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While browsing the list of badges, I noticed that some badges have never been awarded. For some, such as Constituent and Legendary, this seems like a reasonable assumption for this point in Worldbuilding's life.

However, one badge caught my attention, specifically because it's a bronze badge that has never been awarded: Tumbleweed. We have such an active and communicative community here that I don't see Tumbleweed ever being awarded.

Tumbleweed isn't the only badge that seems infeasible to acquire (Tenacious comes to mind), so is there some process by which badges are evaluated for their viability and what should be done with badges considered nigh impossible to acquire (if anything)?

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  • $\begingroup$ Agreed on the Tumbleweed badge. If it's a good question, it gets answered. If it's a poor question, it's edited, downvoted or closed. $\endgroup$
    – Green
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:11

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As far as I'm aware, there is no review of badges.

This is probably simply because badges are an SE-wide unchanging feature, and I think it unlikely that there is any functionality to control badges on a single-site level.

That said, I don't think there needs to be either - the fact that people can browse through badges and see that these badges have never been awarded on WB is great because it demonstrates what a good community we have. Their continued simultaneous existence and non-usage simply serves as a magnet to our community: if, in the course of looking through a user's badges and thus the badge list, someone discovers the fact that Tumbleweed is never given, it becomes clear that this community gets things done and answered. The lack of Tenacious badges shows that they'll get rewarded for participation. And that is exactly what we want - it draws people in.

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  • $\begingroup$ Could you clarify how unused badges attract community participants? I don't really follow that argument. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:30
  • $\begingroup$ @Frostfyre - I've edited in an explanation $\endgroup$
    – ArtOfCode
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:35
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for clearing that up. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:41
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, the badges are the same SE-wide; there's no provision for per-site variation. And I think that's fine in this case; it's great that we have so far produced no Tumbleweeds! $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:58
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Personally as a completionist I agree with you and it annoys me. Even on Stack Overflow there are badges that are impossible for anyone to ever get (precognative for example).

I wish there was a way to turn off certain badges on a per-site basis. Currently there is no way to do so and based on a conversation I had a while ago I don't think there is any interest in adding a way. The developers have more important things to work on.

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