[PROPOSAL] Forum Badges

[Ezynell 2,036]

I agree that it wouldn't be the best idea to add to the forum but I do like the idea of badges on the basis of tiny pictures make me happy.

 

Anyway, I do agree with Libertina Kohr-Ah that it would cause a certain status to be given to older members over newer ones that might make people uncomfortable. You intention for these badges is pure, but I can honestly say that as someone who suffers from "social awkwardness" (BPD) I would not like it... On all forums I have been on where badges (or things akin to achievement badges) were dominant and prominent, I felt out of place. Why? I felt like a noob. I felt like I didn't have what everyone else had and it made it even harder for me to feel like I even fit in or ever would.

 

Sad facts: elitism would happen even if you didn't want it to.

 

I think it would just be better for the community if we kept an open, un-biased community C:

 

 

Thank you for your considerate response, I do believe that the "out-of-place" feeling you described could fit under "new members may feel ostracized over veterans" already in the OP, but I do have a question. Do you feel that the badges already distributed around the forum (under the avatars) boost elitism and a hierarchical standpoint for the forums? Personally I think that badges only on ones profile would have less effect then those visible by all members constantly while posting, but I'd be willing to hear your opinion on the subject.

Edited April 19, 2012 by €ℨƴηℯłℓ

[Page.Turner 940]

Thank you for your considerate response, I do believe that the "out-of-place" feeling you described could fit under "new members may feel ostracized over veterans" already in the OP, but I do have a question. Do you feel that the badges already distributed around the forum (under the avatars) boost elitism and a hierarchical standpoint for the forums? Personally I think that badges only on ones profile would have less effect then those visible by all members constantly while posting, but I'd be willing to hear your opinion on the subject.

 

To be honest? Yes, a little bit. My personal reaction to seeing someone who has a high ranking badge under their name, I just think, "Well aren't you popular!" in a neutral sort of way. The elitism I feel from it is the same kind of feeling someone might get if Feld0 brohoofed one of their posts. You feel like you suddenly matter or that you're important to something bigger than you even though those feelings aren't necessarily true.

 

I'm not sure if you saw it, but not too long ago a new member made a topic about how their first post in the Welcoming Plaza of the forum got them absolutely nothing. Not a single reply, not even a Pinkie Pie welcome song link from youtube and it bothered them enough to make a post about it. It of course was not intentional! Everyone on the site didn't get together and go, "Look at this person, let's ignore them!" but sometimes it really does feel that way.

 

I know Feld0 and his crew are more worried about the potential spamming (rightfully so) but I have a horrible soft spot for people like myself who don't feel comfortable in social situations, especially when it feels like it's intentional when it's not. (Which is a symptom of BPD).

 

I know a lot of people were complaining about your ideas (I understand completely they were off the top of your head) but a possible re-consideration of what the achievements are is possible! It could be fun and not entirely post-content based

[Ezynell 2,036]

To be honest? Yes, a little bit. My personal reaction to seeing someone who has a high ranking badge under their name, I just think, "Well aren't you popular!" in a neutral sort of way. The elitism I feel from it is the same kind of feeling someone might get if Feld0 brohoofed one of their posts. You feel like you suddenly matter or that you're important to something bigger than you even though those feelings aren't necessarily true.

 

I'm not sure if you saw it, but not too long ago a new member made a topic about how their first post in the Welcoming Plaza of the forum got them absolutely nothing. Not a single reply, not even a Pinkie Pie welcome song link from youtube and it bothered them enough to make a post about it. It of course was not intentional! Everyone on the site didn't get together and go, "Look at this person, let's ignore them!" but sometimes it really does feel that way.

 

I know Feld0 and his crew are more worried about the potential spamming (rightfully so) but I have a horrible soft spot for people like myself who don't feel comfortable in social situations, especially when it feels like it's intentional when it's not. (Which is a symptom of BPD).

