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September Badge Additions!

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  • Tom's Hardware
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September 25, 2013 7:22:58 AM

Hey there friends!

Today we launched a handful of new badges that we think you'll really enjoy. Additionally, we added a couple of new badges to enable swift identification of community team folks. Check 'em out!

Zombie Badge:
Received for those late night jaunts through the forum. (I've definitely posted at 3:00 a.m. before.)
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/badge/nightowl....

The Comeback Kid Badge:
For returning users who've been away for a while, but have rejoined the fold.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/badge/thecomeba...

Speedy Badge:
A swift response selected as a Best Answer within an hour of the question posted. This should be a challenging one to level up!
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/badge/speedy.ht...

Social Nexus Badge:
Because there are just so many social butterflies in our community, we thought we'd provide respect where respect is due for those who share the latest news with their friends.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/badge/socialnex...

Popularity Badge:
For the go-getting vote-getters out there.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/badge/popularit...

Champion Badge:
Rank enough times on the billboards and you'll be granted the coveted Champion badge!
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/community/badge/champion....

Also added:
Badges for Helpers, Moderators, Administrators, SuperAdministrators, and Verified Email.

Have fun collecting 'em! More coming soon!
-JP

More about : september badge additions

September 25, 2013 1:24:17 PM

Speedy badge came quick, warp in 2 days! Night Owl came because I travel.
September 25, 2013 10:39:50 PM

My Night Owl badge is unfortunately legitimate..

Mod badges?
Mjölnir badge please :D 
September 26, 2013 12:41:39 AM

Sorry but the champion badge is just like rubbing my nose in what I have lost from the forum thanks to the updates this one and the last.

Obviously I now realize that its a case of this is the direction the forum is going in- Like it or lump it :( 
The comeback kid badge at least accepts and acknowledges that enough people have jumped ship that its potentially needed.
Before the update I spent literally years being no lower than about 50 in the Billboard Topping it or being top 3 for much of those years.

Yesterday I posted about Font size and you were more concerned that the header colour was wrong ?

Mac :( 
September 26, 2013 6:57:55 AM

As per the other thread, we've identified the problem now and have a fix slated for the new release on the font size issue. On the subject of people jumping ship, our new registrations have never been higher. Our retention has never been higher. We are, on a weekly basis, shattering records for new threads, new posts, and member visits. Qualitatively and quantitatively, we've never been better than we are right now.

On an unrelated note:

Today we launched another new badge!

The Tutorialist Badge:
Providing learned instruction to all those newbers by way of tutorials now comes with a shiny new badge to recognize these contributions!
http://www.tomshardware.com/community/badge/tutorialist...


September 26, 2013 10:18:02 AM

jpishgar said:
As per the other thread, we've identified the problem now and have a fix slated for the new release on the font size issue. On the subject of people jumping ship, our new registrations have never been higher. Our retention has never been higher. We are, on a weekly basis, shattering records for new threads, new posts, and member visits. Qualitatively and quantitatively, we've never been better than we are right now.

On an unrelated note:

Today we launched another new badge!

The Tutorialist Badge:
Providing learned instruction to all those newbers by way of tutorials now comes with a shiny new badge to recognize these contributions!
http://www.tomshardware.com/community/badge/tutorialist...




So whats a Helpers badge then ? We did talk about mini mods a while back is it something like that ?
I have looked but its not on the all badges list ? Is it a Mods only badge ?

Mac
September 27, 2013 9:35:21 PM

It doesn't seem like the Night Owl badge is based on local time. I definitely don't post at 3am.
September 30, 2013 7:10:39 AM

Helpers are most definitely "mini-mods", and they would be manually added, though we don't have any at current. It's nice to have the option. :) 

Night Owl is indeed based on one time in specific, and that's Pacific Time - 1 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., which works for EST too.
September 30, 2013 7:54:53 AM

Maybe no "Helpers" yet although I see we have added more new moderators again recently.
Congrats to those concerned.

Mac :) 
September 30, 2013 1:18:57 PM

It is nice to add badges but really what I am noticing is that some tags are not associated with any badges, example you tag memory and you get memory badge some people tag ram or DDR and so on and those could easily be associated with the same badge. There are more tags like this in question so is there any will to fix those or limit the amount of tags?
For example you want to edit tags and type in gam, system searches and only gaming gives you credit to a badge when most of the results would apply to that as well. Unless we of course want to award badges like Rockstar games which is a current tag.
September 30, 2013 8:51:49 PM

This is true, some badges are associated with some tags, and some tags are only associated with some badges. For the most part though, badges are associated with their appropriate tags. If there are any suggestions or strong recommendations for changes, we can certainly take these into account.
September 30, 2013 8:54:25 PM

Consider attaching DDR or Ram to the memory badge and GPU to the graphics card badge and so on. I am sure some of the mods can chime in as well since 2 or 3 of them are the busiest on the forum.
October 1, 2013 1:47:02 AM

Well as someone who has no use for the tags I had not seen this before going to look, so while this has no effect on me personally I see what rolli is saying and do agree that there are way to many spurious tags out there.

I realize it would be a lot of work but common sense says that tags should be section and subsection specific.
You could at the moment should you wish add any tag to any subject, for example a question under Graphics could if you so wished have a Chrome OS tag.

AMD and Intel are to me valid cases for wanting and needing separate badges within the CPU's category.
Others I am not so sure of.

Mac :) 
October 2, 2013 6:46:43 AM

Added another badge today!

