But how about the other part of my question?
Since Discourse is all about transparency and openness, having an Allow granting of badges in this category setting that doesn’t do what it says, is confusing.
Maybe a note in the category settings for the staff saying “will not take effect on restricted categories” would be a good idea?
And since we are talking about transparency, I think Discourse users would benefit from a note on the Badges page, saying something along the lines of “Badges are only awarded in public categories”, if that remains to be the desired behavior.