 

I know a lot of people were complaining about your ideas (I understand completely they were off the top of your head) but a possible re-consideration of what the achievements are is possible! It could be fun and not entirely post-content based

 

As you can see, I went back through the OP and crossed out a bunch of the possible achievements that could cause problems based on such things. I can understand completely how you feel and I'm not gonna lie, you drove the nail in with that Feld0 analogy. It's something that has worn off for me, being one of the more veteran members, but I did feel under a bunch of people when I first joined the forums, which is one of the reasons I made such a hit for post count. This being my first forum didn't help either and I made a decent amount of mistakes in doing so. I don't even notice the ranks under names anymore but that's probably because I'm honestly at a height where I can be socially secure. I can relate to your position though, and am willing to add in any suggestion that you think may fix it up on top. After all, I don't even know if it's possible to do anyways, and if it was, it may be a manual thing, where admins actually hand out the awards and personally judge for completion. One of the issues I've had with others complaints about my ideas were that they provided no solution and pretty much a constant repost of very general problems. If you can think of any achievements you'd like to add as possible ones or see any you would like off of the list, then just tell me.

[Page.Turner 940]

As you can see, I went back through the OP and crossed out a bunch of the possible achievements that could cause problems based on such things. I can understand completely how you feel and I'm not gonna lie, you drove the nail in with that Feld0 analogy. It's something that has worn off for me, being one of the more veteran members, but I did feel under a bunch of people when I first joined the forums, which is one of the reasons I made such a hit for post count. This being my first forum didn't help either and I made a decent amount of mistakes in doing so. I don't even notice the ranks under names anymore but that's probably because I'm honestly at a height where I can be socially secure. I can relate to your position though, and am willing to add in any suggestion that you think may fix it up on top. After all, I don't even know if it's possible to do anyways, and if it was, it may be a manual thing, where admins actually hand out the awards and personally judge for completion. One of the issues I've had with others complaints about my ideas were that they provided no solution and pretty much a constant repost of very general problems. If you can think of any achievements you'd like to add as possible ones or see any you would like off of the list, then just tell me.

 

One possible suggestion is to keep everything on even ground Instead of having Newbie, Moderate, and Veteran versions of achievements, they could simply just be "Brony Badges" or something. And, to add on, you could take away all badges for post counting and revise them to be more loyal to the community. Kind of like "mandatory community service" IRL but... it's not mandatory, it's for fun XD

 

They could simply be surprise badges for doing something on the site that shows your loyalty? Or you could even spin off to the Elements of Harmony and make each element a task to achieve with possible level ups? Like... Magic lv1 - make five friends

 

Anyway, I think this idea has a lot of potential as it does some work C: But it doesn't mean it's a bad thing

[Why-Gnome-Ear-Fifty 400]

This is probably very minor and partially addressed in the "Problem" section, but I just want to say that I'm so bad at art that I would never be on the Signature team or Avatar team. As an achievement perfectionist, I would feel sad.

 

^This is somewhat of a joke, as I wouldn't actually be that sad. On the other hand, something to consider, no?

[Ezynell 2,036]

One possible suggestion is to keep everything on even ground Instead of having Newbie, Moderate, and Veteran versions of achievements, they could simply just be "Brony Badges" or something. And, to add on, you could take away all badges for post counting and revise them to be more loyal to the community. Kind of like "mandatory community service" IRL but... it's not mandatory, it's for fun XD

 

They could simply be surprise badges for doing something on the site that shows your loyalty? Or you could even spin off to the Elements of Harmony and make each element a task to achieve with possible level ups? Like... Magic lv1 - make five friends

 

Anyway, I think this idea has a lot of potential as it does some work C: But it doesn't mean it's a bad thing

 

I think a mix of making them all simply brony badges and also adding in surprise badges for doing something that shows loyalty would be great. The problem with the Brony badges is that they'd all have do be decently difficult to get (saying they're all on the same level) so that it's at least very difficult to collect all of them. The "Surprise badges" thing had been part of my idea from the start, that's what I meant by "Create something new and innovative for the forums" under the Veteran tag. The elements would be a cool idea, but could possibly encourage the most feared thing out of this: the spam.

