The discussion is about notifying users when they lose badges. tobiaseigen suggests implementing a “Lost x badge” notification to match the existing “Earned x badge” notification, after accidentally giving and then removing badges from users without notification. sam opposes this idea, citing past negative experiences on Stack Exchange, and proposes that only certain badges could opt-in to such notifications. tobiaseigen acknowledges the potential drawbacks but suggests introducing an admin setting to allow notification customization for each badge.
Over the weekend I accidentally gave a few members a badge by adding them to a group they should not be members of, which they then ceremoniously were informed about via a notification. Then they were not informed when I removed them from the group and subsequently their badge was taken away from them.
I think “Earned x badge” should be matched by a “Lost x badge” or some such (what’s the antonym of earned?) so the user can be informed of what’s going on with their badges.
We had huge discussions about this at Stack Exchange, when you tell people “You no longer have a Great topic” they get mighty pissed off.
Maybe some badges can opt-in to “you lost badge” notification, in my opinion in most cases this would only cause pain and suffering.
I can see that. My case right now might be an edge case, and I already have to notify the users directly about what happened so the automatic notification is not so pressing.
Still it seems uneven to not notify about the losing of the badge. Maybe there could be an admin setting to allow admins to “Notify users when they earn this badge” and “Notify users when they lose this badge”.