One of the shortcomings of our badge system has always been its emphasis of "breadth" over "depth"; while it does a good job rewarding good cross-site contributors, it doesn't have anything to give to people that go above and beyond in one section. To address this and to reward these contributors more appropriately, a couple weeks ago we made the decision to introduce the Top Contributor 
, which will be given to long-term C&C contributors and is awarded to people who have, more or less, earned the regular Contributor badge 2,5 times over; just like regular badges it will also have an alumnus version, and it will be awarded retroactively to people who would have earned it in the past.
Since making a change like this to the badge system as a whole is a huge undertaking, we decided to start with C&C badges only as a pilot; if it works out, other badges will be receiving similar upgraded versions further down the line. We've already started rolling Top Contributor badges out, so you should be seeing them on a lot of people's profiles already and will be seeing more of them appear as we complete our research.
, which will be given to long-term C&C contributors and is awarded to people who have, more or less, earned the regular Contributor badge 2,5 times over; just like regular badges it will also have an alumnus version, and it will be awarded retroactively to people who would have earned it in the past. Since making a change like this to the badge system as a whole is a huge undertaking, we decided to start with C&C badges only as a pilot; if it works out, other badges will be receiving similar upgraded versions further down the line. We've already started rolling Top Contributor badges out, so you should be seeing them on a lot of people's profiles already and will be seeing more of them appear as we complete our research.
