launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Maris Fogels <maris.fogels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/16/2010 08:18 AM, Robert Collins wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 8:53 PM, Lucian Adrian Grijincu
> <lucian.grijincu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> In Launchpad translations users could get badges for:
>> * first 1 translation suggestion
>> * first 10 translation suggestions
>> * first 1 accepted translation suggestion
>> * first 10 accepted translation suggestions
>> * completing 10% of a packages's translation
>> * completing a packages's translation
>> * rewriting 10 old translations
>> * being accepted in the QA team for a language
>> * etc.
>>
>>
>> This is not Launchpad Translations specific and can be implemented for
>> Launchpad Bugs and other submodules.
>>
>> Any thoughts on this?
> 
> We want to be sure that we encourage high quality contributions, not
> numerous contributions. One of the reasons karma is a restrained thing
> is for this reason: we don't want folk to do lots of
> actions-for-the-sake-of-karma : in fact, we regularly have to speak
> with abusers and sometimes disable accounts where folk are doing this.
> 
> I think its more important to get spammer and amok-user prevention
> heuristics in place before considering badges or other artificial
> feedback mechanisms.
> 

I agree with Robert, and with the article he posted, that creating a points
collection atmosphere to encourage more contributions is at odds with our goal
of ensuring high quality contributions.  It is possible, but it would take real
effort and ingenuity to get right.

That said, what Launchpad does /not/ do well is use badges as a social
signalling device within projects.  For example, badges can be used to signal
the authority and status of core contributors, such as those who have been
accepted as official members of a language QA team.  We could make the site more
usable, and the communities more accessible, by making some of these social
relationships explicit.

Maris

-- 
Māris Fogels -- https://launchpad.net/~mars
Launchpad.net -- cross-project collaboration and hosting

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