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Winter Bash is always a lot of fun and makes people trek across sites and participate in communities they are not usually a part of, but how did they originate? What was the thought process behind introducing this tradition?

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    Team Fortress 2
    – yannis
    Dec 15, 2015 at 18:34
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    I recall reading that Winter Bash served to get people on SE during the holiday period, when there is traditionally less activity on the site. Not sure if that's true, and can't find it back :-(
    – S.L. Barth is on codidact.com
    Dec 15, 2015 at 18:38
  • And no, I am not after the Sun Wukong hat (already have it), I would just like an as official as possible answer as to why they decided to implement hats.
    – J Sargent
    Dec 15, 2015 at 18:45

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It started out in 2011 on the Gaming Stack Exchange under the name "Hat Dash", a fun event for that site's community and also a nod to the game Team Fortress 2.

The users loved it, and so in 2012 it was revived on the whole network and with the name "Winter Bash", and has been a thing ever since.

I have a hat feeling about this

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  • Thank you, that makes sense. What were some of the things that were considered though? Were effects on the community thought about, etc?
    – J Sargent
    Dec 15, 2015 at 18:46
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    Yeah, the definition of the hats is a lot of discussion every year. It's more lighthearted than, say, badges, but you still don't want to encourage really bad behavior (like, at hat for defacing twenty questions quickly enough before getting suspended). It's always a mixture of encouraging nice (or at least interesting) things, sometimes even trying out ideas for new badges, and plain ol' fun.
    – balpha StaffMod
    Dec 15, 2015 at 18:49

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