Board Thread:Consensus Track/@comment-24210732-20140215215306/@comment-5308644-20140216145725

Timeoin wrote:

If that doesn't do it for you, lets go with statistics. Statistically, they are important from our site. The month we introduced them, we had 3 times the number of edits from the previous month. We also had a tenfold increase in the number of editors (Both single edit and 5-or-more editors).

Statistics lie, and quantity does not equal quality. Badges both encourage and reward quick, lazy, and pointless edits. The concept of making contributions to an encyclopedia gets completely lost by people trolling for 2-second edits and badges. There's a huge difference between an edit and a contribution -- too bad Wikia and developers of the badge system just don't understand that.

Wikis are not a Facebook popularity contest. Being part of team dedicated to creating an outstanding wiki is the real reward for editing -- not badges, edit counts, having your name appear in a different color, etc. Placing emphasis on individuals rather than with wiki encourages poor behavior and bad edits.

I strongly believe that while the edit count may drop as badge trolls disappear, the quality of edits will improve. I know I'm not going to win this one, but I strongly believe that abandoning badges, as so many other wikis have done, will actually be beneficial for the wiki and allow patrollers to do their job better.