MSDN, TechNet and Expression Profile – FAQ

 

NOTE: If you have questions remaining after reviewing this FAQ, please visit the Profile and Recognition Forum located at https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/Profile/threads. The forum is monitored daily by the engineering and support teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

• Why should I create a profile?
• OK, I want a profile. What do I do?
• What is a display name?
• How do I get to my profile?

Profile Attributes

• How do I edit my display name?
• Why am I receiving an error while setting my display name?
• What is an avatar? How do I change my avatar?
• Why am I receiving an error while setting the avatar?
• What else can I share about myself?
• Why do some people have labels under their display name?

Recent Activity

• What is the "Recent Activity" section on my profile?
• What activities are being recorded?
• I do not see all my activities on my profile. Is there a problem?

Recognition System

• The Recognition System has changed, what's up with that?
• Why are you changing the Recognition System?
• How does the new Recognition System work?
• Can you help me understand the two economies better?
• How do I earn points?
• Can I lose points?
• How do I earn achievements?
• Where can I see my achievements?
• Do Achievements have any effect on my Recognition Points?
• Do I ever lose the achievements I've earned?
• What can I do with the points and achievements earned?
• What should I do if I'm not seeing the points or achievements earned?
• How do I display my Profile and Recognition status on my own blog, website etc.?

System Requirements & Issue Reporting

• What browsers are supported?
• What are the recommended screen resolutions?
• I have found a bug. Where do I report it?
• I have a suggestion for a feature, or a question or concern that is not answered here. Where do I report it?

 

Answers to FAQs

 

Getting Started

Why should I create a profile?

A profile is just the start of membership in the network of sites and applications across MSDN, TechNet and Expression. Your profile gives you access to all the sites, applications and content. It allows you to easily contribute and to build a reputation so that others know to trust what you contribute.

For example, with your profile you can:

• Post in the forums
• Upload samples at the galleries
• Create and update articles on the Wiki
• Comment on blog posts

Each of your contributions is linked to your profile and your recent activities are shown on your profile page. As your contributions accumulate you may also become eligible to receive points or achievements in our recognition system. See the recognition system section later in the FAQ for more information.

So go ahead and click the Sign in link at the top of this page to begin creating your profile!

 

OK, I want a profile. What do I do?

Click the Sign in link at the top of this page. You’ll be prompted to sign-in with an existing Windows Live ID. If you don’t have a Windows Live ID, then click Sign Up on the Windows Live ID page and register for one.

After signing in you’ll be prompted to choose a display name for your profile. It must be unique so you may find that your preferred name is already taken. If that is the case, enter something else and try again.

You’ll also need to agree to our Terms of Use (TOU). The TOU policy is standard across our entire network of sites and outlines what you can do and how you can use the content on the sites etc.

Once your profile has been created, you can choose to edit additional profile information such as your biography, company name, website URL and upload a favorite photo of yourself.

 

What is a display name?

You display name is the public name that is associated with all contributions that you make. It helps other community members to identify the author of the contribution (e.g. forum post, sample contribution, wiki article).

When signed in your display name appears at the top of the page and is linked to your profile.

 

How do I get to my profile?

When you are signed in you can get to your profile page by clicking on your display name at the top of the page.

 

Profile Attributes

How do I edit my display name?

After signing in and navigating to your profile page, you can edit your display name by clicking on the Edit My Profile link under the picture. On the subsequent page (Edit Profile) you can edit your display name and hit Save.

Note: Your updated display name must be unique in the system so if your desired display name is already in use you will need to enter something different and try again.

 

Why am I receiving an error while setting my display name?

You might receive a message while setting you display name because of the following reasons:

• The display name is being used by another user
  • Enter a different display name and try saving your profile again.
• The display name contains characters that are not allowed. Only letters, numbers, space and the special symbols _ - . ' , are allowed in a display name.
  • Confirm that your display name is using only valid characters and try saving your profile again.
• The display name text box is empty.
  • Make sure you’ve entered something into the display name text box and try saving your profile again.

