[PROPOSAL] Forum Badges

[Starshine 16,334]

Well it does promotes spam and cluster-buck if all the badges are granted automatically by the system when someone reached the required postcounts or stuff. But I think things will be very different if all the badges are granted by the mods and only when enough materials are approved by them

 

Let's say...

Create 25 Signatures

The user will only get the badge after the mods approved 25 of his submitted Signatures. This way those frickly spammers won't get anything from their hastily made signatures

 

create 50 threads

They will only get the badge when 50 of their threads are actually approved by the mods as being discussion-worthy or something like that

 

About the other badges that were supposedly automatic (50 posts, 25 brohoof, popular post) I currently have no idea on how moderators can control them

 

---

 

Some good, contributing users will get their shiny badges, the silly spammer will get nothing, and a whole lot more jobs for the moderators to do.

 

Sounds good!

Edited April 21, 2012 by Shefira

[Prince Lightning Da Cute 619]

 

 

Thanks for the support, but you should probably read some of the controversy before going completely for the idea. Allot of possible problems have been presented by other readers and would need to be addressed before this proposal was considered further.

 

Ice, you're incapable of producing bad ideas but I see your point.

 

With a system like this, problems would probably surface alot. Addressing them would also take time, let me read the rest of the thread and restate my opinion later.

[Ezynell 2,037]

Well it does promotes spam and cluster-buck if all the badges are granted automatically by the system when someone reached the required postcounts or stuff. But I think things will be very different if all the badges are granted by the mods and only when enough materials are approved by them

 

Let's say...

 

The user will only get the badge after the mods approved 25 of his submitted Signatures. This way those frickly spammers won't get anything from their hastily made signatures

 

 

They will only get the badge when 50 of their threads are actually approved by the mods as being discussion-worthy or something like that

 

About the other badges that were supposedly automatic (50 posts, 25 brohoof, popular post) I currently have no idea on how moderators can control them

 

---

 

Some good, contributing users will get their shiny badges, the silly spammer will get nothing, and a whole lot more jobs for the moderators to do.

 

Sounds good!

 

I like your idea, but it would probably present a problem with the moderators we have on this forum. I don't know the exact rate of moderators to users, but I'm fairly positive it's less then 1:100. They also already have the workload of reading all content presented by the forums and regulating them, which is in the thousands by the day. Maybe if it was made with a tad less workload on the mods, say for regulating signatures, other members of the team have to approve of them, or for the topics, it could be "topics with X amount of replies from other members" could be worked out. Once again, thanks bunches for actually contributing and providing solutions to the restated problems. Another link added to the OP.

 

Ice, you're incapable of producing bad ideas but I see your point.

 

With a system like this, problems would probably surface alot. Addressing them would also take time, let me read the rest of the thread and restate my opinion later.

 

I'll be waiting in a few hours! Seriously, you don't have to read the whole thing, skimming a page or two should be enough. Allot of replies to this are of decent length.

[Starshine 16,334]

Currently we only got ten moderators, sadly they are not a terminator

 

Hey. Feldo doesn't have to actually implement ALL of the badges instantly right? Maybe he can try to put one of them on the site as a test just to see how most of the user reacts to it. With just one kind of badge I'm sure the current moderating team could handle it (Maybe...)

[Guest]

Currently we only got ten moderators, sadly they are not a terminator

 

Hey. Feldo doesn't have to actually implement ALL of the badges instantly right? Maybe he can try to put one of them on the site as a test just to see how most of the user reacts to it. With just one kind of badge I'm sure the current moderating team could handle it (Maybe...)

 

I second this theoretical idea, a test would allow us to see how such an idea would function if implemented. If it turns out to be more trouble then it is worth, the idea is simply retracted, if it creates something positive then it can be exapanded upon.

