This user has serial up-voting reversed, but he still have badge Mortarboard.

Is it correct behavior of badges? I suppose it should be reversed too.

And will this 200 daily reputation (2012-03-20) score for the Epic, and Legendary badges?

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1  
badges never go away –  gnat Mar 21 '12 at 11:18
9  
Well, the long version of the rule is "that 'regular' badges never go away unless they were obtained by heinous cheating" (emphasis mine). I could see serial upvoting qualifying as "heinous," and therefore qualifying for badge revocation. The problem is that an upvotee could be completely unaware that cheating was taking place. –  Pops Mar 21 '12 at 20:01
 
This just happened to me, and I was about to post a question about it when I found this. After reading these various answers, I'm still not sure why a badge reversal doesn't take place - I'd only expect it to be revoked in cases where it wasn't previously held, as per my account. (Not particularly bothered in my case, but raising it because it still feels like it needs fixing for the general case). –  halfer Dec 30 '12 at 19:36
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2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

As a matter of policy, awarded badges do not get reversed.

The only exception to this rule is fraud. If we are made aware of badges that were awarded fraudulently (sock puppetry, voting irregularity or other), they will be revoked.

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Please, see my edited question –  Jin35 Mar 21 '12 at 11:22
 
@Jin35 - If the upvotes were removed, then that day should not count towards the badges. Depends on the mechanism used. Since this is the first day it has occurred, the user still has a ways to go in order to achieve those badges (and if serial upvoting continues, the account may end up being suspended). –  Oded Mar 21 '12 at 11:25
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Maybe mention that tag badges are an exception? –  Daniel Fischer Mar 21 '12 at 12:01
 
This question reveals that this policy is incorrect. –  djechlin Apr 3 '13 at 18:34
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@djechlin - No, the question you posted shows that you disagree/misunderstood the policy. The fact is, taking badges away from people is much more harmful than leaving them - what's the harm in that? –  Oded Apr 3 '13 at 18:36
1  
My point is it's begging the question to say "serial upvoting does not reverse the Mortarboard badge" because of the "policy." If the OP's point is valid then the policy is wrong; otherwise there is a reason it is invalid besides the extant policy. This and other answers only articulate the existing policy, none answer why this case doesn't suggest that the policy should be revised. –  djechlin Apr 3 '13 at 18:41
 
@djechlin - The policy is in place because badges are there to reward participation and taking them away would send the wrong message. It would do more harm than good - that's why the policy is in place. –  Oded Apr 3 '13 at 18:43
4  
Taking away a badge that was awarded because of dishonest behavior sends the wrong message?! The message I hear is: if you want hard-to-get badges that depend on votes, sock puppets are the way to go. What's the salient difference between removing fraudulently-gained rep and a fraudulently-gained badge? –  Josh Caswell Apr 3 '13 at 18:48
 
@JoshCaswell - Badges, if revoked, shouldn't be revoked by any automated mechanism. That's the biggest obstacle to removal of badges - that and proving of "dishonest behavior" (there are many cases where users have not behaved according to community ethos due to lack of knowledge - would you take their badges as well?). –  Oded Apr 3 '13 at 18:52
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You're taking away the rep and the upvotes themselves via an automated process. What's the difference? –  Josh Caswell Apr 3 '13 at 18:54
 
@JoshCaswell - We do take fraudulent badges. I am just saying that automating that is difficult. It is about intention, which is not something that is easy to check for automatically ;) –  Oded Apr 3 '13 at 19:42
 
I am not entirely clear from your answer. Serial up-voting I got today on SO caused a whole bunch of 'nice answer' badges amongst other things. It seems obviously fraudulent to me. So the badges will be removed? I feel they should be removed. Note: It seems to be coming from at least two users (a bunch of answers jumped from 9 to 11 votes). –  Andrew Thompson May 5 '13 at 7:54
 
@AndrewThompson - Now that you have drawn attention to them, they may very well get removed. There is no automated system in place for this, but we do look at fraud and reverse the effects. –  Oded May 5 '13 at 10:16
 
@Oded Cool, can you (or whoever acts on this) ensure I do not get 'penalized' for other up-votes I got since that happened? I am getting legitimate up-votes that are scoring me nothing due to the '200 per day' cap.. –  Andrew Thompson May 5 '13 at 10:19
 
@AndrewThompson - When the results of serial upvotes are reversed, the other votes will still count (up to the rep cap, of course). –  Oded May 5 '13 at 10:22
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Badges are never removed, with the exception of badges gained because the score on questions using a specific tag; in this case, the badge is removed when the score for that tag is not the required one, or the number of questions for which you posted answer is not the required one. (See the .htaccess silver badge as example.)

If the badge can be gained more than once, and the requirements for getting it are not satisfied anymore, the badge is not removed, but the next time that badge would be given, a new badge will never be added.

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