# What's in a name?



## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

I notice that under the screen names there seem to be different categories like:
Expat Newbie
Expat Member
Active Expat
and Senior Expat.....

What makes the difference, number of posts, length of membership, likes ?

P.S. And what is Rep Power?


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

chicois8 said:


> I notice that under the screen names there seem to be different categories like:
> Expat Newbie
> Expat Member
> Active Expat
> ...


Rep Power was well answered by Bevdeforges who is a moderator. Just do a search for "rep power" and you will find the post. Rep power is given by other members by hitting the "Thanks" button in the upper right hand corner of the message screen. (You can always try it by hitting "Thanks" for this post and see what happens.) 

The other categories are by way of number of posts. It is also represented by the number of stars one has under their name or "handle".

Hope this helps.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

chicois8 said:


> I notice that under the screen names there seem to be different categories like:
> Expat Newbie
> Expat Member
> Active Expat
> and Senior Expat.....


A moderator can tell you for sure but in most forum scripts they change automatically depending on the number of minimum posts for each title, minimum posts being user definable by administrators, as are the titles themselves.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

ElPaso2012 said:


> A moderator can tell you for sure but in most forum scripts they change automatically depending on the number of minimum posts for each title, minimum posts being user definable by administrators, as are the titles themselves.


ElPaso2012,

There have been a number of discussions of this topic. One lengthy one (11 pages) was in answer to a question by mickisue back on March 19, 2012, namely, "What are the green squares?" It included information on the rep power, which is on the upper right hand corner of each post and the green squares are just below that. It was a fairly comprehensive discussion that might be of interest to anyone wondering about the rating system used on this forum.

Of course the stars under a person's handle is directly tied to the number of posts they have and the description of "newbie, active expat, etc." changes with the number of posts. The rep power is more interesting as you will see from that previous discussion.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Detailman said:


> ElPaso2012,
> 
> There have been a number of discussions of this topic. One lengthy one (11 pages) was in answer to a question by mickisue back on March 19, 2012, namely, "What are the green squares?" It included information on the rep power, which is on the upper right hand corner of each post and the green squares are just below that. It was a fairly comprehensive discussion that might be of interest to anyone wondering about the rating system used on this forum.
> 
> Of course the stars under a person's handle is directly tied to the number of posts they have and the description of "newbie, active expat, etc." changes with the number of posts. The rep power is more interesting as you will see from that previous discussion.


Thanks Detailman, but the subject of Rep Power is not of great interest to me beyond the explanation you provided above. Providing a link to the actual post you refer to would no doubt be of a great benefit to those who do want to know more about Rep Power.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

I went back to page 79 and no thread shows up on March 19th.2012 about this subject......


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

chicois8 said:


> I went back to page 79 and no thread shows up on March 19th.2012 about this subject......


If you look at the top of the page you will see a "search" function. It is the sixth item in a list of 8. Click on search and type in "green squares" and click on "thread" versus "post". 


When I do that I find the thread "What are the green squares" as the third item on a long list of threads.

Let me know if that works for you. Thanks.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

ElPaso2012 said:


> Thanks Detailman, but the subject of Rep Power is not of great interest to me beyond the explanation you provided above. Providing a link to the actual post you refer to would no doubt be of a great benefit to those who do want to know more about Rep Power.


ElPaso2012,

I am afraid I don't know how to provide a link to a previous post. I know how to provide a post to an internet site, article, etc. but not to previous posts. If there is a way to do this I would be happy to know how.

In the meantime my recent previous post explained how to find that post with the search function.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Detailman said:


> ElPaso2012,
> 
> I am afraid I don't know how to provide a link to a previous post. I know how to provide a post to an internet site, article, etc. but not to previous posts. If there is a way to do this I would be happy to know how.
> 
> In the meantime my recent previous post explained how to find that post with the search function.


