1. New Member
How you get here: Photo approved, phone verified, signed up.
What it unlocks: Browse, explore, set up your profile and take your first steps once your area is live.
How trust tiers work
Trust on Rooted Common Ground is earned by showing up — never bought. There are five tiers, and each one widens what you can see and do — from your own street, to your county, to the whole world. Here's exactly how it works.
2. Active Member
How you get here: Automatically awarded once you complete your first exchange.
What it unlocks: Message, exchange time, join groups, attend events and share Love.
3. Trusted Member
How you get here: Automatically awarded at twelve completed exchanges, with no upheld suspensions or bans.
What it unlocks: Host events, leave vouches for neighbours, become a Buddy and help mediate.
4. Community Pillar
How you get here: Earned, not automatic: thirty-five completed exchanges, at least five vouches and Trusted standing make you eligible — then a neighbour nominates you and your community votes you in.
What it unlocks: See and help across your whole county — not just your own area — plus steward groups, sign off heater builds, run the surplus fund, welcome members and tend the commons.
5. Steward
How you get here: Appointed by admin — Stewards are chosen by the team for outstanding, trusted contribution. There's no automatic route in.
What it unlocks: See communities country- and world-wide, follow the global story and help tend the wider commons everywhere.
What about your Kindness balance?
You never need Kindness in your account to ask for or receive help. Earning Kindness is how your community gets to know you and how you move up the trust tiers — it's a quiet signal that you show up, never a permission to be helped.
Your balance can go below zero, and that's completely fine. Nobody is ever turned away from help because of their balance. Give what you can, when you can — that's the whole idea.
Human oversight & appeals
Trust tiers are calculated automatically from your genuine activity, but no member is ever downgraded purely by an algorithm. Any downgrade is flagged for human review before it takes effect.
If a moderation action affects your tier, you'll be told why and given an appeal reference. Appeals are reviewed by a senior moderator or admin — never the person who took the original action — within 7 days. Email safety@rooted-common-ground.world.