Trust level guide

General Community Docs
1

How Trust Levels Work on OffOn

Every member of OffOn starts as a Newcomer and progresses by participating in the community. As you advance, you unlock new abilities and take on a bigger role in shaping the space.

This guide explains each level, what it unlocks, and exactly what you need to do to reach the next one.

Level 0: Newcomer

This is where everyone starts. You just created an account, and the system is giving you time to explore.

What you can do:

  • Post replies and create topics

  • Upload images and file attachments

  • Include up to 2 links per post

  • Mention up to 2 users per post

  • Like posts

  • Invite others to the community

  • Edit your own posts

What’s limited:

  • You cannot send personal messages

  • You cannot flag posts

  • Your links in “About Me” won’t be clickable yet

  • No access to Discourse Chat

Level 1: Participant

Participant is about proving you’ve looked around. You don’t need to post or interact, just spend a little time reading.

What you need (all of these):

  • Enter at least 5 topics

  • Read at least 15 posts

  • Spend at least 10 minutes reading

These count your all-time activity. Once you reach Participant, you keep it permanently.

What you unlock:

  • Send personal messages

  • Flag posts that break community guidelines

  • Add clickable links to your profile bio

  • Edit wiki posts

  • Mute other users

Level 2: Contributor

Contributor shows you’re actively engaged, not just a reader. This level requires showing up over multiple days and interacting with others.

What you need (all of these):

  • Enter at least 10 topics

  • Read at least 30 posts

  • Spend at least 30 minutes reading

  • Visit on at least 15 different days

  • Give at least 1 like

  • Receive at least 1 like

  • Reply in at least 2 different topics

These count your all-time activity. Once earned, Contributor is permanent.

What you unlock:

  • Access to Discourse Chat

  • Create polls

  • Use the @here mention

  • Invite others into personal message threads

  • Ignore other users (stronger than mute)

Level 3: Advocate

Advocate is fundamentally different from earlier levels. It looks at your activity over a rolling 100-day window, and you can both earn and lose this level based on recent participation. Advocates are the backbone of the community.

What you need in the last 100 days (all of these):

  • View at least 25% of new topics (capped at 100)

  • Read at least 25% of new posts (capped at 100)

  • Visit and read posts on at least 35% of those days

  • Reply in at least 10 different topics

  • Give at least 30 likes

  • Receive at least 30 likes

  • Receive likes from at least 5 different people

  • Receive likes on at least 7 different days

  • Have no more than 5 confirmed spam/offensive flags

  • No suspensions or silences in the last 6 months

All-time minimums (also required):

  • Viewed at least 100 topics total

  • Read at least 100 posts total

What you unlock:

  • Your links get full SEO value (nofollow removed)

  • Create new tags

  • Make your own posts into wikis

  • Your flags carry more weight against spam

Losing Advocate status: If your activity drops below roughly 90% of these thresholds over the 100-day window, you’ll be moved back to Contributor. There’s a 14-day grace period after first reaching Advocate before any demotion can happen.

Level 4: Leader

Leader is not earned through activity. It’s granted by staff to members who have demonstrated strong judgment, consistent helpfulness, and a deep commitment to the community. Leaders have near-moderator capabilities.

What Leaders can do (in addition to everything above):

  • Edit any post

  • Recategorize and rename any topic

  • Edit topic titles, categories, and tags on other people’s posts

  • Close, archive, and unlist topics

  • Pin and unpin topics

  • Split and merge topics

  • Set topic timers (auto-close, auto-bump, scheduled publishing)

  • Bulk-select topics for moderation

  • Add official notices to topics

  • Flags immediately hide the target post

How Levels Connect to Our Mission

OffOn exists to grow people from curious users to confident contributors to sustainable maintainers. Community levels mirror that journey:

  • Newcomer and Participant: You’re exploring. Reading, learning how the community works.

  • Contributor: You’re participating. Replying, liking, showing up regularly.

  • Advocate: You’re shaping the community. Actively helping others, keeping discussions organized, consistently present.

  • Leader: You’re a steward. Helping maintain the health of the community itself.

Community Challenges

Challenges are a hands-on way to grow your skills and contribute to open source projects. You can find all active challenges in the Challenges category.

How challenges work:

  1. Browse open challenge topics in the Challenges category.

  2. Work on a solution and post it as a reply in the challenge topic.

  3. A staff member or the challenge creator reviews your solution and awards the “Challenge Solved” badge.

Challenge badges:

  • Challenge Solved: Awarded each time you successfully complete a challenge. The more you solve, the higher you appear on the Challenge Solvers leaderboard.

  • Challenge Grand Builder: Awarded to members who have created at least 9 challenges for the community. This recognizes people who give back by building learning opportunities for others.

Challenge activity shows up on the community leaderboard sidebar, so your contributions are visible to everyone. The leaderboard tracks top challenge solvers, challenge grand builders, top contributors, most liked members, most replies, most supportive (likes given), and top problem solvers. Participating in challenges is one of the best ways to build your reputation, learn new skills, and move from user to contributor.

Check Your Progress

To see your current level, visit your profile page. Your level is displayed there.

Discourse does not currently show a detailed breakdown of your progress toward the next level. If you want to know how close you are, you have two options:

  1. Compare your activity to the requirements listed above. Your profile’s Summary tab shows your post count, topics created, likes given and received, days visited, and other stats. Match those against the thresholds for the next level.

  2. Ask a staff member. Admins can see a detailed requirements report for any user. If you’re curious about where you stand, send a message to any staff member and they can check for you.

When you reach a new level, Discourse will send you an automated message letting you know about your new abilities.

Quick Reference

Level Name How to reach it Can you lose it?
0 Newcomer Default for all new accounts No
1 Participant Read 15 posts across 5 topics, spend 10 min reading No
2 Contributor 15 days visiting, 30 posts read, reply in 2 topics, give and receive likes No
3 Advocate Sustained 100-day activity across reading, replying, and liking Yes, if activity drops
4 Leader Appointed by staff Only by staff

Questions or Feedback?

If anything here is unclear or you want to know your current progress, post in the Site Feedback topic or message a staff member.