agreed … this is a *TRAVEL* community, not an influencer competition

FT automatically tracks post count, and that provides evidence of online participation

I guess I’m just a curmudgeon, but I don’t understand why it’s necessary to seek additional validation (e.g., “I’ve issued 2306 Likes and quoted 1192 other posts”)

Or conversely, "I've received xxxx number of likes and been quoted xxxx number of times" which is what I thought was being asked for and agree that it's unnecessary and irrelevant (just as it's been until now).

The number of post counts and years on the forum is sufficient to tell you about the member's participation and experience, which is what I think is important.

The likes count I can kind of understand, tracking your "karma" in a way raw post count can't.

Quoted count is a terrible metric though. I can think of at least a couple of folks who would have great numbers, but only because they are repeatedly wrong, argumentative or just plain trolling.

Too much high school popularity contest plus would just encourage non stop liking of posts and some people already abuse it.

The number of displayed badges will always remain the same, so there wouldn't be any additional clutter. I did forget though that the new Likes system actually does display lifetime likes, so a badge would be redundant

Gen Y/Z/Alpha doesn't get good recognition from parents or other adults in 2024, so they rely on likes, followers, quotes, reposts, etc. to validate their existence.

granted both you and I have chosen to display badges that honor the number of years of FlyerTalk membership - information already indicated Witt our join dates. We have both chosen to seek additional validation with our longevities here.

Since the launch of the badges my time on Flyertalk has moved from 5 to 10 years but the 10 year badge is still greyed out.

​​​​​​ The join date in your profile suggests October next year would be your ten year anniversary?

OOPS. I was getting ahead of myself. Thanks for putting me straight.

Y'know what's funny is that these were first rolled out on sites dominated by Boomers and Gen X to positive reception

Probably because it was the first update of any type on those sites since 1995 :D :D :D

Doh, I think I did mine wrong and will have to adjust, but even then I am confused. I mainly stay at Hyatt and use their CC too, so am I to put in how many free hotel nights I earned this year... or how many nights I slept in this year using points but not using cash... let me know if this has been solved and how to properly calculate. The others seemed fairly self explanatory, though I did add up my Delta lifetime miles to my AA ones to my random other airlines to obtain my number. If its supposed to be for your ONE TOP program, LMK. I realize these are useless pixels but I do want to be honest! hehe.

Maybe add a new badge for number of US states visited.

I read most of this and I'm still unclear as to how to update the number of countries visited, or where that info is being pulled from.

Updating/editing is here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/badg...?do=viewbadges

what determines the sequence of badges? I attempted to change mine to years/miles/ countries by removing all three and re-adding them, but it reverted to countries/miles/ years

logged out and logged back in, no change

not a showstopper, but it *is* a nuisance

Nevermind. LOL!

how to unlock Badges?
 

All the badges in my profile are "locked" - I can't see how to make any of them visible.

Edit: Posting something unlocks the badges 😳

The number of hotel nights earned per year is really an odd metric. Do you mean award nights?

How about just the number of hotel nights stayed per year.

And also lifetime number of airports.

David

Are Macau and Hong Kong counted as countries?

If you would like to count them as countries then you can do so. Factually they have their own separate immigration controls. Any other opinion is likely to get this thread pushed into OMNI.

6 months on have the badges made any difference or significance to the communities?! Just interested. Apart from use up UI real estate.

We don't have the ability to isolate badge use as it relates to individual user behavior.

They are an embarrassment to what was an enjoyable & often educational site.

Still waiting for the op to make good on an undertaking to give posters the option to turn them off.

How is it "an embarrassment"? :confused: I usually don't even look at them, but once in a while it's fun to see when someone has them enabled. It really isn't such a big deal.

IMHO it's less of an embarrassment than having all caps in your stats (location, programs, etc.). ;)

-J.

I'll just add a question to the above post: what do you mean by "what was an enjoyable & often educational site." :confused:???

This site STILL is very much enjoyable and educational to most (or I'll venture to say all) of the rest of us and having or not having these badges doesn't bear any influence on that at all.

I don't get why badges would be offensive. Context can be helpful as I read posts and advice -- someone with 5 countries vs 25 might have more useful info or be a more reliable source. And this is a hobbyist site, full of people for whom all this stuff matters and is interesting -- where else would you label and engage in gentle bragging rights than among these folks who get it. Our friends and spouses certainly are over feigning interest. :-). On a D&D forum I'd probably be curious about how long someone has been a dungeon master. :-)

I put the link to the image server of the badges in my adblocker so I don't see any badges. The mega signatures and profile info overload is far more annoying... the things people put in there is mindboggling. :p

....and then the admin on here deleted them hahahahaha ( I've reinstated but not confident they will last)

Grow up, allow people to not have badges & let the site run itself.

You are trying to increase traffic but you are driving people away.

We didn't touch anything with your badges

If it's that big a deal to you, maybe FT isn't the place for you anymore. It really isn't a big deal and I can't fathom why you are so heated over this. It's literally a handful of pixels.

-J.

When can grown up people hide the kids' badges please?

As a grown up who is utterly uninterested in the badges, I simply ignore them.

There's also oliver2002's method a few posts above.

Wow :rolleyes:

-J.

Let me give you the most diplomatic answer I can.

I don't take any massive notice of mine, because I'm far too focused on and appreciative of the great information we have across the site.

Looking at everyone's reaction to your posts in this thread, I'd suggest to you that it would be a very good time for you to return to enjoying the 99.9% of the site you do like, and worry much less about the insignificant part you don't.

IBJoel does a fantastic job in advocating for this site, so your attacks on him and his concept are grossly unfair and misplaced. In other words, it's time to leave this alone, please.

NWIFlyer
Community Director

Out of respect for your post I'll make this my last on this thread.

I have not attacked anyone on this thread. I've said the badges are childish and stick to that opinion.

In post 46 I made that clear and it appears many agreed.

The poster that you mentioned then brought age into it which is why it got a little heated.

Hopefully the site will outlive the badges but with an aggressive attitude towards seasoned travellers it makes it a little more uncertain.

just like the number of posts, it’s interesting to see the badge stats. Some people have done a lot of things here.

Yeah…. But what pixels!

Post #46 you brought up the ageism with your comments on "cub scouts" and "grown ups" and you've done little but bash since. You're in no position to accuse anyone of having an aggressive attitude without looking in the mirror.

What's the new "All eyes on you" badge for?