# Can't Grant Badge - Generic Error
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [7월 28, 2017, 2:42오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982 "2017-07-28T02:42:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dylanh724](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dylanh724)
#### Post date: [7월 28, 2017, 2:42오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/1 "2017-07-28T02:42:22Z")
When I try to grant a badge:
I used to be able to grant badges fine. Tons of people have this very badge – I tried to grant a random badge to myself, too, and still getting a vague error.
Nothing special about this badge - no sql or anything. It’s just a badge I manually add.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [7월 28, 2017, 2:44오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/2 "2017-07-28T02:44:44Z")
Prob related to this: [https://meta.discourse.org/t/badges-no-longer-visible-1-9-0-b4/66979/2?u=hawk](https://meta.discourse.org/t/badges-no-longer-visible-1-9-0-b4/66979/2)
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [7월 28, 2017, 5:12오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/3 "2017-07-28T17:12:50Z")
Our error message can be TONS better here, so leaving this open.
But the problem here is that it is expecting a **link to a post or topic** per the text at the bottom.
There was also a bug in badges that was fixed, try latest
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### Author:  [@dylanh724](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dylanh724)
#### Post date: [8월 6, 2017, 4:14오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/4 "2017-08-06T04:14:49Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> There was also a bug in badges that was fixed, try latest
> [@HAWK](#):
>
> Prob related to this: Badges no longer visible (1.9.0-b4)
Probably not this bug – I just found time to upgrade and it’s still doing it:
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [8월 11, 2017, 4:26오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/5 "2017-08-11T16:26:23Z")
Wait, reason can not be “Backer!”, paste a link to a topic there or a topic id.
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### Author:  [@dylanh724](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dylanh724)
#### Post date: [8월 12, 2017, 6:56오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/6 "2017-08-12T06:56:39Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> Wait, reason can not be “Backer!”, paste a link to a topic there or a topic id.
That’s not for generic notes? Should really ask for a “topic url” instead of “reason”, if that’s the case. Super misleading~ Thanks, I’ll try it!
EDIT: Worked by leaving it blank.
**Suggested changes:**
1. Change “reason” to “Topic URL”
2. Catch “Sorry, an error has occurred” to “Invalid Topic URL”
EDIT 2: Oh, I just saw this –
Heheh… maybe a little bigger. Several people responded here not noticing, either.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [8월 16, 2017, 12:43오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/9 "2017-08-16T12:43:41Z")
#pr-welcome for improving the error message.
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### Author:  [@notriddle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/notriddle)
#### Post date: [10월 10, 2017, 11:04오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/10 "2017-10-10T23:04:07Z")
I can’t reproduce this; it seems like Discourse just ignores invalid Reasons instead of producing an error…
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### Author:  [@saurabhp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/saurabhp)
#### Post date: [12월 21, 2018, 8:53오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/11 "2018-12-21T08:53:40Z")
Change to send an error from backend if the reason was not valid was done here:
> [@Adding an external link to the Reason field (badge) fails silently](https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-an-external-link-to-the-reason-field-badge-fails-silently/95847/4):
>
> Hi @dax , I have created PR for the same. I just wanted to confirm only links have to be allowed in reason, right? Plain text is also not valid, right? Thanks
I have made the change to show the corresponding message to the user here. This needs to be reviewed:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/6801](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/6801)
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### Author:  [@saurabhp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/saurabhp)
#### Post date: [1월 3, 2019, 3:29오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/12 "2019-01-03T03:29:00Z")
This is fixed now. It can be closed. 😄
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### Author:  [@techAPJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/techAPJ)
#### Post date: [1월 3, 2019, 3:29오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-grant-badge-generic-error/66982/13 "2019-01-03T03:29:35Z")