# Why have I got demoted to a NON-regular user?!

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689>\
**Category:** Site Feedback\
**Created:** [January 3, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689 "2026-01-03T16:20:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GoToLoop](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/gotoloop/32/86_2.png) [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689/1 "2026-01-03T16:20:14Z")

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Warning, this post has been unlisted! ⚠

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**Author:** ![quark](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/quark/32/26_2.png) [@quark](https://discourse.processing.org/u/quark)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689/2 "2026-01-03T17:01:24Z")

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It seems Discourse uses various algorithms to assign ‘Trust Levels’.

**Regular** members have achieved trust level 3 based on meeting certain criteria in the previous 100 days and is the only trust level that can be _ **lost** _ if the member fails to continue meeting those criteria.

I have noticed a significant drop in the number of forum posts in the last month or so which makes it difficult to maintain the criteria for TL3.

You are one of the earliest forum members joining long before Discourse and have been a most prolific forum poster supporting Processing users for many years. It seems to me that loosing TL3 seems a poor return for all your past efforts and does not appear to be a recipe to encourage supporting the Processing forum.

Full details about Discourse trust levels cab be found in this long [post](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/06/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/). Discourse recommends forum owners e.g. the Processing Foundation should review and tweak the TL criteria. I wonder if they have 🤔

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**Author:** ![GoToLoop](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/gotoloop/32/86_2.png) [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 5:21pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689/3 "2026-01-03T17:21:55Z")

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> [@quark](#):
>
> … and is the only trust level that can be _ **lost** _ if the member fails to continue meeting those criteria.

I had no idea lv3 (regular) was temporary and needed frequent posts in order to keep it! O\_o

> [@quark](#):
>
> … a significant drop in the number of forum posts in the last month or so which makes it difficult to maintain the criteria for TL3.

Even before AI, the number of posts were already low! Now it seems like a ghost town! 👻  
Also, the forum hasn’t been very welcoming to the few newcomers. ⛔  
B/c it’s super easy to trigger the AI censorship and got their 1st posts “hidden”. 🫥  
There was a time we could click a “hidden” post to reveal it only for us though. 👓

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**Author:** ![system](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/system/32/18341_2.png) [@system](https://discourse.processing.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689/4 "2026-01-04T18:07:16Z")

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**Author:** ![system](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/system/32/18341_2.png) [@system](https://discourse.processing.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/why-have-i-got-demoted-to-a-non-regular-user/47689/5 "2026-01-04T20:46:15Z")

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