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I propose a new Gold level Sportsmanship badge. I earned the silver badge June 4th, and I continue to vote for competing answers. I would like to feel that I am working toward something, not because I would otherwise cease to vote for these answers, which clearly I have not, but because it adds to the fun of the site, just like the other badges.

Following the ratios of some other badges, since the silver is at 100, perhaps 400 votes for competing answers is a good level?

When I asked this question I was unaware that all votes for competing answers were counted, believing it was limited to the number of questions. Since in fact all votes are counted I think the threshold needs to be higher, perhaps 1000 votes as suggested by user unknown.

This feature request is fairly popular but has failed to reach critical mass. If anyone has new ideas about how this request might be changed to make it more likely to succeed please share them.

May 2016

There is renewed interest in this topic due to a similar request on Meta Stack Overflow (as well as a generous bounty just started by Josh Crozier):

The community should at least be aware of this parallel development. Perhaps that question should be migrated here and combined with this one as I believe badges are network-wide? Any missing or controversial aspects of this question could be edited appropriately.

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    Yes, but what would you call it? Super-Duper Sportsmanship? :-)
    – LarsTech
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 16:05
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    @LarsTech I have not given that consideration. I suppose "Gold Sportsmanship" would be redundant, but not exactly confusing. One could also go for something like "Enduring Sportsmanship" but that appears to speak more of time than volume, which doesn't match my proposal.
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 16:08
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    Would the Lady Byng badge be too obscure a reference?
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 16:13
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    @Bill I don't know. I had to follow the link to learn the meaning, but I hope that most on this site are not opposed to learning. It would feel funny for some reason to have Lady something on my profile. :^)
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 16:15
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    @BilltheLizard: +1 Exactly what I was going to suggest.
    – Dennis
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 16:44
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    How about Olympian as a badge name?
    – JNK
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 17:54
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    Having Olympian as a badge name is likely to get you yelled at by the IOC.
    – CanSpice
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 18:13
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    As a word that is hundreds of years old, I don't think the IOC can lay claim to Olympian. However, I don't know that it conveys the correct meaning that well. I tend to think of "god-like" in some aspect or another when I read "Olympian" outside the realm of the games.
    – jball
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 19:09
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    Do not want. But if we get this, can we also get a Gold "PHD" badge for downvoting competing answers.
    – Anthony Pegram
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 19:17
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    @jball, I might be alone, but we don't need badges for everything, and behavior-encouraging badges should ultimately benefit the site in terms of adding useful content, generating views, etc. A silver badge for a benevolent yet ultimately lesser activity such as this is sufficient, in my view.
    – Anthony Pegram
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 19:31
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    I suggest the levels be at par with other badges (e.g. 100 and 500). For reference: S&W/CopyEditor: 80/500 Deputy/Marshal: 80/500 Electorate: 600
    – Lorem Ipsum
    Commented May 24, 2012 at 1:56
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    Say this is implemented. What happens after you earn this badge? Will you want a new level of platinum badges to be created to further "add to the fun"? Where does it end? I don't see any benefit to the community from this, and it would further clutter up an already-noisy badge page.
    – Pops
    Commented May 24, 2012 at 2:41
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    @jball this is getting off topic, but history has shown that not having total dominion over the word "Olympian" doesn't stop the IOC from yelling.
    – Pops
    Commented May 24, 2012 at 2:45
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    @PopularDemand What happens after? The same thing we do every night, Pinky...
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 7:56
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    Same request on Meta SO: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/323487/…
    – wythagoras
    Commented May 21, 2016 at 11:13

13 Answers 13

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+500

First of all, I second the request.

As for the name:

Since upvoting a tremendous amount of competing answers implies that the user actually cares about the question getting answered instead of just wanting to "score" himself, I suggest Team player.