[Prince Lightning Da Cute 619]

 

 

I like your idea, but it would probably present a problem with the moderators we have on this forum. I don't know the exact rate of moderators to users, but I'm fairly positive it's less then 1:100. They also already have the workload of reading all content presented by the forums and regulating them, which is in the thousands by the day. Maybe if it was made with a tad less workload on the mods, say for regulating signatures, other members of the team have to approve of them, or for the topics, it could be "topics with X amount of replies from other members" could be worked out. Once again, thanks bunches for actually contributing and providing solutions to the restated problems. Another link added to the OP.

 

 

 

I'll be waiting in a few hours! Seriously, you don't have to read the whole thing, skimming a page or two should be enough. Allot of replies to this are of decent length.

 

Too late my friend, I have read 8 of the issues and my vote still remains square, I still support this idea.

 

I'll explain; so the main problem is Spam, how many spam threads of posts actually last more than 5 minutes? Mods are pretty fast on these forums compared to my last one which had 14 mods but spam was still there always.

 

Secondly new members won't have a clue what they are, probably until their 1st or 2nd then theyll ask, if given the right response they will act differently.

 

Example: If I'm new and I just asked about the badges I will act differently to if somepony says "they're just some flashy add on you get, don't really need to worry about them " rather than to " this is the Brony badge, only real bronies get it and it's super exclusive too!". The change in behavior will be totally different Right?

 

It all depends on the members, Ice do you remember my first day and what I did?

[Bronium 512]

1)I think that anypony that spams threads aren't exactly the most constructive ponies out there and probably weren't going to contribute any real discussion or roleplay properly. I mean do we really want to keep a person like that? It seems like there would be no point.

If a pony posts too many one word posts or captioned pictures, can't we find a way to ban them automatically for a few hours or maybe? I mean maybe they can do this when welcoming ponies but maybe your post count wouldn't count there like in Clouds dale. So I think that spammer thing is a non-issue. Then again I haven't made a forum in my life nor have I made any programs so I wouldn't know.

 

2)Also your "1 bro-hoof thing might not work as a spammer might make multiple comments. Sign in with another account and bro-hoof his own comment.

 

3)I really like the quiz idea though. The Escapist does it and I quite like it (the quizzes I mean). Which is a different topic all together so I won't talk about it.

 

4)I think that badges if anything should carry some weight.For example, you could have a roleplayer badge, for someone who primarily post in the roleplay section, with large posts and stuff like that. In addition to being a nice reward for being dedicated to something, it'll also allow other ponies who visit that Ponies profile to know what that pony likes to do, giving it a sense of purpose.

Even give a Cloudsdale Badge. I don't know if you can do this without taking the "Post count won't increase" thing off, but it would tell other ponies that, the pony is playful. Using this I think badges would play a more constructive role rather than just being there.

 

5) On the Profile Page, I think you should only display the most important badges, such as the aforementioned badge about where the poster primarily posts. This would be more useful and would give credibility to the poster.

 

6)I agree with the the guy above me. It does depend on how the badges are presented. If they were pasted underneath the avatar (which you aren't suggesting) then it's like they are important, while putting them in the Profile page(which you go to to see what a pony is like) is like saying "This guy is like this" and there making badges more important to the first impression of the visiting pony.

 

Well that's my idea anyway. I think an addition should be an important one and badges shouldn't be added like an afterthought.

[Ezynell 2,037]

Currently we only got ten moderators, sadly they are not a terminator

Hey. Feldo doesn't have to actually implement ALL of the badges instantly right? Maybe he can try to put one of them on the site as a test just to see how most of the user reacts to it. With just one kind of badge I'm sure the current moderating team could handle it (Maybe...)

 

I second this theoretical idea, a test would allow us to see how such an idea would function if implemented. If it turns out to be more trouble then it is worth, the idea is simply retracted, if it creates something positive then it can be exapanded upon.

 

Finally! Thank you guys so much. This is what I have been looking for in this topic the entire time, and finally some people are offering solutions and possible edits.More links and possible solutions added, and I think this could work as a pre-judging possibility. I wish I could bro-hoof that so many times. And there goes my streak of formality I've been trying to keep on this topic.

 

Too late my friend, I have read 8 of the issues and my vote still remains square, I still support this idea.

