Membership Medals

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

As you all know, one of the things I have been the most vocal about in the last two years is forum growth through community rather than milestones (even though those definitely help as well).

To this effect, we have added many features and ideas to serve both the old guard and the newcomer just trying to start their retro journey here — stuff like the “Ask The Mods AMA” and “Getting Started FAQ” being the most direct examples of this sort of thing. We also incorporated “Away Mode” to bridge a gap for those members who wanted to take a break from the forum without needing to go for the “nuclear option” and wipe out their whole accounts.

I’m very pleased with all of those developments, but there’s no denying that they are all either tools or bridges, and what we are sorely missing is a way to celebrate the community rather than just keeping it together.

For that very reason, we would like to propose something to you all: Membership Medals!

Should you all be on board with the idea, these will be awards given to members (and upgraded over time) who have spent at least a year of active membership on the site, with additional perks delivered for each new anniversary of your participation on the forums.

What any of this would entail is entirely up to you — we want you all to think hard and propose perks to go along with the medals given to members who will be celebrating their first- and second-year anniversaries on the board (hopefully, with more and more stuff added as they remain here for years to come).

I remember when there were only around 50 of us, and having topics reach a second page was genuinely mind-blowing. Needless to say, we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the efforts of so many founding members. It’s about time we finally acknowledged it.

Thoughts?

 

[ZEGA ZONICZEGA ZONIC's icon]

Would be a good idea.
But since I been here for a year, do I automatically get a medal when this is implemented?

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Would be a good idea.
But since I been here for a year, do I automatically get a medal when this is implemented?

Yes.

Exact details remain to be seen, however.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

I saw the title and went "sheesh who keeps suggesting these horrible ideas?" and then saw it's waffles and now I'm sitting here phone in hand like this


But upon reading what you suggested I'm actually......convinced! At first i was thinking along the lines of why we need more updates or perks when things are fine the way they are and no need to keep adding stuff or glorifying members here but yo I'm with you on board comrade

You have my vote

 

[Megarockman _1987 Megarockman _1987]

Well, I think it would be a nice gesture and a good way to acknowledge those who like to chat here

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

I was thinking about the perks and maybe could be exclusive customization? (Like a avatar frame maker or something) maybe hidden easter eggs?

 

[thumbsdown's iconthumbsdown]

upvoted, tho not sure how could i contribute with ideas atm... i'll be back if/when something comes to my mind! really happy and satisfied with the recent changes and the staff's concerns in getting some actual feedback from the community on what is possible to do with the current resources/team! when i first joined here, i didn't think we had this many channels to express our impressions on the forum's work-arounds (meta) or at least those were not that visible to me. feels like we're all growing together, that's really cool to see.

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

upvoted, tho not sure how could i contribute with ideas atm... i'll be back if/when something comes to my mind! really happy and satisfied with the recent changes and the staff's concerns in getting some actual feedback from the community on what is possible to do with the current resources/team! when i first joined here, i didn't think we had this many channels to express our impressions on the forum's work-arounds (meta) or at least those were not that visible to me. feels like we're all growing together, that's really cool to see.

Well, we all are aging together and adquiring experience points. So that is more literal than you think

 

[thumbsdown's iconthumbsdown]

hidden easter eggs

oooh i liked this A LOT

 

[Aldia Aldia]

I'm on board with this idea, however:

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

oooh i liked this A LOT

I was thinking about this

If you search 'Green Hill Zone' on Google aside from the results a little Sonic from Sonic 2 will appear

Tapping him makes him jump. If you keep tapping he eventually becomes Super Sonic.
So i was thinking in have a similar easter egg (Enter and exit repetidely some of your account things makes that your pfp have a Super Saiyan aura or your username glowing on and off in yellow constantly)

 

[thumbsdown's iconthumbsdown]

perhaps visual easter eggs would work better in the repo than the forums, but I like the idea of trying it out for searches, cos it could stimulate people to use that feature more also to avoid making duplicate threads!

 

[Clippy]

 

[thumbsdown's iconthumbsdown]

Glimbo already got the 3rd class
ps: the JOY i feel seeing that font

 

[Zerpina]

Sounds like a fun idea.....

Honestly, cool little medals or achievements, May as well call them that visually showing them would be neat. Now, since I don't know what can and can't be done with the Xenoboard without spending money to have the developers clear the cheeto dust off their fingers to write a couple of lines of code, I don't have any suggestion ATM.

However, something neat like what G.L.a.D.O.S. suggested a few months ago would be interesting, custom DIY badges, like our own personal ones. To prevent people from changing them left and right, there should be a three-month cooldown once they're set.

That way, can also ensure no one is using adult content on them.
Overall, it's a cool idea. I can't wait to see it @Waffles

 

[Sheepy765]

There’s so many good ideas buzzing around this thread!! I look forward to this feature getting implemented!!

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

Sounds like a fun idea.....

Honestly, cool little medals or achievements, May as well call them that visually showing them would be neat. Now, since I don't know what can and can't be done with the Xenoboard without spending money to have the developers clear the cheeto dust off their fingers to write a couple of lines of code, I don't have any suggestion ATM.

However, something neat like what G.L.a.D.O.S. suggested a few months ago would be interesting, custom DIY badges, like our own personal ones. To prevent people from changing them left and right, there should be a three-month cooldown once they're set.

That way, can also ensure no one is using adult content on them.
Overall, it's a cool idea. I can't wait to see it @Waffles

Maybe @Nilla can help us? I know that she knows things about programming but we have to ask her first if she want to do them.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, guys! I will be reviewing them soon (I have fallen ill again, which seems to be the "theme" of 2026).

Can't we just use Cluppy's suggestion, though?

One thing I wanna add is a Former Staff medal, too.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Proof-of-concept:

 

[thumbsdown's iconthumbsdown]

have fallen ill again

take your time! hope you recover soon!

 

[DjQuick2008]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, guys! I will be reviewing them soon (I have fallen ill again, which seems to be the "theme" of 2026).

Can't we just use Cluppy's suggestion, though?

One thing I wanna add is a Former Staff medal, too.

Get better soon i was rough middle of march

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

So... This idea WILL go through, but we are trying to see if the forum can handle an automatic trigger / achievement for it to reduce mod workload.

Worse comes to worse, we can always set up a thread and have people ask for their medals. Would definitely add work, but also have a manual review (which would be needed).

As for the medals themselves... Suggestions are more than welcome! You are all very talented and we would love to see what you can come up with!

 

[Aldia Aldia]

Medals should be things from games. Say, a 1-up murshroom, a headcrab, one of those powerup monitors from Sonic, that sort of thing.

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

What about a RGT recap?
I mean like something that triggers temporarily in december and allows to see stadistics like messages posted, reactions received, most visited forum sections, etc, around the year in question.

About medals i think that something like a medal customization that allows change our medals to a look we like as we can change our Profile photo, username and title color and font, etc

 

[Megarockman _1987 Megarockman _1987]

I wonder, where are the medals placed? It occurs to me that they're placed in a corner of the pfp or in a small box below the nickname
what do you think?