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I am some of you will understand my feeling. You are having dinner with friends, on a date, in the bus. Basically not at home or at the office. You answered a question just before leaving work and want to do a quick a follow-up from your iPhone or Android.

And then you see.this question, you know the answer, you start typing on your cell phone like a 12 year old kid texting his friends. The back quote to format your code is so well hidden in the virtual keyboard that it' .painful. You answer first, and the the answer is accepted.

Shouldn't we deserve a badge for that? Accepted answer from mobile phone. I mean my date left, but I am proud of myself!

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  • 5
    Shouldn't we deserve a badge for that? - No. Besides, it's way too easy for anyone to manually change their browser's identification to make it look like a mobile browser. There's no way to enforce it. – animuson♦ Sep 6 '12 at 22:44
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    Ah, the "I have no life" badge... ;) – Bart Sep 6 '12 at 22:46
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    True. But a few badges can be obtained by ... how would i say that... alternative ways. I like to think that people are honest about how they use SO. I mean what's the point in lying to have more badges anyway? – Tchoupi Sep 6 '12 at 22:49
  • @Bart I sometimes have this feeling yes. But the date story was just an example cough. You could also say that a lot of badges are I'm bored at my job badges. – Tchoupi Sep 6 '12 at 22:51
  • what's the point in lying to have more badges anyway? so you think all badges are earned honestly? Bwahahaha! – Aaron Bertrand Sep 6 '12 at 23:55
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Shouldn't we deserve a badge for that?

No.

It's your preference. You're choosing to browse and answer questions on your phone. I choose to do it on my computer. Some people choose to do it on their laptop. Some on their tablets. Maybe some people even use speech-to-text software to automatically type out their answers. How you type your post makes no difference (or at least it shouldn't) on the overall quality or usefulness of the post. This would only encourage deceit as users quickly change their browser identification to make it look like a mobile browser, just for a useless badge.

I like mobile. I don't use it often. A bronze badge for simply logging into the site via mobile would be as far as I'd go with it. Sure, you can change your browser string for that too, but then it's only one badge, and it still promotes the existence of the mobile website to all the users.

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  • I have to say, I like your suggestion. Thanks for you detailed answer! – Tchoupi Sep 6 '12 at 23:00
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No, and I can see it as a form of advertising. To earn this badge you need to buy a mobile device and subscribe for service if you don't have it. Of course now you need to buy something and get internet, but you don't get reinforcement for choosing one method over another.

In addition, why should people who use it with the phone earn special honor over anyone else? Using a mobile device for this may have been an honorable mention 5-10 years ago (early stages), but certainly not now.

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-1

Yes, It's a great idea for a badge. Writing a good answer from a phone is hard. You are at a serious disadvantage being without a keyboard, mouse, IDE, etc. It takes significant more time, effort, and determination. If you can earn the accepted answer despite all the limitations, it's definitely worth a bronze badge.

Answering a question from a phone vs a PC is not about preference. In most scenarios, like the one you mentioned, you would only use a phone because a PC is not readily available. If you are browsing SO on your phone and see a question you can answer, you should be encouraged to answer it. Otherwise you will put it off until the morning, the questioner will have to wait several hours, and you may simply forget.

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