This is big news for those who participate often in the Google forums, they changes the levels of your participation from one through twenty to one through ten.

This is causing some people in the forums to feel they’ve been demoted. If you had a ranking of 12 and now see a ranking of 7, that looks like a demotion.

Google announced the change in the Google Web Search Help forums amongst others. Nealem from Google wrote:

The Google Webmaster Help wasn’t as quick and dozens of complaints started rolling in until John Mueller clarified:

Since we cover forums, it is important I document this change. Although this has no impact on your search rankings. 😉

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help & Google Webmaster Help.