The Best Answers Badge
This will be one of the tougher ones to level up, but you'll receive a badge now for your sum total of Best Answers across all categories. Only the most prolific of posters will reach the coveted title of Grandmaster.
http://www.tomshardware.com/community/badge/bestanswers...
October 2, 2013 9:52:54 AM

Well that's about it for me.
Hope you guys enjoy the new forum.
I will be scaling back my involvement even further now that it has become apparent that there is no will to do anything but plough forward with the master plan.

I have asked for feedback concerning which suggestions from the community have been implemented and there has been no answer on that thread now for 8 days.
I must assume that the answer is as I expected, none.

This new badge is the latest of a few now that just emphasize that despite reassurances, Toms really does not now and never did really consider the old hands and recognizing there contribution (which obviously contributed to making toms the forum it was before this latest update)when this new forum was put together.

Its a shame really as I used to really enjoy the old place yet increasingly I find myself getting half way through a post and just delete it thinking " Whats the point.

Toms obvious complete disregard for me as a contributor has finally outweighed any feeling's of putting back that I have felt so strongly for the past 12 years

So well done on driving another into the background.

Mac :( 
October 3, 2013 3:44:15 AM

Jeez mate toughen up Mac... the token economy here is just to encourage the newbies ... and Joe makes it funny and positive

We know your a respected elder here Mac ... check my stats ... do I care one whit about them ... no.

You have got to move on from this "whiney" patch over the last 12 months and start being more positive.

We like you when your positive.

When your whiney like this you remind me of the sad care bear ...

If you don't cheer up we are going to drop you off in a life raft next to a Russian Oil rig with a GreenPeace uniform on.

:) 
October 3, 2013 5:26:24 AM

mactronix said:
Well that's about it for me.
Hope you guys enjoy the new forum.
...
So well done on driving another into the background.

Mac :( 

I kinda agree wiyh you, Mac - not because I feel disregarded but more because of the general dumbing down (as exemplified by many of these "badges" - as if this were some sort of boy scout troop) and the unusabilitty of the site compared to its previous incarnation. I use it, largely, via an iPad and it really is hard work with the limited real estae being wasted on unimportant emphemera.

I'm still in two minds as to whether it's worth persevering or not. The worrying thing is that there are signs that the sister site (computing.net) is liable to go the same way.
October 3, 2013 7:02:45 AM

@ Reynod,
Light hearted and witty as always :) 
Its not really about the badges then selves, I have said as much many times.
The pretense that they actually care and are listening to input is whats getting me down and turning me "whiney" :p 

@ Ijack
Couldn't agree more concerning the dumbing down and usability.
You would think they would make the site work properly first instead of adding yet more branches to what is evidently an already shaky software tree.

Random freezes and Glitches, whole pages displaying as a grey scale checkerboard when scrolling the page,are just a few of the issues that have become day to day on the forum.

I would love the chance to try and help, however I think that maybe my recent "whiney" spell has come over as being too negative.

I guess its my own fault. Never been one for "playing the game" I just gave my honest feedback as requested and stuck to my convictions.

How do you get behind something when you don't really know what that something is anymore ?

Mac
October 3, 2013 7:29:27 AM

Mac, you've asked for what amounts to a patch notes compilation for 7 months worth of updates to justify an acknowledgement that development has been geared towards user requests. I've pointed to a few major pieces of update already, but those are not enough for you. You bemoan the updates and fixes that have gone into effect, and you take every opportunity to denigrate any progress or improvement to the site as a "step in the wrong direction", when every last shred of evidence on our side is counter to that. Even here, in a thread which is meant to be an update to the users about new, fun badges that we're able to add, nothing but negative comments. "AMD and Intel should be separate badges", you say? They are separate badges. "A question under Graphics could if you so wished have a Chrome OS tag", and you would get a Chrome badge. And we have a Chrome badge.

You are a veteran user, yes. You are a valued contributor, yes. But the amount of time expended trying to satisfy your desires for justification, so far above and beyond that of every other user is starting to far outweigh your value to the forum. You've been threatening us now with your departure for the better part of the year, and every time there's a positive development, I can count on you to post about how Tom's is heading down the toilet in spite of record registrations, member views, thread count and all the other metrics short of your opinion du'jour. As the CM, I have to take all complaints, even the serial ones, seriously. Even when they derail a thread meant to share news about new badges.

My last update to this thread, I posted about the Best Answers badge, wherein a user can expect to receive a Grandmaster badge for achieving a literal thousand best answers across all threads across the forum. Your follow-up was that Tom's is disregarding old hands and not recognizing veteran users. Am I hallucinating, or it is very likely that the majority of our veteran, long-time users just received the Best Answers badge in recognition for prolific posting? Is there not an entire cavalcade of Legacy badges, each meticulously added, color-coded, symbols picked out, descriptions written and rendered across the decade of forum activity for our oldest and most valued set of users? I sincerely do not think I can give you what you want, Mac. I do not know if you know what you want.

Please decide if you are staying or leaving. If you are leaving, let's make that happen now. If you are staying, we will value your presence and your contributions to the community, but ask that you reign in the automatic negative responses.

Thanks.
-JP
October 3, 2013 9:45:09 AM

Mac, I have read many of your posts and the one thing you keep going back to is this recognizing the achievements and contributions of the older veterans. From what I can see the legacy badges is what represents the contributions of those members that were here before the new forum. If there is another way that you are thinking about for this recognition to take place then you should share it with us instead of making us guess what it is.
!