 

I'll explain; so the main problem is Spam, how many spam threads of posts actually last more than 5 minutes? Mods are pretty fast on these forums compared to my last one which had 14 mods but spam was still there always.

 

Secondly new members won't have a clue what they are, probably until their 1st or 2nd then theyll ask, if given the right response they will act differently.

 

Example: If I'm new and I just asked about the badges I will act differently to if somepony says "they're just some flashy add on you get, don't really need to worry about them " rather than to " this is the Brony badge, only real bronies get it and it's super exclusive too!". The change in behavior will be totally different Right?

 

Yes, we have very sufficient, hard working moderators helping these forums, but adding work load onto their backs is never a good thing. The best way would be to implement the system in a method that discouraged spam rather then rely on the moderators as our anti-spam filter.

 

Addressing the new members statement, I can see how members would react differently by given many responses, but the default response for a decent amount of new members is to gain all the status achievements humanly possible in an attempt to gain recognition, respect, or authority in the forums. Still, thanks for your continuing support on this idea. It's taken a load of work being the only one until you came along, and honestly, you're a little more supportive of it then I am, I was merely presenting it, but my hope for it's rising back up a little now.

 

It all depends on the members, Ice do you remember my first day and what I did?

 

All too well XD

 

 

 

 

 

 

1)I think that anypony that spams threads aren't exactly the most constructive ponies out there and probably weren't going to contribute any real discussion or roleplay properly. I mean do we really want to keep a person like that? It seems like there would be no point.

If a pony posts too many one word posts or captioned pictures, can't we find a way to ban them automatically for a few hours or maybe? I mean maybe they can do this when welcoming ponies but maybe your post count wouldn't count there like in Clouds dale. So I think that spammer thing is a non-issue. Then again I haven't made a forum in my life nor have I made any programs so I wouldn't know.

 

I think the issue may be more related to the pushing away of possible members. I may have been driven to spam at first a tad if there had been driving motivations for it. Automatic banning for that sort of issue may cause unintentional issues, so I'm sure that sort of stuff could be taken up by our moderators if it didn't cause a large problem, but Shefire's idea could be a good tester for that.

 

2)Also your "1 bro-hoof thing might not work as a spammer might make multiple comments. Sign in with another account and bro-hoof his own comment.

 

Feld0 already has a rule in the MLPForum board rules against that and he may or may not have an IP tracking way to enforce it, but he does ask members to inform him before another registers from their house.

 

3)I really like the quiz idea though. The Escapist does it and I quite like it (the quizzes I mean). Which is a different topic all together so I won't talk about it.

 

I'm actually quite interested in this! Firsthand experience is always a good thing to share!

 

4)I think that badges if anything should carry some weight.For example, you could have a roleplayer badge, for someone who primarily post in the roleplay section, with large posts and stuff like that. In addition to being a nice reward for being dedicated to something, it'll also allow other ponies who visit that Ponies profile to know what that pony likes to do, giving it a sense of purpose.

Even give a Cloudsdale Badge. I don't know if you can do this without taking the "Post count won't increase" thing off, but it would tell other ponies that, the pony is playful. Using this I think badges would play a more constructive role rather than just being there.

 

This was one of my original intentions when creating the thread, giving a little more sense of purpose for it, like with your roleplay analogy, someone with a badge in one of those might be more respected as a narrator. But on the flipside, it's been argued that it could be used to form a hierarchy on the forums and cause younger members to feel ostracized over veterans and older members of the forums.

 

5) On the Profile Page, I think you should only display the most important badges, such as the aforementioned badge about where the poster primarily posts. This would be more useful and would give credibility to the poster.

 

Ahh, now this I like. This I like allot. I didn't notice the "aforementioned badge" until this post, but using that as badges would sound like a good idea to me. Listing the most active forum that they participate could be a great idea. Added a link to your post in the OP

 

6)I agree with the the guy above me. It does depend on how the badges are presented. If they were pasted underneath the avatar (which you aren't suggesting) then it's like they are important, while putting them in the Profile page(which you go to to see what a pony is like) is like saying "This guy is like this" and there making badges more important to the first impression of the visiting pony.

