I'd like to see the badges work the way pictures do on a review. I'd like to be able to drag the positions of the badges around, and have the first one (the one on the top-left) be the one that follows me.

I would personally like to have my "Founding Member" badge follow me, as I'm kinda proud of that. I think the meaning of "Founding Member" is obvious and will mean more to visitors than other badges, as those all need to be explained.

Just my thoughts...

--Bob

I think that you have the right idea.  Showing the attainment of your highest award with the year it was attained makes sense to me.

Gosh let's make Leon really wonky and have all our badges follow us:) just kidding.

I just thought of a problem with having the highest badge show.  If i hit VIP 09, it's possible no one will notice!  Since I have VIP 08 showing, ppl might not even realize i achieved a new status this year.

So I guess personally I don't mind being "naked" at the start of each year so that people can see what I've earned over the year and notice it.  Otherwise, will anyone even notice if I get VIP 09, or VIP 10 or VIP 11 since the VIP badge will always appear and the only minor change will be the number?

How to fix this?  Well that I have to think about more :)

Solution?  Two badges showing.  The first one can be Staff, CL, Founding Member, or Publishers Circle Member; let the user choose because there aren't that many in this group.  The second badge can then be the writing status on the site that is defaulted to the set parameters.  I suggest this because when I am leaving comments for a brand new user, I ask myself the simple question "is it more valuable to the site to show that I am a "writer 08" or "community Liaison".   I think CL.

I think I wouldn't mind having a progression of badges show up throughout the year but of course I'm coming from a perspective where I have to work to attain a higher status.

vivasuzi said…

I just thought of a problem with having the highest badge show.  If i hit VIP 09, it's possible no one will notice!  Since I have VIP 08 showing, ppl might not even realize i achieved a new status this year.

So I guess personally I don't mind being "naked" at the start of each year so that people can see what I've earned over the year and notice it.  Otherwise, will anyone even notice if I get VIP 09, or VIP 10 or VIP 11 since the VIP badge will always appear and the only minor change will be the number?

How to fix this?  Well that I have to think about more :)

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I could be wrong but I think your most recent badge of a given status would show.  Makes sense doesn't it?

Jo said…

Gosh let's make Leon really wonky and have all our badges follow us:) just kidding.

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LOL!  Now that would certainly be over-kill.  :)

I think people should have the current status badge showing. When the new year comes, the old status badge will remain (to avoid nakedness) until a 2010 status achieved. I don't really understand why an 08 badge would follow someone who has an 09 badge.

Otherwise, I guess it would be nice to show the secondary badge - CL, founding member, whatever, but as it stands, the badges are really big and I don't think two badges could possibly follow us around.

I do like the idea of having people know who the CL's are so they can go to them though. I don't know. I thought a lot about which badge I would want to show up around the site and I like the VIP one but I think maybe the CL one would have made us stand out and maybe be able to help others easier.

I like the founding member badge but there are loads of those and some people never wrote a single review nor even have a pic up. I looked at someone's profile today and that person has the founding member badge but, as I said, never contributed AT ALL except to sign up and leave so I wouldn't personally pick that as my follow around badge.

I think my only real opinion on this is that people's current 09 status should show because it kind of makes it look they have NO badges in 09. When the year changes, we'd hold onto our 09 badges until we attained a status although that is an imperfect solution.

So basically, I just realized I have absolutely no idea what the best way to go about badging someone is. kthxbai. ;)

Oh! But a summarizer badge would be nice to collect. Not to follow us around but to have within our showcase of badges. I don't know what it would be called though.

vivasuzi said…

I just thought of a problem with having the highest badge show.  If i hit VIP 09, it's possible no one will notice!  Since I have VIP 08 showing, ppl might not even realize i achieved a new status this year.

So I guess personally I don't mind being "naked" at the start of each year so that people can see what I've earned over the year and notice it.  Otherwise, will anyone even notice if I get VIP 09, or VIP 10 or VIP 11 since the VIP badge will always appear and the only minor change will be the number?

How to fix this?  Well that I have to think about more :)

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maybe viewpoints can just change the colors of the badges from year to year instead of the same yellow/orange colors. maybe people will recognize it better if the color and number changed.

