Justin

Hi @- Ω -, We have anniversary Badges but I disabled them - There are numerous accounts of people who took 2 mins to sign up and never did anything with them. No posts, no engagement, zero participation. Those inactive accounts shouldn’t be rewarded with Badges every year for merely existing. I want our Badges to reward activity and achievement. We replaced the “Anniversary” Badges with Streaks Badges that reward daily participation, with rewards for 7 Day, 30 Day, 100 Day, and 365 Day login streaks! Can you unlock them all? 😄

It'll be impossible for me to do 365 days.  Life gets in the way.

@- Ω - That’s what makes it an achievement. If you didn’t have to strive to earn a badge - it would be without meaning. It wouldn’t have value. If it was easy for everybody to have a 365 day badge it would lose its specialness. Only the purest of hearts will achieve the rarest of badges.

It’s not about quantity it’s about rarity. The badges aren’t about “how many you have“ it’s about “what have you done, where have you been?” Badges act as mile markers along our path. They are to chronicle and remind us of the things we’ve done in the site, the events we’ve taken part in, the little “rocks and stones” we’ve turned over along the way. Like writing “Omega was here” on the wall and leaving it behind.

Every time you partake in an event, join in a Squad Challenge, create a new club or blog - it’s another chance to unlock something new. There are even hidden Badges for secret achievements that we haven’t announced! Almost like a scavenger hunt! You never know when the next thing you do will unlock a Badge, or when you'll be recognized for a "good deed". It’s not supposed to be easy or anything short of “nearly impossible”

It's cheaper to go to Taco Bell for the same result. 

He's still my buddy and we still have an occasional trade.  He's a good guy and I'm glad to have met him here, as well as many other fine people.  Thank you for hosting such a friendly and fun site.   

Wed night chat would be fun.  We might also consider an Atari.io Discord, which seems to serve a similar purpose as the chat module.  With links to the high score contests, and other hot topics. 

@RickR That's so nice to hear that you and @greenween have kept in touch and continue to trade, and that you met here when Atari I/O was brand new. I'm so happy we attracted a crowd of nice people early on, that really helped set the tone for the community that I was going for.

That's a nice idea about the Discord 🙂 I wouldn't dismiss it outright, because you're right, we can do things to reach a wider audience and bring more people to participate in the Forums, in Chat, and in High Score Squad. @leolinden raised the Discord idea with me a number of years ago and we chatted about it back then to some length.

Our philosophy ever since the inception of this site has been to "play in our own sandbox" -- meaning we don't become distracted by spawning off communities on other sites and services such as Facebook and Discord. There have been a number of reasons for this, namely, we have always wanted to commit every ounce of free time we have to building Atari I/O, staying focused on our creation, our community, building a great site with fun events and lots of reasons to enjoy spending time at Atari I/O, as opposed to spending time on other sites like Facebook. It's rare to be able to create something like what we have here, its a very unique community, and yet pages elsewhere are quite common. Also, it's one more thing that demands attention and time that we can't always commit to, and I don't want to create something like that and leave it unattended. 

You always have thoughtful suggestions though Rick and I appreciate them very much. One thing high up on my list that you brought up about a year ago was creating a monthly Atari I/O Newsletter to be sent out. That's something I would like to figure out this coming year if possible.

I can respect all that.  Your decision makes sense.  I've noticed that moderating something like Discord takes time and effort and also making tough decisions. 

I don't think the nosweargamer minds me bringing up various atari.io events on his Discord.  Although I'm not sure this has bore any fruit yet (well, maybe a few new visitors that haven't signed up or posted yet), I will continue to do so.

As usual, you let me know what I can do to help. 

Each member can create up to 2 Clubs. They are little mini-communities within Atari I/O that are perfect for creating places to chat about highly-specific or Off-Topic interests!

You can build your own mini-forums, control membership & privacy settings, choose your topic of interest and develop your own groups! Clubs can be used to build your own retro gaming community, tie your Club in with your Blog, promote your YouTube Channel, host your own giveaways, or start a group about an Off-Topic interest!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE !!!! 🎂🥳🎈🤘

Happy birthday!  I hope you have a good one. 

Happy Birthday! 🎁

Also -- the Rank Pip for "Newbie" is now called "Novice" and features Jr. Pac-Man 

Nice.

Happy birthday! 🎁🥳🕹

Happy birthday! 

Happy Birthday !

Picking a 1st is a monthly debate in my head!

I'll say the 2600 is #1, so that puts the Atari 8-bit computers as #2.  Why?  I grew up with that system and I constantly find myself going back to those games.  It's one of the systems that I leave out and ready all the time. 

Ask me next week and I might say NES or PS2.  It's so hard to rank them. 

My very favorite being the Jag and the second on my list being the Genesis. They both have the 68000 series CPU in them for different purposes.

I think we'll do 8K Pac-Man next year for our next National Pac-Man Day, it will be a nice way to remember Nukey Shay and a heck of a lot of fun ☺️

Thank you!  I look forward to the next National Pac-Man day!

Sounds like a great idea, Justin!

No worries, because I do. :O)

@RickR @MaximumRD @DegasElite @Gianna So glad to hear it! You guys are what make our forums a COMMUNITY! That's the most special quality of Atari I/O, one that cannot be replicated anywhere else ☺️

You're welcome. It's a privilege, really. :O)

Oh no, you deserve all the thanks for hosting these challenges.  They are always fun and most appreciated. 

I'll brainstorm on other ways to spread the word.

That is deeply appreciated @RickR thank you for your everlasting dedication to our community 

I'm proud of you too.  You let me know if there's any way I can help.  You are a valued friend and Atari community member.  You are loved no matter what. 

Nice work!  What ever you are doing, keep it up...

Thanks @RickR very kind words 🙂 Thank you @GRay Defender! 😀

A very happy birthday to @btbfilms76. 

Happy B-Day, BTB. :O)

🎂 happy birthday BTB!