# How are user titles generated?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [February 22, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792 "2017-02-22T14:08:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/1 "2017-02-22T14:08:40Z")
Sorry if this is a very basic question but I could not find the answer on the forum: where do user titles come from apart from that Admins can set them manually for each user?
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/2 "2017-02-22T14:11:01Z")
On the User Preference, there is a Title entry with an edit icon, the user can select a Badge/TL level to utilize as their title. Admin and Moderators on the other hand can alter the User’s Title to any custom text via the Admin \> Users area.
---
### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/3 "2017-02-22T14:16:24Z")
You can set user title for every group using the setting `Default title for all users in this group`. And also you can allow users to choose the granted badge name as user title using ` Allow badge to be used as a title`.
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/4 "2017-02-22T14:33:19Z")
> [@cpradio](#):
>
> On the User Preference, there is a Title entry with an edit icon, the user can select a Badge/TL level to utilize as their title.
I don’t have this option in the meta forum here but I have it as an admin in my own forum. So ist this a matter of regular user vs admin or a matter of overall forum settings?
And when I have this setting in the user preferences, where do the options that I can choose from come from?
---
### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/5 "2017-02-22T14:38:54Z")
> [@tophee](#):
>
> where do the options that I can choose from come from?
I already mentioned it in my above post.
> [@tophee](#):
>
> I don’t have this option in the meta forum here but I have it as an admin in my own forum.
If there are no options to choose then it will not display the field in user preferences.
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/6 "2017-02-22T14:40:33Z")
Here is a screenshot of it on Meta
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/7 "2017-02-22T16:24:12Z")
> [@vinothkannans](#):
>
> you can allow users to choose the granted badge name as user title using Allow badge to be used as a title.
In case anyone is wondering where to find the `Allow badge to be used as a title` setting: it’s in the settings for each individual badge.
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/8 "2017-02-28T13:09:48Z")
Hm, I have created several badges with “Allow bdage to be used as a title” enabled but in my user preferences, I cannot select them as my title.
In fact, my title is not showing in my user preferences at all any more but it does show in the admin user settings. What could be the cause of this?
I am not sure when it disappeared, but here are some changes I have made recently:
- changed my user name
- installed a couple of plugins
- updated a couple of plugins
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/9 "2017-02-28T13:20:12Z")
Has your user been granted said badge(s)?
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/10 "2017-02-28T13:42:07Z")
LOL, you might be onto something there… I didn’t know I have to grant the badge, assumed that allowing users to select it would suffice. In fact, I had no idea how to grant a badge (found the answer [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grant-a-badge-to-individual-users-manually/29426)) and even less so how to grant a badge automatically (couldn’t find the answer).
What I would like to do is the following: when people become a member of a group, they are granted a badge, indicating their membership in that group and they can then choose to display that membership as their title. Sounds simple, but I just can’t figure out how to do this.
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/11 "2017-02-28T13:44:26Z")
> [@tophee](#):
>
> What I would like to do is the following: when people become a member of a group, they are granted a badge, indicating their membership in that group and they can then choose to display that membership as their title. Sounds simple, but I just can’t figure out how to do this.
You do know there is a section on each Group that is titled “Default title for all users in this group”, right?
If you set that, and the user has not previously selected a title, it will put that text as their title.
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/12 "2017-02-28T13:46:42Z")
> [@cpradio](#):
>
> You do know there is a section on each Group that is titled “Default title for all users in this group”, right?
Yes, I’m aware of that. But people can be members of several groups and with the default title, I’d assume that they will always get the title of the group they joined last and they cannot change it. Not good. That’s why I thought going via the badge system might be a good idea.
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/13 "2017-02-28T13:48:04Z")
> [@tophee](#):
>
> even less so how to grant a badge automatically (couldn’t find the answer).
If you want to go the badge route, read this:
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-can-i-apply-a-badge-to-group-of-users/17998/2?u=cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-can-i-apply-a-badge-to-group-of-users/17998/2)
To enable the Badge SQL box, you must follow
> [@Enable Badge SQL](https://meta.discourse.org/t/badge-sql-can-no-longer-be-edited-by-default/47894):
>
> bookmark This guide explains how to enable Badge SQL in Discourse and discusses the associated security and performance risks. person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator warning Enabling Badge SQL can pose security and performance risks. To maintain security and performance integrity, as of Discourse 1.6, the ability for administrators to edit badge SQL directly is disabled by default. The two primary concerns around enabling Badge SQL are: Security: Allowing direct SQL…
(Sorry it took so long to reply with this detail, it took me a moment to find it again)
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/14 "2017-02-28T14:13:56Z")
> [@cpradio](#):
>
> (Sorry it took so long to reply with this detail, it took me a moment to find it again)
No worries. It tells me that it’s not just me who can’t find this stuff and encouraged me to [suggest some changes in the UI](https://meta.discourse.org/t/badge-sql-can-no-longer-be-edited-by-default/47894/14).
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2024, 12:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-are-user-titles-generated/57792/15 "2024-06-08T12:44:57Z")
This topic was automatically closed after 2662 days. New replies are no longer allowed.