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    himself is politically incorrect!
    – bestsss
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 0:51
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    @bestsss: So am I.
    – Dennis
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 0:55
  • you mean 'team player' or politically incorrect (if the latter, it's very politically incorrect to say so, mind you)
    – bestsss
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 1:04
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    @bestsss: Talking about a generic user (not one in particular) is gender neutral and perfectly good English. The context makes clear that it does not necessarily refer to a male user.
    – Dennis
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 1:09
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    "themself" using the singular-they instead of "himself" would be gender neutral without feeling forced
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:14
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    @RichardTingle singular-they is a linguistic abomination. On the other hand, "team player" is a good name for this badge.
    – Floris
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 21:09
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    @Floris Any particular reason for that? It has a long pedigree including authors such as Jane Austin. Not to mention being incredibly useful (which ultimately should be the barometer of the language)
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 21:35
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    @richardtingle maybe it's just the way Facebook and others use "they": "it's John's birthday. Write something on their wall." - it makes me cringe! I am sure that FB has figured out the gender of their members. I believe that "he" can be used in a gender neutral sense, and that is my preference. To me, PC means personal choice.
    – Floris
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 23:08
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    @Floris, yes that is idiotic. Singular they should only ever be used for an uncertain or generic person. I have however never understood how "he" could ever include someone female. It's not me being PC, it's that that word explicitly refers to a male person (worse still how would you refer to a generic male person? Now that "he" has been stolen for a generic male or female person). Regardless I feel we have diametrically opposed views on this and I don't want to get into an off topic debate
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 23:48
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    The word doesn't explicitly refer to a male; similarly, man refers to both men and women. This has been the case for a very very long time - it is only relatively recently that various movements have objected vocally to this.
    – Rory Alsop
    Commented Jul 18, 2014 at 10:55
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+50

I like Corinthian spirit, but I think this is very much a British English-only phrase.

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    +1 for a British English phrase---definitely a feature, not a bug. :-D
    – C. K. Young
    Commented Dec 27, 2011 at 18:52
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    I'd never heard the phrase before reading this, but that gives it an air of mystery that suits a gold badge.
    – senderle
    Commented Jun 19, 2012 at 2:30
30

I like it!!

How about "Not a rep Monster"?

Or, "Not A Rep Whore"

I wanted to design a badge for it but got bored and completely redesigned the gold badges.

enter image description here

(Note that the 1000 is random, I prefer 400/500)

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    Before anyone says "not enough jquery": I used jQuery+contentEditable to do this.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 8:32
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    Nice. Now how does this add constructively to the conversation? I'm hoping to see this actually implemented. You're playing with JQuery.
    – user50049
    Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 19:12
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    This would have been perfect two days ago...
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 22:06
  • @TimPost: Well, I wanted to design a badge-image for it, just 'cos badges look cool. And then I got a little carried away--the relevant badge is still there, just with a whole lot of other stuff. :/
    – Manishearth
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 4:49
  • So the "constructive" part is the badge name and image, The rest is noise, I guess. Didn't want my jQuery to go to waste ;)
    – Manishearth
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 4:50
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    Well, jQuery is never wrong. Who knows what could happen? :P
    – user50049
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 8:41
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    "Self explanatory"? No, you've got some 'splaining to do.
    – gnostradamus
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 17:52
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    I think the JonSkeet badge should go to the user with the highest rep - an honorary badge, in the spirit of the emergent culture of the community. Also, let's face it - we know Jon Skeet's never going to lose the badge until he dies (even then, his existing posts might just be self sustaining enough to farm enough rep in auto-pilot mode)
    – inspectorG4dget
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:42
  • I don't think "Not a rep monster" is a good idea because we don't just want to post to earn rep. So, I propose "Competer".
    – new Q Open Wid
    Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 22:01
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I'd call the badge "Spirit". The spirit of the site is to get all good content up to the top where it can be as useful as possible.

If you consistently up vote based on merit alone, even if it means another answer scores higher than your own, then you have the spirit of the site at heart.

And yes, I think that does deserve a gold badge. By the time someone reached ~400 - 500 votes, it means we're just rewarding someone again for consistent, desirable behavior. That's precisely what badges should be doing.

