> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.staffwatch.app/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.staffwatch.app/advanced-configuration/trust-score-configuration.md).

# Trust Score Configuration

## Understanding Custom Trust Score Configuration

Trust Score gives your staff a quick, consistent view of how much trust a player has built within your community. It is shown as a whole-number percentage from 1% to 100% and considers the player's time in the community, playtime, and staff action history.

You can customize this calculation to match what trust means for your community. For example, you can place more value on playtime, make punishments more significant, or allow older actions to fade more quickly.

Trust Score is designed to support staff decisions, not replace them. Staff should still consider the full player profile and the circumstances behind each action.

### Configuring Trust Score

Open the **Manage Community** page and find the **Trust Configuration** section. Communities with access to custom Trust Score configuration can change the settings described below and select **Save Changes** when finished.

The settings are split into three groups:

1. The percentages used to build a player's base score
2. The milestones that control how quickly base score points are earned
3. The effect and lifespan of staff actions

Saving a configuration changes how future recalculations work. It does not immediately recalculate every existing player.

### Choosing how the base score is weighted

The first three settings decide where a player's base score comes from:

| Setting                   | Default | What it controls                                                |
| ------------------------- | ------: | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Starting Percentage**   |     50% | The score awarded when a player first joins                     |
| **First Join Percentage** |     20% | The portion earned as time passes after the player's first join |
| **Playtime Percentage**   |     30% | The portion earned by playing on the server                     |

These three settings must add up to **100%**. Increasing one means you must reduce one or both of the others.

* Raise **Starting Percentage** if new players should begin with more trust.
* Raise **First Join Percentage** if long-term membership should matter more.
* Raise **Playtime Percentage** if active participation should matter more.

The default 50/20/30 split gives every new player a neutral starting point, then allows them to earn the remaining half through a mixture of time and activity.

#### Setting the earning milestones

Two additional settings control how quickly players earn the First Join and Playtime portions:

| Setting                       |  Default | What changing it does                                                                              |
| ----------------------------- | -------: | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Max Days Since First Join** |  90 days | A lower number awards all First Join points sooner; a higher number makes them take longer to earn |
| **Max Playtime Hours**        | 50 hours | A lower number awards all Playtime points sooner; a higher number requires more activity           |

Points are earned gradually until the relevant maximum is reached. After that, extra days or playtime do not add more base score points.

For example, using the default configuration, a player who joined 45 days ago and has 25 hours of playtime has reached half of both milestones:

* 50 points from the Starting Percentage
* 10 of the available 20 points from time since first join
* 15 of the available 30 points from playtime

That gives the player a base score of 75% before staff actions are considered.

### Configuring staff action effects

The action effect settings decide how many points are added to or removed from a player's base score when an action is issued.

| Setting                 | Default effect |
| ----------------------- | -------------: |
| **Commendation Effect** |      +5 points |
| **Warning Effect**      |      -5 points |
| **Kick Effect**         |     -10 points |
| **Ban Effect**          |     -20 points |

Use a larger positive value for **Commendation Effect** if staff recognition should provide a stronger trust boost. Use a more negative value for warnings, kicks, or bans if those actions should have a stronger impact.

Multiple actions are combined. For example, a new +5 commendation and a new -5 warning cancel each other out. Notes never affect Trust Score and do not have a configurable effect.

Past actions continue to count unless they are removed, but their influence becomes smaller over time according to the Daily Drop-Off Rate. After every effect is applied, the score is rounded down to a whole percentage and kept between 1% and 100%.

### Choosing a Daily Drop-Off Rate

The **Daily Drop-Off Rate** controls how quickly staff actions become less important as they get older. It affects both positive actions, such as commendations, and negative actions, such as warnings, kicks, and bans.

The default rate is 2% per day. This does **not** mean that the player's Trust Score drops by two points every day. Instead, an action keeps 98% of its remaining effect for each day since it was issued. Because this compounds over time, a new -10 point kick has an effect of about -5.45 points after 30 days and about -1.62 points after 90 days.

The settings page offers these presets:

| Preset               | Daily drop-off | What it means                                   |
| -------------------- | -------------: | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **Extremely Strict** |           0.2% | Actions remain influential for a very long time |
| **Very Strict**      |           0.5% | Actions fade very slowly                        |
| **Strict**           |             1% | Actions fade slowly                             |
| **Default**          |             2% | A balanced rate of fading                       |
| **Forgiving**        |             3% | Actions fade more quickly                       |
| **Very Forgiving**   |             4% | Actions fade the quickest                       |

A lower rate is stricter because actions continue to affect the score for longer. A higher rate is more forgiving because players recover from negative actions sooner, although the benefit of old commendations also fades sooner.

The settings page includes a preview showing how much of a 10-point action effect remains after 30 days, 90 days, and one year. This can help you compare presets before saving.

### When is Trust Score recalculated?

Trust Score is recalculated:

* when a player joins the server, including their first join
* when a new staff action is issued
* when an existing action is changed to a different action type
* when an action is removed
* when a staff member uses the refresh button on the player's profile

Trust Score is **not** recalculated automatically every day. The Daily Drop-Off Rate is applied the next time a recalculation happens, based on how old each action is at that moment. Newly earned playtime and additional days since first join are also reflected at the next recalculation.

After saving new Trust Score settings, each existing player receives the new calculation the next time one of the events above occurs. To see the effect immediately for a particular player, open their profile and use the refresh button beside their Trust Score.