What's with the medals on this forum?

[InkstainedGwyn]

Here's a thread explaining where the medals come from, even if it doesn't say how anything is calculated.

I've posted 740 times, and I have 2 golds and 3 silvers, but NolLacnala has posted 632 times (fewer than I), and has 4 golds and 3 silvers. I'm betting it's because her posts draw more likes than mine do (doesn't bother me, I promise this isn't a salt post )

Xibri has posted 33 times, and already has 4 silvers. I can't fully remember, but I'm pretty sure that I got my second or third silver around 100-150 posts? But I also never made my own threads until a ways into my time on the forums, whereas I know Xibri has been actively creating threads recently.

So, we don't know what counts for which, or how many (my theory is that silvers are engagement, i.e. how often you post/create posts, and golds are popularity, how often people like yours, but that's just a theory.) Which in some way is amusing, because the only actual use for a badge is to communicate some information, and if we don't know the breakdown of it, it's effectively useless, but... at least it tells me that you've posted before, and somebody liked your stuff!