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While surfing SO, I came to know that we have some Microsoft MVP's over here, and they are contributing a lot in making SO more helpful to learners like me.

We have a reputation system running along with badges to acknowledge the efforts, contributions and trust. I have a few suggestions to enhance the existing SO algorithm.

Why don't we create a few badges for:

  1. Certified MVP's?

  2. Persons holding Ph D's and other master of the art degrees (which can be verified by different sources)?

  3. Persons who are known for their astonishing/widely used theories/technologies (e.g Zdenek Kalal for predators)?

  4. A person scoring 500+ points in a month with ZERO down-votes (probably a gold badge)?

  5. A person whose answers are accepted 100% of the time for a designated time frame (say one month)?

I am hoping, if this suggestion is liked by others, contributors will get more respect, more passion, more acknowledgement of their help.

EDIT

I can't understand why almost all the readers over here are getting the words of mine like MVP or points; what I want to transfer is the idea behind the question, to give more respect to the contributor and make more clear that the person is likely to be authentic (based on DEGREE AND FIELD EXPERTISE AND/OR REPUTATION).

All of the above are some suggestions to look into this dimension.

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  • 4
    IMO, this badges will be pointless. Badges are about contribution in SO, not in the whole CS world. You always can write that you're MVP or PhD in your profile -- isn't it enough?
    – om-nom-nom
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:38
  • Okay...Got that, I am not asking for giving some points or reputation to them, I am asking for something that increased the respect of contributors.. And these can be implemented to all fields not specific to MVPs or CS World, as SO is not only covering CS world
    – Zaffar Saffee
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:40
  • 4
    Don't MVP's and Ph.D's, uh, already have badges? :)
    – user102937
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:40
  • Yes, PhD and MVP can be mentioned, but if based on contributions we can create some badges, It will show that the answer provided is like to be authentic as it is being given by some reall professional
    – Zaffar Saffee
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:42
  • Definitely they have, And these are only Examples, few suggestions
    – Zaffar Saffee
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:42
  • 2
    How does one earn a PhD or MVP based on contributions on SO??? These are totally unrelated to any SO activity, so I can't see any reason to have SO badges for them.
    – Oded
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:48
  • 1
    Regarding your edit: What does giving badges to people with Ph.D's actually accomplish? Does it improve Stack Overflow in some way, or make it run better? Is the only purpose here to bow down, "we are not worthy" style, to the Ph.D gods?
    – user102937
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 19:08
  • 2
    Why do you feel the need to "make more clear that The person is likely to be authentic"? This is not a problem we are having.
    – Oded
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 19:09
  • 7
    I don't agree with the OP's suggestions, for all of the same reasons already articulated; I would also like to point out that my PhD in English doesn't (and shouldn't) mean squat to my contributions on SO, UX.SE, PM.SE, & Programmers.SE. The existing SE rep system does.
    – jcmeloni
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 19:18
  • One more point. To look at badges list you need to open profile page. Moreover you need to scroll page down and find badge in the list of badges (there could be a lot of them, right?). While tagline is right at your eyes.
    – om-nom-nom
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 20:13
  • This is almost saying that those who aren't MVPs and Ph.Ds can't contribute as much to Stack Overflow, which is absolutely false and unfair.
    – Ry-
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 20:33
  • sorry to all if anyone got hurt or had bad feeling because of me, but let me tell you all, that, i was putting forwar suggestions for respecting the contributors, not PHD or MVP only, i was using them as symbol . i cant clear myself again and again..keep on down voting it with out thinking my point and just following the words. thats the real professional approach..thanks to all
    – Zaffar Saffee
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 23:25
  • @NewBee Don't do that. We're pretty clever people, we read your post, and we "got it". We disagree. That's what down-votes mean. Your reputation on Stack Overflow is for Stack Overflow and only Stack Overflow. Your "real world" activities aren't relevant. There are no real world credentials (PHD, MVP or any other professional certification) that should influence your rep, even if we could accurately tell who actually had the real-world credentials they claimed to have. The community has weighed and rejected your idea, please don't go off in a childish huff.
    – user229044
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 1:46

1 Answer 1

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8
  1. No, A Stack Exchange MVP is certified by their Stack Exchange reputation, the number displayed as reputation points and the informal reputation they get from people reading and valuing their contributions.
  2. No, a PhD is a pretty big badge already, you don't need a Stack Exchange badge extra.
  3. No, badges are for contributions to Stack Exchange sites, if they contribute, they will obtain a lot of badges in no time.
  4. No, at least not gold, that's far too easy. Perhaps bronze.
  5. A badge for having all your answers in one month (and at least 50, say) accepted, that may be a good idea, not sure yet. No, all in all that would be more likely to induce unwanted behaviour than wanted. It could make people refrain from giving good answers to not jeopardize the badge. The 15 points for the accept must suffice.
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  • 3
    5) might distort people's answering behaviour, though - you might end up answering a lot less to secure the badge, and stay away entirely from mainstream-type questions... and then 50 would be pretty hard to achieve for anyone who isn't constantly at SO...
    – Kerrek SB
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:51
  • Criteria and Number of questions and ratio can carefully be selected for this
    – Zaffar Saffee
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:56
  • Hmm, right. Didn't think of that. Maybe > 75% of answers accepted? But I'm not convinced it would be a good idea anyway. (50 was just a number thrown out, could be less.)
    – Daniel Fischer
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 18:56
  • @Daniel either way, it will make people shy away from easy questions. I vote against badge #5. +1 for everything else.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 19:13
  • @DanielFischer - Seeing as badges exist in order to encourage good behaviour (and promote wanted behaviours), I don't really see how #5 (with all the caveats regarding number and %) will promote anything we want. Yes, it may promote some people to give answers that are more thoughtful, but at the cost of many less answers by them.
    – Oded
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 19:14
  • Yup, convinced.
    – Daniel Fischer
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 19:15

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