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  • Thanks for your support. Do you specifically favor "Spirit" over "Corinthian Spirit" (my favorite suggestion)?
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 22:04
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    I think either would be quite nice. I do favor "Spirit" but I'm at a bit of a loss to articulate why. I think I'd be at the same loss to explain why I like one color over another. In any event, I really hope to see it implemented. The idea sounds great to me, I hope the hardest part is deciding on the name :)
    – user50049
    Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 22:14
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I vote for it to be called Esprit de Corps :-)

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10

In the spirit of terms like "Fair play", the ideas of ethics and friendly competition embodied in "Sportsmanship", and just plain fun, I propose that the badge be called Good Game.

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    I was of the impression that good game has lost its original meaning in some circles and could carry with it a shade of sarcasm.
    – prusswan
    Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 3:19
  • It depends on the context and the tone used. Just like "great" can be used for "really good" and "not good at all". I think attaching the term to a gold badge would make the intention clear, but it could be a little muddy.
    – jball
    Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 7:10
9

I quite like "Gentlemanly Conduct" as a name - again possibly a little British, but my other suggestion, "Jolly Good Show!", might have been a little over the top.

Gentlemanly Conduct does capture the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in a nice phrase.

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    Is there a more sex agnostic code of conduct? Maybe "Chivalry" would be the way to go?
    – user50049
    Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 19:14
  • Chivalry is a nice way of putting it. Not as much fun, but gets the message over.
    – Jon Egerton
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 8:37
8

I second the request, but would suggest a higher threshold, like 1000 votes.

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6

What about "Olympic Spirit"?

those should be five free hand circles

Inspired by the answers from AakashM and Tim Post.

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    Maybe it should be a medal instead of a badge.
    – Marijn
    Commented Aug 8, 2012 at 9:00
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    Not an option, the Olympic folks are way too protective of their trademarks. It is almost ridiculous, news agencies have trouble covering the games legally.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 5:54
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I really do like the incentive to vote for competing answers,

but maybe this badge is a little bit more easy to grind at than a gold badge ought to be.

There's also the room people to avoid the incentive by up-voting on questions that are weeks or months old(thus not putting their own answer in jeopardy). You might want to put some sort of time-limit on this, or only count votes that occur before the OP has accepted an answer.

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    That's probably over-thinking it a bit. Assuming we want a gold badge for this, where's the harm in older answers getting votes?
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 19:56
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    @AnnaLear Well, for one, badge grinders are going to go down their list of answers, and indiscriminately up-vote every other answer in those questions, regardless whether they're good answers or not.
    – Sam I am says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 19:57
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    Sam, since a Gold badge should be fairly hard to get I'm not opposed to your proposed time restriction, but if such a restriction would result in this badge not being implemented due to the additional hassle I'd rather see the badge implemented anyway, without it.
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 20:06
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    Another possible restriction would be that your own answers each have to have a minimum score, so you cannot simply post a pile of marginal answers and upvote everything else. What do you think of that?
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 20:07
  • @Mr.Wizard Well, if the restriction was on the answers you've upvoted, rather than the answers you've posted, that would solve the grinding issue
    – Sam I am says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 20:09
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    @Mr.Wizard The badge description is "Up voted 100 answers on questions where an answer of yours has a positive score" posting an answer with a positive score might not be difficult, but it's difficult enough that you can't just repeat it on demand.
    – Sam I am says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 21:59
  • @Mr.Wizard I think the confusion comes from your own idea having already been implemented
    – Sam I am says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 14:29
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    +1 For "only count votes that occur before the OP has accepted an answer." that definitely requires more sportsmanship. Even more so if you upvote a competing answer above your own!
    – Martin Smith
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 19:46
3

I would go with:

Up voted 400 answers on questions where an answer of yours has a score of 3 or more

Adding the requirement to have 3+ score on your own answer is the key and wasn't suggested before as far as I can see, and it would both make it harder to gain and harder to game.

