Taking a poll from the community about Custom Popularity again. Where instead of the canned messages you'd be able to type whatever you wanted.

Please note that this was often the source of butthurt feelings and abuse. Which is why we now have the canned messages. But through the years plenty of members are showing the desire to return to the old ways longing to be an asshole in popularity.

If I revert the Popularity system please note that rules and policy will change and abuse will be dealt with harshly including account closure. Whereas today, there is basically no such thing as abuse and Staff and I do nearly-zero moderation.

I have decided the each month the owner of the group with the highest Group Prestige will win the Shining Knight award .

So far only 2 were granted so this is currently a very rare award.

I will at this time limit it to one grant per owner. First one will be granted first week of May based on the April winning group.

Thank you.

https://hackforums.net/showgroups.php

The Show Groups page now has a Group Prestige score. Some of you might remember that HF had a Prestige score on accounts which was a formula that gave out a score. The metric was fun and I kept it on HF for a long time. It didn't really serve much function. Recently came up with a twist on that concept which I hope might serve to have better function. The group Prestige is also a formula using different metrics like posts, threads, and well..other stuff too. The formula is a secret recipe and I will not reveal.

How is the Group Prestige scored? Well first, in order for any score to be added to the group you can't just be in the group, it has to be your set Display group.

Now you may ask what does the Group Prestige score mean? Well, it means that the group has activity on HF.

To make this functional, I have decided each month that the most Prestigious group will get a perk. That might be a custom award to grant, scratchcards, or maybe additional Pops for the month. I will not be handing out any prizes for March since we're 2 weeks in and I want to give this time to hash out. So beginning in April and then the winning group will be who has the highest score May 1st (first of each month) from the run task (3am task). The task to update the score is once per day so it will be nearly impossible to figure out how I calculate the score.

This came to me a few weeks ago. I got the code up to log the actions about a week ago and now just implemented the task and the Showgroups to display it.

The goal is to get the groups more active on the site and reward them for doing so. Hope you like this. Any questions or feedback?

Oh, if your group doesn't have at least 50 Prestige you're at "Too Low". And after each winning group is announced the score will be reset. It's not going to be a running total.

I'm a little excited to see how this one plays out.

Enjoy.

That's our current profile fields. Skype was just shutdown forever. So that's going to be removed. Do I replace it with something else? Any recommendations?

Some recent events are now forcing me to officially implement some policy changes.

This was previous policy: https://hackforums.net/misc.php?action=help&hid=35
7. Refusing to use the HF Contract system with a member you want to deal with.

Updated:
7. Anyone refusing to use HF Contracts will be closed.
8. Anyone refusing to use a Middle-man in HF Contracts will be closed. MM has to be paid by the party requesting it.
9. All off-site deals must still use an HF Contract, if not, you will be closed.
10. If a pattern of avoiding Contracts is apparent, you will be closed.

Basically it's time to go back to previous policy about proactively encouraging on-site deals and the use of HF Contracts. Why? Because avoiding Contracts is exactly how scammers get victims. I nearly never hear complaints about deals when an HF Contract is used and with the Contract it's more clear about who is in the wrong on the deal. While I know many feel the Contract system is just an additional step that's an annoyance, I have to weigh the cost of scams to the reputation of the site.

Recently had a contact about someone rather upset and accusing a handful of members of being involved in a scammer ring. I'm accused of helping them of course if I do nothing short of closing their accounts. But how can I justify that under policy based on some random member making a vocal complaint? This is why we have policies, they aren't just guidelines for members, they are guidelines for myself and Staff too. Without policy this place would be chaos. I don't want scammers on the site. I don't want members being scammed. Scams though are always a two-way street, the scammer and the victim. I don't understand why HF gets the blame of an off-site scam but we do. They don't contact the admins of Discord or Telegram, they contact me.

Another issue is false accusations. This would not be the first time that one or more members have a vendetta and use the scammer accusation attempting to get their account closed. That's why I need an HF Contract. I have no proof that two parties were in a deal without them. And current policy very clear that we won't get involved in Deal Disputes without a Valid Active HF Contract.

If you think my policies are overly harsh keep in mind we literally have threat-actors actively finding victims on HF and I'm pretty sure BKRandy and Blunt are on the site right now under reputable accounts just waiting for a Big Score. I'm trying to protect all members.

Stop being pricks and use HF Contracts if you're a buyer and sellers, if you don't accept a Contract, you will be CLOSED.

Thank you.