Difference between revisions of "Member Groups"

Latest revision as of 20:22, 28 October 2019

Not to be confused with Member Ranks.

This page lists the various user groups that you may find on the forums of GBAtemp. The staff groups have a strict hierarchy, meaning all higher-ranked groups have all of the abilities of any groups below them.

To find the currently active staff members, refer to the Current Staff members page.

Staff
Site Leaders / Owners Administrators
Editorial Content Leader Chief Editor
Co-Administrators Supervisors	Editorial Content Managers Senior Editors
Moderating Staff Global Moderators	Magazine Staff Reporters
Moderators	Contributors
Other Former Staff
Non-Staff
Registered Users Members · Newcomers · (Developers)
Infractions Suspended · Banned!

Site Leaders

Administrators

The Administrators are the owners of GBAtemp, its servers, and everything else related to it. They decide the general direction of the site, and as such, make the biggest decisions among all of the staff. It is, however, rare for large decisions to be made without first discussing them with other senior staff members, such as Supervisors. The Administrators also perform the technical maintenance of the site, like managing the server infrastructure, programming new features and site skins, fixing bugs, and more. They also manage everything related to funding, Patreon and sponsorships.

Chief Editor

The Chief Editor is the leader of the Magazine Staff branch of the staff. They are in charge of all editorial content, such as front page news posts and reviews. They are also responsible for reaching out to video game publishers in order to acquire review copies, which are then distributed to the other staff members.

Moderating Staff

The moderating staff is responsible for keeping the forums clean of spam and to serve as arbiters in the various discussions on the forums. They are granted additional tools over other members that allow them to effectively perform this job. Some of their abilities include editing any user's post, deleting posts that have no value, turning threads into "sticky threads" to keep them on top, and more. They also have access to advanced analytical tools that allow them to judge where to prioritize their attention. All registered members on the site may alert a moderator by using the "report" feature available on most content of the site.

Supervisors

As the name implies, the main responsibility of the Supervisors group is to supervise and guide the other (lower-ranked) staff members. As such, users who have a problem with a staff member can contact a Supervisor through private message to resolve the issue. Supervisors are experienced senior staff members, who will assist the Administrators in managing the various aspects of the site. They have limited administrative abilities, and can change user names, ban users, add new forums, change permissions, etc. Aside from this, they may also act as Global Moderators on the forums.

Global Moderators

Global Moderators are moderators that have proven that they are able to make effective use of their moderating abilities for an extended period of time, and are thus granted moderator access to all forums of the site. Although their reach on the forum is global, they may still have increased focus on certain forums over others.

Moderators

Moderators are members of GBAtemp who have been chosen by the current active staff to help maintain the quality of the site. Their moderating abilities are limited to a certain number of sections, in order to both keep them focussed, and to not overwhelm them with work. The exact criteria to be chosen are only available in private to staff, and may change over time, but in general, active members with a good track record will be picked.

Magazine Staff

The magazine staff are the main providers of editorial content on the site, such as front-page news posts, and reviews.

Senior Editors

Senior Editors serve as the main assistants to the Chief Editor to manage all editorial content of the site. They have additional responsibilities over the other magazine staff members, such as contacting publishers for review copies and proof-reading reviews before publishing. They have the same level of access as Supervisors, but generally use their abilities in context of editorial content.

Reporters

The Reporters are a group of members who are responsible for creating the editorial content available on the site. They search the web for news and write GBAtemp-original pieces as well. They also use the review copies provided by the Chief/Senior Editors to write offical reviews for the site.

Contributors

Contributors are creators of editorial content, similar to Reporters. Magazine Staff members will usually start out in this group, which lets them get used to their role, before eventually becoming a full Reporter.

Other Staff

Former Staff

Main Article: Former Staff members.

