Who are the Forum "Experts" ?

[#1]

Who are the Forum "Experts", and how do you become one ?

Is this a not yet implemented equivalent of the old forum "Bright Sparks" ?

I discovered the existence of "Experts" by clicking on the box which says -

"Click here to see who gave thanks to this post."

Under the "All Users" tab, is the list of 'thankers' (I think that is the spelling )

 ... but choosing the "Experts" tab, it says "There are no users to display" -

So if that list of 'thankers' in "All Users" aren't the forum experts, then I don't know who is ! 

[#2]

There aren't any, and I wouldn't want to be called one either, nor did the others as I recall.

[#3 · Accepted solution]

The expert rank is a bit like the regular ranks but more specific to a board or category. This is an excerpt from the documentation that explains what it is ...

Category experts are members who have met criteria you define in specific parts of the community. For example, you might have experts in certain products or product lines. The criteria for achieving a category expert rank can include a combination of kudos, answers, and solutions in a category or even in a single board or Q&A.

Users who achieve category expert ranks:

• Are listed in a Top Category Experts leaderboard that appears in any area where the category expert feature is turned on.
• Can display the additional expert rank in their profiles and on posts, and if they achieve expert rank in more than one area, they can choose which rank to display.
• Automatically get the Category Expert role, which you can configure with additional permissionsor any other roles that you have associated with category expert ranks.

The Category Experts feature is similar to the community rank system, but on a more granular level. Like community-wide ranks, category expert ranks enable you to identify the experts in a specific area, provide them with recognition for their contributions, motivate them to continue to contribute, and empower them to assist with community management in their preferred areas. 

You can activate category expert ranks at any category or board level in the community, excluding the top level of the community. Recognition is an important factor in the success of category expert ranks—both to encourage participation and to reassure community members and visitors that the posts they are reading are trustworthy.

You can feature category experts prominently in board and category pages by including the Category Experts leaderboards as well as adding icons to category expert ranks that distinguish category experts from other users.

[#4]

So the Lithium concept and principles of "Experts" is reasonably close to what we knew as "Bright Sparks".

@jaread83 - Would it be much effort to rename all instances of "Experts" and replace them with "Bright Sparks" ?

@jaread83 - could you tell us the URL of the document you referenced in your previous reply, as there are quite a few features of this new forum (particularly in the settings) which are not immediately obvious as to what they do,  but if you could point us to the official documentation then I'm sure many of us will be able to make fuller use of the more obscure or unfamiliar features.

[#5]

Currently on mobile so forgive the shortness of my message. I am unsure if I can link to the documentation on the lithium community as I have 'customer' access so I can get to the documentation and developer network.
In terms of renaming 'experts' I don't see any problems with doing that but I'd need to test and try it out on staging with the users there and talk to the community team. I don't think that would be an issue tho

[#6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

.... there are quite a few features of this new forum (particularly in the settings) which are not immediately obvious as to what they do ........

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What do your want to know? Played with most of them, so can probably help.
I'm hoping in due course the FAQ will be significantly added to, I did comment here briefly.

[#7]

I will answer that in a new topic, or PM you directly, otherwise THIS thread will go wildly off topic !

[#8]

I would far prefer to read some original source documentation if it is possible.  An FAQ is only ever an interpretation after customisation and obfuscation.

M

[#9]

Based on experience with documentation of similar type mentioned elsewhere I think the document @jaread83 quoted will be accessible only to staff of Lithium customers (ISPs).

Unfortunately that excludes ourselves .

[#10]

@MauriceC The FAQ/Help should be how to do things round here, it shouldn't be directly related to stuff that will include admin setttings and the like for the system. That could lead to abuse by some individuals intent on causing problems.

[#11]

The excerpt of text I took from the documentation was the most relevant to what was being asked. The rest of the article was more to do with admin settings and how to configure it so I didn't copy any of that across.

[#12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So the Lithium concept and principles of "Experts" is reasonably close to what we knew as "Bright Sparks".

Absolutely not!  Bright Sparks were peer acknowledged contributors identified by the mods and PlusNET admin staff as individuals offering consistently valued and useful response to customer queries.

During testing we asked that this approach be retained; we ended up with CV encompassing BSs, Legends and those invited into the trial.

[#13]

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@Townman wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

So the Lithium concept and principles of "Experts" is reasonably close to what we knew as "Bright Sparks".

Absolutely not!  Bright Sparks were peer acknowledged contributors identified by the mods and PlusNET admin staff as individuals offering consistently valued and useful response to customer queries.

Actually your appear to be wrong!! in an extract from Lithium documentation ...

@jaread83 wrote:

.....category expert ranks enable you to identify the experts in a specific area, provide them with recognition for their contributions, motivate them to continue to contribute, and empower them to assist with community management in their preferred areas. 

You can activate category expert ranks at any category or board level in the community, excluding the top level of the community. Recognition is an important factor in the success of category expert ranks—both to encourage participation and to reassure community members and visitors that the posts they are reading are trustworthy.

You can feature category experts prominently in board and category pages by including the Category Experts leaderboards as well as adding icons to category expert ranks that distinguish category experts from other users.

So changing the name from Experts to Bright Sparks and assigning it would seem possible, and Nibiru's remark "is reasonably close" is quite correct. Whether we wish to go down that path is another matter.

[#14]

I think the key difference is the BS is assigned by human judgement and expert is assigned by the kudos process which has fundemental flaws within which recognition can be manipulated.

I remain of the opinion that they might be similarities, but as asserted, absolutely not the same.