First, I think questions per day is not the most important statistic for the formative days/months/years of a beta. The long-term survival of a site does not depend on the temporary Q/D stat but on building a real community. In fact, I think some beta users get too wrapped up in the Area 51 numbers when they should really think about how to do their part in building a community.

Second, beta sites will eventually have to be able to survive as regular sites, so there's some reason to not have different rules for beta sites than regular sites. Clearly, the privileges must be earned more quickly in order to have enough trusted users, but otherwise we need to develop habits that will be useful in the launched site. So, while badges for betas might be a good idea, badges for behavior we might discourage in a regular site would be a bad idea.

Third, it's difficult to know ahead of time what sort of problems a beta might have. For some, lack of questions is a problem and for others lack of voting is a problem. We have badges that encourage questions and voting yet they don't make any particular difference in solving those problems. Per site badges make a certain amount of sense, but I don't know if there are any badges that work for a beta which would not also be a good idea for the launched site.

First, I think questions per day is not the most important statistic for the formative days/months/years of a beta. The long-term survival of a site does not depend on the temporary Q/D stat but on building a real community. In fact, I think some beta users get too wrapped up in the Area 51 numbers when they should really think about how to do their part in building a community.

Second, beta sites will eventually have to be able to survive as regular sites, so there's some reason to not have different rules for beta sites than regular sites. Clearly, the privileges must be earned more quickly in order to have enough trusted users, but otherwise we need to develop habits that will be useful in the launched site. So, while badges for betas might be a good idea, badges for behavior we might discourage in a regular site would be a bad idea.

Third, it's difficult to know ahead of time what sort of problems a beta might have. For some, lack of questions is a problem and for others lack of voting is a problem. We have badges that encourage questions and voting yet they don't make any particular difference in solving those problems. Per site badges make a certain amount of sense, but I don't know if there are any badges that work for a beta which would not also be a good idea for the launched site.

First, I think questions per day is not the most important statistic for the formative days/months/years of a beta. The long-term survival of a site does not depend on the temporary Q/D stat but on building a real community. In fact, I think some beta users get too wrapped up in the Area 51 numbers when they should really think about how to do their part in building a community.

Second, beta sites will eventually have to be able to survive as regular sites, so there's some reason to not have different rules for beta sites than regular sites. Clearly, the privileges must be earned more quickly in order to have enough trusted users, but otherwise we need to develop habits that will be useful in the launched site. So, while badges for betas might be a good idea, badges for behavior we might discourage in a regular site would be a bad idea.

Third, it's difficult to know ahead of time what sort of problems a beta might have. For some, lack of questions is a problem and for others lack of voting is a problem. We have badges that encourage questions and voting yet they don't make any particular difference in solving those problems. Per site badges make a certain amount of sense, but I don't know if there are any badges that work for a beta which would not also be a good idea for the launched site.

First, I think questions per day is not the most important statistic for the formative days/months/years of a beta. The long-term survival of a site does not depend on the temporary Q/D stat but on building a real community. In fact, I think some beta users get too wrapped up in the Area 51 numbers when they should really think about how to do their part in building a community.

Second, beta sites will eventually have to be able to survive as regular sites, so there's some reason to not have different rules for beta sites than regular sites. Clearly, the privileges must be earned more quickly in order to have enough trusted users, but otherwise we need to develop habits that will be useful in the launched site. So, while badges for betas might be a good idea, badges for behavior we might discourage in a regular site would be a bad idea.

Third, it's difficult to know ahead of time what sort of problems a beta might have. For some, lack of questions is a problem and for others lack of voting is a problem. We have badges that encourage questions and voting yet they don't make any particular difference in solving those problems. Per site badges make a certain amount of sense, but I don't know if there are any badges that work for a beta which would not also be a good idea for the launched site.