The members of the Former Staff group are those that have previously been promoted to one of the staff groups, and have contributed a fair amount to the site in that role. In such case, when a staff member decides to leave their position voluntarily for any reason, they will be placed into the Former Staff group as a ways to recognize their contributions. Some of the Former Staff members may choose to keep limited moderator abilities, provided they had them in the first place, and are still active enough to use them. Regardless, these members are not responsible for moderating the site, unlike the currently active staff members.

Regular Users

Members

Once a user of the site posts at least 100 valid posts on the forums of GBAtemp, they will automatically be placed in the Members group. This will unlock some of the site features that are not available to Newcomers: they can access and use the Trading Forums and Shoutbox, and set a custom user title which appears under their avatar.

Newcomers

When a user creates an account on GBAtemp, they will be placed in the Newcomers group to signify them being new to the site. They will remain in this group until 100 posts are reached. In this group, certain features are disabled until at least 5 posts are made on the forums, such as the ability to send private messages. This restriction is lifted automatically once the fifth post is made.

Developers

Developers are members who have been recognized as contributing a significant amount in the development of homebrew or related applications. This group allows these users to stand out from the other members as a way to reward them. The group provides no additional rights on the forum, and any member of this group will also be part of either "Members" or "Newcomers". This group needs to be manually added to a user by a Supervisor. Any user who feels they meet the necessary criteria can send them a PM to get this group assigned to their account.

Infractions

Members who violate the general terms of use of GBAtemp may be limited in their access to the site by a member of the moderating staff.

Suspended

Members who are in the Suspended group have been excluded from accessing the site for a limited period of time. Suspensions are given after repeated violations of the rules, or after a single larger violation. Once the suspension period ends, the user will regain their access to the site.

Banned!

A user can be permanently Banned from the site for various reasons:

Repeatedly breaking the rules, even after a temporary suspension.
Posting spam - This will cause moderators to immedialy nuke the user's content, and set a permanent ban.
By considering or committing ill-intended actions against GBAtemp or its members.
By mistake! It is possible that your IP is similar to that of a known spammer or banned user. In such cases, you may contact site support to get your account unbanned.
For mysterious reasons that the Staff wishes to keep confidential!

Keep this in mind: Having access to a forum is not a right, it is a privilege.

