Societies
What is a society?
An akatoo society (or categorical society) is a private forum where members who share an interest in a particular field of knowledge can gather to exchange ideas, debate relevant topics, or just hang out and chat.
How do I join a society?
There are two ways to become eligible for society membership:
Demonstrated expertise - Each society has a minimum categorical IKU (International Knowledge Unit) value that will unlock full membership to that society. The fastest way to increase your categorical IKU is to provide thoughtful answers to questions in that category, but asking questions and rating the answers of other members will also increase your categorical IKU.
Sponsored membership - Existing members of a society may sponsor a limited number of akatoo users for society membership who do not qualify by IKU alone. If you accept a sponsored invitation, you will be granted a trial, or "honorary," membership to that society. As an honorary member, you will have access to many of the same features full members enjoy. When your honorary membership expires, you'll be promoted to a permanent member in the society if you've achieved a qualifying categorical IKU value.
Clicking on the Societies tab of your user profile allows you to see a list of your society memberships and those you're eligible to join.
How do I enter a society that I belong to?
Once you're a member, you can jump to a society by clicking on the society's link in the membership section of your user profile. You can also enter a society from the general category page by clicking on the "Society" link to the right of the "Questions" header for that category. (If there's no "Society" link, that category doesn't have a society associated with it.)
How do I start a new society?
Societies are created for a category when user activity in that specific category reaches a critical level. While you cannot currently create a society manually, your unique participation in your areas of interest goes a long way to "encourage" the akatoo system to create a society for your favorite category. Ask insightful questions, give accurate answers, and rate other users' answers appropriately, and before you know it, you could be one of the first members of your favorite topic's society. An individual really does make a difference at akatoo.