Reputation Sync

Question

Hello Forum users,
We have been working on a project to sync Forum reputation with Community reputation. I will break down what this project entails.
Single Sign On
What is changing?
When this goes live, you will be able to log into the Forums, navigate to the Community, and will be automatically logged in. You will also be able to log into the Community, navigate to the Forums, select “Sign On”, and will be automatically logged in.
How will this benefit you?
There will be no more hassle of logging in a second time. If you log into one environment, you are automatically logged into the other.
*** When Single Sign On goes live, it is important to know there will not be a Single Sign Off feature yet. So please be sure to log out of both environments if you are using a public computer. This Single Sign Off feature has recently been developed but is currently being tested. It will be pushed live after Single Sign On with the remainder of the Reputation Sync project. 
New Ranking Icon
What is changing?
Unless you are a Knight, the current ranking icon is defined by three boxes explained by the breakdown below. As activity levels increase, the boxes deepen in shade.
These shade differences result in many different, unintuitive combinations.
The new ranking icon will only represent contributions. Today only these contributions are what determine your title (Trusted Enthusiast, Proven Zealot, etc.). The major milestones of reaching Active Participant, Trusted Enthusiast, Proven Zealot, and Knight of NI will remain the same, and we are also adding a few new titles to encourage participation and collaboration in the NI Forums and Community.
What counts as a “contribution”? Today only posts, ideas, and idea comments count as a contribution. You are not receiving credit for any contributions in the NI Community. Going forward with the reputation sync, “contributions” will include the following and will all be weighted equally as 1:
                Forums: Posts, Ideas, Idea comments, FAQ (in the future)
                Community: Documents, Blog posts, Discussions, Comments, Polls
We are investigating other ways to reward users for reaching milestones regarding content such as kudos, tags, accepted solutions, etc. As mentioned here, badges are also being considered.
How will this benefit you?
The new ranking icon is easier to understand and is more intuitive. A new box is filled in as you contribute more. This will help you better visually identify who is most active in the Forums/Community. You will also be rewarded more often with new titles to encourage participation. By taking Community activity into account now, you can reach these milestones more quickly. Lastly, the new ranking icon provides an easier way of identifying member activity without knowing what the various ranking titles mean (ex: Proven Zealot, Contributor, etc).
New Profiles
What is changing?
Once the Forum and Community reputations have been combined, each of the profiles will be slightly altered. The current Community profile does not show a ranking icon or title. When Reputation Sync is pushed live, the same ranking icon and title will appear in both the Forums and the Community. There will also be a supplementary breakdown of Community activity in the Forum profile and Forum activity in Community profile. Below are tentative mock ups of the future profile pages.
How will this benefit you?
You’ll be able to view all metrics that contribute to your reputation from both your Forum and Community profiles. You will also have a consistent ranking icon and title displayed in both places.
Alias Alterations
What’s changing?
As you can see below, your alias in the Forums can contain a space, but in the Community that space is removed.
Because our Community cannot handle spaces and because a space is considered a universal work break which doesn't work in "keys" that well, spaces will no longer be recognized in aliases. Affected users will be contacted and given the opportunity to alter their alias in their NI.com profile by a certain deadline. If the alias has not been altered by that deadline, by default, aliases containing a space will be replaced with an underscore “_”. So “Steve Chandler” will be automatically changed to “Steve_Chandler”.
NOTE: If an alias does need to be altered, we will give you the opportunity to create a unique alias with no spaces. If aliases with spaces still remain, National Instruments will automatically alter the alias and you will be informed of the change.
How will this benefit you?
In order to have one streamlined reputation across the Forums and Community, this change must take place. Removing the space, replacing with an underscore, or changing the alias completely will allow you to be known as the same person, with the same alias, in both environments.
How will this sync take place initially and in the future?
Upon Go-live, an initial push of all activity to date will populate both profiles. No one will be demoted in ranking icon or title. If anything, active users in the Community may be promoted.
In the Forums
Contribution points from Forum activity will update in the Forum profile immediately
Contribution points from Community activity will update in frequent intervals
Community activity breakdown within the Forum profile will update when user logs back in
In the Community
Contribution points from Community activity will update in the Community profile immediately
Contribution points from Forum activity will update once the user logs back in
Forum activity breakdown within the Community profile will update when user logs back in
Jordan
Forum Moderator

Answer 1

P Anand wrote:
We are gonna get the Icon changes Ha ha ha no change for the Knights 
Sheding the bars was part of my motivation* to Go for knighthood.
Like a shaved scrotum, "I suggest you try it." (Dr. Evil).
Ben
* You know motivation like looking forward to hitting the ground while falling.
Ben Rayner
I am currently active on.. MainStream Preppers
Rayner's Ridge is under construction