Unregistered

Guests

Guests is not a member group, it is actually the fact of not having any member group at all! Simple visitors who are not logged in are considered as Guests. Since GBAtemp is a community, and values its members above all, Guests are not able to post messages, and can not view some forums. In order to improve performance, they may also be served cached pages, with occasionally slightly outdated content.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 :''Not to be confused with [[Member Ranks]].''
 __NOTOC__<!--Hide table of contents-->
-{|align="center" style="border:2px solid black; background:white;"
+This page lists the various user groups that you may find on the [[gbatemp:forums|forums]] of GBAtemp. The staff groups have a strict hierarchy, meaning all higher-ranked groups have all of the abilities of any groups below them.
-!colspan="3" style="text-align:center;font-size:12px;"|Member Groups
+To find the currently active staff members, refer to the [[Current Staff members]] page.
+{|style="text-align: center; border-spacing: 0; border-collapse: collapse"
+!colspan="2"|Staff
 |-
-!colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Staff
+|colspan="2" style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000"| ''Site Leaders / Owners''<br />[[#Administrators|<b style="color:red">Administrators</b>]]
 |-
-!&nbsp;Administrators&nbsp;
+|colspan="2" style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; border-bottom-width: 2px"| ''Editorial Content Leader''<br />[[#Chief Editor|<b style="color:#255D8F">Chief Editor</b>]]
-| [[#Administrators|Administrators]] &bull; [[#Supervisors|Supervisors]]
 |-
-!&nbsp;Moderators&nbsp;
+|style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; width: 50%"| ''Co-Administrators''<br />[[#Supervisors|<b style="color:purple">Supervisors</b>]]
-| [[#Global Moderators|Global Moderators]] &bull; [[#Moderators|Moderators]]
+|style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; width: 50%"| ''Editorial Content Managers''<br />[[#Senior Editors|<b style="color:#5960B7">Senior Editors</b>]]
 |-
-!&nbsp;Upper&nbsp;Mag.&nbsp;Staff&nbsp;
+|style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; border-top-width: 0; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed"| ''Moderating Staff''<br />[[#Global Moderators|<b style="color:green">Global Moderators</b>]]
-| [[#Chief Editor|Chief Editor]] &bull; [[#Senior Editors|Senior Editors]]
+|style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; border-top-width: 0; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed"| ''Magazine Staff''<br />[[#Reporters|<b style="color:orange">Reporters</b>]]
 |-
-!&nbsp;Magazine&nbsp;Staff
+|style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; border-top-width: 0"| [[#Moderators|<b style="color: blue">Moderators</b>]]
-| [[#Reporters|Reporters]] &bull; [[#Contributors|Contributors]]
+|style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000; border-top-width: 0"| [[#Contributors|<b style="color: orange">Contributors</b>]]
 |-
-!&nbsp;Other Staff&nbsp;
+|colspan="2" style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000"| ''Other''<br />[[#Former Staff|<b style="color:black">Former Staff</b>]]
-| [[#Former Staff|Former Staff]]
 |-
-!colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Non-Staff
+!colspan="2"|Non-Staff
 |-
-!&nbsp;Members&nbsp;
+|colspan="2" style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000"| ''Registered Users''<br />[[#Members|<span style="color:#222">Members</span>]] &middot; [[#Newcomers|<span style="color:#222">Newcomers</span>]] &middot; ([[#Developers|<span style="color:#8bc7c2">Developers</span>]])
-| [[#Members|Members]] &bull; [[#Newcomers|Newcomers]] &bull; [[#Content Managers|Content Managers]]
 |-
-!&nbsp;Infractions&nbsp;
+|colspan="2" style="padding: 8px; border: 2px solid #000"| ''Infractions''<br />[[#Suspended|<span style="color:#A1A1A1">Suspended</span>]] &middot; [[#Banned!|<span style="color:#666">Banned!</span>]]
-| [[#Suspended|Suspended]] &bull; [[#Banned.21|Banned!]]
-|-
-!&nbsp;Other&nbsp;
-| [[#Guests|Guests]]
 |}
-These are the various groups you may find on the Forums. Some groups (Admins, Moderators and Magazine Staff) are "stacked" upon eachother, meaning that the higher group has all of the abilities the lower group has.
+== Site Leaders ==
+=== <b style="color:red">Administrators</b> ===
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/admin.gif</span>
+The Administrators are the owners of GBAtemp, its servers, and everything else related to it. They decide the general direction of the site, and as such, make the biggest decisions among all of the staff. It is, however, rare for large decisions to be made without first discussing them with other senior staff members, such as Supervisors. The Administrators also perform the technical maintenance of the site, like managing the server infrastructure, programming new features and site skins, fixing bugs, and more. They also manage everything related to funding, Patreon and sponsorships.
-==Staff==
+=== <b style="color:#255D8F">Chief Editor</b> ===
-===Administrators===
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news_gold.gif</span>
