The first vote

[COBOLdinosaur]

Knight has some interesting possibilities.

In modern usage Knights generally are awarded the honor as the result of outstanding contributions to the Community.  Perhaps Knight could be a title we reserve for the outstanding members of the Community.  Not necessary the best expert or the most prolific of authors, but for those who do the most to further the growth and stability of the Community.  That way a Mentor could be a Knight, but a Member who is not technically well equipted, but works hard to help with making the site a comfortable place for the Community, and give an extra effort; could also be a Knight.

So Knight would be an honorary title bestowed on individuals by the Community; and that would make it very special.

[pinaldave]

Mentor!

[coral1]

Mentor sounds good for the top level.
And I like the Knight as an Honorific

I don't have any ideas for other names yet, but I am kind of fond of Umbosman (not spelled correctlly I know), for the refs.    :)

[Huntress]

I kind of like keneso's idea with the schoolastic rankings.  Something along the order of Pupil, Mentor, Teacher, Professor, Scholar would be very nice.  And as already suggested, Knight could be an honorary title.

[Zyloch]

I like all the suggestions here, so don't take what I say personally as I am probably nitpicking a bit, but I'm trying to be general here, so...

I like the idea of a Knight rank. Initially, I thought there were only male knights, and that someone is definitely going to point that out in a negative way. Imagine to my surprise when I chanced upon this: http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/wom-kn.htm

Anyhow, I like the word Mentor since it implies a personal connection yet aloofness as well (if there can be such a thing). I'm not too sure about Student or Pupil since it seems to imply a long-time connection when it could be only one issue to deal with, and also someone with, let's say six years of experience with Java is going to be asking a Javascript question and will not like being referred to as a student. I'm not sure why they would think that, but some people do.

I would tend towards the phrase Asker instead, although it still doesn't seem to convey a great sense of community that Student or Pupil does. I'm not particularly good at this sort of word choice nitpicking, so I'll leave it at that, but in my experience, anything that is praising is generally alright, but anything that may even remotely be interpreted as demeaning is not (we definitely don't want something like 'underling' . :shock:

[COBOLdinosaur]

Well Mentor seems a pretty decisive winner.

So we need a complete set of titles around that.  Here is what I propose as a set that we can ask our Voting Commisioner Coral1 to put t a final yes/no vote:

Rank titles:

Member
contributing member:
   Advisor
   Coach
   Mentor
   Mentor Laureate

Supporting titles:

Editor
Knight
Site Administrator

Member would be the title for normal members would just ask questions and seek help.
Members who also contribute to the site by could be referred to collectively as contributing members.
Advisor would be the title for a member who applies to be a contributing member, but has limited experience; or is new to the format and still learning how to interact.
Coach would be the title for a member who has demonstrated some ability to assist in finding solutions, but not yet able to regularly lead the discussion of complex issues.
Mentor would be the title for a member who has proven ability to work through to solutions in their area of expertise.
Mentor Laureate would be reserved for only those Mentors who over time demonstrate a superior ability to find solutions over a range of technologies; that have earned the respect of other Mentors.

The advisor title would come automatically with the acceptance of a member's application to be a contributing member.  The other titles for contributing members would be awarded by a vote of the existing Mentors, or a committee elected by the Mentors.

Editor would be the title for moderators, as it is more descriptive of their primary function than moderator.
Knight would be the title reserved for individuals who perform outstanding service to the community.
Site Administrator Would be the title for an individual who has responsibilites for some aspect of operating the site at a technical level.

Where a member has more than one title, a compound title would be used, such as: Mentor/Editor

Comments?

[Jasper]

Sounds good.  I think I would fall under the coach title.  Time for a vote.

[praxisweb]

Kinda suprised I didn't spot SME in there anywhere.  My thought is that they would be the moderator of a topic.

[Subject Matter Expert]

Just my .02

[Huntress]

That sounds perfect.