# USERS.md
## Canonical URLs
BIThub Participation Framework: https://hub.bitwiki.org/t/bithub-participation-framework/12
Discourse Trust Levels: https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-trust-levels-a-detailed-explanation/396792
Trust Level Permissions Reference: https://meta.discourse.org/t/trust-level-permissions-reference/224824
Groups and Category Permissions: https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-groups-and-category-permissions/87678
## Discourse User Levels
TL0 New: default level for new users.
TL1 Basic: automatic level based on reading activity.
TL2 Member: automatic level based on sustained participation.
TL3 Regular: automatic level based on rolling recent activity.
TL4 Leader: manually granted by staff.
Staff: admins and moderators with elevated operational permissions.
Groups: permission and access units independent of ordinary trust-level progression.
## BIThub Participation
BIThub uses progressive access.
Trust levels may affect posting, replying, private messages, uploads, category access, AI access, model access, tool access, marketplace access, and workflow access.
Groups, subscriptions, staff roles, alpha-stage limits, and special roles may also affect access.
## User Classes
Public Visitor: reads public BIThub and BITwiki material.
Logged-In User: has an account and can participate where permissions allow.
Member: user with stronger access through participation, group assignment, subscription, or platform role.
Contributor: creates useful replies, references, corrections, guides, artifacts, datasets, workflows, or other reusable material.
Operator: runs or maintains workflows, agents, integrations, infrastructure, or platform processes.
Steward: maintains canon, categories, state files, indexes, glossary stability, durable knowledge, and platform coherence.
Staff: administrator or moderator with elevated permissions.
Alpha Tester: user with special access during staged testing.
Agent-Backed User: human user acting through assistants, bots, agents, Constructs, Nodes, COREs, Workspaces, or external tools.
External System: crawler, API client, feed, MCP client, search engine, or downstream knowledge system interacting with public or permissioned surfaces.
## Permission Model
Visibility, participation, tool access, AI access, and modification rights are separate.
A user may be able to read a surface without being able to reply, create topics, use tools, access AI, modify artifacts, or enter private areas.
Discourse category permissions use See, Reply, and Create.
The everyone group includes anonymous visitors.
The trust_level_0 group includes logged-in users.
## Trust-Level Notes
TL1 and TL2 are permanent once earned.
TL3 can be gained or lost based on rolling activity.
TL4 is manually granted by staff.
Personal message activity does not count toward public trust-level requirements.
Groups can grant access or automatic trust level outside ordinary activity progression.
## User Data
Discourse user export includes posts, private messages, bookmarks, likes, badges, category preferences, flags, post actions, user preferences, queued posts, archive data, and visits.
## References
https://hub.bitwiki.org/t/bithub-participation-framework/12
https://hub.bitwiki.org/t/understanding-discourse-forum-for-new-users/187
https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-trust-levels-a-detailed-explanation/396792
https://meta.discourse.org/t/trust-level-permissions-reference/224824
https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-groups-and-category-permissions/87678
https://meta.discourse.org/t/export-user-data/313677