-Administrators are groups that have access to the Administration Control Panel. From this panel, they can manage most of the site's configurations. These groups are mainly responsible for making big site-wide decisions and maintaining the site in general.
+The Chief Editor is the leader of the Magazine Staff branch of the staff. They are in charge of all editorial content, such as front page news posts and reviews. They are also responsible for reaching out to video game publishers in order to acquire review copies, which are then distributed to the other staff members.
-==== <b style="color:red">Administrators</b> ====
+== Moderating Staff ==
-''(Stacked on Supervisors)''<br />
+The moderating staff is responsible for keeping the forums clean of spam and to serve as arbiters in the various discussions on the forums. They are granted additional tools over other members that allow them to effectively perform this job. Some of their abilities include editing any user's post, deleting posts that have no value, turning threads into "sticky threads" to keep them on top, and more. They also have access to advanced analytical tools that allow them to judge where to prioritize their attention. All registered members on the site may alert a moderator by using the "report" feature available on most content of the site.
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/admin.gif<br />
-The Administrators are the owners of GBAtemp (and the other GBAtemp network sites), its servers, and everything else related to it. They make the biggest decisions and do technical work (server administration, domain management, design, coding...).
-==== <b style="color:purple">Supervisors</b> ====
+=== <b style="color:purple">Supervisors</b> ===
-''(Stacked on Global Moderators)''<br />
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/super.gif</span>
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/super.gif<br />
+As the name implies, the main responsibility of the Supervisors group is to supervise and guide the other (lower-ranked) staff members. As such, users who have a problem with a staff member can contact a Supervisor through private message to resolve the issue. Supervisors are experienced senior staff members, who will assist the [[#Administrators|<b style="color:red">Administrators</b>]] in managing the various aspects of the site. They have limited administrative abilities, and can change user names, ban users, add new forums, change permissions, etc. Aside from this, they may also act as Global Moderators on the forums.
-As the name implies, the members of the Supervisors group will supervise the other staff members (except Administrators). They have limited access to the AdminCP, and mostly perform simple administrative tasks, like changing usernames, banning users, etc. They also act as Global Moderators on the forums. If a user has a problem with another staff member, they should contact a supervisor.
-===Moderators===
+=== <b style="color:green">Global Moderators</b> ===
-Moderators are special users who have been granted additional power on the GBAtemp forums in order to clean up spam and to moderate discussion. They have to ability to edit and remove all posts in the subforums they are assigned to. They can also move, merge or split topics and promote the "best" topics to stickies. Besides that, they also have access to the Report Center, where all reports made by members go.
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/global.gif</span>
+Global Moderators are moderators that have proven that they are able to make effective use of their moderating abilities for an extended period of time, and are thus granted moderator access to all forums of the site. Although their reach on the forum is global, they may still have increased focus on certain forums over others.
-==== <b style="color:green">Global Moderators</b> ====
+=== <b style="color:blue">Moderators</b> ===
-''(Stacked on Moderators)''<br />
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/mod.gif</span>
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/global.gif<br />
+Moderators are members of GBAtemp who have been chosen by the current active staff to help maintain the quality of the site. Their moderating abilities are limited to a certain number of sections, in order to both keep them focussed, and to not overwhelm them with work. The exact criteria to be chosen are only available in private to staff, and may change over time, but in general, active members with a good track record will be picked.
-Global Moderators are able to use moderating abilities on all subforums (that they can view). They also have some other additional rights over Moderators. Global Moderators are generally more experienced than normal Moderators, and help them out if needed.
-==== <b style="color:blue">Moderators</b> ====
+== Magazine Staff ==
-''(Stacked on Reporters)''<br />
+The magazine staff are the main providers of editorial content on the site, such as front-page news posts, and [[gbatemp:reviews|reviews]].
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/mod.gif<br />
