Member Types

Member types are the categories you define for the people in your community - Student, Mentor, Staff, Alumni, and so on. Each type can carry a colored badge, appear as a filter in the member directory, and optionally be picked by members themselves.

Why use it

People in a community are not interchangeable. A coaching site has coaches and clients; a school has students, teachers, and staff; an alumni network has graduates by year. Member types let you label those groups once, then use that label everywhere it matters: as a badge on profiles and member cards so people can tell at a glance who they are talking to, and as a filter in the directory so anyone can show only the group they are looking for.

For the owner, types are a structure you set up in minutes that pays off across the whole community. You stop answering "who here is a mentor?" because members can filter the directory themselves. And if you let members self-assign, your roster categorizes itself as people join.

How it works (for members)

Most member types are assigned by you, the owner. From a member's point of view, a type they have been given shows up as a colored badge:

• on their profile header, and
• on their card in the member directory.

The badge uses the color you chose for the type, so groups are visually distinct.

If you mark a type as self-selectable, members can choose it themselves. The type then appears as a selector on their own profile edit page, and they can pick from the available self-select types - or choose "None" to clear the type they picked earlier. Types you have not marked self-selectable never appear as a choice - only an owner can assign those.

Setting it up (for owners)

Member types are managed under Members > Member Types in the admin. From there you create types, edit them, and assign them to members.

Creating and editing a type

Use the Add Member Type form (the same form edits an existing type). The fields are:

Web address, Text colour, Sort order, and Icon live under the Advanced section of the form.

Assigning a type to a member

Open a member from the admin members list and use the Member Type dropdown in the Edit Member view. Choose a type to assign it, or choose "No type" to remove the assignment. A member has at most one type at a time.

Self-selectable types

If a type has Allow members to self-assign turned on, members can set it themselves from their profile edit page - you do not have to assign it. This is useful when the member knows their own category better than you do (a skill track, a role they identify with). Members can also pick "None" to clear a self-selected type and go back to having no type. The profile selector only lists types you have marked self-selectable; if none are self-selectable, no selector appears.

Good to know

• Types power directory filtering and badges. The same type does double duty: the "Show as directory filter tab" toggle turns it into a directory filter, and the color (and optional icon) you set is what renders as the badge on profiles and cards. Define the type once and both follow.
• One type per member. Assigning a new type replaces the previous one; there is no stacking of multiple types on the same person. For layering additional editorial badges on top of a type, see Free vs Pro below.
• Badges only show when assigned. A type you have created but not assigned to anyone shows no badges and an empty directory filter until at least one member has it. On a new site, create your types and assign a few before expecting the directory filter and badges to look populated.
• Deleting a type removes its assignments. When you delete a type, the members who had it lose that assignment. The delete action warns you how many members are affected before it runs.
• Self-select works in connected apps too. Members using a connected app can self-assign a type the same way, and the same rule is enforced - they can only pick types you have allowed.

Free vs Pro

Member types - creating types, assigning them, self-selectable types, the directory type filter, and the type color and icon badges - are included in BuddyNext free.

Editorial Member Labels are a Pro addition and serve a different purpose. Where a member type is the member's category (one per member, and what the directory filters by), Member Labels are owner-applied editorial badges such as Verified, Expert, or Staff that you can stack on top of a member's type - they appear on profiles and post bylines to signal standing and trust. If you want recognition badges layered over your member types, see Member Labels.

Related

• Member Directory - where type badges and the type filter appear
• Custom Profile Fields - limiting a field section to one member type
• Member Labels - Pro editorial badges you stack on top of a type