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I admit that I was one of the bunch that didn't understand the infamous Electorate Badge at first; at some point I did some research on Meta, and found its meaning.

I've been thinking about it for a while, and I finally dared step into the Electorate Badge's No Man's Land! I am here proposing a very minor modification from:

Voted on 600 questions and 25% or more of total votes are on questions.

To

  1. Voted on at least 600 questions and 25% or more of your total votes are on questions.

  2. Voted on at least 600 questions, and where 25% or more of your total votes were on questions.

  3. Voted on a minimum of 600 questions, where at least 25% of your total votes were on questions.

The fact that the word questions is repeated twice causes confusion, because when reading the description (even after the umpteenth time), it is still confusing. one tends to associate both instances of the word questions to literally represent questions.

Even though there is a very extensive and helpful Community Wiki on Meta, List of all badges with full descriptions; it isn't readily available from the Badges page - maybe it can be added?

Those who frequent Meta, already know how many questions pop up related to the Electorate Badge...for those who don't, here's a short list:

Update

I've made a mistake on my initial suggestion; I've updated it since.

Your thoughts?

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  • 5
    But that's incorrect... you do need to vote on at least 600 questions, not posts.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 2:51
  • @animuson Thanks - I just caught on to that from your comment. I've updated my question with better suggestions.
    – Jesse
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 3:04
  • I don't see how those words you're adding in make the text any more clear. They're just extra words taking up space...
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 3:05
  • The extra words are improving the sentences' grammar and meaning, and therefore making them easier to understand. Typically developers try to shorten descriptions because we understand what they mean; but that's not always the case for the end-user (especially when stepping into relatively unfamiliar areas).
    – Jesse
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 3:08
  • I don't see how adding "where" improves the grammar. It actually makes the sentence not make sense. Adding in "your" is useless. Whose votes would you expect them to be? And I really don't see how adding "at least" or "a minimum of" makes it any more clear.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 3:11
  • @animuson You obviously don't agree with my suggestions. Please downvote the post, or suggest your better alternative.
    – Jesse
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 3:19
  • I like number 3, but I'm verbose. It would probably be too long, causing the description to wrap, and the page layout to break, and the Meta tubes to overflow with bug reports...
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 3:30

1 Answer 1

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I've always thought that was the most confusing badge description. Why not:

25% of your total votes are on questions (minimum 600 questions).

That puts the real intent of the badge up front and the sub-requirement last.

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