-Moderators have limited moderating abilities in the forums assigned to them by an Administrator. People who are new to the staff will initially be placed in this group so they can learn how to use their new abilities. After a while, they will be evaluated by the senior staff and either promoted to Global Moderators, where they have full moderating rights, or demoted back to a regular member.
-===Content Staff===
+=== <b style="color:#5960B7">Senior Editors</b> ===
-The Content Staff specializes in providing unique content on the web site. They are divided in Reviewers and News Reporters, who both provide their own content independently. All of the content is posted directly to the GBAtemp home page.
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news.gif</span>
-While these groups have limited moderating abilities on the forums, this is only to help them with their task. They normally do not moderate the forums.
+Senior Editors serve as the main assistants to the Chief Editor to manage all editorial content of the site. They have additional responsibilities over the other magazine staff members, such as contacting publishers for review copies and proof-reading reviews before publishing. They have the same level of access as [[#Supervisors|<b style="color:purple">Supervisors</b>]], but generally use their abilities in context of editorial content.
-==== <b style="color:#255D8F">Chief Editor</b> ====
+=== <b style="color:orange">Reporters</b> ===
-''(Stacked on Senior Editors)''<br />
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news.gif</span>
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news_gold.gif<br />
+The Reporters are a group of members who are responsible for creating the editorial content available on the site. They search the web for news and write GBAtemp-original pieces as well. They also use the review copies provided by the Chief/Senior Editors to write offical reviews for the site.
-The head of the content staff. The Chief Editor is in charge of all editorial content, such as front page news posts and reviews. They have final say over what gets posted on the front page. This rank is at the same level as Supervisors and Administrators.
-==== <b style="color:#5960B7">Senior Editors</b> ====
+=== <b style="color:orange">Contributors</b> ===
-''(Stacked on Reporters)''<br />
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news.gif</span>
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news.gif<br />
+Contributors are creators of editorial content, similar to Reporters. Magazine Staff members will usually start out in this group, which lets them get used to their role, before eventually becoming a full Reporter.
-Senior Editors are experienced members of the Magazine Staff who have been given additional responsibilities on the site. They have extensive knowledge of how to find and post news and reviews.
-==== <b style="color:orange">Reporters</b> ====
+== Other Staff ==
-''(Stacked on Contributors)''<br />
+=== '''Former Staff''' ===
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news.gif<br />
+:''Main Article: [[Former Staff members]].''
-The Reporters are a special group of people who are allowed to post news directly to the front page. They share a private forum with the rest of the staff, but do not have access to the main Staff Forum. They can moderate all forums from the GBAtemp Magazine section, but do not handle reports from this section (as they do not have access to the Report Center).
-==== <b style="color:orange">Contributors</b> ====
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/veteran.gif</span>
-''(Stacked on Members)''<br />
+The members of the Former Staff group are those that have previously been promoted to one of the staff groups, and have contributed a fair amount to the site in that role. In such case, when a staff member decides to leave their position voluntarily for any reason, they will be placed into the Former Staff group as a ways to recognize their contributions. Some of the Former Staff members may choose to keep limited moderator abilities, provided they had them in the first place, and are still active enough to use them. Regardless, these members are not responsible for moderating the site, unlike the currently active staff members.
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/news.gif<br />
-The same as reporters, only in a slightly more limited way. Basically a test phase before landing in the Reporters group.
-===Other Staff===
+== Regular Users ==
-==== '''Former Staff''' ====
+=== <span style="font-weight:normal">Members</span> ===
-:''Main Article: [[Former Staff members]].''
+Once a user of the site posts at least 100 valid posts on the forums of GBAtemp, they will automatically be placed in the Members group. This will unlock some of the site features that are not available to ''Newcomers'': they can access and use the [[Trading Forum]]s and Shoutbox, and set a custom user title which appears under their avatar.
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/veteran.gif<br />
+=== <span style="font-weight:normal">Newcomers</span> ===
-The Former Staffers are members who used to be active Staff Members. For different reasons, they became inactive and were thus moved into this group. They still have access to the main Staff Forum, and can have moderating (or even administrating) powers, but are free of any responsibility.
