Writing.Com 101

Community Recognitions are an overall summary of a member's presence within the Writing.Com community and will increase over time as a member becomes more active on Writing.Com. A member's Community Recognition is displayed as a linked number following their handle.

         For example: The StoryMaster
Clicking on the number launches a window, which contains the details of that member's Community Recognition. In addition, a visual summary of all Merit Badges received by the member is also provided.

There are several components to the Community Recognition number including the number of referred members, review recognitions, qualified merit badges, qualified Awardicons, and Bonus Recognitions. A member's Community Recognition number is calculated by adding together the numbers from these components.

For example:



Referred Members: One of the best ways our members can help and support Writing.Com is by sharing their own public portfolio with friends, relatives and associates. This assists us in growing our community by bringing more people to read, rate and review. To recognize those who bring in new members by use of valid referral links, Writing.Com awards "Recognitions" for each of those new members who signs up and maintains their membership. For complete information on Writing.Com's Referred Member tracking system, please see: "Referred Member Tracking" .

Qualified Merit Badges: On Writing.Com, Merit Badges are virtual symbols of recognition that are given at will from one member to another. Each badge is custom-designed to represent a particular trait, specialty skill or theme.

All received Merit Badges are shown in the "Merit Badge Summary" section within the Community Recognition Details window. Only qualified Merit Badges, however, count toward to a member's Community Recognition number. All Merit Badges are qualified except for those badges received from the same member within a 7 day period. Multiple Merit Badges received from the same member only qualify if they are given more than 1 week (7 days) apart. This helps to ensure Community Recognition is based on a wider, more diverse cross section of members within our community and not just one or two generous friends. (Because of the number of badge opportunities offered by Writing.Com, badges from Staff are exempt from the 7 day exclusion. All badges sent from Staff are qualified.) Qualified Merit Badge totals are calculated once per hour. For complete information, please read "Merit Badges and Achievements" .

Qualified Awardicons: On Writing.Com, Awardicons are virtual ribbons, plaques or trophies that are awarded to items within a member's Portfolio. Each awardicon is given by a member of Writing.Com for whatever reason he or she desires.

All received Awardicons are displayed in the Community tab of a member's Portfolio. Only qualified Awardicons count toward a member's Community Recognition number. All awardicons are qualified except for those received from the same member within a 7 day period. As with merit badges, this helps ensure Community Recognition is based on a diverse cross section of Writing.Com members, and not just a few generous friends. (Because of the number of award opportunities offered by Writing.Com, Awardicons from Staff are exempt from the 7 day exclusion. All awardicons sent from Staff are qualified.) Qualified Awardicon totals are calculated once per hour. For complete information, please read "AwardIcons" .

Trinket Points: On Writing.Com, Trinkets are virtual collectibles, like trading cards. Only qualified trinkets count toward to member's Community Recognition at a ratio of 1 Community Recognition to 100 collected trinkets. All Trinkets are qualified except for those one has created themselves and then collected.

Review Recognitions: Review Recognitions are awarded to members in the ratio of 1 recognition point for every 100 current reviews. "Current reviews" are any reviews attached to items currently on Writing.Com. Only one review per item will count towards a member's review recognitions. When an item is removed from Writing.Com, the reviews associated to it are also removed.

Bonus Recognitions: These are awarded to members by Writing.Com for various reasons, such as length of membership, promotions, activities and more. Each Bonus earned increases a member's Community Recognition.To view a detailed outline of a member's earned Bonus Recognitions, click that particular link from within his or her Community Recognition Details window. When an activity occurs that offers members an opportunity to earn Bonus Recognition, a sitewide announcement will be provided.

Click Authors in the navigation under the Writing.Com logo, then click on the Most Community Recognition link to generate a list of members ranked by Community Recognition.1