# Customizing Trust Levels
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** trust-levels
**Created:** [April 20, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715 "2025-04-20T17:11:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@danvanmoll](https://meta.discourse.org/u/danvanmoll)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/1 "2025-04-20T17:11:31Z")
Hello!
I renamed all default trust levels but for some reason users with trust level 0 and 1 show up with the same custom title?
Here is what I intended to achieve:
Trust Level 0 = Newbie
Trust level 1 = Geek Apprentice
Trust Level 2 = Veteran Geek
Trust Level 3 = Elite Geek
Thanks for a push into the right direction š
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/3 "2025-04-20T23:12:17Z")
I believe you can the titles in the settings for the Trust Level badge.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/4 "2025-04-21T18:45:58Z")
I would be inclined not to rename the trust levels and instead use Automation to add users to some other group when they moved to each trust level. At some point someone will be confused about what is happening and not know that Geek Apprentice is TL1 and not understand any of the settings having to do with TL1.
> [@danvanmoll](#):
>
> for some reason users with trust level 0 and 1 show up with the same custom title?
Everyone in TL1 is also in TL0?
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/5 "2025-05-30T04:15:58Z")
Hi Dan! Did you figure out how to give your members the titles you want to give them as they spend time and move up in trust?
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### Author:  [@danvanmoll](https://meta.discourse.org/u/danvanmoll)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 9:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/6 "2025-05-30T09:33:04Z")
Yes, thank you! I was able to locate the namings and rename them myself manually.
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/7 "2025-05-30T11:32:44Z")
Oh, so your community was small enough that you ended up being able to edit the titles of each member individually? That sounds fine.
A search turned up another, automatic solution, which is to use the badge system to automatically set the memberās title based on their trust level.
> [@Changing Trust Level Title](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-trust-level-title/263449):
>
> I would like to change the title of folks in Trust Level 4 so that their title does not appear as āLeaderā when they choose their title through their account Preference. I went into Customize \>\>\> Text and updated the following, but I could not remove/rename the āLeaderā selection from the Title preference. How do I rename it for the Title selection? Thank you! js.trust\_levels.names.leader admin\_js.admin.users.titles.leader
Jay is right that you donāt want to tinker with the naming of trust level groups themselves because they have a particular purpose in Discourse. You donāt need to worry about that too much as you start your community, but if you are interested you can read up on it at [Understanding Discourse Trust Levels](https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/90752) .
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/9 "2025-05-30T11:42:25Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> Jay is right that you donāt want to tinker with the naming of trust level groups themselves because they have a particular purpose in Discourse.
I think itās fine to rename the Trust Levels to something more fitting for your site ethos. I can think of a few people who have done it and theyāve had no particular issues with it. š¤·
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### Author:  [@danvanmoll](https://meta.discourse.org/u/danvanmoll)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:55am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/10 "2025-05-30T11:55:33Z")
Thatās what I did too. I didnāt edit every member manually, but simply renamed the existing trust levels according to our style. It worked just flawless.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 12:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/11 "2025-05-30T12:03:17Z")
Just out of curiosity, did you stick with renaming only the badges, or did you go one step further and rename the trust\_level\_x group names as well?
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 12:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/12 "2025-05-30T12:13:47Z")
Itās a bummer that EDIT: ~~tag~~ badge sql isnāt allowed on your hosting. I think itād be cool if it could be enabled with a set of safe swl tags, perhaps with some parameters. Badges with group triggers is a really powerful tool. (maybe one day Iāll think hard enough to make a topic about it)
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/13 "2025-05-30T13:00:23Z")
The main problem that can arise when you change the names of trust level groups is that members will get confused who try to understand what the trust levels mean and where they stand. It can also cause you to get confused yourself as site owner, if you change the name and then donāt remember how the new name corresponds with trust level settings. This is why I tend to recommend not tinkering with the trust level names.
Changing the badge names associated with trust levels is fine. I did this on my personal site too.. I changed āLeaderā to āInner Circleā.
But of course every community has its own personality and needs, and Discourse is flexible and can be customized accordingly. Looks like Dan has figured it all out and has come up with some great trust level names! š
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> Itās a bummer that tag sql isnāt allowed on your hosting.
Are you referring to [badge sql](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-badge-sql/47894)? We do turn it on for our enterprise customers. I agree itās a shame we canāt offer it on our self-serve hosting because of security concerns. Would be great to revisit this and explore ways to make it safer - do start a new topic when you find the time.
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### Author:  [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 7:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/14 "2025-05-30T19:49:42Z")
Iām one of those who renamed the trust\_levels and get a lot of issues related to user titles, groups, levels.
I wish it more simpler!
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/15 "2025-05-30T20:05:28Z")
I think I may be missing something obvious. š
Generally when people adapt their Trust Level names into something friendlier and more site appropriate they still stick with an escalating hierarchy of terms (like Danās in the OP). Figuring out what TL one is isnāt that tricky \[1\]
Ultimately theyāre still the same trust levels underneath, just with different titles. š¤·
The automatic groups do have some extra limitations to them compared to custom groups (as @satonotdead knows too well š), so you would still have those limitations even if you renamed them. But if all you want is nicer names for them then I think it works out quite nicely.
* * *
1. though if someone does decide to throw that convention out of the window and name them āflumpdonkerā, āblottytopsā, and ādrungeā then all bets are off š
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/16 "2025-05-31T00:38:03Z")
> [@JammyDodger](#):
>
> Ultimately theyāre still the same trust levels underneath, just with different titles. š¤·
But since the names have changed and a whole bunch of other settings and documentation refer to trust levels and then you donāt have any, itās confusing. And then if someone else comes along and tries to help and canāt find trust levels then they donāt have much chance,especially if they arenāt an expert.
And probably they were changed before the admin knew much about discourse and two weeks later wonāt remember that they changed the names, much less how.
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### Author:  [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customizing-trust-levels/362715/17 "2025-06-17T21:31:15Z")
I remember my trust\_levels _changed_ at least 5 times from Ė2023. Itās really an issue for new users and harder to non-technical ones.
Because there is more than trust\_level: badges, groups, titles. I hope it could be addressed with a more simplier behavior/perspective.