-17

Similar to the silver badge "Yearling"(Active member for a year, earning at least 200 reputation); this gold badge is earned if "Active for one year, earning at least 2000 reputation".

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  • 12
    Too easy for a gold badge. May 8, 2013 at 13:54
  • 3
    Yeah, I would bump it to 10 years, at least. May 8, 2013 at 13:55
  • 2
    @DanielDaranas: To struggle for 1 complete year is not easy in my opinion :)
    – Aditya
    May 8, 2013 at 13:55
  • 4
    Consider that in a year there are ~240 work days (excluding weekends/holidays) and that the rep cap is 200 per day on upvotes. That translates to 48,000 rep a year for someone really active. 2000 rep is achievable in 10 days.
    – Oded
    May 8, 2013 at 13:56
  • 1
    @Aditya 2,000 is too easy a threshold to give a golden badge. Thousands of users have this reputation over a year. This would result in lots of new gold badges. May 8, 2013 at 13:58
  • 3
    @Oded how the heck do you get 200 rep in one day? The most I can get is about 2...
    – Xarcell
    May 8, 2013 at 14:00
  • 4
    @Xarcell - 20 upvotes on answers. 40 on questions. Or any combination. Ask Jon Skeet how he does it ;)
    – Oded
    May 8, 2013 at 14:00
  • 3
    @DanielDaranas Not everyone gets 200 rep everyday... Heck, I have never Mortarboarded in the last 4.5 months I have been active on SE... If you compare it with over activities like raising flags, reviewing stuff - I think 2000-3000 rep is just about correct... We have 1 year to balance it out...
    – Aditya
    May 8, 2013 at 14:01
  • 6
    @Oded: 2000 rep is achievable in far less than 10 days. It's achievable just in votes in 10 days...
    – Jon Skeet
    May 8, 2013 at 14:02
  • 8
    Bump it to 20000, and that's a gold badge.
    – nneonneo
    May 8, 2013 at 14:02
  • 5
    Looking at the SO leagues, last year ~320 users received 20000+ rep for 2012.
    – Jon Skeet
    May 8, 2013 at 14:04
  • 8
    Sorry but -1 in its current form. Way too easy for a gold badge. I would change to "Active member for three years, earning at least 10000 reputation each year". May 8, 2013 at 14:10
  • 1
    Also, aside from the bad pun, the name doesn't make much sense.
    – hammar
    May 8, 2013 at 14:12
  • 4
    @ryan - I think you just proved the point that it needs to be higher than 2000. Look at the gold badge distribution, they're pretty much all in the 100's or low 1000's, so saying that 22K users have 2K rep already means (from the precedent) we're setting the bar too low for a gold badge.
    – Mike
    May 8, 2013 at 14:14
  • 2
    @ShaWizDowArd Yes - a good mixture of time/activity/rep. Not sure on the naming though.
    – nickhar
    May 8, 2013 at 14:16

1 Answer 1

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Badges rewarded for reputation are unhelpful. Reputation is already prominently displayed on SE. Badges should be reserved for things that are helpful to the site but not directly rewarded with reputation.

edit to clarify: I consider reputation to be the primary measure of contribution to the site. I consider badges to be a secondary measure. Yes, I think reputation is helpful and should continue to be the primary measure of contribution. What I think is unhelpful is for badges to merely echo reputation gain.

I don't know the history or intention of badges like mortarboard.

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  • 2
    You earn reputation by being helpful though...
    – Xarcell
    May 8, 2013 at 14:14
  • 1
    Epic, Legendary, Motarboard, and Yearling are all badges that reward reputation gains. There is precedent for a badge that rewards reputation.
    – Mike
    May 8, 2013 at 14:20
  • @Mike: Why do we need another one?
    – hammar
    May 8, 2013 at 14:21
  • 1
    @Mike - They all reward being active of the site, not so much reputation gains.
    – Oded
    May 8, 2013 at 14:21
  • 3
    @Oded - They reward being active on the site only by earning rep, I can be very active on the site without hitting rep caps (edits, reviews, flags and comments).
    – Mike
    May 8, 2013 at 14:24
  • @hammar - I'm not saying we do need another one. I'm saying that it's incorrect to say "Badges should be reserved for things that are helpful to the site but not directly rewarded with reputation." - if we say that then why are those badges I listed even present? We're saying earning rep doesn't directly help the site?
    – Mike
    May 8, 2013 at 14:26
  • @Mike Who said that rep doesn't help the site? Aaron said that rep already comes with it's own rewards and as such doesn't need yet another reason for people to earn it; they are already sufficiently motivated to earn rep based on the existing functionality.
    – Servy
    May 8, 2013 at 14:35
  • @Servy - And yes, I agree with that statement. What I'm saying is that I read Aaron's answer: "Badges rewarded for reputation are unhelpful"; I infer from that that he feels one users rep isn't helpful to the community, you may or may not agree, but that's how I read it. As such, I'm saying SO already has badges that only are awarded by earning copious amounts of rep because rep helps the site. Thus, I don't understand/agree with Aaron's answer... now, if it was changed to say exactly what you did, then yes, I would agree with it.
    – Mike
    May 8, 2013 at 14:50
  • I infer from that that he feels one users rep isn't helpful to all But that's not infer-able from what he said. The badge encouraging rep isn't helpful; that doesn't mean the rep itself isn't helpful, just that the additional badge for it isn't helpful. This thread doesn't exist to debate if the existing badges should be removed (feel free to make a new question if you want to discuss that) but the fact that there are already a number of badges encouraging earning rep means that you can argue we don't need another; we already have them.
    – Servy
    May 8, 2013 at 14:52
  • @Servy - Yes, I suppose put in the context of only this question, you are correct. Aaron, can you edit your answer to make the scope (new rep badges) clear so I can recast my vote?
    – Mike
    May 8, 2013 at 14:59

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