 

What is an avatar? How do I change my avatar?

An avatar is the image or picture that appears on your profile and often next to your display name. Until you upload an image the profile system will generate a random pattern using information in your profile to help create something unique to you.

You can change your avatar by clicking on the Edit My Profile link on your profile page (after signing in). On the Edit Profile page, upload a new image and hit Save.

We recommend uploading an image that is 220x220 pixels in size. The profile system will then save the image and scale it appropriately for use on our network of sites and applications.

Note: Your avatar image is cached on our global content distribution network. It can take multiple days to update your image across our network of sites and applications for users around the world.

 

Why am I receiving an error while setting my avatar?

You might receive an error while setting your avatar because of the following reasons:

• The size of the image being uploaded is greater than 1 MB.
  • Select an image that is smaller than 1 MB in size. If your image is not in the jpg format and around 220x220 in pixel size, use your favorite image editor to create the image and then try uploading again.
• The file is not in the preferred file format (i.e. is not in the GIF, JPG or PNG file format).
  • Convert the image you wish to upload into a GIF, JPG or PNG file and then try uploading again.

 

What else can I share about myself?

The profile system is focused on promoting you as a professional. So we don’t store information like your favorite movie or band, or when your birthday is. Instead we give you options for a few pieces of information including:

• I work at - this is the company you work for.
• Biography - Enter as little or as much about you as you'd like. Generally this is a short history of your work experience, your expertise or your interests. But hey, if you really want you can put your favorite movie in here too. :-)
• Website - Put the full URL to a web site that you own here.

Again, please keep it professional - our Terms of Use is in effect for these fields so don’t link to or enter anything that defies our TOU…

Once you’ve updated the fields click Save and you’ll be returned to your profile page where you can review your changes.

 

Why do some people have labels under their display name?

The labels displayed below a display name are known as affiliations. Affiliations are displayed for Microsoft Employees, Microsoft Contingent Staff, MVPs, Microsoft Partners and Microsoft Community Contributors. More information is available at the Information onProfile Affiliations page.

 

Recent Activity

What is the “Recent Activity” section on my profile?

This is a live stream of your activity and actions across our network of sites and applications. Only actions deemed as public and useful for the community will be recorded and displayed on your profile.

This stream of activity allows other community members to learn more about you and your contribution to the community. For those super interested in what you do, your profile has a unique RSS feed available for others to follow your actions.

 

What activities are being recorded?

Each site and application across the network reports different activities. New types of activities are being updated and added regularly. Some of the activities being recorded today include voting posts as helpful, receiving a high rating on a galleries contribution, answering a question in the forums and creating articles in the wiki.

Note: Each activity reported contains a direct link back to the specific contribution or event to make it easy to for you and others to drill into the content.

 

I do not see all my activities on my profile. Is there a problem?

There are a few reasons why you may not see an activity on your profile:

• The activity feed shows your most recent activities across all reporting applications. If you're a big contributor your activity may have already fallen off the feed.
• Activities are reported against the site brand (MSDN, TechNet or Expression) so to see activities for (e.g.) Expression you must switch your profile to the Expression brand. You can do that by clicking on the appropriate Other Profiles link on your profile page, in this case the Expression profile.
• Your profile will only show activities that occurred after October 2010.
• Depending on factors like system and network load, activities may take a few minutes to appear on your profile.

If you believe there is a problem with your activity feed, please click the Site Feedback link at the bottom of this page to let us know about it…

 

Recognition System

The Recognition System has changed, what’s up with that?

Over the past few years there has been a point and medal level system specifically for the Forums. Over the past few months a new recognition system has been deployed across the entire network. This system incorporate points, achievements, leaderboards, affiliations and soon statistics, areas of expertise, and badges/labels. As parts of the system come online more details will be provided here in this FAQ.

At this time (September 2011) the recognition system is in place for Forums, Galleries, Blogs, TechNet Wiki and Profile. Other applications and sites will onboard to the new system over the coming months including the Library etc.

 

Why did you change the Recognition System?

