7

Regarding the "Beta" badge:

Actively participated in the private beta.

Somehow 2157 users earned the badge, one with a user ID of 6262:

FWEE HEND CIRKELS

If user #6262 earned the badge, shouldn't there be 6262 or more users with the badge?

Also, what exactly was the private beta with Stack Overflow?

Improve this question
5
  • do Deleted users have there badges revoked?
    – FDinoff
    Aug 3, 2013 at 21:21
  • 3
    @FDinoff Not explicitly revoked as such, but once the user doesn't exist anymore, they don't contribute to badge counts for obvious reasons. That said, there are a bit over 4000 users still "alive" in the 1-6262 userid range.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Aug 3, 2013 at 21:25
  • @Cole blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/07/…
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Aug 3, 2013 at 21:45
  • @AnnaLear but there's freehand circles! :(
    – Cole Tobin
    Aug 3, 2013 at 22:33
  • Another fun fact: not every user who's been around from the beta days will have a low userid. Merges can throw a wrench into the works and folks with old accounts can have really high userids.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Aug 3, 2013 at 23:31

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
12

In order to earn the beta badge, you not only have to have signed up for the site during its definition stage before being launched, but you have to actively participate. This means asking and answering some minimum threshold of questions.

The numbers you are looking at indicate that at least 6262 people signed up ahead of time but only 2157 crossed the threshold on activity during the private beta phase and got the badge. The other 4000 something were slackers.

Honestly I'm not sure what the private beta stage was for SO since the process then was different, but presumably the badge got retro-actively awarded at some point with similar credentials such that early participants received it (on Sept 16th, '08 apparently).

Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    I thought stackoverflow was in private beta when it was first introduced and I would have assumed this was before area 51
    – FDinoff
    Aug 3, 2013 at 21:25
  • @FDinoff I corrected that already. I think the basics still apply. Active participation in whatever the process was then would be the key here.
    – Caleb
    Aug 3, 2013 at 21:27
  • This is basically right. The exact requirements may have changed over time (I can't easily look that far back into the code), but the activity principle still applies - you have to do more than just create an account.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Aug 3, 2013 at 21:45
  • Adding to this years later, but I'm fairly certain I had the beta badge and it was removed. Kind of upsetting.
    – ray
    Mar 13, 2018 at 18:30

You must log in to answer this question.

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