 

Anyways, thanks for being the biggest contributor to this so far XD

 

This is probably very minor and partially addressed in the "Problem" section, but I just want to say that I'm so bad at art that I would never be on the Signature team or Avatar team. As an achievement perfectionist, I would feel sad.

 

^This is somewhat of a joke, as I wouldn't actually be that sad. On the other hand, something to consider, no?

 

A problem that's been going through discussion is how many of the members (myself included) are probably achievement perfectionists, and that could cause a mass amount of people registering for that. It would probably be one of the ones not given to members of the team, but members that had made at least 25 quality signatures to discourage people to spam join things like that. It would also be made so it would not be possible to achieve all of them because customs would be made for custom activities (Ex: A custom one for Neikos for designing the MLPForums chrome extension)

[Klopp 2,050]

Possible Solutions

make a regulation that each created thread has to have 1 brohoof for it to count

group the types of achievements (Ex: get 100 posts and 25 brohoofs)

 

The brohoof system is meant to be given as basically a pat on the back for doing something awesome, or to simply say "Nice job, Brony." Brohoofs are given so commonly, and often without much purpose behind them, that giving any award for such things would more than likely be harmful to the site. Imagine those who don't manage to get many brohoofs, some would likely turn to ranting about how they want X award but nobody brohoofs their posts, which may even cause people to leave the forums simply because they are "not liked" or something of the sort.

 

As for the rest of your badge plans they seem to either encourage spam or would cause members to feel worthless because they don't actually do anything to help the community. Members would think they have to either be a moderator or an artist with loads of time on their hands in order to become a popular member of the forums. Not to mention any new members to the forums would feel even noobier than they already do, which could easily drop the number of new members who actually stay here.

 

One of the main things I like about these forums is that they are not a contest to see who can have the most pimped up profile. It's simply just a website dedicated to conversation about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and I'm not sure about you, but that's what I came here for.

[Tom The Diamond 1,828]

Eh, as much as I love achievements, I really don't see this improving our community here.

 

For one thing, regarding signatures and avatar making, aren't those done as a volunteer thing, with no reward expected? Giving out prizes for making so many sigs and such is just gonna cause a ton of ponies to make signatures and avatars, which kinda defeats the purpose of rewarding ponies for volunteering to make sigs. At least that's my take on it...

 

And Moderate an out of forum group? That's gonna pretty much be a Moderator exclusive group. There are only three users that moderate an out of forum group that are not Mods, and that I am aware of, and that's Me and Pinkie Pie for the Synchtube Room, and Pencils in the DeviantArt Group. And I dunno, but to me it seems kind of cheap to make an achievement that is incredibly exclusive, and very few ponies will ever get.

 

Oh yeah, and you're gonna get a ton of ponies begging to be mods.

 

But eh, to me this just doesn't seem to do much aside from possibly encourage spam, elitism, and etc. problems.

[Ezynell 2,036]

The brohoof system is meant to be given as basically a pat on the back for doing something awesome, or to simply say "Nice job, Brony." Brohoofs are given so commonly, and often without much purpose behind them, that giving any award for such things would more than likely be harmful to the site. Imagine those who don't manage to get many brohoofs, some would likely turn to ranting about how they want X award but nobody brohoofs their posts, which may even cause people to leave the forums simply because they are "not liked" or something of the sort.

 

As for the rest of your badge plans they seem to either encourage spam or would cause members to feel worthless because they don't actually do anything to help the community. Members would think they have to either be a moderator or an artist with loads of time on their hands in order to become a popular member of the forums. Not to mention any new members to the forums would feel even noobier than they already do, which could easily drop the number of new members who actually stay here.

 

One of the main things I like about these forums is that they are not a contest to see who can have the most pimped up profile. It's simply just a website dedicated to conversation about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and I'm not sure about you, but that's what I came here for.