You do it the same way you do the internet articles on other sites. You get the page on the screen and copy the url in the address box of your browser. Then you paste it in as the url of the link in your post. This post for instance can be linked like this. 

But, as I just discovered, you have to copy the url *before* pressing the Quick Reply button. 

But it's no big deal. You were kind enough to point it out and give directions in search. Just thought you might like to know.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

ElPaso2012 said:


> You do it the same way you do the internet articles on other sites. You get the page on the screen and copy the url in the address box of your browser. Then you paste it in as the url of the link in your post. This post for instance can be linked like this.
> 
> But, as I just discovered, you have to copy the url *before* pressing the Quick Reply button.
> 
> But it's no big deal. You were kind enough to point it out and give directions in search. Just thought you might like to know.


I really appreciate your taking the time to post the answer. Thank you. I never realized that it could be done the same way as an internet article. Much better than trying to describe how to find it in the archives, etc. but that still works (for some).

As a test I will now include (hopefully) the link right now:

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/me...-living-mexico/106564-what-green-squares.html


Once I close the quick reply I will try it and if it works :cheer2: to ElPaso2012


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

ElPaso2012 said:


> You do it the same way you do the internet articles on other sites. You get the page on the screen and copy the url in the address box of your browser. Then you paste it in as the url of the link in your post. This post for instance can be linked like this.
> 
> But, as I just discovered, you have to copy the url *before* pressing the Quick Reply button.
> 
> But it's no big deal. You were kind enough to point it out and give directions in search. Just thought you might like to know.


IT WORKED!! FANTASTIC!! Another thing learned on this forum! I have found it so helpful. Note your rep power.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Detailman said:


> I really appreciate your taking the time to post the answer. Thank you. I never realized that it could be done the same way as an internet article. Much better than trying to describe how to find it in the archives, etc. but that still works (for some).
> 
> As a test I will now include (hopefully) the link right now:
> 
> ...


Way to go!


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Detailman said:


> IT WORKED!! FANTASTIC!! Another thing learned on this forum! I have found it so helpful. Note your rep power.


Thanks, I guess...  

It goes up a bit more than I might have thought.


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

Rep power--an intriguing mystery to me, when I first started posting here--is affected both by the number of thanks, and by the rep of the person who gives the thanks. As Detailman has high rep power, yours goes up more for his saying thanks.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

mickisue1 said:


> Rep power--an intriguing mystery to me, when I first started posting here--is affected both by the number of thanks, and by the rep of the person who gives the thanks. As Detailman has high rep power, yours goes up more for his saying thanks.


Ah, it's evaluated in a similar way to how the Googlebot uses links from other websites and social signals to determine who appears on the first page of the search results for hot keywords. A lot of incoming links to your site is nice, but just one from an authority site is given a lot more weight, sometimes worth as much as all the others combined. In the case more rep points are awarded if the person giving the thanks has a high rep power. I'm actually not surprised when as a technologist who has evaluated a lot of forum scripts I consider vBulletin to be the best. Simple Machines, a close runner up, also has a great forum script in which this feature is called Karma. But I've never really had any inclination to activate it before now. 

I'm glad this came up. 

Thanks right back at 'ya, Detailman.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

ElPaso2012 said:


> Ah, it's evaluated in a similar way to how the Googlebot uses links from other websites and social signals to determine who appears on the first page of the search results for hot keywords. A lot of incoming links to your site is nice, but just one from an authority site is given a lot more weight, sometimes worth as much as all the others combined. In the case more rep points are awarded if the person giving the thanks has a high rep power. I'm actually not surprised when as a technologist who has evaluated a lot of forum scripts I consider vBulletin to be the best. Simple Machines, a close runner up, also has a great forum script in which this feature is called Karma. But I've never really had any inclination to activate it before now.
> 
> I'm glad this came up.
> 
> Thanks right back at 'ya, Detailman.


You're welcome. Keep posting. This forum is a well used one and the wide variety of posters and backgrounds give it interest and validity!


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