Leaving the name choosing to others. :)

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    Please say more about harder to game. If I had an answer with 3 upvotes, couldn't I just upvote all other answers which have 0 or 1 upvotes regardless of their true usefulness ... and still be ahead of them?
    – HansUp
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:35
  • @HansUp but it's not easy to get the 3 upvotes. Maybe it's just harder to gain, hmm...
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:42
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    Thinking about this more, the harder to gain is really my concern. My answers are in the ms-access tag family, where it's rare to get 3 upvotes. So I got no reasonable chance of ever getting the "Golden Spirit of SO" (or whatever it's called) badge. Which is too bad, because that's one of the few I would actually care much about. Whether or not I can ever get one, I like the proposal ... and that is still true if your 3 vote requirement is adopted. I'll just curse you privately. :-0
    – HansUp
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:49
  • Well, gold badge should never be easy to get and requiring just more answers to upvote, even 1000, doesn't sound enough to me.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:55
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    Difficult <> impossible. But I can't argue you're wrong. If I want that thing badly enough, I can start posting in tags where votes aren't so hard to get. But I still may curse you anyway. Cheers.
    – HansUp
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 21:57
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    I like this idea, at least on the surface. +1 @HansUp Unfortunately some badges just don't work form some sites/communities -- I'd love the Generalist badge but at present it is impossible on Mathematica. Likewise the Unsung Hero is pretty much never going to happen as at Mathematica people actually vote for good answers (imagine that). I'm sorry to hear of your troubles but quite honestly if its hard to get three votes on a good answer in the ms-access tag there is something wrong with that community.
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 23:43
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    Another possibility for making this harder to gain and especially game would be only counting a maximum of n competing up-votes for each question; this would prevent someone from simply up-voting every answer in a popular thread. Values for n might be 1 to 3.
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 23:45
1

Good sportsmanship doesn't require badges. If you are upvoting others' posts, you are not doing it for money, fortune, or stinkin' badges. You simply do what you feel is right.

To be rewarded for this by others on StackExchange seems as incongruous as being rewarded for something right in real life.

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    So what you actually say that we're better off without any badges.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 6:43
  • @ShaWizDowArd - I don't care much about them, least of all for upvoting others. There may be others who do, though. But to issue badges for decent behavior is kind of weird, to my mind.
    – Deer Hunter
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 7:07
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    OK, let's agree to disagree then. :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 7:11
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    The bronze level of this would serve more as an "Oh, that's something especially encouraged" (like getting a badge for figuring out that you can open your inventory in some games). Bronze badges are more of a just-in-time 'yay you did something good' signal than a reward, often triggering at the first instance of you doing it. And you do get rewarded for doing stuff right in real life. Has no one ever said "Good job"?
    – user50049
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 18:06
-2

I am not going to discus the name nor the number of votes necesary for such badge, just going to quote the Tour:

Good answers are voted up and rise to the top.

If this is really what we want, such badge will be useful, as it would motivate even people with upvoted answers vote for other good answers.

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    Probably because the answer is about the badge in general, while the request is about "upgrading" the silver to gold, so the answer doesn't really fit in that context.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:05
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    How do you know that it will motivate users to vote only for good answers and not just to upvote all answers to get some silly badge?
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:05
  • @samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz But then we need to also remove the silver badge. And if you think that such badge motivates just voting for a badge there are even more voting badges which should be removed.
    – convert
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:09
  • @convert I wouldn't mind removing all badges - and also reputation if we are at it
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:10
  • @sam sure, and make SE just a lame site not better a bit than the other Q&A sites.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:11
  • @samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz To be honest I wouldn´t mined, but this would change the complete concept of SE, which makes it uniqe, at least as far I know.
    – convert
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:13
  • @Shadow Wizard Chasing Stars "Upgrading"? I was thinking it´s about adding a new badge similar to some other mentioned "families" of silver/gold badges.
    – convert
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:18
  • @convert yeah, I mean adding upgraded version of same badge, while keeping the silver as well.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 14:21
  • @Shadow Wizard Chasing Stars Then I don´t see the disagreement? The new badge should motivate you to upvote good answers even after earning the silver one.
    – convert
    Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 17:07

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