 

Again, this was just a rough sketch of mine put together for something I thought might be cool. Almost all the achievements I had listed were merely example and I didn't expect them to get picked at word for word the way they did. SkySong offered the idea of just "brony badges" as really things given when certain members show dedication or loyalty to the community and a few more things. I am open to any modification or change anyone would make for the idea as a whole, and I didn't really expect it to make it in the beginning. Like I said in the OP, It's just an idea I thought was cool that's been tossed around the forums for the passed few months so I decided to make a thought out plan of what it could actually look like if it was put in place. I don't know if IP.Board even allows it. I went through the list of achievements I had written down and tried to knock down all the ones that would encourage such behavior as spamming, but it would be a bit better if you could tell me an a way a bit more specific on what you think is wrong or could be improved. Thanks you for stating your opinion in a calm, professional manner.

 

 

Eh, as much as I love achievements, I really don't see this improving our community here.

 

For one thing, regarding signatures and avatar making, aren't those done as a volunteer thing, with no reward expected? Giving out prizes for making so many sigs and such is just gonna cause a ton of ponies to make signatures and avatars, which kinda defeats the purpose of rewarding ponies for volunteering to make sigs. At least that's my take on it...

 

And Moderate an out of forum group? That's gonna pretty much be a Moderator exclusive group. There are only three users that moderate an out of forum group that are not Mods, and that I am aware of, and that's Me and Pinkie Pie for the Synchtube Room, and Pencils in the DeviantArt Group. And I dunno, but to me it seems kind of cheap to make an achievement that is incredibly exclusive, and very few ponies will ever get.

 

Oh yeah, and you're gonna get a ton of ponies begging to be mods.

 

But eh, to me this just doesn't seem to do much aside from possibly encourage spam, elitism, and etc. problems.

 

Most of that's already been bashed down a bit, but I get what your trying to say with the exclusive achievements. To me, it doesn't seem to encourage spam and elitism close to as much as the one we already have in place with the badges does. Plus it wouldn't be something every member would see every waking moment of forum scrolling like the one we have in place. I don't really see rank being an issue with it, the main thing I see would be spam which could be dealt with simply by making achievements that didn't factor around post count.

Edited April 19, 2012 by €ℨƴηℯłℓ

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

Like Klopp, I really don't see how this is going to add to anything. I've been on other forums with badge systems. Most of them promoted spammish behavior as a result, where often people would go into threads and make one word responses, or flood a whole bunch of threads with captioned images(note that doing either of these things here is against the rules) and otherwise just make a mess of things. I would much rather see each person contribute quality posts than see all kinds of crazy behavior just to get that one little badge.

 

The forum isn't a place where we compete for notability or popularity. We're just discussing ponies, in a friendly manner, as friends.

[Swordfishtrombone 384]

I used to think this was a great idea. Now I just feel indifferent on it. After reading through this thread I can make this conclusion; badges are not an actual respect or veteran make. It all looks fine at a glance, but on further inspection, nothing can happen that way here, far as I can tell. Still, I can respect your ideas on the subject, and obviously you're trying to help, so I'm grateful. Really I couldn't care less either way at this point.

[Shankveld 4,945]

I know you worked really hard on this Ezynell,

and it's a cute idea.... it theory,

but I'm afraid I'm completely against it.

Don't quote this post, this isn't for argument, it's more for the mods and admin to see who likes the idea and who doesn't.

I think it adds too much division and unnecessary spamming :/

I feel like it would make me feel bad because I can't create avatars or contribute to the community.

~

[ΞMorningstar 77]

I sort of like the idea. But. We are the biggest, best, funniest, dramatic, best, creative, productive, best and sexy community and forum on the internet. I know this because I do. Since we are the best, everyone needs to think about this a little more. We need to keep out reputation under control!

