.
- Reply to at least 3 different topics.
- Enter at least 20 topics and read 100 posts.
- Spend a total of 60 minutes reading posts.
Contributor
As a Contributor, you’re a consistent participant, helping the community thrive through regular engagement.
What You Can Do:
- Use the “Invite others to this topic” button.
- Invite outside users to PMs for group discussions.
- Enjoy increased limits on daily likes, edits, and flags by 1.5×.
- Ignore other users.
- Edit your posts for up to 30 days after posting.
How to Reach Mentor Level:
In the last 100 days:
- Visit at least 50% of days.
- Reply to at least 10 non-PM topics.
- View 25% of new topics (up to 500).
- Read 25% of new posts (up to 20,000).
- Receive 20 likes and give 30 likes.
- Maintain a clean record (no more than 5 confirmed spam/offensive flags, no suspensions/silences in 6 months).
Mentor
Mentors are trusted community stewards who actively organize and guide discussions.
What You Can Do:
- Recategorize and rename topics.
- Access a secure category visible only to Mentors and higher.
- Have all links in posts followed.
- Immediately hide posts by First Steps users with Mentor spam flags.
- Auto-silence First Steps users with diverse Mentor flags.
- Convert your posts to wiki posts (editable by Newcomers and above).
- Enjoy daily limits increased by 2×.
How to Reach Guru Level:
- Promotion to Guru is manual and granted by staff based on exceptional contributions and reliability.
Guru
As a Guru, you are the epitome of community leadership. You’ve earned the highest level of trust, often acting as a de facto moderator.
What You Can Do:
- Edit all posts.
- Pin/unpin, close, archive, and unlist topics.
- Split and merge topics, reset topic bump dates.
- Instantly hide posts with any flag you cast.
- Send personal messages to email addresses.
- Enjoy daily limits increased by 3×.
The permission levels are designed to encourage meaningful participation and reward those who contribute to the Community’s growth. As you progress through the levels, you’ll unlock more tools to engage, support, and lead the Community.