VHLinks.com FAQ

Your VHL Overview

This is the main table where you will find all of your VHL Life stats, including points, awards, and achievements. You're also able to see the level you are on (our highest level currently is 100), and how many points you need to reach the next level. In addition, you can also see all the recently-assigned awards and achievements on the entire board. Below is a screenshot of the Your VHL Overview.

Ranking

This table shows the Top 30 rankings for the entire community. Overall points are calculated from adding together four different categories: User Points, Thread Points, Post Points, and Miscellaneous Points. The activity column measures your overall activity on the site, but doesn't effect your overall points. Our levels go up to 200, and your level is the first column on the left. In the example below, you can see that Brett's level is currently 61. If you are currently leading an award category, it will be notated by the award's graphic next to your name.

One thing to note. If you have not logged into the site in the last 60 rolling days, your name will fall off the standings. Once you have logged back in, if your overall numbers still put you in the Top 30, your name will show up again. An example of the Ranking page is below.

Awards

This page shows all the current award leaders' usernames, the award titles, and the icons associated with each. There is only one winner per award. If you are a leader of more than one award, you will still only be eligible for ONE award. The system automatically knows to move to the next person on the list if you are leading in more than one. The awards are broken into two categories, Top Shelf and Second Tier. The only difference between the two is at the end of the year, the Top Shelf award winners receive actual prizes courtesy of the Van Halen Store. The latter are the harder awards to achieve, hence if you are leading in multiple items, your one award will always default to this category first. The conditions and requirements for each award are listed below them. The bottom of the page shows the activity as awards are received and lost. Some awards will change hands more often than others.

Your awards are displayed in two places on the forum. The first is on your postbit in every thread, and the second, is on your profile page. You can see examples of those two locations below. Below those pictures, is an example of the Awards page.

Please note - I (Brett) am not eligible for any awards. Every other registered user on the forum, who isn't banned, is eligible.

Achievements

This page shows all the current achievements available to you. It also explains the requirements to receive them, and whether they can be lost by dropping below the threshold. But normally once you capture an achievement, you keep it forever. This page also lists how many users, who have been active in the last 60 days, have earned an achievement, and lets you see where your points stack up to qualifying. The achievements are also broken down by categories: User, Community, and Experience. The bottom of the page shows the users who have most recently either received, or lost an achievement.

Your achievements are displayed in two places on the forum. The first is on your postbit in every thread, and the second, is on your profile page. You can see examples of those two locations below. Below those pictures, is an example of the Achievements page.

Activities

The Activities screen is simply a list of the most recent points, awards, and achievements that have been updated on the site by date, time, and username. You can see your own list of most-recent activities by going to your profile page and clicking on the "VHL Life" tab. A screenshot of the profile page is below, followed by a shot of the Activities screen.

Earn Points

The Earn Points page shows you all the points you have received for each item, as well as how the points are factored, and what the average number is the for the community. Arrows also indicate your points against the forum's averages.

- Indicates your points are higher than the board's average for this item.

- Indicates your points are lower than the board's average for this item.

- Indicates your points are equal to the board's average for this item.

The point items are also organized into four different categories: User, Threads, Post, and Miscellaneous. The cumulative total for all of the categories is what drives your overall VHL Life points. Below is a screenshot of the Earn Points page.

Stastistics

The Statistics page shows the entire community's Top 10 ranking in each item separated by the four main categories. Some categories may not have 10 qualified names, so the spaces will be blank. A screenshot of the Statistics page is below.