Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!

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1

What rewards should the new SDMB offer?

  • Both Badges & Likes
  • Badges but No Likes
  • Likes but No Badges
  • No Likes & No Badges
  • Pie!
  • Something Else Entirely

0 voters

Yeah, I know, that’s not the actual quote…

I figured that it might be good to have a discussion about the new site and…rewards and feedback.

I know there are discussions about this facet of the new site in a number of threads, but I haven’t seen a thread where this is a major focus.

Badges, tiered titles, etc. seem to be a way for the site to manage and guide users into certain behaviors. In response to “approved” behavior, the users get to display their status relative to other users.

I don’t like 'em.

I see no reason to allow Discourse to mold the culture of the SDMB. I’d prefer that they just go away, or if that’s not possible, be muted.

Likes, dislikes, thumbs up, thumbs down, etc. are another feature we could have.

On the plus side, they allow the community to call attention to noteworthy posts. On the minus side, they can create a culture of status seeking, with posters trying to accumulate the most Likes, cliques organizing to promote their members (and drive down their enemies). In the worst cases, where Likes/Dislikes drive post visibility, they can foster a groupthink sameness to a board.

I don’t like 'em.

I don’t think we need them. The only way I could see their use for the SDMB is if the Likes/Dislikes are for the post, not the poster (so users don’t have Like counts and their status is not affected by their Like/Dislike totals). This would allow them to be used to call attention to posts with merit, but make it harder for them to be used to “assert dominance”.

What do you think?

2

I don’t mind the badges. They’re pretty unobtrusive, except for the notifications when you earn one.

I know we’re all old pros at messageboarding, but new joins may not be, and the badges might help them learn.

3

Myabe we can call them something less “participation award” sounding? Maybe Milestones?

4

The badges are innocuous and unobtrusive. We are seeing a lot of them now because we are established members moving to a new platform. The flood will stop soon and you’ll forget all about them.

I do think that badges guide and help new members.

5

True, now that I have become accustomed to how the site works I barely receive badges anymore. :shield:

6

Badges are really stupid. I got a badge for reading a thread (topic!) that had more than 100 posts. Give me a break.

Ahem. I who started a topic (thread!) that got 44,000 posts.

7

Envy. I want one of those.

:laughing:

8

Lucky you! That badge is probably the most buggy one on Discourse. You can usually only get it if the long post is closed to further replies.

9

Grade me!!

10

I have no idea exactly what I did.

11

There are two kinds of people in the world: some enjoy grading, whereas others love to be graded. I am probably both. :slight_smile:

12

I got a badge for using my first emoji…

in a post I made in November 2001.
Woo-hoo?

13

I love to be graded. But the grade has to mean something. :face_with_monocle:

14

I chose likes and no badges, but to be frank I could give a crap either way about the badges.

15

I chose other. I want money🤑

16

Everyone wants money. That’s why we work from home. :computer: :house:
(On Skype, there is an emoji with a house that switches into a laptop, and then back into a house, back into a laptop, back into a house… at nauseam.)

17

Badges are useless, and are an “individual award.” Likes are indicative to the community and are a good metric of the usefulness of a post.

Tripler
I’d rather “like” a good zinger of a reply, than get another dumb badge.

18

It could be argued that badges are a good metric of the usefulness of a poster.

19

The Crazy in Love badge description is pretty funny when likes are turned off. I wonder if we’ll all get it in a couple weeks.

20

So far, badges only seem to be representative of one’s ability to use the Discourse interface: “Editor!” “Autobiographer!” “First Emoji!” etc. etc. They don’t really convey usefulness of a poster to a discussion; only their ability to manipulate a keyboard.

Likes are more representative of a poster’s usefulness in a conversation.

Tripler
Keyboard operator.