What's with all these ridiculous new "badges"?

[hill-walker]

Is it just me, or are others insulted by the infantilisation of this board, and being awarded badges, for "being helpful", or whatever?

I'm a grown up, not a child. I don't need badges so others can see how helpful I am.

My 3 year old granddaughter get awarded badges at nursery school, for acheiving things like washing her hands, brushing her teeth, being nice to her little sister etc., and quite honestly, it feels like I'm seen by ebay, as having about the same mental age as her!

We're all adults here; I just wish eBay would treat us as such.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@hill-walker wrote:

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katie@ebay wrote:

We have alot of accounts on the community that are passive. That means they read and log in but don't get involved. Badges have been used to encourage these accounts to become active. 

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Hi Katie.

If people are reading the forums, but not participating, it suggest to me that they have questions, that are probably being answered by reading about people in similar situations. Why would they feel the need to ask again? Why would they need to "get involved"? Why would you even want them to?

As far as I can see, and do please correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no mention of earning badges on the discussion landing page, so how would these badges encourage participation, if the passive readers know nothing about them?

Yet again, (and yes, I have said this before, in relation to the new listing tool, EDDs etc) it seems that the ethos of eBay appears to be that eBay know best, regardless of what the members feed back to them, and somehow know what members need, despite having never asked the question. Why is there never, as far as I am aware, any market research done before implementing new ideas?

Please know, that this is NOT a personal attack on the Community Team members, but rather on the general "nannying" attitude of eBay over all. These badges are just the most recent itteration of this.

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Plenty of serious problems that need resolving. We could probably between us all do a long list.

And the effort is spent on badges that make no difference. Now if they can provide us with White House sweets at least they would be something we could use / give away. ....

[elitegiftsltd]

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@hill-walker wrote:

Just as an aside, re the discussion landing page:

"Learn useful eBay tips, such how to bid or use seller tools, or to discuss about the things you love!"

is wrong!

"discuss the things you love", yes.

"have a discussion about the things you love", by all means.

But "discuss about the things you love", no... never... not even in American  😉

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We could discuss about the things we love but would be a strange conversation, having to avoid mentioning the thing. 

[elitegiftsltd]

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@candytan67 wrote:

Yes I've got loads of badge notifications coming out of my ears - what a waste of time and effort.

However I have still not received my "pirate & crossed bones" character badge for so many anti-eBay content posts?   😤

Anyone had their "Angel" character badge for their cheerleader/pro-eBay posts yet?   🤗

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Yes, we could both do with them.

I've said a few words about the staff lying to people .... and the search results, and the categories and ...

[elitegiftsltd]

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@the_book_seekers wrote:

I think what irks me about this is the community team have made more comment on the award of badges than we've had over our struggles with the new listing tools. 

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Good point. Shows the priorities / control by managers. 

[elitegiftsltd]

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@bennotbill wrote:

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@*guinevere* wrote:

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Well whoopidoo, I've got a badge for giving out 10,000 helpfuls and I have only given out a fraction of those! Still it's another badge, happy days! 😀

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I think the badges are struggling to keep up with many of us.

Is there a badge for suggesting new badges? A badge for the most badges.

Maybe eBay award their own reps badges. A badge for estimating. A badge for answering the most phone calls. And one of the rarest a badge for sincerity.

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Hmmm.....is there a corporate post / department for badges with a VP in charge of badges? 

[thesmi42]

Yes, it is a good point.

I have felt for some time that the team cherrypick the posts they want (or are instructed) to reply on.

Wonder what they do the rest of their working time?

[vinylscot]

I too have four new badges, and would really rather not.

The boards are a mess already. Adding badges will only result in the usual suspects giving "helpful" votes to each other, for telling people they should have business accounts. We know who these people are. They are NOT the most helpful. Some of them are among the most obstructive and objectionable people on the boards, but they'll all scratch each others' backs, as they do when they're bullying many of the posters.

[bennotbill]

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@elitegiftsltd wrote:

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Hmmm.....is there a corporate post / department for badges with a VP in charge of badges? 

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No, there will be a badge team of course.

That's another badge for eBay. The most teams badge.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@vinylscot wrote:

I too have four new badges, and would really rather not.

The boards are a mess already. Adding badges will only result in the usual suspects giving "helpful" votes to each other, for telling people they should have business accounts. We know who these people are. They are NOT the most helpful. Some of them are among the most obstructive and objectionable people on the boards, but they'll all scratch each others' backs, as they do when they're bullying many of the posters.

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People already were giving those they agreed with helpful votes. Of the 45 helpful votes you gave how many were given to people you disagree with? And how many were given to people who were in your clique? 

[elitegiftsltd]

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@bennotbill wrote:

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@elitegiftsltd wrote:

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Hmmm.....is there a corporate post / department for badges with a VP in charge of badges? 

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No, there will be a badge team of course.

That's another badge for eBay. The most teams badge.

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Ah a bit like the medals system.

Some build up quite a collection of them, all legally. 

[vinylscot]

I don't have a "clique". All the helpful votes I have given have been given on merit (as far as I was concerned - others may not have agreed) At one time I even gave a helpful vote to elitegiftsltd, and defended him on a thread. 

[Anonymous]

You became ineligible for the badge when you wrote "please"

I really must try harder.................

[jimd210166]

I agree, they are  trying to build on the "fluffy" education world, where they give kids badges as a reward for turning up at school and doing a decent days study.  We just did this as normal.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@vinylscot wrote:

I don't have a "clique". All the helpful votes I have given have been given on merit (as far as I was concerned - others may not have agreed) At one time I even gave a helpful vote to elitegiftsltd, and defended him on a thread. 

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Fair enough. Perhaps it is the others who consider you part of their clique. 

[elitegiftsltd]

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@jimd210166 wrote:

I agree, they are  trying to build on the "fluffy" education world, where they give kids badges as a reward for turning up at school and doing a decent days study.  We just did this as normal.

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Give it time people will be given medals for turning up to work of a Monday... 

[thesmi42]

A bit like the old 'Employee of the Month' joke...

How someone can be both a winner and a loser at the same time!

[elitegiftsltd]

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@thesmi42 wrote:

A bit like the old 'Employee of the Month' joke...

How someone can be both a winner and a loser at the same time!

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Many years ago I worked in a call centre. Calls and associated work were around 15 to 20 minutes each and my shift included early morning.

Every morning around 7 - 8.30 or so people would ring up to report a problem with their vehicle and we would have 15 staff and a call queue of 40 or so. 

Every morning managers would be pushing us to finish calls so we could quickly deal with next call. Could not take new call until old one resolved. 

The managers could not understand why staff were not working faster when the reward was more work.... 

No benefit for staff in taking one call in an hour or 6 calls in an hour. 

[candytan67]

My count is now 12 new badges in the past 48 hours!  😮

Suppose it's because I have not been sent to the naughty chair for over 3 years now?   🤔

[bennotbill]

The "badge team" should be awarded their own laughter badge for making this thread possible.

Or is it all an insidious clever ploy to steer posters away from commenting on the new wonder lister?

[the_book_seekers]

I think what shows the state of these boards are the numbers of users that are signed in at any one time. At the moment there are about 600 out of the millions of members in the UK. The highest number I've seen is just under 1000. If a portion of these figures are passive - read only users then the posting community is very, very small indeed.