Aurora: Create and edit badge sets and badges
In Aurora communities, admins can categorize a group of related badges into a badge set. These can either progress in difficulty (such as an increasing number of likes received) or relate in another way (such as likes received, accepted solutions, and posted content rolling up into one overall achievement). After creating a badge set, admins can add badges to it. As members earn badges in a set, they can view which badges they’ve earned, and if designated by an admin, which badges they have yet to earn. Create a badge set Badge sets enable you to group your related badges together. You can also set which badge sets you want to feature on the member profile, which is useful if you have a large number of badge sets. To create a badge set: Go to Settings > Users > Badges. Click Add Set. On the Add Set window, enter a Name for the set. Click Add Set. Add badges to the set as needed. Reorder badges using the drag and drop functionality. (Optional) To feature a particular badge set on member profiles, go to the main Badges page and click the Feature (star) icon. The most recently achieved badge earned within this set is shown. Note: You can feature 5 badge sets at one time. Reorder badge sets using the drag and drop functionality. If you do not feature any badge sets, the order of the badge sets determines the badges that appear on the member profile. The most recently earned badge in up to 5 badge sets appears. Create a badge When you create a badge, it belongs to a set of related badges. Using the Criteria field, you determine the requirements needed to earn the badge. To create a badge: Go to Settings > Users > Badges. Click the name of the set where you want to add the badge or create a new badge set. Click Add Badge. On the Add Badge window, enter the Name of the badge. (Optional) Enter a Description for the badge. Upload an Icon for the badge. SVG or PNG format is required. For best results, use a square image with 240px minimum dimensions. To begin building rules for this badge, in the Criteria drop-down menu, select a criterion: Requirement builder: To create requirements guided by predefined metrics, select an option other than Roles or Advanced Editor. Then, when another field, such as Number of times, appears, enter a value. For example, to award members who receive 25 likes, in the Criteria menu, select Likes received, and enter 25 as the Number of times. Roles: To award this badge to members with specific roles, search for the applicable role and select it from the list. Advanced Editor: Enter the formula you want to use for the badge. Note: You cannot edit badge Criteria after saving the badge. Select the Hide from member profile until earned checkbox to hide the badge from member profiles until it is earned. If you do not select this checkbox, members can view this badge in gray until it is earned, when it will gain color. (Optional) To download a CSV file of all members who have been awarded this badge, click Download CSV on the Edit Badge window. Click Add Badge. Edit an existing badge set After you’ve created a badge set, there may be circumstances in which you want to manage the badges that are included within it or change the name of the set. Go to Settings > Users > Badges. Expand the badge set you want to edit by clicking its name. Complete the following as needed: To manage the set name, click Edit Set and edit the Name field. To add more badges to the set, click Add Badge. To move a badge from one set to another, ensure that the set to which you want to move it is also expanded, and then drag and drop the badge to the desired location in the destination badge set. To delete a badge from the set and from your community, hover your cursor over the row of the badge you want to delete, open the Options menu, and click Delete. Edit an existing badge After a badge has been added, the Criteria field and related values cannot be modified. If you need to manage the criteria for a badge, you must delete the badge and recreate it with the new criteria. Otherwise, you can edit the Name, Description, and Icon and change your selection for the Hide from member profile until earned checkbox. To manage these settings: Go to Settings > Users > Badges. Click the badge set name to expand the badge set containing the badge you want to edit. Hover your cursor over the row of the badge you want to edit and open the Options menu. Click Edit. Change settings as desired. (Optional) To download a CSV file of all members who have been awarded this badge, click Download CSV. Click Save Changes. Related topics: About Badges and Badge Sets About badge rules and supported badge criteria Feature badge sets on the member profile Delete badge sets and badges Example badge sets and badges View badges from the member profileAbout Aurora Badges and Badge Sets
A badge is a type of visual reward that community members can earn for completing specific community actions or for achieving important community milestones. They serve as a great way to encourage members to use different community features and spend more time engaging with the community. You can create badges that encourage the specific behaviors that you want to instill in your members. When participation slows, they are a great tool to re-engage members. Note: The default maximum number of badges is set to 200. If you require more badges in the future, open a Support ticket. In Aurora, badge sets are groups of related badges. These can be designed to reflect linear progression in a particular achievement—for example, a badge set titled “Likes” could have badges in it that reflect a member receiving 10 likes, 20 likes, 50 likes, 100 likes, and so on. But badges in a set could also be related in a different way that does not require a progression, such as in a badge set called “Helping Hand,” in which there is a badge for creating a post, a badge for replying to a post, a badge for receiving a like, and a badge for having an accepted solution. When members earn badges, their profile is updated to reflect these accomplishments for everyone to see. Each badge has its own custom image, making it instantly recognizable in the