Forum:Badges

Hey guys I edit a few other wikis other then this one and I noticed that some of them give users Badges and "wiki points" as a sort of reward for making big edits, and other ways of improving the wiki (they also have leaderboard to see who has the most points). So I thought why dont we do that here? Obviously we should not give away points and badges for blog comments, user talk, or small edits, as that would just encourage users to make pointless small edits that don't help the wiki at all, but we should definitely do it(in my opinion) for big edits that actually help the wiki, like editing stubs, fixing templates, uploading images, fixing a page's grammar(like changing an article from present tense to past tense, not just fixing one or two words), and providing lots of links and references, etc. My idea for this forum is to first discuss whether we should do this, then discuss what warrants a badge and how much points one should receive, and finally implement this into the wiki. -- 22:40, May 15, 2013 (UTC)

here are some examples of this on other wikis, i will try to find more later.  

Discussion
I think the "badge" discussion has happened on countless occasions and in all those discussions we came to one conclusion "Such reward system will promote spamming as well as useless editing" .. I was in favor of bringing in the badges but still, I agreed with those spam problem as well. You can make custom awarding system developed and made for something that admins has agreed upon but bringing the badge system provided by Wikia is bit dangerous. 22:55, May 15, 2013 (UTC)

first can you provide me with a link to the previous discussions about the badge system. Also I already have stated that I realize this type of thing would normally lead to small edits, that don't really help the wiki, which is why I suggested making sure the badges are only giving out for BIG edits that are really useful like the examples I stated above -- 23:02, May 15, 2013 (UTC)

I also think we should have them. The other discussions are very old.

Honestly, we should at least try them. I rarely see people spamming them on other wikis. It's a great way to get new editors to contribute. 23:06, May 15, 2013 (UTC)

As Gal said, those discussions are very old .. don't wanna bother finding them >_> Also Capt, the idea of giving out awards to "big edits" to chosen ones would require Admin's input as well as their agreement, and the previous discussion were closed just cause some top-played didn't wanted to dis-balance their holding. Sore-losers is what I call them XDXD so, it better for you to contact admins or MOD on their talk-page to get their recent input on this .. trust me, the tides of the discussion will change when that happens XDXD Try it. 23:30, May 15, 2013 (UTC)

so what your saying is i should contact an admin's talk page and direct them to this forum to get their opinion? btw the admins are DP, Deva, Yata, Stff and Gal(whose input is already here) right, am i missing anyone? -- 23:41, May 15, 2013 (UTC)

If you think about it, Galaxy isn't really an admin, but a temporally admin so he could do the images. Yeah, this discussion has happened several times already. Here they are:. They only provoke to mass edit for higher ranks. They might be well for small wikis that just started but in a big wiki such as our, it will just cause users to become competitive for higher ranking. As I believe, that has kind of occurred when users saw their ranking in the amount of edits they have in the top 100 main edits statistics thing. That went on for a while too. So I agree with MDM, no badges. 00:05, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

On the image note Calu, I am doing them. 00:06, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

It's been discussed before. We don't need them. We're not doing them. 00:08, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

first of thanks for providing links to the old discussions, and second as i have stated earlier twice, I think a way we can avoid useless editing for badges, by making them exclusive for REALLY BIG, USEFUL EDITS, not small ones or ones that are not really helping the wiki, things like fixing templates, editing stubs, etc also we don't even need to have a leaderboard we can do the points and badges without a leaderboard, so that it does not get too competitive-- 00:15, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

Badges are supposed to promote activity and the growth there of on a wiki. We have plenty of projects and the like going on so we don't need some petty competition to try to promote activity or growth. Don't fix what isn't broken by trying to make it prettier. 00:21, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) Yeah, I faced the badge system before. People were making super-small edits (with spams occasionally) as ways to abuse the system. We may need to set up ground rules if we want it. 00:21, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

Can you disable it for individual editors (doubtful)? If so, that would be a punishment for spamming edits. 00:22, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

@DP, we don't have to have a leaderboard and points if we dont want to, and make it in to a petty competition, we can just have badges that are awarded to users for their helpful edits

@Yata, that what im saying if we do implement this system the badges should only be for really big, useful edits

and @Gal, yes we can if we wanted to

-- 00:25, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

If it actually becomes a good thing, and we do get a lot more big editors, it would be more work to make sure that people get credit only for "really big edits" than it would be to actually do the edits. Admins have better things to do with their time.

And this wiki is already filled with enough editors that treat edits like a pissing contest. We don't need to attract more of them. If editors want recognition, they should just edit, and they'll get it. No need for badges. 00:53, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

How is it hard to ensure that people only get badges from really big edits? Just disable the achievements that aren't big enough. 01:00, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

It brings pointless materialism into something we already do fine without. We don't need it. 01:04, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

As going on the discussion above .. its pretty much has negative effects than positive. BTW Capt, in case you are comparing this wiki to other wiki .. there is a slight difference. While other wikis work as community .. this wiki is more like non-profitable organization in-charge of gathering and posting information. Don't mistake "duty" as relation here. It always ends in disaster and competition AKA spamming and trolling. Other wikis can pull this badge thing off but for this wiki, just impossible. 02:33, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

no offense MDM, but I think you are wrong, I believe this wiki could pull off the addition of user badges, and I think it would help the wiki by creating lots of big useful edits, without creating a bunch a editw***** trying to prove that they are the "best" editor, IF we make the badges exclusive to big useful edits-- 02:41, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

Non taken, I did my job of giving you the heads up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ rest is absolutely up to luck. Being a former edit-whore myself I know a little about this wiki's nature. Still, best of luck if this idea gets approved which I highly think it will >_> 02:45, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

I'm against the idea of badges for reasons previously discussed. I can see more trouble than any potential benefits they could offer. MasterDeva (talk) 02:47, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

well thanks for the heads up and advice MDM, and thanks for your input too Master Deva (even if you are against my awesome idea)-- 02:50, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

No no no no no. If we start using achievements now, everyone will have 0. And I will really hate that. Also at my point of view the wikis that use the achievements don't look good. Cause you know c'mon and also if people eg need 5 more article edits to reach an achievement they will probably spam/ add false information on articles just to reach the new achievement. So I'm against the achievements thing, I never liked achievements. Also if you really want to know your rank go here 06:27, May 16, 2013 (UTC)

As an approximation, your rank is nowhere near the top 100. I'm guessing that won't help much since it seems you want some kind of tangible recognition so that you feel useful. 06:50, May 16, 2013 (UTC)