 

In my opinion, the forum look amazing how it does now. Thankyou to Feld0 and the Mod team as well as the community for keeping it user friendly, fun and wanting me to stay here for the rest of my life. Everyone always welcomes newer members with warm greetings and open arms. There's many many sub-forums and a great profile system, as well as the status updating system, which I love even though I haven't used it once XD Not to mention the bro-hoof system. Even though I see bro-hoofs alot on the forum and some may not have any real meaning, it gives the receiver a nice feeling. For me, if someone bro-hoofs my material I feel as if this person could be my friend. Maybe that's because I spend my life mainly on the internet and not really have any friend in real life but right now, this forum has really boosted my spirits on things.

 

The Life advice section was a great addition to the forum. Reading through some topics and especially those that I can relate to are really make this forum feel more like a family than a community. The Role-Playing feature was also a great addition, it gives members a chance to interact with eachother in a way that some forums can't even do with a Chatbox. Also, the chatbox we used to have was also really great, I used to love going in there chatting to some members. I spent so much time in there I stayed in there more than posting! The Cloudsdale section was also a nice addition. Having simple fun without looking like your a posting whore wanting a larger post count, which I've seen happen on a lot of past forums I've been on.

 

Now to MY point. To Ezynell and people who support this idea, I think you need to think about it a little more

1. Increase in post spamming

2. Friends asking Friends to bro-hoof everything they say

3. Personal Preference- The way the posting looks, where the avatar is situated and the forum rank. If badges where to go under here it would look cluttered and messy, on past forums, to me it looks very ugly and unattractive.

4. It could make newer members feel like little pets for the older members. We are all equal and should be treated as such, although there are more helpful, creative and funnier members than others. However, i feel as if they do not need a pixelated badge to make that known. We all know who is who and what they do. (epic rhyme)

5. Forum looks great as it is, no need to change it.

 

This is just my opinion, Ezynell, you have done a great job on this proposal, but I think a no on this one. It's a great idea, but it might make some things complicated.

 

 

tldr, do, not, want.

[Aureity 3,055]

Sorry mate, but I don't really think this is a good idea. Besides the spamming that people have already mentioned simply to get the shiny new badges, the "join X team" badges will in fact just encourage people to "volunteer" in droves to the aforementioned group just so they can get a few pixels under their name to stare at. The motivation for these "reward-driven" volunteers will be much lower than those who actually volunteer out of the kindness of their hearts (that's not an opinion, it's backed up by scientific research). So in the end, there's going to be more members in the groups, less coordination in aforementioned groups, more spam on the forums, and less motivation in the groups that'll probably lead to mass quitting anyway. I know for a fact that moderation, for one, takes a lot of responsibility, and if you jump on the team for pixels, you'll be overwhelmed with what's actually expected of you. And then you'll just quit anyway, and let them down.

 

Pixels ain't worth the pain. What we have now is good enough.

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

as being a victim to the "everyone else contributes to the forum in one way or another except me" mindset, i'm gonna say i don't adhere to this idea that much.

 

i've been feeling left out a number of times on the forums, for various reasons, but mostly because i don't feel like i'm being paid much attention to. even the badges we have now was kind of a "okayguyface.jpg" to me. implementing MORE of said badges based on achievements on the forums would drive me to pretty much burn myself out to impulse-"contribute" to the forums in order to feel recognition. and i'm sure i'm not the only one who thinks like this (SkySong posting earlier in the thread, for example).

 

i'm fine with what we have now. it's a simple enough badge-system whcih - even just that - has seemed to cause a somewhat influx of posts with inferior and/or useless content to them. building onto said system is, imo, NOT one of the forums higher priorities.

 

we're all equal here, no one is above the others.

lets please keep it that way, ponies.

[Killian Jones 2,653]

Perhaps have some sort of quizzes or events on the forums which participation gives you badges.

 

Right now all there seems to be right there is the brohoof system in a more visual manner. I do recommend just using the brohoof system instead of badges.

 

Not even going to talk about whether or not it is reasonable to implement.

[QueenChrysalis 176]

Separating members based on immaterial achivements IS snobbery.

Sigs are five minute job. 30mins for a .gif.

It's a freaking picture. <.<

I have made over a thousand, gimmie stamps already.