community. An admin can choose to upload the same or a different image for each badge in a set. Each badge has its own event-based requirements that are calculated each time a member takes an action or has actions taken on their content or their profile. Each achievement has a unique trigger, name, description, and image associated with it. The top of the Member Profile shows the most recently earned badge in up to 5 different badge sets. If an admin has chosen to feature any badge sets, those sets are prioritized. Click View All Badges to see a complete list of earned badges. Depending on admin configuration, members may also see unearned badges shown in gray.When the member discovers new achievements, those badges gain color to show that they’ve been reached. Below the set, an indicator is displayed for how many badges in that set have been unlocked. If no badges in that set have been unlocked, “Locked” appears instead. Related topics: Create badge sets and badges About badge rules and supported badge criteria Feature badge sets on the member profile Delete badge sets and badges Example badge sets and badges View badges from the member profileAurora: Member metrics for ranking formulas
You can include any per-member metrics in your ranking formulas. However, you cannot use per-post metrics or metrics that relate to general areas of the community, like groups. You can include any of the following member metrics as variables in your ranking formulas. Note: This is not a complete list but rather a list of the more common member metrics that you may consider using in your formulas. Accepted solutions accepted_solutions The member’s total number of accepted solutions. This number includes any accepted solutions that might have been revoked. See also net_accepted_solutions. net_accepted_solutions The member’s total number of solutions that were accepted during a period minus those that were revoked during the same period. net_other_solved_accepted_solutions The member’s total accepted solutions to someone else’s question minus those that were revoked during the same period. net_self_solved_accepted_solutions The member’s total accepted solutions to the member’s own questions minus those that were revoked. author_accepted_solutions The total number of solutions accepted by the author. author_revoked_solutions The total number of solutions that were revoked by the question's author. mod_accepted_solutions The total number of posts written by any member that were marked by a moderator as solutions. You can view this metric for specific moderators or for all moderators. mod_revoked_solutions The number of times a moderator has revoked an accepted solution. net_solved_threads The number of solved discussions started by a member minus the number of solved discussions started by the same member or that were revoked. This is the net change in the number of solved discussions started by this member. net_solved_threads_to_net_threads ratio The number of net solved discussions divided by the number of net discussions. Note: This ratio is not cumulative; it covers activity only during the period selected. The longer the period, the more useful this metric is likely to be. solution_revoked_threads The number of times solutions written by any member were later revoked. solutions_marked The number of times the member has marked a post as a solution. solutions_unmarked The number of times the member has revoked a post marked as a solution. solved_threads The number of times discussions written by any member have been marked as solved. other_solved_accepted_solutions The member’s total number of solutions to someone else’s questions that were accepted by anyone in the community. other_solved_revoked_solutions The member’s total number of solutions to someone else’s question that were revoked. revoked_solutions The member’s total number of accepted solutions that were revoked. self_solved_accepted_solutions The member’s total number of solutions to the member’s own questions that were accepted by anyone in the community. self_solved_revoked_solutions The member’s total number of solutions to the member’s own questions that were revoked. Blog activity blog_page_views The number of times a member has viewed blog-related pages. blog_article_views The number of times a member has viewed blog articles. blog_articles The number of articles a member has posted to blogs. blog_comments The number of comments that a member has posted to blogs. General community activity logins The number of times the member has signed in to the community. minutes_online The total number of minutes the member has been logged in to the community. video_upload_complete_count The number of videos a member has successfully uploaded to the community. image_upload_count The total number of images a member has uploaded to the community regardless of their size. Content metrics posts The total number of discussion posts—both new discussions and replies—the member has posted. This includes any posts that have been deleted. You may want to calculate the net number of posts by subtracting deleted posts. See also deleted_posts. overall_posts The overall number of posts across all types of content (forums, blogs, etc.) Metric results for custom date ranges reflect the time zone defined in your profile. Administrators who have set a different time zone in their profile see different metrics results for these custom date ranges. replies The number of replies to content the member has posted. This includes any replies that have been deleted. You may want to calculate the net number of replies by subtracting deleted replies. threads The total number of new discussions the member has started. This includes any discussions that have been deleted. You may want to calculate the net number of discussions by subtracting deleted ones. totalposts_per_thread The total number of posts a member posted divided by the number of discussions the member started during the same time interval. deleted_posts The number of the member’s posts that have been deleted. deleted_threads The number of discussions the member has started that were also deleted. net_contributed_posts The number of