Reference Ranks and Awards

[Nilla]

You might have seen some of our members with coloured title bars - such as "Amethyst Member", "Golden member", and so on. Or, you might have seen some members with trophies, medals, and ribbons underneath their signature. But, what do these mean - and how do you get them?

Let's start with the ranks and title bars. These are very simple; they're based on post count:

Amethyst Members: 500 posts


Bronze Members: 1,000 posts


Silver Members: 2,000 posts


Ruby Members: 3,500 posts


Golden Members: 5,000 posts


Diamond Members: 10,000 posts


Platinum Members: 20,000 posts



In addition to cool member bars, Amethyst Members and above may apply for access to a special 'Private Lounge', where they can talk about more personal matters that they don't want to share with the rest of the world (for more information, please see this topic). Other than that, there are no special privileges associated with any of these ranks - and they're just a bit of fun .

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Now, on to the awards. These are given out for outstanding achievements within specific fields, especially those which contribute to the forums and the community. There are quite a lot of them - and so, I'll list them all here:

Special Contributions trophies

Special Contributions trophies are the highest level of award, given out to those who contribute measurably to the community in specific areas, beyond simply being active. These trophies are colour-coded according to the nature of the contribution, as follows:

 Blue Trophy - For suggesting good ideas which are implemented;
 Green trophy - For bringing new members into the community, or bringing back older ones;
 Pink trophy - For making quality themes, graphics, or artwork, which is used on the forum;
 Red Trophy - For contributing to the off-forum parts of the TCH community (e.g. the Discord chat).  

These used to be handed out by the staff, as and when they thought it was appropriate. However, this system has now changed: we have quarterly "award polls" every January, April, July and October, in which you get to nominate the candidates. So if you see somebody contributing in any of these areas, let us know when the awards season comes around!

Forum Contributions trophies

Forum Contributions trophies are the second-highest level of award, given out to those who make outstanding contributions within a particular forum. This could involve starting a large number of relevant topics, or making in-depth and high-quality posts on the subject. There are ten trophies, each representing a different part of the board:

 Golden Paintbrush - Community Showcase;
 Golden Microscope - Science and Nature;
 Golden Mouse - Technology and Computers;
 Golden Cross - Health and Lifestyle;
 Golden Crown - History and Civilizations;
 Golden World - Current Events and Politics;
 Golden Question Mark - Abstract Ideas and General Knowledge;
 Golden Masks - Entertainment;
 Golden Boot - Sports and Physical Activities;
 Golden Controller - The Gaming Table.  

As with the Special Contributions trophies, these used to be handed out by the staff. However, they're now handed out in the quarterly polls, as explained above.

Staff trophies

Staff trophies are awarded for current or former service as a staff member on The Coffee House or an associated forum. For more information on the positions which each staff member has held, please see the Award Gallery.

Golden Coffee Mug - For staff service on The Coffee House.
Golden Rook - For former staff service on the Chess Resources Forum. 

Contest Ribbons

Contest Ribbons are awarded by contest leaders for outstanding performances in their contests, above and beyond what is normally required to win. These ribbons are colour-coded according to the category of the contest, as follows:

 blue for word games (like 20 Questions, Rebus, and Hangman);
 orange for Mad Libs and its derivatives;
 pink for creative contests (like art and writing);
 red for prediction contests (e.g. sports results);
 white for image guessing contests and their derivatives (e.g. "Guess the Cropped Image");
 yellow for caption contests and their derivatives;
 green for any other contests not covered by this.

For more information (including suggested criteria for winning the ribbons), please see the Contest Reference and Recommendations thread.

Medals

Medals are given out for miscellaneous achievements which do not fall under any of the above categories. There are currently two such awards:

 Red for Member of the Year, as voted on by the membership (Gold: 1st place; Silver: 2nd place; Bronze: 3rd place)
 Green for Newcomer of the Year, as voted on by the membership (Gold: 1st place; Silver: 2nd place; Bronze: 3rd place)
 Pink for Arcade Medals, for achieving high scores in the (now-discontinued) arcade. For more details, please see this topic.
 Blue for Donor's Medals, for donating Coffee Credits to the Coffee Credit Bank. For more information, please see this topic. 

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If you have any questions about the ranks or awards, then you're welcome to ask about them here. Otherwise, good luck earning them !

[Kyng]

Also, a note on why HeroineDark has a Golden Member rank, despite not having 5000 posts: she achieved that rank when the requirements were lower, and has grandfather rights to continue using it. 

(In fact, she earned the rank back on CRF before TCH even existed, and it got carried over to the old TCH....that's how far back we're talking here !)

[Eremurus]

It's obviously not automatic. :V

[Gaomon274]

Going to assume it's a glitch with the MyBB permissions.

Congrats on being the first to get a rank up on the new system and finding the glitch.

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Hm, maybe it's delayed or something.
Seems to work now.

[Kyng]

It seems like MyBB has an automated process to handle the promotions, which runs every 20 minutes. 

So, even if it's not completely automatic like it was on ZB, you won't have to wait long .

[GrieferLord]

neat, guess i need to post a lot more then huh?

[Nakago]

Yay, I have a goal.

[Eremurus]

Gonna add ranks after platinum?

[Gaomon274]

Probably not much of a need to right now.
Only three people qualify for platinum as it is and one of them is inactive.

[Kyng]

What if there are secret ones ?