 

The acknowledgement comes from seeing those spread out and for the "Thanks!"

I doubt anyone does them for having a badge.

That would just spread wrong kinda atmosphere.

To do it for a reward and to do it for the kindness of your heart are two different things.

 

 

To be active is to be active and the secret to being active is being active.

It's circular logic, and you want to reward for people for it?

Theregoestheforum.jaypeg

 

I'm not helpful, nor I never will be. You are saying I must be in order to be a forum member?

I lieks pwnies. That's it.

Post count is not a good measure in any case.

It implies that quality < quantity.

Best is not to have any kind separators beyond what forum requires to function. I.E. Newcomers that might be trolls, members and staff.

 

I never use sites that have badges, members are shit in those.

 

you sir i must thank you for what you just post i couldint have wrote it better my self that its the truth

 

Perhaps have some sort of quizzes or events on the forums which participation gives you badges.

 

Right now all there seems to be right there is the brohoof system in a more visual manner. I do recommend just using the brohoof system instead of badges.

 

Not even going to talk about whether or not it is reasonable to implement.

 

yes but for older members who post a little and had older `likes` they did not convert over to the new system meaning we had to start from the botom

[Jokuc 8,172]

The idea sounds cool but I am also against it. I think (as many ponies already have said here) that this will lead to spam.

About the example that marco has made over 9000 100 signatures for ponies on the forums, I think it would make anypony feel happy enough if they just got a little message from a maybe a moderator or eaven Feld0 saying "Thank you for putting down time to make signatures for our community!".

[Literally Snails 2,307]

could be coolish...

[Ezynell 2,036]

I know you worked really hard on this Ezynell,

and it's a cute idea.... it theory,

but I'm afraid I'm completely against it.

Don't quote this post, this isn't for argument, it's more for the mods and admin to see who likes the idea and who doesn't.

I think it adds too much division and unnecessary spamming :/

I feel like it would make me feel bad because I can't create avatars or contribute to the community.

~

 

Sorry for the quote, I'm not trying to argue anything here. All it ever was was an idea, and I was never 100% supportive of it either. I just wanted to present it as something that could possible happen. I'm already almost certain that it won't go through and created this thread with the preconceived thought that it wouldn't anyways. What I mainly wanted to say thank you for being one of the very few to acknowledge the effort I put into this. It's been over 5,000 words and 5 hours responding to everyone and I'm about to put in a few more covering the rest.

 

Like Klopp, I really don't see how this is going to add to anything. I've been on other forums with badge systems. Most of them promoted spammish behavior as a result, where often people would go into threads and make one word responses, or flood a whole bunch of threads with captioned images(note that doing either of these things here is against the rules) and otherwise just make a mess of things. I would much rather see each person contribute quality posts than see all kinds of crazy behavior just to get that one little badge.

 

The forum isn't a place where we compete for notability or popularity. We're just discussing ponies, in a friendly manner, as friends.

 

Thanks for the response. As far as I can tell, your the only one that's responded with firsthand experience with these sorts of manners and I've taken them into thought and linked to your post in the OP.

 

Now to MY point. To Ezynell and people who support this idea, I think you need to think about it a little more ]

 

I never fully supported the idea. I'm pretty sure that not many do when fully evaluating the potential issues it could cause. I have thought about it allot, and addressed nearly all the potential problems in the OP and throughout the thread.

 

1. Increase in post spamming

 

Already mentioned countless times, and it does seem like the most concerning possible issue, but I added a link under that section to your post.

 

2. Friends asking Friends to bro-hoof everything they say

 

I don't see this as something that would become an issue, and as discussed before, most achievements if ever enacted would probably not be based off of post count or bro-hoofs especially due to the responses it has been initiating.

 

3. Personal Preference- The way the posting looks, where the avatar is situated and the forum rank. If badges where to go under here it would look cluttered and messy, on past forums, to me it looks very ugly and unattractive.

 

If you look on the visuals I provided in the OP, badges would not go under where the forum rank would go. They would not disturb the asthetics of personal browsing at all.

