ATS "titles" built into avatars?

Whats up with the all the ATS "titles" I've been seeing latley in new member's avatars? meaning "ATS conspiriecy master" and "subject matter expert" now I know that some members were awarded these titles for their contributions but isn't it unfair to them when someone builds these into their avatar when they join ATS? Now if I am wrong about this then I certainly appoligize and to note I will not post the usernames of these members as I don't want to put anybody "out there" and of course maybe I'm overreacting on this one but the point is simple IMO, if one is given these cool title(s) by ATS staff for contributions, then cool but building them into your avatar IMO is wrong as they have not been "earned"

[edit on 7-1-2009 by alyosha1981]

reply to post by alyosha1981


It's against the rules:

No images that are similar to, or mimic any official ATS staff, FSME, reward, or other images used by ATS to designate special status without prior permission from me, SkepticOverlord, or Springer.

Under 'Avatars.'

www.abovetopsecret.com...

You're not out of line to be concerned about it.

AshleyD thanks for pointing that out I was sure it was aginst the rules somehow but was not 100%.

The official ones are placed there by staff.

It's pretty easy to tell the difference. If you see someone sporting a Subject Matter Expert badge, just click on the badge itself and it will take you to the forum that the person is the expert for.

There are other badges as well, like Tinwiki Editor, Document Archivist, and a few staff members have some customized ones placed there by Admin.

As Ashley noted above, it's absolutely against the rules to make your own official looking badge. When someone does merit a special designation (like a debate tournament winner) the staff works with them to take care of it.

Should you ever come across something suspicious, just drop us a line and we'll check it out.

reply to post by Djarums


Not a problem I just think it's unfair to those who have earned said badges, and I think we will see more and more counterfeit ones popping up.