Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4417828-20160817152031/@comment-28075-20160820021846

Suzanne Supremo wrote: Oh, yeah, but some users run out of ideas for badges, and categories sometimes come in handy for some people to add just for badge points. I totally understand this, but this is also why I was very unahppy when Wikia introduced badges.

They are intended to encourage editing, but very often users only make very small or useless edits just so they can get a badge. This is especially problematic with categories - most necessary categories were established years ago and I don't think I've ever seen a major new category added here in years. More often, users create categories like 'Characters Whose Names Begin with P' so they can get the badge, and then the staff go and revert it. This is a waste of the staff's time and effort.

Also, quantity =/= quality. Changing a word or two can get you an edit towards a badge, but doesn't enhance a page much. Rehauling a page from top-to-bottom with lots of new information in ONE sitting is... one edit towards a badge.

I understand badges for images and editing certain categories like Characters or Episodes, but the Category badges are clearly encouraging more harm than good, and I know this problem has been going on for YEARS here, and many times I've checked 'Recent Activity' to mostly see staff reverting new categories. For comparison, I run SPF Wiki (eight years as of June) and help out at SPS Wiki, and we don't have badges, and we have no issues with categories there.