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Is it possible to lose badges after they've been awarded?

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    Heh, I was going to point to the FAQ but it turns out this question isn't addressed there. Guess I'll upvote instead.
    – mmyers
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 15:01
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    You may, but you cannot ♪
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 15:44
  • @mmyers I worked this into the FAQ.
    – Pops
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 17:16

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No, badges are never taken away. That's part of the site's design.

However, if you no longer meet the criteria for a badge (say your "great question" got busted back down to 99 votes), then you won't earn another one of those badges until you "catch up."

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  • Just to get this straight: Does "until you catch up" mean you can get another badge for meeting the same criteria again on the same post?
    – Tomalak
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 16:12
  • @Tomalak: That's an interesting question and I believe you technically can. If you get upvoted 100 times on a question, then slip back to 99, then get 100 upvotes on a different question, you won't get the badge for the second question. But if you then get back to 100 votes on the first question, I think that the second badge is awarded then. I'm not sure how it works internally; now that the system tells you which question a badge was awarded for (if applicable), it would be interesting to test this out and see if the second badge is linked to the second question or first.
    – Aarobot
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 16:38
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    meta.stackexchange.com/questions/58088/…
    – Tomalak
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 17:09
  • It used to be possible for there to be a mismatch between the question it says you got a badge for and the question you actually got it for, but it was fixed in 2013: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/81013/…
    – ArtOfWarfare
    Commented Aug 30, 2015 at 11:42
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    "never taken away" is wrong. they're taken away if they were acquired by heinous cheating
    – Alec
    Commented May 4, 2019 at 17:41
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General badges will not be taken away once you have earned them (barring very exceptional circumstances).

Tag badges, on the other hand, will be revoked if you don't meet the criteria for them anymore. If you earned a bronze badge in a certain tag for 20 non-wiki answers with a total score of exactly 100, and then one of your answers gets downvoted (bringing your total score to 99), you will lose the tag badge.

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No, once they are awarded they are never taken away.

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    He's lying. Ten minutes ago, @Juan had 21 silver badges. I took one and gave it to those in need.
    – user50049
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 15:01
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    hahahah, really, how? cuz I wan... I mean... I need one.
    – Luiscencio
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 15:02
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    @Luiscencio - Ultra ninja badge burgling skills (I said psst, look over there! then swiped one while he was distracted)
    – user50049
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 15:04
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    @Tim change your name to "Badge Burgling-er"
    – devinb
    Commented Jul 22, 2010 at 15:06

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