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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Okay, I did read the FAQ and some of the other discussions, but I have to admit - I am still confused by the whole Book Country Favorites, Buzz Books, and multicolor badges. I thought books listed as Favorites had the highest star ratings, yet I'm seeing books in that section with ratings of two stars, one and half stars, maybe three stars. Same thing with some of the badges (pacing, character development, etc.). Again, I thought these were awarded based on consistent high star ratings in the particular category, but that's not what I'm seeing (at least not recently).
And what's the difference between a black Buzz Book badge and bronze-silver-gold Buzz Book badge? Also, I think it would be helpful to have a list with all of the badge images with an explanation right next to them.
But, of course, I could just be missing something. 
Thanks.
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I think
Buzz books are those we recommend to one another
Bronze, Silver & Gold colors denote multiple awards of the same badge (like Oak Leaf Clusters in the military)
Star ratings are linked to specific genre catagories, so a 2 star just might be the best in that category in the current rating period
The HAL Effect (w/apologies to Arthur C. Clarke
If you still have questions, just remind yourself that this is all handled done by the same computer that sends us double emails
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Hi, GD,
I understand that the Buzz books are books we recommend to each. What I don't understand is the difference between the black badge and gold-silver-bronze badges.
As for the star ratings - they're just not making much sense to me at the moment (both with respect to Favorites and writing badges). But you're right - these "awards" are being handled by a computer, so who knows what the logic is.
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Joined: 5/10/2011
Posts: 88
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Hi!
Ok, so I'm going to take a stab at this:
Buzz badges - I think (mind you this is a hypothesis) that there are two genres of buzz badges for each book (the major genre and the sub genre, ex. "Fantasy" and "Traditional Fantasy") and both genres have two levels - black background and non black background.
So for my book Silver Darkness, I have four buzz badges -
- black with silver around the edge (which I think is the subgenre badge)
- silver with bronze (?) around the edge (which I think is the subgenre badge)
- black with yellow/orange around the edge (which I think is the fantasy badge - in your case, the green around the edge would be the sci-fi badge)
- yellow/orange with bronze (?) around the edge (fantasy buzz badge)
Does that make sense? Having said that, I'm fairly certain a book country expert is going to come in and blow my hypothesis out of the water.
Oh and if you go to someone's profile and put your mouse on top of a badge, it tells you what the badge means... except for the Buzz badges of different colours... all of them are just "Buzz"
Favourites - have you checked the reads for the favourites? Maybe it isn't the star rating at all, but how many reads a story has received or how many people are following it?
Buzz books - I haven't the faintest idea how the buzz books are determined... perhaps they're just the ones that have had the most activity on them (reads, reviews, comments) in the time frame being used as a bases?
Anyway, those are my theories. I may or may not be correct...
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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A little tip with the badges - if you right-click on one of the little badges and select "view image", the URL for the image actually contains what the badge is - http://bookcountry.com/Common/Images/Badges/BuzzBook/Sci-Fi_Br.png - which I'm sure means SciFi bronze (which, Lisa, is the one with the green border, so I think your theory is spot on).
Still no idea how the whole favorites thing works. Buzz Books, though, I'm pretty sure are books members recommend to each other. Not sure, though, what's involved in going from bronze to silver and so on.
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Joined: 5/10/2011
Posts: 88
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Woo for having a correct theory! lol.
I'm hoping one of the BC people will come and answer our questions for us...
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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I'm with you, Lisa - hoping for some input from someone at Book Country. Until then, I'll keep reading and writing and enjoying the site.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Still confused over all the badges and designations. When do badges move from bronze to silver to gold? How does a writer become a Book Country Favorite writer (I don't see any consistency in how that's awarded; some writers have one of more highly rated books with lots of reviews, whereas others have one book with one review that's not so highly rated)? Is there more to the algorithms that generate these badges and titles?
Sorry to keep raising these questions, but part of my current job and past jobs was to test systems and search engines, etc., so it's just in my nature to question.
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Joined: 4/22/2012
Posts: 175
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I have kind of a similar question - my book is currently a Buzz book, but I haven't gotten a badge for it. Does it need to be a Buzz book multiple times, or is there something else that needs to happen before badges start popping up? I'm so confused...
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Joined: 10/14/2012
Posts: 229
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Hello
I've done a little research on this and think I can bring some clarification to badge-gate.
On a basic level, activity equals badges. The classification of badge is thus determined by the type and frequency of said activity.
The depth of colour is influenced but not dictated by the genre and the surrounding boarder by the present cycle of the moon.
Should you become a prolific reveiwer a badge is awarded based on the number of reviews, the length of the work reviewed and the quantity of words within the mode average of the reviews completed by the reviewer and the reviewee. This figure is then multiplied by your age, but divided by the number of books you have posted. The final number is compared to familiar latitude and longitude configurations and the temperature of the location derived is depicted by a universal colur coding system; red being the warmest regions, and naturally blue the coldest. If you get a review from Jay, you're awarded a purple heart, though strictly speaking that's a medal and not a badge in the proper sense. When you finally realise that the review was accurate, you become an arch-mage and it's black all the way.
If you complete four reviews in one week you get a special badge with a picture of a low burning candle at it's centre, but if you hop on one leg while doing a solitary one, it's an acrobatic figurine instead. Should you manage to do four while hopping, you get both symbols but the figurine has a pained expression due to the burn.
Hope that's cleared things up... like most of life's problems, it's simple once you know the answer.
Glad to be of help,
Mike
Oh yes, sorry... I forgot to mention, if it's a Thursday or before noon on a Tuesday, no badge can be awarded for obvious reasons.... except during re-runs of 'March of the Penguins,' when double badge credits are available.
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Joined: 5/10/2011
Posts: 88
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Hahahaha, love the analysis Michael! Definitely made my day... especially the purple heart/arch-mage classification with regards to Jay's reviews.
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Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353
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Michael -
That actually make about as much sense as what the tech developers tried to explain to me when they explained the badging system. LOL!
Cheers!
Colleen
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