 

4. It could make newer members feel like little pets for the older members. We are all equal and should be treated as such, although there are more helpful, creative and funnier members than others. However, i feel as if they do not need a pixelated badge to make that known. We all know who is who and what they do. (epic rhyme)

 

That would fall under "new members may feel ostracized over veterans", so post linked again.

 

5. Forum looks great as it is, no need to change it.

 

If I'm not mistaken, this is pretty much a restatement of your third contention. The forums has always looked great from the beginning and has gone through a number of visual changes. I do appreciate the forums looks right now though.

 

This is just my opinion, Ezynell, you have done a great job on this proposal, but I think a no on this one. It's a great idea, but it might make some things complicated.

 

This seems to be the general response of most others also. Thank you for your recognition of the effort I put into the idea though. And I really apologize if I was a little rude in responding to some of your statements, it's just most of them have been stated before and I got 3 hours of sleep last night due to the slam I was getting on this thread. Your fourth contention was probably the best one, and thank you for it. Also, if you feel like reinforcing some of your points, it would be really nice to get some response with a little more detail, so feel free to feed in some more insight on this.

 

Sorry mate, but I don't really think this is a good idea. Besides the spamming that people have already mentioned simply to get the shiny new badges, the "join X team" badges will in fact just encourage people to "volunteer" in droves to the aforementioned group just so they can get a few pixels under their name to stare at. The motivation for these "reward-driven" volunteers will be much lower than those who actually volunteer out of the kindness of their hearts (that's not an opinion, it's backed up by scientific research). So in the end, there's going to be more members in the groups, less coordination in aforementioned groups, more spam on the forums, and less motivation in the groups that'll probably lead to mass quitting anyway. I know for a fact that moderation, for one, takes a lot of responsibility, and if you jump on the team for pixels, you'll be overwhelmed with what's actually expected of you. And then you'll just quit anyway, and let them down.

 

Pixels ain't worth the pain. What we have now is good enough.

 

Added links to your post under the potential problems list, but it seems just a rehash of what many have said before. Like I previously stated, these badges were all just example and my original proposal was just supposed to be the concept of forum badges with a small little mention of my opinion on what I thought it would look like. If Avatar Crew and Signature Crew badges were given out, they would probably be done manually and would not be just based off of entering, but being active in the groups. It would also be more difficult to make it in and spam in those groups would be regulated. Also, not trying to question your validity (really, I promise I'm not trying to. I already know it's true but I'd just like to see), but I would legitimately be interested in seeing an article about the "motivation for these "reward-driven" volunteers will be much lower than those who actually volunteer out of the kindness of their hearts". These were also not meant to forum "groups" as you hinted toward the end of your post, but just be achievements for forum members. Also, people cannot become moderators. Any achievement that would be made for moderators would probably be made for positions already taken. And even open ones would not be able to be "taken" by members, but would rather be appointed by the staff. Thank you for your response, and I hope I didn't sound rude in replying to it. I'm also not all for this idea, I just wanted to propose it as a possibility and didn't prepare it to go through the brutality that it did, so I also apologize if some of the points of it are opinionated and not thought-out. I've tried to reformat it to provide the most information using as many viewpoints as possible. Lastly, Possible Solutions are always wanted, if you think of one I would be grateful if you posted it.

 

as being a victim to the "everyone else contributes to the forum in one way or another except me" mindset, i'm gonna say i don't adhere to this idea that much.

 

i've been feeling left out a number of times on the forums, for various reasons, but mostly because i don't feel like i'm being paid much attention to. even the badges we have now was kind of a "okayguyface.jpg" to me. implementing MORE of said badges based on achievements on the forums would drive me to pretty much burn myself out to impulse-"contribute" to the forums in order to feel recognition. and i'm sure i'm not the only one who thinks like this (SkySong posting earlier in the thread, for example).

 

i'm fine with what we have now. it's a simple enough badge-system whcih - even just that - has seemed to cause a somewhat influx of posts with inferior and/or useless content to them. building onto said system is, imo, NOT one of the forums higher priorities.

