We know that the success of any online community is directly tied to the members who participate in it, and we want to make sure that you get recognized for all the time, knowledge, and passion that you have shared with us.
You may have previously noticed there is a section on your profile page that includes a banner across the top called “Latest badges earned” – which is where we recognize you for participating and engaging in our community. Each badge represents a particular achievement in community, and is a bit like a digital certificate to show your involvement.
When we launched our first phase of badges we wanted to highlight the most popular functions on the community, but we didn’t want to overwhelm everyone. Now that we are a bit more established, we decided it was a good time to update the look and feel of our badges, and expand the set a bit. (Now we can reward you for even more of what you do here!) So starting today, you will see our new badge art and the old grey and green badges will be retired.
To see a full list of the badges available, simply click on the “View all” link on the banner in your profile – if you have earned that badge, you will see the full color version, and if you haven’t earned it yet, then you will see a greyscale version. We tried to make them self-explanatory, but if you are curious what it takes to earn each badge, simply click on it and you’ll get a brief description of what it is. The great thing is that you earn badges automatically, just by doing what you would normally do in the community.
Because we are expanding the badge set, you may actually earn some new badges for prior activity on the community – don’t worry if you do, we are just making sure that you get all the recognition you deserve! And of course going forward you will continue to collect badges based on your activities.
(We even have a few badges that are hidden until you earn them to keep the things fun.)
As you earn new badges, you will be automatically notified to congratulate you on your achievement. Remember, you can change where and how you get badges (and any other community notifications) in your profile settings.