I see your thinking on this, Meredith. But PattyTherre's idea to have last year's badge follow us until we attain a new one the next year seems pretty sensible. It seems like if starting over the points every year is an incentive to write more reviews and attain a certain status again, then our badges should show us as we move through the ranks. Since the numbers on the badges are so small, I don't think people are even paying attention to the year. If I was going to have VIP showing no matter where I was currently within the system, it might not be that important to attain the status so fast again since the only change would be the microscopic number.

I am with vivasuzi. I wouldn't mind going naked at the beginning of the year either!

I don't know if they plan to change it, but right now it's highest that shows therefore I show VIP right now for 2008.

I'd buy that!  I just want people to know when I reach a new status :)

I'm with Bob on the Founding Member badge or the ability to select the badge.

For members who may want to use samples to showcase online work and link over to VP, something like "founding member" would make sense to a person who does not play at the site. On the other hand, I'm not sure how I'd explain other badge titles.

"Uhm . . . yes. My writing job at Viewpoints is VIP. Yes. I am THAT special. You should hire me to write for sure."

While some members find the challenge of climbing the mountain every year a good thing (and I do understand that), I work better when I feel secure. When I invest time and heart into something (and both are invested here), I keep on keeping on and feel like a valued member. With a clean slate evey year and front and center (following me), it's like all the work done before is erased. It feels kind of like getting fired every year and having to put in a new application.

Sorry. Computer is acting wonky (smile Leon) and double posted

bkovacs said…

I'd like to see the badges work the way pictures do on a review. I'd like to be able to drag the positions of the badges around, and have the first one (the one on the top-left) be the one that follows me.--Bob

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Overall I like Bob's idea the best, but I don't know how hard that would be to program. Otherwise I like showing the most current badge earned.

I actually prefer it just the way it is. As I understand it, 2008's badge stays up until the end of 2009 to give us time to rack up points to make it to the highest level.   

"It feels kind of like getting fired every year and having to put in a new application." 

I agree with that, Cyndi.  Also, in a few years time, people will end up having a page full of badges that say the same thing but with different years.   If I'm a newcomer to VP and see that you made it to VIP level at some point, I'm pretty sure that you're a valuable member.  If badges becomes too redundant won't they lose their perceived value?

Maybe instead of all the yearly additional badges, you can create a minimum number of points to keep the badge(s) active.  And perhaps base it on the anniversary of the date the person joined, rather than the calendar year.

I'd like to have my Slacker-In-Chief badge follow me around, but I seem to have misplaced it...

bkovacs said…

I'd like to see the badges work the way pictures do on a review. I'd like to be able to drag the positions of the badges around, and have the first one (the one on the top-left) be the one that follows me.

Just my thoughts...

--Bob

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This is a great idea...I'm going to second Bob on this one!  Gives everyone a little more say-so about how they present themselves to the rest of the community.

I think the badges are fine just the way they are.  V.I.P. appears to be like "President" or "General" -- once a person has achieved that, they are a V.I.P. period whether it takes them a while to earn it again for the next year or not. 

One thing that I think you guys will have to face, Meredith, is that not EVERYBODY is going to be happy with EVERYTHING no matter what.  Trying to please everyone on this is going to be a losing battle. 

Incidentally, I thought that whoever had the idea of different colored V.I.P. badges for different years was on the target.

"From a reader's perspective, we wanted to showcase your highest badge to boast credibility."  I have a VIP badge and yet the badge that follows me around the site is "Advisor" Color me confused.

I think that they keep the previous year badge up (2008) until a higher rank is met in the next year. Not certain. Since your badge does say 2009, that confuses me too.

TheBard said…

"From a reader's perspective, we wanted to showcase your highest badge to boast credibility."  I have a VIP badge and yet the badge that follows me around the site is "Advisor" Color me confused.

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I believe they only use the last year's badge (08) if it is higher than the current year's badge. They don't go back any further. You were an Advisor in 08 and 09 so it LOOKS like your badge says 09 (The numbers are small on this little 13" laptop I am on).

If you were a VIP in 08, that would have trumped this year's status.

Yeah, confusing!