 

we're all equal here, no one is above the others.

lets please keep it that way, ponies.

 

I didn't mean it to try to create a hierarchy among the forum but I can relate to what you said. I have a friend who feels bad just by being in the brony community as a whole and not contributing, so I understand how when getting even more pressured in a smaller group, it could drive to be much worse. I added a link to your post in the OP also, and thank you for the feedback. The mods are fairly outstanding at moderating the forum spam though, and I haven't seen it as an issue around here. Also, if you could think of any Possible Solutions to the problems you mentioned, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Perhaps have some sort of quizzes or events on the forums which participation gives you badges.

 

Right now all there seems to be right there is the brohoof system in a more visual manner. I do recommend just using the brohoof system instead of badges.

 

Not even going to talk about whether or not it is reasonable to implement.

 

First of, thank you so much for offering an idea for an alternate solution rather then just listing off repeat problems. I didn't mean this system to replace the brohoof system in any manor, and judging by response it's gotten, I don't think that it even would factor posts or brohoofs into it's system if it ever got adopted in. Speaking of whether it's reasonable or not to implement, I don't even know if it's possible to implement.

 

The idea sounds cool but I am also against it. I think (as many ponies already have said here) that this will lead to spam.

About the example that marco has made over 9000 100 signatures for ponies on the forums, I think it would make anypony feel happy enough if they just got a little message from a maybe a moderator or eaven Feld0 saying "Thank you for putting down time to make signatures for our community!".

 

Marco already responded to this topic saying relatively the same thing. Seeing as how I really made this as a proposal to try to give back mainly to the signature and avatar makers and how both the leaders of signature production leaders are not for it, I would really like to compliment the modesty you put into this.

 

could be coolish...

 

Could you elaborate a tad? Listing out some potential problems or solutions to such would be appreciated.

[Guest]

I've always liked badges so even with the negative response from others I would probably enjoy them, but sadly I think they would have to be monitored much too closely if they were to actually mean anything. If they weren't meant to actually have substance behind them then the idea doesn't lend itself much weight.

 

Great idea, but I just don't know. Could lead down the path to fun, or the path to spamalot village.

[Ezynell 2,036]

I've always liked badges so even with the negative response from others I would probably enjoy them, but sadly I think they would have to be monitored much too closely if they were to actually mean anything. If they weren't meant to actually have substance behind them then the idea doesn't lend itself much weight.

 

Great idea, but I just don't know. Could lead down the path to fun, or the path to spamalot village.

 

This entire idea would most likely be rehashed so much it wouldn't be recognizable as it's former self in the off chance that it was implemented. By now It's really me just replying for the sake of sticking to my guns and as a formality, but I have gone and investigated around some forums that used these the past few days and none of them do seem to measure up to the quality of MLPForums, mainly because many of them have massive signature space and much more clutter then I could appreciate but who knows how it could be implemented here. Thank you for the feedback, and I especially appreciate the fact that you looked at the proposal as a general idea rather then picking apart individual pieces that were just made for example purposes as many have been doing. Bejeezus, I just recognized you were Nevermore, I've thought you were somepony else all this time.

[Guest]

Thank you for the feedback, and I especially appreciate the fact that you looked at the proposal as a general idea rather then picking apart individual pieces that were just made for example purposes as many have been doing. Bejeezus, I just recognized you were Nevermore, I've thought you were somepony else all this time.

 

You're welcome, I saw that it was mostly a rough sketch so I figured being nit-picky wouldn't get the thread very far!

 

Haha, yeah I really need to stop changing usernames so much! XD

 

Perhaps one of these days I'll just go back to Nevermore and stay that way.

[Prince Lightning Da Cute 616]

I welcome the idea! It seems really great! Like achiviements? Or trophies? I love it!

[Ezynell 2,036]

I welcome the idea! It seems really great! Like achiviements? Or trophies? I love it!

 

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.