contributed or linked posts minus the number of contributed or linked posts removed. Tagging activity tagging_avg_tags_per_message The average number of tags the member has applied across all posts. tagging_tag_count The total number of tags the member has applied. KB activity published_tkb_articles The number of KB articles a member has published. tkb_articles The number of KB articles a member has started. tkb_comments The number of comments a member has posted to a KB. nominated_messages The number of posts that a member has made that have been nominated to be included in a KB. Viewing metrics board_views The number of times a member viewed the overview page for a forum. message_views The number of posts the member has viewed. page_views The number of community pages the member has viewed. Likes kudos_events_received The number of times this author's posts have received Likes. kudos_events_received_revoked The number of times this author's Likes have been revoked. net_kudos_events_received The number of times this author's posts have received Likes minus the number of times this author's Likes have been revoked. kudos_weight_received The sum of the Likes weight for this author's posts that have received Likes. kudos_weight_revoked The sum of the Likes weight for this author's posts that have had Likes revoked. kudos_events_given The number of times this member gave Likes. kudos_events_given_revoked The number of times Likes given by this member were revoked. net_kudos_events_given The number of times this member gave Likes minus the times Likes given by this member were revoked. kudos_weight_given The sum of the Likes weight for Likes this member gave. net_kudos_weight_given The sum of Likes given minus the sum of Likes that were revoked. Likes here are measured by the net Likes weight for this member. net_kudos_weight_received The sum of Likes this author received minus the sum of Likes that were revoked. Likes here are measured by the net Likes weight for this member. In addition to the member metrics, you can add these special variables in your ranking formulas. contributionScore Overall knowledge base contribution score. registrationAge The number of minutes since the member registered in the community. userId The numeric ID associated with a member account. userInfo Include a custom field that is present on your user entity. Related topics: About member Ranks and ranking formulas Create a rank Create a ranking formulaAurora: About member Ranks and ranking formulas
Most online communities use a series of ranks to recognize and reward community members. When they first join a community, members typically receive a “newbie” rank. As members spend time creating and engaging with content in the community, they can advance in rank. Rank titles are visible on community member’s profiles as well as the Account menu. The criteria required for achieving ranks, however, are not visible to non-admins. About Ranks A rank is essentially the set of criteria a member must meet and the rewards the member receives as a result. The criteria for a rank typically measure a member's activity in the community over time. For higher ranks, you may want to include criteria that measure the quality of community contributions in the form of number of solutions accepted or average ratings. The rewards for a rank tend to be increased recognition in the form of special icons or styling for the member’s username and access to privileges that are otherwise restricted. Ranks should be organized in order of how difficult they are to achieve. The most difficult ranks to achieve should be displayed at the top of the ranking structure on the Ranks page and have lower numbers (shown to the left of the rank) associated with them. The higher the rank level number is, the easier that rank is to achieve and the lower it is shown in the ranking structure. For instance, 0 is the lowest rank level number in your ranking structure, but it is the hardest rank to achieve. When creating your ranks, keep this hierarchy in mind—that is, don’t put ranks in a random order or organize them alphabetically. If you don’t organize them by difficulty of achievement, they will not be awarded appropriately across the community. Ranks are calculated when a member signs in to the community or shortly after (about 15 minutes) the member has met the criteria for the rank. Note: A member can hold only one rank at a time. The most common events that affect a member's rank are: Number of Tags applied to content Registration age Minutes online Number of sign-ins Number of page views Number of posts created Accepted Solutions granted Likes received Likes given Role required (e.g., the “Moderator” role is required for the “Moderator” rank) You can also create your own ranking formula, which can include a lot more. When you first launch your community, you have a set of default ranks already created. However, you may want to add more lower-level ranks to enable members to progress more quickly and get instant reinforcement. As your community matures, you may want to add higher-level ranks that are more difficult to achieve. About ranking formulas A ranking formula is a Boolean expression composed of values for a subset of the member metrics in the system plus a variety of operators (such as and, or, not, less than, more than). If the Boolean expression equals true (this means the member meets the criteria), the member receives the rank. The operator you choose makes a big difference in the results produced by a formula. For example, you might require members to have more than 200 page views and no fewer than 20 posts. Or, you might require members to have at least 20 posts or more than 200 page views. In the first example, the member must meet both criteria before attaining the rank. In the second example, the member can achieve the rank by meeting either criterion. When you define a rank using the predefined metrics, we add an implicit “AND,” which means that members must meet all of the criteria before receiving the rank (this is the most common way to combine multiple criteria). Related topics: Create a rank Create a ranking formula About default community ranks
