Is it a lot easier to get badges now?

[dalauder]

I used to be VERY active on these threads from 2010 to 2012 and now I see all these new members with way higher badge levels than me because they've been selected for what used to be unheard of numbers of "Best Answers"/"Solutions".

I also noticed that if the OP doesn't reply for a while, it seems the mods select a "Best Answer" and you get your points. Back in the day, if the OP never came back to choose you for a "Best Answer", then you got no credit. That was probably 80% of threads too.

So my question is this:

Do people find it a lot easier to move from the "Expert" to "Authority" to "Master" badge tiers than it was, maybe 5 years ago?

If so, then I've done a lot more helpful things here than my newer badges seem to indicate...oh well...my Legacy badges are pretty baller.

 

[aquielisunari]

I used to be VERY active on these threads from 2010 to 2012 and now I see all these new members with way higher badge levels than me because they've been selected for what used to be unheard of numbers of "Best Answers"/"Solutions".

I also noticed that if the OP doesn't reply for a while, it seems the mods select a "Best Answer" and you get your points. Back in the day, if the OP never came back to choose you for a "Best Answer", then you got no credit. That was probably 80% of threads too.

So my question is this:

Do people find it a lot easier to move from the "Expert" to "Authority" to "Master" badge tiers than it was, maybe 5 years ago?

If so, then I've done a lot more helpful things here than my badges seem to indicate.

Management may have changed. People may have become more active. I wasn't active 5 years ago. Most of my badges have been earned in the past couple years. They have staff now dedicated to pick answers for OP's who haven't but they wait at least 2 month before that. It's more helpful to those who have Googled a question and end up looking at an archived question. Because of the staff choosing an answer that person sees the best solution and solves their issue quicker than if staff didn't pick an answer. The novice may see an answer to their question but without the solution being chosen they may still be unsure.

It's gotten cleaner and possibly more professional. All good things.

 

[dalauder]

Yeah, that policy makes sense. Thanks.

It's mostly frustrating seeing that I've got like a 1:30 Best Answer ratio and most people are more like 1:6...because 80% of my best answers were never selected. I bet you can't find anyone else with 4,000 posts and under 200 best answers.

 

[aquielisunari]

Yeah, that policy makes sense. Thanks.

It's mostly frustrating seeing that I've got like a 1:30 Best Answer ratio and most people are more like 1:6...because 80% of my best answers were never selected. I bet you can't find anyone else with 4,000 posts and under 200 best answers.

Probably not. Crud happens. I should have a LOT more answers but for 4 years I only occasionally visited.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

The site is much larger now than back then and starting in 2014 or 2015 a team was contracted to select best answers in threads older than 3 months that haven't been marked by the OP. That increased the percentage of threads where a BA gets selected by a fair margin.

You were here back in the old points based ranking system. Yeah it was harder back then. 😀

 

[dalauder]

The site is much larger now than back then and starting in 2014 or 2015 a team was contracted to select best answers in threads older than 3 months that haven't been marked by the OP. That increased the percentage of threads where a BA gets selected by a fair margin.

You were here back in the old points based ranking system. Yeah it was harder back then. 😀

Well it looks like the quality of answers are still pretty good. So they're good changes I guess.