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Profile Benefactor's Aura

Here's something to maybe make people feel good about themselves, a Supporter power level Profile Aura.

What do I mean by a profile aura in this case? I mean a simple, non-obtrusive indicator of a supporter's power level.

How's a supporter's power level determined? Three factors, one of which also hinges on the ability to give another person cohost Plus!

Metric 1 - Is it Yearly, or Monthly?
This is simple. Is this person slapping down 50 dollars a year, or 5 dollars a month to the amazing eggbug website?

Metric 2 - How long have they been doing it?
This one's a bit less simple. While we can start with a minimum of 'This person has just started supporting' and 'has at some point in time forked over cold hard cash to support this site' the upper limit has to be set to keep it from getting too addicting. The longer they've been supporting at the rate they've been supporting at, the more 'Intense' or 'Radiant' or what-have-you their Aura will be.

Metric 3 (Optional, might not even be a good idea, it's up to Staff) - Has this person given cohost Plus! to other people?
This one's easier than the last, but also, the effects of which if this feature ever gets implemented will also have to be weighed. Should it even have an effect? Should be a separate item to the aura? Adjacent to it? A streak multiplier? 

image


this is a pretty shoddy mockup of what it could look like because I just came up with this and I don't have any proficiency in a photo editing program that isn't just a different version of MSpaint. Hell, maybe this might even be the aesthetic you'd want to go for.


2 people like this idea

 at first i liked the firebirds compromise of it being a badge of thanks kinda for the support somewhen, but yeah... it does kinda feel bad when i think about it from the perspective becky puts forth, so uh yeah i would also still say it's not helpfull to see that.



As a discordian i have to point out that what tori domi says would be kinda cool and taken litterally it would mean the benefactor aura's intensity would be random for any user. this way these badges would be kinda in a superposition on any user who was online ever, eh? eh? how you like that as a compromise? this feature on any user as a silly easter egg. like them numbers on the blue cohost site on the funny day ;3

I'm not sure what else to say, but I do want to make it clear that I don't think you're a moron or something for thinking the way you do (which sounds inherently patronizing, I know, but if I acknowledge that it sounds that way hopefully you'd believe me when I say that I don't mean it that way and I'm simply trying to be as clear as possible? hopefully?).


I think I'd have to use a different metaphor to explain it, and the obvious one that jumps to mind is cars. People treat cars as status symbols. Right? and you can look at someone's car and immediately get a feel for how they're attempting to present themselves socially. And people who are poor and can only afford shitty cars can't play that game.


I feel the same way about any kind of indicator for social media sites that shows that you gave them money. Poor people can't do that, and so they are locked out of the availability of that social status symbol, which can change the way people interact with them, even if it's subtle, or entirely unconscious.


Do I think a benefactor aura would break down the entirety of Cohost? No, of course not. But for a platform with an emphasis on providing a positive mental health experience, passively reminding poor people that they're poor, and giving richer people an extra reason to feel smug, really runs contrary to that, and both groups already get to do plenty of both in real life. 


The reason I wanted to put emphasis on the fact that I don't think you're stupid is because these social processes are REALLY subtle, and not something everyone experiences, or pays attention to. But learning about them is an important part of understanding how discrimination forms, and more largely, how we got to the point we're at in real life. Again, I know this reads as patronizing, and I tried really hard to not make it seem that way, but it's sort of inevitable when we're talking about topics of privilege. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way.


Wikipedia has a shockingly dense article about the topic of Twitter Verification at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_verification , citing some specific examples of how verification was used to discriminate (notably, one where people compared it to India's caste system explicitly, it's fascinating and disappointing, here's an archive.org link in case any future readers are reading a version of the wikipedia page where that example got removed: Blue Ticks In India: #CancelAllBlueTicksInIndia trends on Twitter, netizens slam caste-based discrimination (archive.org)): 



could you please elaborate? i genuinely don't understand this mindset.

Honestly, I will anti-support this as hard as I possibly can because of how toxic similar things are on social media are. The premier example being Twitter Blue, of course, but I also hate being forced to display that I'm boosting a server on discord as well because I just don't want people to know that. Full stop.


I do not think class segregation is an exaggeration because of the objective examples in reality where we see that exact thing happening.


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i think it's wildly extreme to call it "class segregation" by just having an icon that shows you're a supporter of the website...

but having it vary depending on what type of subscription you have and how long you've been subscribed definitely seems unnecessary at best, and harmful at worst. if any type of "supporter badge"-style feature was added, it should be one single graphic. end of story. and making it optional is definitely the way to go.

i might also suggest making it so you do not need an *active* subscription to show the badge. if you've had a plus subscription at least once before, you can use it at any time regardless if you're still subscribed or not. sorta reduces the incentive to *stay* subscribed just to retain a fancy icon on your profile, yknow?


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Intensity of aura could be totally random depending on the day and include a randomized fortune and/or accompanying power level/buff description on hover and somewhere in bio. Under username perhaps. Ofc totally option check box/option in profile similar to Cohost plus squircle

 i don't feel like it is helpful to see other peoples' subscription status in any way, shape or form.


more: the main reason why i enjoy cohost so much so far was because it appears like we are all the same tier of user. there is staff and there are users. allthough even staff feels more like users than on other sites.


no bosses, no blue checkmarks, no levels, just REGULAR people talking to each other: perfection

I feel very strongly against this being a feature, period


Class segregation is shitty


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I don't like the idea of people who pay yearly looking more important than people who pay monthly (especially since monthly subscribers actually pay ten dollars more if they stay subbed a whole year), or turning it into some kinda snapchat streak. The extra icon shapes are fine, aren't they? Not too intrusive, opt-in, etc.


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I like the idea but also agree with Aria on it being a potential privacy issue. I'd feel much more comfortable if it was optional. I'm not sold on the idea of different levels, and I really strongly dislike a yearly vs. monthly distinction.

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I really don't want people having an easy way to know whether or not I'm part of Plus!, or to be pressured to enable a conspicuous cosmetic effect, and i definitely don't want my Plus! status to leak to alt pages (as it narrows down options whom the page might belong to).


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I'm personally more in favor of something that doesn't like... gamify subscription amounts or streaks, like a single small "patron of eggbug" profile badge for all Plus users. Maybe there could be a separate badge for gifting, but I'd prefer the actual Plus badge to be the same regardless of amount spent or time subscribed.

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