 

Well that's my idea anyway. I think an addition should be an important one and badges shouldn't be added like an afterthought.

 

Thank's for this post, I can see that you actually thought through you ideas in a way to contribute to this thread and they have helped. I would actually like to know where you would like them to be presented if they were put in.

Edited April 21, 2012 by €ℨƴηℯłℓ

[Bronium 512]

Thanks for the reply.

1)When I was talking about automatic banning I was talking about like an hour's worth or something. Basically the pony is banned(for a lack of a better word) for an maybe an hour or two and is given a PM saying what he has done wrong. Maybe after two warning posts, there would be a longer ban and if the pony was just lost and not a spammer, the PM could tell them to go to Cloudsdale. I don't think that an hour long ban(could be shorter) would put him off this great forum, so I think that would be pretty good.

 

2)If you think that being warned hurts, you're right it does. My thread got deleted and I felt bad, but it led to me increasing the quality of my posts in general. I think that a warning PM (if required) is a good lesson for a pony who is new to forums and is generally not contributing to a discussion. It can make a difference between 1 line posters and an essay sized post posters. Heck, I'm only writing this much cause I don't wanna be deleted .

 

3) Another suggestion is put one of those things where after many quick successive posts, there could be some sort of test to pass. It's on youtube but I can't recall the name of it. This wouldn't be interfere with bronies who read content and post short messages because, reading will take some time and the things will probably take a few seconds. The interference would be far in between and be a non-issue. This would also be implemented for all long posts so you can't cheat like that. So if someone is just doing posts in quick succession( they will have to constantly have to write out these things and will be a deterrent as a whole towards anything like spamming. I'm surprised the forum doesn't already have this. (If it is some unwritten forum rule to not have these things or it is simply undo-able please disregard this point.

 

4 Another problem with the 1 brohoof needed is that, sometimes no one brohoofs. Now I don't want brohoofs but sometimes these 500 word posts I make on the Roleplay section get no brohoofs. That means something that probably should count towards a badge isn't counted. (If there is a solution to this disregard this point.)

 

5) I really don't think that it would create a hierarchy. These badges are displayed on your profile and not under your avatar. To me a profile page is a first impression of the pony while the avatar is for recognition. An avatar badge would be saying: Hey you can recognize me from how many posts I make in this section while the profile page badge is saying: Hey, this is who I am and what I like to do on the forum. And since this is about percentage and not amount of posts in general, there is no worry of the badge seeming like it was for veterans. Heck, could just be something by itself and not a badge. The percentage may be inaccurate at the start, but as time goes by and more posts are made then it would give a more accurate representation of the pony. For example, at the start I posted a few posts in Cloudsdale and the badge would say I'm a Cloudsdaler but as time went by and I started posting a majority of my posts in Roleplay ( ) the badge who say something witty about roleplaying.

 

6)I might as well say this as well. Having the badge on the front allows ponies something to break the ice with like "Hello, fellow Roleplayer" or "Hello, Fellow Cloudsdaler."

 

7) But as I'm typing this I just realized something. This kinda sorta sounds like it's separating the community into herds like in the other post. Someponies might feel friendly with only fellow roleplayers rather than other posters. I doubt that that will happen though. We are generally a great community and we probably won't make a rash mean judgement about another pony.

 

Just my $0.00 (since cents can be used in Australia but cents are not printed (I already used this joke (Parenthesisception(not that one)))).

Edited April 21, 2012 by Scopes

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,527]

It's a really nicely thought-out idea, Ezynell, but the underlying concern is: precisely what will it add to MLP Forums as a community?

 

Assuming for a moment that technicalities and staff resources were a non-issue, I understand that the underlying idea behind your proposal is to give the community's most active contributors some hard credit for the content they create, be it beautiful signature banners or well-managed roleplays. This is not inherently a bad goal to aim for - however, is a lack of official credit marking your profile truly a problem?

