Topic: Ranks based on Time Online instead of Post Count

[Skhilled (OP)]

Here's an interesting mod that caught my eye this morn. It changes the Post Count permissions of SMF to Time Online which is based on how much time a user actually spends online. This supposedly works based on actual reading of topics/posts as opposed to just leaving a browser window open.

Ranks based on Time Online instead of Post Count

[Ken]

That's an interesting Mod Steve. 

For a forum like ours that uses 'assigned' groups instead of 'earned' groups it would not be useful (I think?), but it would be for sure on some sites.
... although, as I reread the description a couple of times maybe it would work here?

Description:

This mod will swap SMF's postcount based groups to instead be based on the user's "total time logged in". Users will therefore be ranked based on how many hours they have spent on the forum. This "total time logged in" value in SMF only tracks when the user is actively browsing or posting, not for instance if they just leave a browser window open.

The purpose of this mod is to give users much less reason to post spam since that will no longer affect their ranking, and perhaps a reason to spend more time on the forum actually reading things.

IMPORTANT NOTE: after installing, you need to go to the Membergroups section in the Admin panel. You should see that instead of "Required posts" it is now "Required hours online". You'll probably want to modify each group to a more appropriate time requirement, as it uses the same values you had previously set for "Required posts".

[Skhilled (OP)]

Since you have admin approval for registration it would be useless for spamming. However, if users wanted to up their post count, karma etc. by actually participating it would be. Also, to join in certain things they could be required to spend more time actually reading what has already been posted.

Either way, I think it is still an interesting mod nonetheless and would be useful in many different scenarios.

[Ken]

I'm going to install it to my test forum and play with it a little to see how it works and if there might be a useful way to try it here on the FF.

[Skhilled (OP)]

I am planning on trying it at Doc Skillz and maybe SMF Arcade.