It is being considered. The reason it hasn't been done yet is because there are higher priority items to be done first.

Think (thought for long) the badges have taken on a far greater meaning than originally intended. In the beginning there was just the 14 days badge, final. Then the levels got added. Gold is fine, beyond including myself an addiction needing professional attention, more more more.

Whilst motivating to keep crunching, beyond a few years, I think we can be mature about it and crunch on, and if wanting to boast, do a custom signature. I'd rather see a programmers man week was spend on PF & Kernel avoidance principles and how to design them out before first science release (if at all possible).

Anyway, there's the consideration, the principle decision to expand them still to be made and allocate a planning and then the development slot. (Now why do I think a general CPU Time badge would have a place in this... the imaged widget is also out there with maybe the badges on them, and more we don't even know... saw a self printable certificate somewhere with the contributions to each project e.g.)

The new technology has also had a big impact. Back when WCG first started, there were few crunchers with more than a small P4 single CPU computer. Nowadays, every new computer is a C2D that is also twice as fast as 5 years ago. Gold Badges that used to take 150 days which could not be run at more than 60% on a single CPU now can take 23 days on a quad that can be run at 100%. A new cruncher can get all 7 current Gold badges in under 5 months on a Quad, which is a lot less than the nearly 3 years that the first crunchers had to work. I saw a Quad at the store for the same price as the C2D I bought 4 months ago.

If WCG is going to have badges or certificates, they need to be relevant. HFCC started on Friday and I had by Gold on Wednesday. I'll have my one year by Friday this week. Now, not everyone has the privilege to crunch as hard as I am, but many crunchers have 4-10 cores and they all could be given recognition for 1,2 and 5 years on a project.

Sekerob, some time ago you suggested Platinum as a colour. I suggest putting a black frame around the Gold badge for 180 days, then starting Platinum at 1 year. The Platinum badges can have numbers on them for the years. I suggest using 1,2 and 5. I do not know if WCG wants to go higher, but it would be easy to then go 10,20 and 50 after that. With a number on the Platinum badge, it would be different from Silver, with no number.

If WCG was starting today, what badges would they use? 14 days? I doubt it. But, given that we have the 3 current badges, I would never support getting rid of what we had, only adding more. FWIW

Well, just to add to this I would prefer diamond badge rather than Platinum. Platinum sounds to me like toxic part of the chemotherapy. But on the other hand I understand market's value of Gold and Platinum..

I think the 4th level of atainment should be "Crystal Clear" where you see nothing.

Advantages:

• No human resource consumption required to create a new image level
  
• No complaints about color coordination
  
• No one can tell what badges anyone has (They are arbitrarily earned anyway)
  

Disadvantages:

• Likely list of objectors because they didn't think of it :
  
  
  
  • Sekerob
    
  • Didactylos
    
  
  
• Others can see through you (kind of like the king's new clothes!)
  
• You will only show your true colors!