snuffler:
So will we eventually be able to select which badges show under our names?

You can do that now, silly.

Oh muh bad. Haven't really checked. I'm sorry I'm just rather fond of my forum vagabond badge :P

Pretty cool, but surely there should be a badge for making it to Gonzo without ever being banned or put on probation?

EDIT: Maybe a pair of shiny shoes?

Easykill:
Pretty cool, but surely there should be a badge for making it to Gonzo without ever being banned or put on probation?

there is, but they can't decide on the art.
I say use Mr. Rogers.

Or, if you made it with a ban/probation you get a badge with Peewee Herman
ba dum tush

I like the badges, add a little sparkle to the already shiny site ^_^

Hrrrmmm... RE: New badges

Gone 2 weeks and 100 posts without a moderator dis-approval? Ok, I've flounted it a little...but I think I MUST have that..

And giving the Mods 1000 post badges is a little...well...self indulgent, n'est pas?

Would the new badges be void for both Probation and/or bannings? Or just bannings? Because anything nowadays can be a mod's wrath.

Apparently, there is now one for 100 posts, 1K posts, and 5K posts without probation or banning.

I'm pretty sure the 2 weeks thing means that you have to have had your account registered for 2 weeks and never been banned or put on probation, ever. At the very least you couldn't be banned or put on probation until you got the badge.

thebobmaster:
Apparently, there is now one for 100 posts, 1K posts, and 5K posts without probation or banning.

Well, I'm screwed for the 5K posts, but I'm sure I'm eligeble for the 100 posts and maybe the 1K posts.

god i'm such a badge-whore.

Who knows, I'm hella proud of my Morpheus badge though.

PedroSteckecilo:
Who knows, I'm hella proud of my Morpheus badge though.

I've got Morpheus and Trinity. Ooh-Rah!

I'm guessing making it to 5K unbanned gives you a Neo badge, yes?

The_root_of_all_evil:
Hrrrmmm... RE: New badges

Gone 2 weeks and 100 posts without a moderator dis-approval? Ok, I've flounted it a little...but I think I MUST have that..

And giving the Mods 1000 post badges is a little...well...self indulgent, n'est pas?

I don't see why. Both Wilson and I were posters long before we could moderate. Hell I've only been a mod for a couple of months. Besides, the badges are supposed to be fun, not a source of resentment.

I'd say that these badges are one thing that's going to lead to a change in how often people get reported. A bad thing imho.

@Nil: Perhaps...but it's sort of hard for yourself or Wilson to be challenged by a mod now, is it?

To explain further : Whilst I think not being slapped by a mod is a good idea, it's often something that we do in the heat of the moment, or that may be misunderstood. If J-e-f-f-e-r-s calls someone a **** on his 4990th post because he's been wound up, then it's hardly fair to deny him a badge, is it?

I don't like the probation/ban badge being one badge...but that's just me being greedy.

The_root_of_all_evil:
I'd say that these badges are one thing that's going to lead to a change in how often people get reported. A bad thing imho.

Well, every single report can't lead to a ban or probation. I'm sure people will have just reported someone they didn't agree with. Also, how will it increase the number of people being reported?

Danny Ocean:

The_root_of_all_evil:
I'd say that these badges are one thing that's going to lead to a change in how often people get reported. A bad thing imho.

Well, every single report can't lead to a ban or probation. I'm sure people will have just reported someone they didn't agree with. Also, how will it increase the number of people being reported?

Ok, and I stress this is only my opinion, having one of the badges being due to an arbitary decision cheapens them somewhat. Ben Croshaw has 8 or so badges purely from saying people who play SSBB are idiots. You could get similar by just having a roleplay thread with 2 people.

Mod's wrath though, is arbitary. All the rest of the badges can be worked towards. This one seems to be an anti-badge, which I thought we were trying to avoid.

Yes, I admit I'm opinionated, but I don't think I've ever done something deliberately to cause offence. And putting me in the same locker as "FIRST POST!!!!" somewhat irks me.

j-e-f-f-e-r-s:

PedroSteckecilo:
Who knows, I'm hella proud of my Morpheus badge though.

I've got Morpheus and Trinity. Ooh-Rah!

I'm guessing making it to 5K unbanned gives you a Neo badge, yes?

Correct.

nilcypher:
Hell I've only been a mod for a couple of months. Besides, the badges are supposed to be fun, not a source of resentment.

Oh, I'd beg to differ. I absolutely hate the person who stole my Gold/Silver/Bronze medal for DOEO. As well as the people who have 3 gold medals in a row under their avatars.

