I have found the “badges” area, and notice that there is one there for inviting basic users. I have sent some of my friends the website address, but wonder how you know when I’ve invited someone? Is there functionality on the website to send invitations beyond the basic FB/Twitter posting? If so, how do I find it?
heh, I can’t recall the ‘badges’ area … Can you share a link to that, or explain where it is? 
I’m not currently keeping track of invitations, but I like that idea. I think I can do that by providing everyone with their own custom URL to share, and keeping track of who signs up through that link.
I’ll reply back here after I’ve implemented that.
http://community.citystrides.com/badges
There are several which have to do with inviting new members, including “promoter” which requires one new member. One of the paths listed to a higher “trust level” involves inviting new members. Since I was planning to share with my friends, I thought I would find out how this is tracked. Perhaps that was an old idea which was dropped?
P.S. I really like the ability to put a background photo on my community profile, and would love to see that same photo in the dashboard or profile view of my main CityStrides page.
Ah! I see. Yeah, that’s all contained within this forum.
This forum is a separate project called Discourse, and it has a whole lot of features that I haven’t quite figured out yet. Sorry for the confusion.
Yeah, the profile page in the forum is really nice. Maybe I should take some cues from its design. 
For now, the main CityStrides site pulls its image from whatever you have set in your run tracking service.
It looks to me like the forum page is based on a social network design which is intended to drive participation and growth by stimulating participation. Hence, “badges” and rewards.