 

Most of our active contributors create content for the community with the motive to help others, rather than out of a personal "need" to drive more attention to themselves. Marco23p's post earlier in this topic is proof of that:

 

I dont care if I am acknowledged , but thanks for the complement anyway

 

I dont make them to get noticed, I make them to help me get better and not to mention, its something can do for the community

 

This kind of attitude is part of what makes MLP Forums so strong as a community - members who look out for one another and want to help each other out, just because they can. These contributors likely won't care for an official title to denote their work - some may even be against it. On the staff team, for instance, most of us honestly don't enjoy receiving "hero worship" just because we wear a Royal Guard or Alicorn badge. However, it is necessary to make it clear which members here hold the ability to enforce the rules just so we can keep things in line; and fancy markings on our profiles are the most effective way to do that.

 

The potential for spam and alienation of new members is of particularly great concern to us. because spam doesn't constructively add to the site and new members should never feel like the community has grown "too old" for them to have a chance of making a mark in it (I'm honestly a bit surprised that some people already perceive a division between "oldies" and new members - MLP Forums is not even 7 months old yet).

 

tl;dr: Those who most deserve an award likely won't care much for it. Those who really want the award are producing their work for the wrong reasons.

 

 

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One of the major flaws with implementing anything like this is that it adds another novel system that new members (and existing members as well) need to learn and understand. A tiny minority of the site's users pay attention to our announcements forum, Canterlot Castle; and it has proven extraordinarily difficult to get new members to read our legal terms, our ToS, and the global rules (let alone the additional rules that some areas of the site have). We would be adding one feature that we'll somehow need to bring to everyone's attention, and that will inevitably result in many "how do these badges work?" status updates and question topics. Someone will need to explain them, members will need to be patient enough to wait for a response; and meanwhile, they may discover another forum that is simpler to get into and just enjoy discussions in.

 

tl;dr: We'll further fragment the already disturbingly short attention span of the average Internet user.

 

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Finally, I've seen a lot of people suggesting that staff handle judging of this and that for various criteria. Please do not forget that we are all unpaid volunteers who work to maintain a free fan site for you to enjoy. The more different hats we have to wear, the more we will have to fragment our existing forum responsibilities, which already come at the end of our real-life commitments. Sure, we could hire more staff specifically for the purpose of monitoring members to decide whether they're "worthy" of a badge. But realistically... this is going to put more pressure on the administration to seek out, recruit, and train new staff for a role that doesn't honestly look like it will bring a significant benefit to the community.

 

Let's not also forget that the more different people there are having to make judgement calls (and much of the judgement for these awards will be of an inherently subjective nature), the greater a chance that someone will make the "wrong" call, which often leads to an escalation of the issue to the administration, an investigation of the situation, and ultimately one of us delicately trying to explain to the member that the 400 signatures they made were utter crap. In a worst-case scenario, this will lead to butthurt, lashback, namecalling, abusive comments, suspensions, and sometimes a ban. Contrary to popular belief, we don't enjoy dealing with such situations any more than the member in question does.

 

tl;dr: Staff are human beings, too. Please consider the implications carefully before assuming that we can be there to handle every aspect of the system that cannot (or should not) be automated.

 

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With all that said, Ezynell, I'm afraid I can't greenlight this, for it looks to me as if it will create a whole lot of extra work for the staff, complicate the user experience, and ultimately won't make the community much better, if at all.

[Prince Lightning Da Cute 619]

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With all that said, Ezynell, I'm afraid I can't greenlight this, for it looks to me as if it will create a whole lot of extra work for the staff, complicate the user experience, and ultimately won't make the community much better, if at all.

 

Too much bad, not enough good.. I see, Feld0 you've made your argue meant loud and clear, I respect your desicion.