+When a user creates an account on GBAtemp, they will be placed in the Newcomers group to signify them being new to the site. They will remain in this group until 100 posts are reached. In this group, certain features are disabled until at least 5 posts are made on the forums, such as the ability to send private messages. This restriction is lifted automatically once the fifth post is made.
-==Non-Staff==
+=== <span style="color:#8bc7c2;font-weight:normal">Developers</span> ===
-=== Members===
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/dev.gif</span>
-==== <span style="font-weight:normal;">Members</span> ====
+Developers are members who have been recognized as contributing a significant amount in the development of homebrew or related applications. This group allows these users to stand out from the other members as a way to reward them. The group provides no additional rights on the forum, and any member of this group will also be part of either "Members" or "Newcomers". This group needs to be manually added to a user by a [[#Supervisors|<b style="color:purple">Supervisor</b>]]. Any user who feels they meet the necessary criteria can send them a PM to get this group assigned to their account.
-''(Stacked on Newcomers)''<br />
-The people in the group called ''Members'' are those who have posted at least 100 messages on the forums.<br>
-This group has some special rights over the ''Newcomers'': they can access and use the [[Trading Forum]] and Shoutbox, get a bigger PM box, and can sign up to more competitions.
-==== <span style="font-weight:normal;">Newcomers</span> ====
+== Infractions ==
-The Newcomers are people who have posted less than 100 messages on the forums. They will remain in this group until 100 posts are reached, regardless of how long they have been on the forum. (Note: An Administrator can change the group manually on occasions)<br>
+Members who violate the general terms of use of GBAtemp may be limited in their access to the site by a member of the moderating staff.
-They are not allowed to use the [[Trading Forum]] and shoutbox, unlike the ''Members''.
-===Infractions===
+=== <span style="font-weight:normal; color:#A1A1A1;">Suspended</span> ===
-==== <span style="font-weight:normal; color:#A1A1A1;">Suspended</span> ====
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/cross_grey.png</span>
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/cross_grey.png<br />
+Members who are in the ''Suspended'' group have been excluded from accessing the site for a limited period of time. Suspensions are given after repeated violations of the rules, or after a single larger violation. Once the suspension period ends, the user will regain their access to the site.
-When you are ''Suspended'', you are no longer allowed to post on the forums, and do not have access to some forums.<br>
-Members breaking the rules after several warnings are suspended. Suspensions are usually temporary, as bans are used instead of permanent suspensions.
-==== <span style="font-weight:normal; color:#666;">Banned!</span> ====
+=== <span style="font-weight:normal; color:#666;">Banned!</span> ===
-https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/cross.png<br />
+<span style="float:left;padding-right:6px">https://gbatemp.net/styles/gbatemp/ranks/cross.png</span>
-You may be banned for several reasons:
+A user can be permanently Banned from the site for various reasons:<br style="clear:left" />
-* If you keep breaking the rules after a temporary suspension.
+* Repeatedly breaking the rules, even after a temporary suspension.
-* If you spam the board
+* Posting spam - This will cause moderators to immedialy nuke the user's content, and set a permanent ban.
-* If you consider or commit ill-intended actions against GBAtemp or its members
+* By considering or committing ill-intended actions against GBAtemp or its members.
-* By mistake! If you are unfortunately in the same IP range as a spam bot. In that case, contact one of the [[Current Staff members|Administrators]].
+* By mistake! It is possible that your IP is similar to that of a known spammer or banned user. In such cases, you may [[gbatemp:misc/contact|contact]] site support to get your account unbanned.
 * For mysterious reasons that the [[Current Staff members|Staff]] wishes to keep confidential!
 Keep this in mind: ''Having access to a forum is not a right, it is a privilege''.
-===Other===
+== Unregistered ==
 ==== <span style="font-weight:normal;">''Guests''</span> ====
-''Guests'' isn't a member group, it is actually the fact not to have any member group at all.<br>
+''Guests'' is not a member group, it is actually the fact of not having any member group at all! Simple visitors who are not logged in are considered as ''Guests''. Since GBAtemp is a community, and values its members above all, ''Guests'' are not able to post messages, and can not view some forums. In order to improve performance, they may also be served cached pages, with occasionally slightly outdated content.
-Simple visitors who are not logged in are considered as ''Guests''. Since GBAtemp is a community, and values its members above all, the ''Guests'' are not authorized to post messages, and can't view some forums.
 [[Category:GBAtemp.net]]