Forum Discussion

suzushka's avatar
suzushka
6 years ago
Solved

Badge Count Anomaly

Badge count anomaly: #(2nd Anniversary) > #(1st Anniversary)

It would be total hyperbole to say it’s driving me crazy, but I’ve been so conditioned to pick up on and resolve anomalous data that I also cant unsee it. I keep zeroing in on this every time I check out a new badge to see if it’s been fixed. Besides, I’m a bit curious about the actual tvalue of #(1st Anniversary). (It would not be hyperbole to say those badge count statistics are included for people like me..)

🙃

It’s probably a longshot, but I thought I’d query the forum. Anyone else notice this? Just knowing the source of the error would probably let me out of my Pavlovian mental hangup.

🙄

gameplay issue
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    6 years ago

    @suzushka  I wasn't around back then, but I think the sequence was more like:

    • AHQ opens in 2012; no one bothers with badges (or maybe they did, but those badges are long gone).
    • The first badges, at least among the ones we can still see, are rolled out in September 2015.  This includes "newbie" and some post and XP badges.
    • In 2017, someone decides that anniversary badges would be fun, and they start rolling out.
    • So many people are supposed to receive the first anniversary badge that things break.
    • The issue gets fixed before the other anniversary badges are released, so everyone who's earned one of those gets it.
    • Possibly: it's arranged so that people who should have received the first anniversary on the first go around will get it the next time they login, but of course they don't all come back, leaving the discrepancy in numbers that you noticed.

    As far as I know, there aren't any other badges like this.  It's possible the lesson was learned after the one rollout went badly, and everything else has worked as intended.

    And I also believe that none of the anniversary badges are earned unless someone logs in again, so a user coming back after a few years would get all their anniversary badges at once.  Therefore, the only people who would have the second anniversary badge and not the first one are those who were around when the rollout went badly but haven't been back since the issue was fixed.

10 Replies

  • MeltingPenguins's avatar
    MeltingPenguins
    6 years ago

    Taking a shot into the dark:

    Were the badges introduced at a point in time that would cause some people not to earn the first year badge, but second, thus creating a higher amount of people earning the two year badge without having a one year one?

    Alternatively might be people deleting their account before earning the second year badge?

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @suzushka  When the first anniversary badge rolled out, there were so many recipients that it... kind of broke the site.  A lot of people who should have earned it never received it.  The error was recognized and addressed before the second anniversary badge rolled out.

    I think people will get the first anniversary badge they should have received a long time ago if they come back to this site.  But apparently there are a few million people who haven't been back since the problem was fixed.

  • suzushka's avatar
    suzushka
    6 years ago

    @puzzlezaddict First off - sweeet, thx!

    Gotcha. I think..could you check the logical progression:

    • People who set up an account in the first ~1y post-AHQ-genesis (team alpha? (hehe)) => everyone receives the newbie badge 
    • Unexpected problem with data handling discovered @ >1y => 1st anniversary badge not awarded for some limited time period
    • Issue was identified and resolved => 1st anniversary badges now awarded (automatically, in absentia) for any user rolling over that milestone, even if they never log in a 2nd time => however, not retroactively for Alphas
    • Alphas who never log back in post-resolution are awarded (in absentia) subsequent anniversary badges (2y, 3y, ...) just like everyone else
    • The resolution ‘patches’ 1y badge for Alphas, but is triggered by a post-resolution login. This accounts for the anomalous data point b/w #(newbie) and #(2y anniversary).

    Do you know if other counts were affected? Ie, Do you think #(newbie) and #(2y anniversary) are more or less accurate? Just curious.

  • suzushka's avatar
    suzushka
    6 years ago

    If it were up to me, I’d modify that patch now to include a second, special badge: TardyPants

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @suzushka  I wasn't around back then, but I think the sequence was more like:

    • AHQ opens in 2012; no one bothers with badges (or maybe they did, but those badges are long gone).
    • The first badges, at least among the ones we can still see, are rolled out in September 2015.  This includes "newbie" and some post and XP badges.
    • In 2017, someone decides that anniversary badges would be fun, and they start rolling out.
    • So many people are supposed to receive the first anniversary badge that things break.
    • The issue gets fixed before the other anniversary badges are released, so everyone who's earned one of those gets it.
    • Possibly: it's arranged so that people who should have received the first anniversary on the first go around will get it the next time they login, but of course they don't all come back, leaving the discrepancy in numbers that you noticed.

    As far as I know, there aren't any other badges like this.  It's possible the lesson was learned after the one rollout went badly, and everything else has worked as intended.

    And I also believe that none of the anniversary badges are earned unless someone logs in again, so a user coming back after a few years would get all their anniversary badges at once.  Therefore, the only people who would have the second anniversary badge and not the first one are those who were around when the rollout went badly but haven't been back since the issue was fixed.

  • suzushka's avatar
    suzushka
    6 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict Gotcha, for realsies this time. For whatever reason, once my mind latches on to smthg, its kinda like pitt bull persistent meets husky/german shep mix stubborn re: constructing a resolution. Ironically, attempts to rationalize relative importance with myself aren't reliably successful. Especially where competition comes in the form of tedious admin (read: 2016 1040X deadline = today, in this case). All the same, def appreciate the insight!

    Cheers.
    🙃
  • suzushka's avatar
    suzushka
    6 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict I still think the TardyPants badge would be funny. Or The Official TardyPants Llama Award? Thats a silly number of one-off-ers, but returning after that kind of hiatus is pretty special. 😁
  • suzushka's avatar
    suzushka
    6 years ago

    @puzzlezaddictWait...the only way #(2ndAnniv) > #(1stAnniv) is if some ppl have the former but not the latter, right?

    But I don't follow how you get a 2nd Anniv badge but not a 1st Anniv badge? If you have to log in to get the 2y, wouldn't you also get the 1y at the same time?

    My brain is a little tired, so maybe I'm missing smthg in your description - if so, forgive me - but seems like if you miss out on the 1y, you would also miss out on subsequent years.

    (Hope I'm making sense.  Just when I thought I was out, it pulls me back in. *sigh*)

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @suzushka  Right, there are a few million people who have the second anniversary badge but not the first.  In their cases, the last time they logged in, the badges had all rolled out, but the first anniversary badge hadn't been fixed yet, or at least it hadn't been fixed so that people could earn it after the fact.  So if their accounts were at least 2 years old at the time, they'd have received the two year badge, but not the first because it didn't work.

    They can still get the one year badge, now that it's been fixed.  But they'll have to login again, and many of them haven't since the fix.

  • suzushka's avatar
    suzushka
    6 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict oic. I actually did the first time too - just lost the thread. What a ridiculous thing for my subconscious to get hung up on. lol. Give me a virtual punch in the shoulder next time you see me doing that. Or, like, elbow me in the shoulder. (: Remind me there are more useful and/or interesting conundrums to expend energy on. I'll totally appreciate it. (: Thx for the clarification, btw.

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