Released in June 2022, Achievements were created as a way for users to commemorate their developmental milestones on GitHub.

However, over the last year, our team has seen a steep rise in the number of low quality, nonsensical and spam posts created in GitHub’s Community Discussions by users attempting to earn these achievements illegitimately. To be completely transparent, we’ve seen a 134% increase, in posts like these, created in just over the last 3 months 🤯 and compared to other repos this badge is earned at 566% the next highest granting repo.

We recognize that, overall, this degrades the quality of conversations in our Community and doesn’t contribute to our Community in a positive way.

This abuse of the Achievements system also takes time away from our team that can instead be dedicated to nurturing and supporting legitimate contributors. So, in response to this fast growing issue and comments from members, we have made the decision to turn off the ability to earn Achievements in our Community.

Users who continue to create low quality, nonsensical and spam posts in order to earn Achievements in the community can and will face:

• Content Removal
• Content Blocking
• Community access temporarily or permanently blocked
• GitHub Account Suspension
• GitHub Account Termination

FAQ

Will this affect any badges I have already earned in the Community?

Absolutely not. Any badges and progress towards badges that you have already earned will remain and will not be removed.

Does this affect my ability to earn badges in other projects and communities across GitHub?

Also no. This change only applies to GitHub’s Community Discussions.

Without Achievements, what other incentives do we have to contribute to the Community?

This change will not impact Community contributions that appear on your Contribution Graph.

Opening and answering a discussion still counts as a contribution towards your contribution graph so those green squares are safe 🙂

In addition to this we also track users who are the most helpful in a given category and these users do get shout outs in both our category check-ins and community wrap-up posts. Here are some examples:

• GitHub Community: Here's to an incredible 2023
• School’s Out for 2023.. Learning, Laughing, and Looking Ahead to 2024! [Check-in]
• New Year, New Check-In: Here’s The Latest API and Webhooks Community Check-in

How can I make sure that I’m contributing to the Community in a positive way?

Reviewing our Community Code of Conduct would be the best place to start!

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With all of that being said, we do want to give a sincere thank you to everyone that contributes to our Community in a positive way, whether it’s answering a question, offering guidance, submitting a feature request or submitting a question of your own. Our Community wouldn’t be a community without your participation and contributions 💗