i too was wondering who went off the deep end when i saw the changes on the board
first...come on.... as kids we had badges especially helped those with incentive to achieve when intrinsic achievement wasnt there...SO it seems we have a little kid mentality here where labels and badge achievements mean SOMETHING
second... with all the class action suits ebay/pp have had... are they really asking for another one with a privacy invasion
we have already a pretty close knit group and a pretty good one at that
we chat among ourselves but for the BOARD changes to infer personal opinions and ratings....that is a bit tooooo much
guess someone doesnt have anything else better to do or the know how on what is constructive
Change is what makes the changer comfortable and if they werent comfortable with the way things were... maybe they should go elsewhere
As I said earlier, the badges thing is probably because some consultant sold them a bill of goods about "gamification." The badges that indicate expertise or helpfulness, however, ARE useful to new members or infrequent visitors, because they serve as a form of "social proof" of reliability - they help the newbie know the difference between people who know their stuff and, well, a poster who drives by and makes comments that are just a bit off. I think those badges are awarded based on numbers of answers marked helpful by users. So there's no inferring, just hard data.
I don't really like the badges, but I certainly don't feel like they violate my privacy in any way.
Personally, I'm not sure the eBay high-ups even understand what a community really is...
