[update]Title changed from "An explanation of trusted user status."
It seems a lot of users have lost their trusted user status for some unknown reason today. Come and join us and get your status back.
For only the second time since I have been at this site I seem to have lost my trusted user status. The last time I was away for a the most part of a whole month and understood why it happened.
For you trolls, newbies, lurkers, and others who are not familiar with the concept "Trusted User" status is granted based on some mysterious calculation of comment ratings. Trusted user status allows users to see comments that have been hidden from the rest of the community when the receive two or mare ratings that average less then one and it also allows users to "troll rate" comments. Troll rating is giving a comment a zero rating.
No one has the ability to delete a comment but Markos has utilized the troll rating ability of the Scoop software to allow trusted users the ability to eliminate comments that are inflammatory.
Come below for more and to help me regain my T.U. status.
Trolls are defined in the FAQ as "people who post inflammatory articles just to get an inflamed response." Most users also apply this concept to those who post comments that are inflamatory.
Personally I like to go through the hidden comments and see what the trolls are doing. I also occasionally identify trollish behavior, and even defend many users who are incorrectly identified as trolls.
Has there been a change in the way T.U. status is granted? I know I rarely write diaries anymore but I do post comments consistently and get 5 or 6 fours a day on average. Up untill today that was enough to keep T.U. status. I want mine back.