16

When I saw the "flag weight displayed in profile" announcement a few days ago, I left a comment stating that it eliminated the need for a badge I was about to propose. But with a few tweaks, I think the badge could still be useful.

It's well-established at this point that most badges exist to encourage good behaviors, and most of the remainder exist to alert users to features they might otherwise not know about. Flagging has a "notification badge" — Citizen Patrol — but no "good behavior badge."

Flagging is an important part of keeping the site running efficiently, but it's often overlooked. We need to encourage people to think of it as a regular part of using the site, not a feature reserved for rare, exceptional conditions. This is especially true now that the devs have overhauled the flagging system to make it more accessible/less scary. So, we should have a badge for users who meet the following two criteria:

  • Raised 1000 total flags
  • Earned flag weight of 400 or greater

This could also be modified with a third parameter to encourage people to visit the /review page, which is currently not encouraged by anything at all. Perhaps one of the following conditions would do:

  • Submitted at least 25% of total flags from /review
    or
  • Submitted at least 200 total flags from /review
    or
  • Flagged at least one post from /review every day for ten consecutive days

Pending tweaking of the exact numbers, I propose creating the silver-level Vexillophile badge for this. It's not really gold-worthy, but it's a marked step up from the bronze Citizen Patrol.

EDIT:
I don't want to see a suggested edits criterion added for this badge. The edit review system is important, but it's not related to flagging, so it should have its own badge. If I recall correctly, there is actually one in the works.

Improve this question
15
  • Did you misspell Vexillophile on purpose? :P
    – Jon
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 0:58
  • 1
    Just wondering, is there anywhere a direct link to /review?
    – user138231
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 1:08
  • Regarding site maintenance: Approving/rejecting edits could also play a role here (or could even get its own badge).
    – Felix
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 1:09
  • @BalusC A link to /review will replace the Unasnwered questions tab at the top of the page at some point in the future. In the meantime, you can try out Benjol's userscript that does the same thing.
    – Tim Stone
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 2:08
  • @Jon, if by "on purpose" you mean "typoed it earlier and then copy-pasted it to over here," then yes!
    – Pops
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 2:32
  • 6
    I'm... not really for requiring the /review route. Some people seem to police quite well without needing it, so it seems a bit arbitrary. Promoting it isn't a bad idea, but it's hardly necessary to be a good flagger.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 15:39
  • 1
    Am I the only one who thinks 1000 total flags is extremely high ? If anyone ever reach that point he should become a moderator.
    – HoLyVieR
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 15:56
  • I think it should be "Have had a flag weight of 400 or greater for at least 4 weeks" AND Raised 1000 total flags AND Raised at least 100 flags in each of the last 4 weeks. (E.g. be good and keep being good)
    – Ian Ringrose
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 16:00
  • This needs a silver and a gold badge, Citizen Patrol is the bronce badge.
    – Ian Ringrose
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 16:01
  • 3
    @status-completed The only thing (small though, so it's not a show-stopper) that concerns me is that raising 1000 flags would mean that there's been at least 1000 danger items that needed to be flagged. Easy number for Stack Overflow (even if it'll take around 2-3 months due to flag limits), but a very bad number for the smaller sites.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 16:14
  • 3
    Possibly not activated yet, but check this out
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 17:50
  • ...I'm taking credit for that. (@Grace)
    – Pops
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 17:57
  • @Grace It's active now, myself and 13 others just got it on SO. It surprises me the number is so low. :-/
    – moinudin
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 22:31
  • I'm a deputy!!! That's a fun badge name.
    – jjnguy
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 23:09
  • @HoLyVieR Needing to raise 1,000 helpful flags is extremely high? I dunno. I have that many on SO, and I would make a terrible janitor. That said, the other person I know in that range did get elected moderatrix not too long bag. But I bet we see a drop-off at 500, because people might feel there is no longer an incentive to flag.
    – tchrist
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 1:19

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

Completed in spirit with Marshal and Deputy:

https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/08/a-bevy-of-new-badges/

Improve this answer
4

This has already been done

https://stackoverflow.com/badges/1002/deputy

Although the criteria is a bit different from your proposal. From the surface, it looks like it is just "Hit 500 flag weight"

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    I can't believe how few people have this. As soon as I found out about the flag weight thing, I was determined to get capped. Then I found there was a badge for it.
    – Matt Ball
    Commented Mar 4, 2011 at 3:12

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .