i know, it's a laundry list of changes. what i really want to know is if they are possible and where i can find more detailed info on how to make them happen.
i want to have users of various levels, say one through five. each level allowing a little more functionality. at the center of the functionality differences is a word count limitation on stories which raises proportionate to the user's level. (say 200 words for level ones and an additional hundred for each level after that)
users would rate stories and comments of other users, as they do on other scoop sites, but instead of a multi valued vote (1-5) there would be a single boolean check box. if they like the story or comment, they check the box and submit. the vote is worth the user's current level, so a level five user would have a five point vote. (level fives would also have the ability to vote negative)
the vote would not be displayed, with the story or comment however, and this is where i think it gets real hairy, it would be added (or subtracted) to a rating associated with the author. when the author recieves a certain number of points - he is automatically promoted to the next level. the same works in reverse for demotions.
comments can be flagged as abusive, they would then be displayed in a box for the level six admin, who could check a boolean variable if the comment was indeed abusive, and "fine" the author x number of points.
users whose points drop below zero would become level zero and lose all site privellages, but would be able to apply for reinstatement to the admin.
inactive users lose a level for every thirty days they remain so, until they reach zero and become level zero.
now that's all the level oriented stuff. the other major thing is that i would like to remove the story moderation altogether, allowing users to publish directly and possibly leaving the stories in edit mode if that is at all an option.
i think that's about it. i want to make a box with a dropdown list of all registered authors that will link to each author's story list, but i don't think that will be very difficult.
thanks in advance for any help. i found no hint of most of this stuff while digging the arcives, so i'm sure i either can't do it or i am not looking in the right place. this is a daunting program.
feel free to view the skeleton of my site at http://www.construct-d.org/scoop