If you made VIP, that should stay noted. I think in another thread, they said that they already did make the numbers for the years bigger (true?). I think what would require the least effort would be to redesign so the years were bigger, without making the entire badge (even) bigger. That way, people know you made VIP, just not necessarily that year. Those numbers are tiny even on my biggest monitor.

pitcherday said…

If you made VIP, that should stay noted. I think in another thread, they said that they already did make the numbers for the years bigger (true?). I think what would require the least effort would be to redesign so the years were bigger, without making the entire badge (even) bigger. That way, people know you made VIP, just not necessarily that year. Those numbers are tiny even on my biggest monitor.

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I hate being repetitively redundant but why not let us select the badge we want to display? That way, you could show last year's VIP badge if you want, or show your Community Liaison or Founding Member or other badge. We are all different, so let each of us choose the badge we think is most appropriate for our role on Viewpoints.

Maybe I'm missing something, but that sounds most flexible and member-friendly to me. That won't take away anyone's badge, just allow us to pick which one is displayed. If Viewpoints wants to put restrictions on certain badges (such as, you can't pick a VIP or Advisor badge that's more than two years old), then that's okay with me.

--Bob

pitcherday said…

I see your thinking on this, Meredith. But PattyTherre's idea to have last year's badge follow us until we attain a new one the next year seems pretty sensible. It seems like if starting over the points every year is an incentive to write more reviews and attain a certain status again, then our badges should show us as we move through the ranks. Since the numbers on the badges are so small, I don't think people are even paying attention to the year. If I was going to have VIP showing no matter where I was currently within the system, it might not be that important to attain the status so fast again since the only change would be the microscopic number.

I am with vivasuzi. I wouldn't mind going naked at the beginning of the year either!

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I, on the other hand, don't want to be badgeless at the beginning of each year.  I don't mind the whole "rebooting the scores" on Jan.1 concept, but I also don't relish the thought of having to go from Contributor to Writer to Advisor to VIP (if I ever get that far) badgewise.

If anything, the badges ideally should be redesigned so that there is a larger portion on one side for the double-digit year identifier.  The way they're done is nice but the numerals are so small that it's hard to tell '09 from '08....so maybe one of the solutions is to tweak the badges so they're not so symmetrical but can accommodate the ranks and year numbers.

I am liking this new badge thang...it's motivating me...fall is coming and ready to start working on my reviews again that I have in my note book.  (Summer I wind down from reviews because my garden calls).  I am excited about the new badges. 

I would like the founding member badge displayed.  If you can't leave it up to the members to decide what badges to display, then I believe the highest badge attained in the last 18 months is the one that should be displayed.  Perhaps a little star could be added to people who have been awarded multiple badges over the years.

I don't like the idea of wiping out the past and starting over every year.  I think an accomplishment means something....I know everything is replaceable and we want everything to be recyclable but getting to a certain level and winning a prize (of sorts) shows everyone that what you've done and what you are doing now both matter.  At the same time if someone has not been active for 6 months to a year.. their highest badge isn't very important to anyone else and probably won't be seen by many people anyway... since the direct active community doesn't spend much time looking at older reviews.

The founding members jump-started this site with their contributions, by getting the word out to thousands of people about this site, by getting content onto the site as quickly as humanly possibe, by offering suggestions, testing out features, giving feeback to ideas, etc. etc.  In a stroke of brilliance several people made US feel like we were part owners of this site...  so we would take a pride of ownership in the place, make it better, nicer, cleaner than other review communities on the web.  And it is!!!   It remains the best, cleanest, nicest...

 Several people behind the scenes have and continue to be appreciative of the people who jumped on board and started giving life to this community. I know that won't change anytime soon.  I love the way so many people care about the site and about the people who regularly contribute here.   

Sites have to change and grow, particularly after they get more successful.  So far the growth hasn't been very painful for community members at all.  Mostly the growth has been wonderful.

I wish people were better with the clicking of Helpful votes.  Maybe there could be a Super clicker contest to encourage people to use the helpful votes.  We've always lagged in our use of them.. but recently it's worse then ever before...  too bad... people feel good about getting their clicks.

Bravo to all of us and the continued method of management that empowers the community and its voices to have an input into how things are.  What sets this apart from other places is... the input we offer is taken seriously, considered and people bend over backward making things happen...

 I hope people don't take this site and community for granted and continue to promote to friends, family and on facebook and twitter and other boards and places on the internet.

Onward and upward....