ranks

[Annemieke]

When I saw people called 'master' on this forum, I was wondering why I disliked that so much. And I wondered what I would like to be called: a traveller.
Aren't we all travellers? And who will judge which one is furthest on the path? And is that by a relative or an objective standard?
Then I read the explanation: if you have made a certain number of posts, you automatically get names like seeker, knower!, guide etc.
That's fair enough, but it still doesn't make me happy.
PS would it be boring to be a knower?

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

"would it be boring to be a knower? "
God knows.

that's a pun of sorts.
i figure that there's no more excited figure than God.

[Annemieke]

Oh for Godssake. Trying to post a smilie in here, being waylaid by all sorts of officious rubbish. Not enough posts. Message too short. Bah!

[Jyotir]

Hi Annemeike,

Agreeing in principle, and never liked it much for the same reasons.

The post count is sufficient in its own right to indicate level of activity - obviously. The further designations according to post count can be somewhat patronizing, confusing, or misleading for some members - even if cute for others - including and especially the 'Master' designation (if taken literally), which imo tends to (ironically) violate, if not the letter, then the spirit of the forum rule about Mentors and Teachers, by implying that some members are 'masters', thereby setting-up an expectation for possible unfortunate incidents via PM for new, naïve and vulnerable members, some of whom may be novice and inexperienced, but also like many, come here in some urgent real crisis, desperately looking to be guided by someone else (often, the very definition of vulnerable). And who better than a 'Master'?

I can say this with confidence because having been here for a few years, have actually seen a number of cases where completely naïve people (who should be and are claimed to be 'protected' by the forum rules) - actually thought that the 'master' designation meant that the members so designated are really spiritual 'masters', being that this is a spiritually oriented forum, and, that there are forums on the internet where such designations do carry the weight of implied, presumed or proclaimed authentication -- and these new members did express this confusion in their posts, including in this very 'Forum Help' sub-forum.

I know, right?...Wow!
Who would have thought this perception possible?
But there are naïve people. And examples extant which reinforce the misguided notion, even if questionable or suspect - which is precisely the caution.

This is perhaps where the forum can resemble a religion where certain aspects of operation become sacrosanct and cannot be changed because they were as such in the era of, or even created by 'our founder'.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking that designations assigned by post count could somehow be more democratic or neutral and without the confusing (for some) connotations associated with the very context the forum represents.

Ok, rant over. Jmo, and realizing too, that for many or most, this is a trivial, 'so what' issue, of no real consequence, and simply part of the circus that makes life interesting. All well and good.


~ J

[Annemieke]

Methinks that those who call themselves 'master', or 'knower', are the naive ones.
The newbies I'd call 'innocents' ....

PS by the way, my answer above was only to do with the formalities trying to copy in a smilie!
"Not enough posts" was what the computer said when I wanted to copy in a smilie, which was apparently considered a website.
And "Message too short", well, the computer must have thought I wasn't very loquacious .......

[Lynn]

Hello Members

The "Ranks" were set up by the SF founder Matt and we respect them.

Here is a breakdown of how they work.




Your Rank Explained
Your rank corresponds to how many posts you've made. Here is a complete table showing the number of posts that correspond to each rank.

0 Posts Newbie
25 Posts Seeker
50 Posts Pathfinder
100 Posts Knower
250 Posts Experiencer
500 Posts Guide
750 Posts Ascender
1000 Posts Master

Spiritual Forums Staff

Orange - Trial Moderator
Green - Moderator
Blue - Super Moderator
Purple - Administrator

[bees]

FWIW (not much )

I also agree that some people coming to a Spiritual Forum might think that Master means something (when it does not, only volume of posts)

Thanks for allowing me the voice to speak this.