# Different levels of membership **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 9, 2004, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812 "2004-11-09T09:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/1 "2004-11-09T09:02:26Z")
AFAIK, **Charter Members** are paid subscribers, and **Guests** are unpaid gerbil-pirates that get 30 days to sail the seven seas of the SDMB for free. At **Members** is where I get a little fuzzy. These seem to be people who registered before the board tax was imposed and then never paid, but it doesn’t always seem consistent. Then I go and see [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=285616) and the OP is listed as a **Registered User**. What’s the deal? ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/2 "2004-11-09T15:38:25Z")
In the linked thread, I see **Don\_Gato** listed as “Guest”. Otherwise, I think your assessment is pretty accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/3 "2004-11-09T15:56:10Z")
It was probably a blip in the system, when I looked this morning he was listed as a **registered user** , now it says **guest**. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/4 "2004-11-09T18:18:15Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > …and **Guests** are unpaid gerbil[sic]-pirates… [nitpick] Technically, they are hamster-privateers. They’ve been given the equivalent of a Letter of Marque by the Chicago Reader to prey on the hamsters (note the difference) for a limited time. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/5 "2004-11-09T18:40:38Z")
There is a (short) period between the time that someone registers and the time that the registration process is completed. That’s the “registered user” title, and it should go away within a day or a few hours to become the ordinary “Charter Member” title. Or was that “Chatter member”? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/6 "2004-11-10T01:10:40Z")
Almost right, Dex. It’s “Member” when the registration completes. And stays “Member” unless they subscribe and become a Charter Member or have something else happen. For example, people on posting sabbatical default to “Member” status . . . and BANNED is also a user category. If the guest period expires and they do not subscribe, they’re still designated “Member.” your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/7 "2004-11-10T03:24:51Z")
I remember reading a thread in which someone was granted the title “Too Stupid For Words.” Can I get me one of those? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/8 "2004-11-10T05:41:54Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > I remember reading a thread in which someone was granted the title “Too Stupid For Words.” Can I get me one of those? I’m Not Allowed to slap custom titles on people any longer. Sorry. #87 in [Skippy’s List](http://www.skippyslist.com/skippylist.html) applies to me when I’m Administrating. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/9 "2004-11-10T17:36:12Z")
One more case: If a person is ever, at any time, given a custom title, and the title was changed back to “member”, then it will remain as “member” even when the person subscribes, unless an administrator manually changes it again. Once, the option to allow users to edit our own titles was accidentally enabled, and some Dopers found out and chose witty ones before it was spotted and turned off. All of those Dopers were then changed back to "member"s by the Admins. When we went pay, they were not initially showing as "charter member"s, despite having subscribed. I think that all of these are corrected now, though. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-levels-of-membership/273812/10 "2004-11-10T18:07:19Z")
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