I hate them so much....they hacked, I KNOW they did! Hehe, I'm such a sore loser :)

The_root_of_all_evil:

Danny Ocean:

The_root_of_all_evil:
I'd say that these badges are one thing that's going to lead to a change in how often people get reported. A bad thing imho.

Well, every single report can't lead to a ban or probation. I'm sure people will have just reported someone they didn't agree with. Also, how will it increase the number of people being reported?

Ok, and I stress this is only my opinion, having one of the badges being due to an arbitary decision cheapens them somewhat. Ben Croshaw has 8 or so badges purely from saying people who play SSBB are idiots. You could get similar by just having a roleplay thread with 2 people.

Mod's wrath though, is arbitary. All the rest of the badges can be worked towards. This one seems to be an anti-badge, which I thought we were trying to avoid.

Yes, I admit I'm opinionated, but I don't think I've ever done something deliberately to cause offence. And putting me in the same locker as "FIRST POST!!!!" somewhat irks me.

You're entitled to your opinion obviously, but I'm a little offended by the implication that we are arbitrary in our moderation. I go out of my way to try and be fair and impartial and I like to think that I'm quite a reasonable person, not some petty little tyrant throwing my weight around. I spend a lot of my free time trying to keep this forum a place for intelligent and mature discussion and to dismiss that as 'arbitrary' is a little hurtful

That's right, mods have feelings too.

Anyway, I'm derailing this thread. So I'll be quiet.

Sorry Nil, I think I may have explained myself badly.

You will always try and moderate in a specific way. Wilson will also do it in a specific way, but there will be points where you don't quite see eye to eye. (Case in point: The Mercenaries thread with your reference to Virgil).

I'd be a idiot for thinking that Mods don't get hair pulling mad at times seeing some of the craziness we touch on, but the moderation is out of our control, and as such appears arbitrary.

These are the one set of badges where the award is in the hands of others, rather than from our own hard work. I'm not saying, at all, that you have favourites and enemies, but given there's over 1000 posts a day, the moderator team cannot hope to get all of them.

Certain people will grab the moderators attention and get whacked for it whilst others will escape; so whilst your punishments may be fixed, the targets of them won't be. I've tried to explain myself in a reasonable manner and have ended up insulting yourself, which I do apologise for because it wasn't my intention. Someone like Jeffers would have put it more succinctly and not trod on your toes.

Hell, if I thought there was tyrants on the site, you wouldn't see me for dust. I like how fair the Escapist is, I just think a "Them and Us" badge will cause problems.

I still think there should be a different badge for ban and probation...mainly becuase I was on probation for one day, for posting 2 banhammer pictures, and that was it until I went gonzo. But, again, I'm jsut being greesdy. And jealous. And resentful.

But it's only a badge.

....and I want it!

milskidasith:
I'm pretty sure the 2 weeks thing means that you have to have had your account registered for 2 weeks and never been banned or put on probation.

Correct. The time limits are just attached to discourage spamming. The vast majority of accounts won't be affected by the time limits.

The logic is as follows: Each night the server checks what accounts have more than X posts, are older than Y time, and do not have any bans/warnings. Those accounts get the badge (if they don't have it).

Danny Ocean:
Well, every single report can't lead to a ban or probation.

Correct. Reports do not cause bans/warnings other than as a way to get the moderators to notice something they might otherwise miss.

The_root_of_all_evil:
If ___ calls someone a **** on his 4990th post because he's been wound up, then it's hardly fair to deny him a badge, is it?

Yes, why would the 4999th post be treated differently than the 4th, 49th, or 499th? Even though the moderators are more likely let long-time posters off with a warning instead of a ban, the rules don't actually change.

The_root_of_all_evil:
Having one of the badges being due to an arbitrary decision cheapens them somewhat. ... All the rest of the badges can be worked towards. This one seems to be an anti-badge, which I thought we were trying to avoid.

Those same arbitrary decisions control banning, a much more grave consequence. The staff don't think that there's a high degree of arbitrariness in the decisions, and there's always the option to contact Ice-Nine if you disgree.

There are several badges that can't be worked towards, and will be many more in the future (for example, flamedance58 has a badge that was basically awarded by a random number generator - that is arbitrary). Keep an eye out for some mutually exclusive badges too, coming October-ish.

We are avoiding badges that encourage bad behavior. For example, a badge based purely on post or thread count would encourage spamming. A badge based on getting banned or put on probation would encourage people to behave badly in order to get banned. This set doesn't fall under those conditions. At 'worst' it would cause more reported posts (an under-used feature at the moment), but if those reports help the moderators track down bad posts, it's an overall positive.

Darth Mobius:
I have a question. Do the badges get taken away if you draw Moderator attention, or are they fixed? because if so, I should have the Trinity and Morpheus badges, because I made it 2799 posts before getting banned.

