@tippy
I started visiting the US boards about a month ago (USA date format shown in screengrab below). I had visited them ages ago before they had their community makeover.
My status started rising astronomically and updated almost immediately. In the space of about 6 hours I went from being an Explorer to a Pathfinder to a Rising Star to an Adventurer.
Then, before I knew it I started to collect badges 
I already had one badge for my first anniversary . . . . . . still not sure how I got that one as it appeared almost as soon as I logged into the USA boards. Then, I got two badges within a minute . . . . . one for marking someone elses post as being helpful earned me a First Helpful Given badge, followed by a First reply badge. Two days later I got two thumbs up notifications and another badge when someone marked my post as helpful I was awarded my First Helpful Received badge.
I now have three badges, only 34 to go 
I won't ever get the all the other 34 badges 
. . . . . . but I don't want to tell you why I will never achieve them as that would just make me feel like a loser . . . . . . needless to say that I do have a life away from the boards. To get the other 34 I would need to live on the boards 24/7 and start many threads (as many as 500) or be on the USA boards for 15 years to get my 15th anniversary badge among 32 other meaningless achievements.
Fancy dishing out 6 badges for marking 1, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 posts as being helpful! (helpful is the new kudo).
Yes folks, this is not a wind up, this is life on the USA boards since 27th October 2016 . . . . . . and we are headed towards a USA style board experience some time next year (or maybe earlier). The badges may or may not become a part of our Australian board experience, but from past history we usually get what they have in the USA some time later.
I am only interested in badges if there is some monetary reward that goes with them. eg Collect 50 badges and get a $5 ebay voucher to be used on any spend.
I know, I know. I'm dreaming.
NO SMILEYS?????
This cannot be
How utterly boring 
Thanks for nothing, ebay
Oh poor Stawks....you won't be able to post if there are no smileys.
Re-reading Tipp's post, it seems the smileys can't be inserted mid sentence.
My challenge - if I accept it - is to find a workaround for that
(ebay on the left)
But she's right about the post count and the fb numbers being shown.
We need to see theirs, as much as they need to see ours. Like everything else,
it's necessary information.
