I suggest you make badge awards retrospectively for old users

[neiroatopelcc]

Getting a message like the one below does seem a bit odd when I've written more than 3K posts and had many of the old titles....
To: neiroatopelcc

From: tomshardware
Sent on: 8 July 2013 15:13
Greetings neiroatopelcc,
You just won the Reader badge. You deserve it for fullfilling the following requirement: A lurker no more, with your first comments posted. Rock on!
If this new badge sounds like it's really about you, select it as your status on your profile page!

Did you know? More activity on Tom's Hardware can grant you the next level of this badge: (Commentator).

Click here for a full view of Tom's badges.

Congrats, and see you soon on Tom's Hardware
The Tom's Hardware team

 

[jpishgar]

Badges are awarded retrospectively for older users, based on tags. A Best Answer you had set three years ago or more still very much counts towards a badge. That one in particular above is specific to article commentary, which you might not have been a direct part of until relatively recently. We actually had a mod make the same funny observation when they got the Reader badge recently.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/system-builder-marathon,2056.html
I don't know what your term relatively recently denotes, but above's a thread from 2008 in which I've commeted (article comment).
Below is a picture story I also commented in 2008.
http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/474-toms-hardware-overclocking-competition.html#t1027

And lastly here's a news piece I commented on, also in 2008.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-server,6589.html#t20769

I've got earlier email notifications as well, but those from 2006 have now invalid urls.

Point is - if it is working retrospectively, it isn't working very well.

 

[jpishgar]

That would be three in total. 7+ years ago may be a bit too far back to be publicly visible.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

You point being? Do you expect me to post a link to every single thread I've replied to before you believe that it's far from the first post I've made?

Anyway, I was just trying to provide feedback. If you don't care, then so be it. But just say that instead of wasting my time please.

 

[jpishgar]

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and considerations for our veteran users were one of the reasons we implemented a system to give credit for previous answers and replies in forum threads. Article and Reviews commentary works on a slightly different scale, and may not count for legacy replies pre-dating the previous forum software platform. Apologies for the inconvenience on that, but we have made considerable strides towards recognizing users who have been with us for a long, long time.

 

[RealBeast]

While it took a little while to iron out, IMO Tom's did a great job on moving to the new format and keeping old post/badge information correct.

And now, I'm finally getting used to the new look -- but then again I still have a Moto Razor flip phone.