Are user "categories" like "Super Contributor" and "Valued Guide" defined anywhere?

[PaigeMiller]

Okay, this may be a minor issue in the big scheme of things, but its bothering me.

I see users are placed into categories such as (may not be a complete list):

Valued Guide
Contributor
Occasional Contributor
Frequent Contributor
Super Contributor
Respected Advisor
Trusted Advisor

Where are these categories defined?

My other problem is that the category names aren't clearly ordinal in the sense that I can't tell if "Valued Guide" is considered superior to "Respected Advisor" or not. I can't tell if "Trusted Advisor" is superior to "Respected Advisor" or not.

Are the categories simply based on the number of correct answers and Likes, or is there some other measure of quality used in determining the categories.

[AnnaBrown]

Great question, PaigeMiller! The “categories” are ranks of community members based on various formulas of community activity including number of contributions, received likes, accepted solutions, articles written, etc. While there is an order to the ranking system behind-the-scenes, you’re correct, it’s hard to decipher if Valued Guide is higher than Super Contributor. That’s on purpose – we want to make sure super users like yourself have enough runway to continue moving throughout the ranks as your activity surpasses the average community member each day. The ranking rules aren't defined for you to see, but you can certainly look at the stats in your profile and the stats of your peers (by looking at their profiles) to see how you stack up.

We continually study the levels and badging system and plan to add other fun, game-like elements over time to make things interesting.