I just turned on the recurring awards today, which check your status as of the moment they run. To be fair, I'm going to do a one-time award to accounts that met the requirements at one point but do not now, but it's going to take a bit of work so it probably won't happen for a few days.

Once you have a badge, it isn't taken away. Or, at least, not automatically - an admin can still remove them if someone gets to 5000, gets the badge, and immediately stops following the rules.

To add to the luck based badges: Half the game medals on the gamerlympics.

Seriously, I can't name that many of them that weren't either luck or grinding. :/

Side notes aside: Are there any planned badges that would be awarded manually by a staff member, such as "thought provoking thread of the week" (random example [feel free to use it, ;).]), or are they all going to be awarded automatically at night.

I'm also curious about what the mutually exclusive badges will be, but I suppose time will tell. I suppose I'll just have to test my (limited) patience on that one.

Well, if what Virgil says is true, then I definately should have atleast the trinity badge and maybe the morpheus one (god I want that morpheus!)

A question, if you get banned/probed on your 99th post, would you have to get 100 more posts without being banned/probed so you'd have 199 posts and get atleast the Trinity badge? Or is it that if you get banned/probed at anypoint in your post history, you're automatically screwed for the Neo and possibly Morpheus(I WANT!) badges?

Second answer is correct, and I'm pretty sure we already answered that.

*checks*

Yep, it was answered earlier.

To Virgil, thanks for taking the time to look through this. Now that I'm assured the badges are not just whimsical things, I'm a lot less bothered.

It still seems as though those particular badges are possible candidates for:
"Repeated posts which haven't been reportable", and that's more Mr. Smith than Mr. Anderson, but, hey, it would be a dull place if we all agreed.

I talked to both Wilson and Nil about it; and my concern was that certain people *cough* might appear on the radar more often than others; and whilst the decisions are fair, the chance of getting 'under the radar' would be the arbitrary part.
It seems very unfair for Ultrajoe (for example) to miss out on his because he went on a self-enforced ban for a time. Especially as a few people have broken certain rules without being reported (and I'm sure as hell not going to do it now)

I'd be equally against badges for bad behaviour, as they'd work as ASBO's; but perhaps one that differentiates between a banning and just a probation at a later date?

The_root_of_all_evil:
If ___ calls someone a **** on his 4990th post because he's been wound up, then it's hardly fair to deny him a badge, is it?

Yes, why would the 4999th post be treated differently than the 4th, 49th, or 499th? Even though the moderators are more likely let long-time posters off with a warning instead of a ban, the rules don't actually change.

But the warning will eliminate badges (has done with me, I've not been banned yet), and the more unscrupulous might be watching for that time and deliberately anger them. (We all have our push switches) I have noticed a lot more friend requests coming in since the friend badges have appeared.

Overall, I'm happy with them, but I'm more than aware of the badge frenzy in some people's eyes and the lengths they might go to be a 'Badge Master'. Gotta report'em all....

If I don't get a Morpheus badge (or atleast a Trinity badge, I KNOW I got that) I'm going to be so pissed. I want his shiny, bald head under my avatar, it would blind everyone with his awesomeness.

I want Morpheus. NOW

No recently banned badges :(?

Virgil:

Darth Mobius:
I have a question. Do the badges get taken away if you draw Moderator attention, or are they fixed? because if so, I should have the Trinity and Morpheus badges, because I made it 2799 posts before getting banned.

I just turned on the recurring awards today, which check your status as of the moment they run. To be fair, I'm going to do a one-time award to accounts that met the requirements at one point but do not now, but it's going to take a bit of work so it probably won't happen for a few days.

This has been finished - anyone who would have once met the conditions will now have them.

Virgil:
This has been finished - anyone who would have once met the conditions will now have them.

Awww, so I don't get Morpheus? And now there's no chance in hell I'll get Morphey or Neo? Aw, poo, that's a load of horse drippings.

Jumplion:

Virgil:
This has been finished - anyone who would have once met the conditions will now have them.

Awww, so I don't get Morpheus? And now there's no chance in hell I'll get Morphey or Neo? Aw, poo, that's a load of horse drippings.

I notice you're still abiding by the rules.

Johnn Johnston:

Jumplion:

Virgil:
This has been finished - anyone who would have once met the conditions will now have them.

Awww, so I don't get Morpheus? And now there's no chance in hell I'll get Morphey or Neo? Aw, poo, that's a load of horse drippings.

I notice you're still abiding by the rules.

I'm still trying to earn the "Internet Celeb" badge and the 1000 replies badge, so I can't get banned yet!

I like me my Morpheus badge <3