Instead of littering existing topics with random unrelated responses just to get a badge, let’s just use this and it’s (soon to be created) associated “Part II”, to work on badges if you so desire.
First badge on the list, “Autobiographer” (Autobiographer badge on Dallas Makerspace Talk).
So far only 16 granted… Time to get some profiles filled out! 
(…and work on whichever other badges y’all wanna earn… w00t!)
I’m not a big fan of the whole “badges” thing. This is supposed to be a communication tool, not a video game. It makes me feel like a trained animal being coerced to jump through hoops for treats.
Badges just for people who want them - fine.
Making badges a requirement to get more access to more features - sucks.
3 Likes
Agreed. We shouldn’t be condoning this. It’s cheating the system.
@apipe
Alyssa… I totally get what you are saying.
As far as I’m concerned, checking out the badges helps me discover new things (speaking in general. This forum and other similar resources…). I’m not going to go and try to get “all” the badges as if I’m drilling a game; but I will probably continue poking around through the options that are presented as a means to learn more about the various options available to us.
@bscharff
Brooks… If there was anything meaningful to gain from the badges, I might agree; however, other than reading a handful of posts and taking a few short minutes of time to do that in order to be able to post via email… None of the other badges help you gain anything at all… except… a badge. 
As far as you flagging this thread as SPAM, that’s a right you and anyone else has on any thread/post; however, this was created more to avoid having a meaningful thread turn into another ‘countdown’ in efforts to earn a badge. That being the case, I view it as a way to help keep “spam” out of important topics.
Thx y’all!
=)
Only the “Basic” badge is required to “unlock” the forums. The idea is that it is a basic tutorial on how to use the software before bombarding the user with additional options. All other badges are optional and have no real impact on use of the forums.
To be clear, the “Basic” badge (the only “sort of required” badge) takes 10 minutes to acquire and is done so by reading the forums. Every single user should be able to unlock it without issue, merely by browsing the forums.
1 Like
How often do the badges update? I flagged the original post and haven’t gotten the First Flag badge yet
1 Like
I filled out my biographical information a month ago, but I still don’t have an Autobiographer badge.
I think you have to upload a pic in order to get the autobiographer.
2 Likes
@Brandon_Green
I was advised that most of the badges update daily, so hopefully you’ll have it by this time tomorrow.
What about Poster (Grants ability to invite users to topics and PMs.) or Organizer (Grants ability to…
recategorize and rename topics spam flags cast on TL0 user posts immediately reach the action threshold)?
Those seem to have additional permissions.
Alyssa
I stated they have “no real impact on use of the forums”. I fail to see how either of those have a real impact on the average user. I doubt anyone outside of myself has participated in a muti-user PM (I was testing the system).
The few powers granted by the “Organizer” badge are those that are traditionally limited to hand-picked moderators, instead the system now grants them to those that are the most active on the forums.
I believe this system is fair and does not force users to “play games” in order to make use of the forums.
What does “invite users to topics” mean?
EDIT: Now I see the Invite button down at the bottom to left of reply, never noticied it before, doesn’t seem very useful
Potato Pot-tot-o.
To me PMs are worthwhile and shouldn’t be doled out to those willing to jump through all the hoops.
And, now I have my Autobiographer badge!
1 Like
Summoning @discobot help
Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.
I believe you can use discobot to start the advanced tutorial
@discobot ban discobot
We don’t need no steenkin’ badges…