Forum Discussion
What’s New in the MTC? September 2023 – Community Ranks
Our Mission at the MTC is to provide a community Microsoft users can get the latest news, ask questions, learn new skills, and connect with peers and Microsoft experts from around the world.
This month, we are rolling out a new ranking system designed to recognize users’ contributions to the community and add a little more ‘Microsoft’ to the MTC.
What are the Community Ranks?
We now have two ranking ladders to recognize both types of our tech community members.
We have our Contributors Ranks for those who come to the MTC to interact and ask/answer questions in our forums, blogs, and events. Some of you Microsoft gamers may notice the subtle nod 😉
|
Contributor Ranks |
|
Onyx Contributor |
|
Titanium Contributor |
|
Diamond Contributor |
|
Platinum Contributor |
|
Gold Contributor |
|
Silver Contributor |
|
Bronze Contributor |
|
Steel Contributor |
|
Iron Contributor |
|
Brass Contributor |
|
Copper Contributor |
And for our members who come to the MTC to catch up on news and learn something new from the blogs, we have our Reader Ranks! These are replacing our Visitor/Member ranks, and once you start posting in the MTC, you will move into the Contributor Ranks.
|
Reader Ranks |
|
Senior Reader |
|
Prolific Reader |
|
Regular Reader |
|
Frequent Reader |
|
Casual Reader |
|
Occasional Reader |
|
New Reader |
(Please note that these rankings are intended for fun and are not a measure of MTC’ers technical competence.)
What goes into the Community Ranks?
When you become a member of the MTC, you start climbing the ranking ladder, starting as a New Reader. As you contribute more and more to the community, you will start to climb the rank ladder.
Here are some of the key ingredients that go into our ranking recipe (*These points are awarded each time an activity is completed):
- Viewing messages (0.25 points)
- Commenting on blogs, ideas, and TKB articles (1 point)
- Creating new discussion topics (1 point)
- Replying to forum discussions (2 points)
- Giving (2 points) and receiving Kudos (4 points)
- Contributing Ideas (5 points)
- Authoring blog articles (10 points)
- Publishing Knowledge Base articles (10 points)
- Getting your replies marked as a solution (15 points)
Simply put, the more you engage and interact with the MTC, the more points you earn and the higher your community ranking will be!
If you have any questions on these new rankings or you’d like to share feedback with the Tech Community Team, let us know in the comments below.
57 Replies
"
add a little more ‘Microsoft’ to the MTC.
"
Can I ask for more details - this is interesting information, we are waiting for clarification.
Please consider restoring the ability to include pictures in posts for Silver Contributors. It's an indispensable feature for helping others.
IMHO, it shall be available for any contributor independently of the rank.
SergeiBaklan Indeed!! But, is it depending on rank now? At Platinum I'm not permitted either.
Are these entirely fresh gradings based upon recent history or have past contributions been brought forward? I ask because at Silver I appear to have lost the ability to insert screen shots to explain points and demonstrate that the proffered solutions have worked.
Yes, I confirm in this post I also could not paste the screenshot.
Reporting problems is important and necessary:)
"You do not have permission to upload images."
Now I checked again
I already have permission - the problem is solved!
PeterBartholomew1 , Cecilia_Bergstedt
Interesting.
--
Please note that these rankings are intended for fun and are not a measure of MTC’ers technical competence.
--
Are they really for fun only, or editor functionality also depends on ranks? If so is it possible to share how?
- Hi @Sergei,
All editing permissions should be the same as before. The only changes we've made are to the rank names and clarifying how you earn points for engaging in the community.
If you encounter any issues or blocks you wouldn't normally see prior to the name change, please let us know and we will look into it! 🙂
Thank you for the post, just I am wondering author a weblog and publish article is not available to everyone and this would give more advantage to people who have access and ability to do so and it makes the competition a bit unfair. Because , you will get 10 points for something which is not available to everyone. I am referring to the following:
- Authoring blog articles (10 points)
- Publishing Knowledge Base articles (10 points)
- Hi @Reza,
Appreciate your feedback! We want to make sure that our ranking structure is as fair as possible. You are correct that only certain roles are allowed publishing privileges, typically MS employees and its partners/vendors but also external contributors. However, since Microsoft employees are excluded from this ranking structure, the only users who are able to earn points for publishing blogs are individuals outside of MS that have been invited to contribute to a blog, and we do want to recognize these individuals for their contributions to the community.- Hi Cecilia,
Thank you for the clarification.
Cecilia_Bergstedt, I love the attention to detail and the granularity. Quick question: out of curiosity, what happens if you become MVP for only one year and are not renewed? Will you find your status back? I am curious, sorry. 🙂
- Hi Dimitri! Good question 🙂
Once a user is no longer an MVP, they will be dropped back in at the rank that's appropriate to their participation. So, if you become an MVP at the Iron contribution level, then you would return to the Iron level if you do not renew your MVP status.
Oh, I will never remember where, for example, Titanium Contributor rank related to Platinum one. Or Regular reader to Frequent reader.
Will you colour avatars for these 18 ranks?
- Allen
Community Manager
@Sergei, We are currently investigating other options to using the colored rings for the rank statuses, primarily because using color to denote status of someone is not great from an accessibility point of view.
We have nothing to share about this specifically but as soon as we do, we will share them with you, either here or in the MVP Community.Allen, as for me 3 colours are enough - current red and blue; and another one for all the rest.
SergeiBaklan, great idea for the colors. This https://uigradients.com/#Radar might help. Cc Cecilia_Bergstedt
I received a notification - which is confusing, surely other users will also have this problem:
"You ranked up to
Valued Contributor""(Please note that these rankings are intended for fun and are not a measure of MTC’ers technical competence.)"
Thank you for your helpful clarification 🙂