[Ezynell 2,037]

(Well written, informative, polite wall of text)

 

I sencirely thank you for this thorough explanation of the problems that would conflict with my proposal. Most of my support for the idea actually went away after both Marco23p and Jokuc expressed their opinions against it, seeing as I had originally made it as a means of helping them get more recognition, and posts after that had just been formalities in addressing the issues they proposed as well as discussing the possibilities they brought forth. I entered this thread with the preconceived knowledge it would almost certainly not make it far, and I'm quite surprised it got as far as it did from a discussion standpoint, and I can see how heavily the presented issues outweigh any foreseeable benefits. Again, thanks for typing in that lengthy response, and I did read through all of it. You never cease to amaze me with your Administrative skills though. I'm almost certain that any other response to this on other forums would have been no more then 500 words.

 

Thanks for the reply.

1)When I was talking about automatic banning I was talking about like an hour's worth or something. Basically the pony is banned(for a lack of a better word) for an maybe an hour or two and is given a PM saying what he has done wrong. Maybe after two warning posts, there would be a longer ban and if the pony was just lost and not a spammer, the PM could tell them to go to Cloudsdale. I don't think that an hour long ban(could be shorter) would put him off this great forum, so I think that would be pretty good.

 

2)If you think that being warned hurts, you're right it does. My thread got deleted and I felt bad, but it led to me increasing the quality of my posts in general. I think that a warning PM (if required) is a good lesson for a pony who is new to forums and is generally not contributing to a discussion. It can make a difference between 1 line posters and an essay sized post posters. Heck, I'm only writing this much cause I don't wanna be deleted .

 

3) Another suggestion is put one of those things where after many quick successive posts, there could be some sort of test to pass. It's on youtube but I can't recall the name of it. This wouldn't be interfere with bronies who read content and post short messages because, reading will take some time and the things will probably take a few seconds. The interference would be far in between and be a non-issue. This would also be implemented for all long posts so you can't cheat like that. So if someone is just doing posts in quick succession( they will have to constantly have to write out these things and will be a deterrent as a whole towards anything like spamming. I'm surprised the forum doesn't already have this. (If it is some unwritten forum rule to not have these things or it is simply undo-able please disregard this point.

 

4 Another problem with the 1 brohoof needed is that, sometimes no one brohoofs. Now I don't want brohoofs but sometimes these 500 word posts I make on the Roleplay section get no brohoofs. That means something that probably should count towards a badge isn't counted. (If there is a solution to this disregard this point.)

 

5) I really don't think that it would create a hierarchy. These badges are displayed on your profile and not under your avatar. To me a profile page is a first impression of the pony while the avatar is for recognition. An avatar badge would be saying: Hey you can recognize me from how many posts I make in this section while the profile page badge is saying: Hey, this is who I am and what I like to do on the forum. And since this is about percentage and not amount of posts in general, there is no worry of the badge seeming like it was for veterans. Heck, could just be something by itself and not a badge. The percentage may be inaccurate at the start, but as time goes by and more posts are made then it would give a more accurate representation of the pony. For example, at the start I posted a few posts in Cloudsdale and the badge would say I'm a Cloudsdaler but as time went by and I started posting a majority of my posts in Roleplay ( ) the badge who say something witty about roleplaying.

 

6)I might as well say this as well. Having the badge on the front allows ponies something to break the ice with like "Hello, fellow Roleplayer" or "Hello, Fellow Cloudsdaler."

 

7) But as I'm typing this I just realized something. This kinda sorta sounds like it's separating the community into herds like in the other post. Someponies might feel friendly with only fellow roleplayers rather than other posters. I doubt that that will happen though. We are generally a great community and we probably won't make a rash mean judgement about another pony.

 

Just my $0.00 (since cents can be used in Australia but cents are not printed (I already used this joke (Parenthesisception(not that one)))).

 

Seeing as it doesn't really matter now that an administrative answer has been received, rather then addressing your points, I would really like to thank you for returning to this thread to respond to the questions that I asked and provide more content for the topic overall. It may not mean much, but you've earned a decent amount of my respect for your helpfulness and quality.

[Tteok 16]

Badges are a nice idea, but to prevent backlash and abuse from them being given out for accomplishments, I think that just giving them out based on request would be better. Like giving someone a badge if they say they like a certain type of pony or a certain pony, maybe automatically as a choice in their profile.