First and foremost, the MSDN, TechNet and Expression network is bigger than just the Forums. There are many sites and applications that our community contributes to and we want to recognize all contributions.

Beyond that the existing recognition system mixed the concepts of quality contributions and quantity of contributions. This makes it hard for community members to quickly know who to trust and what content to trust.

So in designing a new system we continually asked ourselves the following questions:

1. How do we help our community determine what community content to trust?
2. How do we encourage our community to contribute quality content?

With those two questions in mind and a need to expand the system across more applications, a new Recognition System was developed.

Fun Fact! The new recognition system is powered by Windows Azure!

 

How does the new Recognition System work?

The Recognition System rewards your activities across our network of sites and applications. From those activities we drive the two different “economies” that exist in the Recognition System:

1. Recognition Points - Points are given based on the quality of your contributions as determined by other members of the community.
2. Achievements Earned - Achievements are given based on your participation in the community. They are given at three (3) different levels depending upon the criteria required to complete and earn the achievement.

Going back to our two original questions then (see the above FAQ question) a community member can use the Recognition Points to help determine who and therefore what content to trust. Recognition Points and the Achievements encourage the community to provide quality content.

 

Can you help me understand the two economies better?

First, let’s find the Recognition Bar so you can see the visual representation of the economies. If you view your profile without any application filtering enabled you will see a new section near your display name:

The first section is your Recognition Points and is shown next to the Recognition Points icon (and is shown next to the Recognition Points icon (). It is the combined total of points awarded based on the quality of your contributions as determined by other community members.

The second section is your Achievements Earned. There are three different levels you can earn achievements at:

Level	Icon	Description
Gold		These are the hardest achievements to earn and require a complex and extensive set of activities to be completed.
Silver		These achievements are given in response to a continued and broad use of the sites and applications.
Bronze		These achievements are easy to earn by simply exploring and using the sites and applications.

 

How do I earn points?

Points are earned by first participating and contributing positively to the community across our network of sites and applications. Then as others recognize your contribution (say by voting or downloading your sample or rating your content), you’ll receive Recognition points. As a reminder, points aren’t earned by purely participating, that’s what achievements are for.

Below is a table that shows the activities we track in the recognition system and the points associated to those activities. There are many activities that award zero (0) points - those are listed to help you understand what we deem as quality contributions. Also note that not all activities in this list will appear in your activity feed; negative actions for instance are not listed publically.

Application	Activity	Points Earned
Forums	You asked a question on the forums.	0
	You contributed a proposed answer.	0
	Your post a reply on the forums.	0
	You marked a forum post as an answer.	0
	You marked a forum post as a proposed answer.	0
	You moved a thread from one forum to another.	0
	You reported a post as SPAM or Off-topic	0
	You started a new discussion on the forums.	0
	Your forum post contains a code snippet and is confirmed as an answer by the community.	0
	Your forum post is confirmed as an answer by the original question asker.	+15
	Your forum post that was marked as an answer is removed by the original question asker.	-15
	Your forum post is confirmed as an answer by the original question asker in less than 8 hours.	+20
	Your forum post that was marked as an answer when contributed in less than 8 hours was removed by the original question asker.	-20
	Your forum post is confirmed as an answer by the community.	+10
	Your forum post that was marked as an answer is removed as an answer by the community.	-10
	Your forum post is confirmed as an answer by the community in less than 8 hours.	+15
	Your forum post that was marked as an answer when contributed in less than 8 hours was removed by the community.	-15
	You identified a helpful topic.	+5
	Your forum question thread has more than 5 votes in it.	+5
	Your forum question thread has more than 10 votes in it.	+10
	Your forum post receives a vote by the community.	+5
	Your forum question has a confirmed answer and has been viewed 20,000 times.	+10
	Your forum question has a confirmed answer and has been viewed 40,000 times.	+15
Wiki	Create a New Wiki Article.	0
	Edit a Wiki Article.	0
	You contributed a comment on the Wiki.	0
	You contributed a comment while editing an article on the Wiki.	0
	The article you authored reached one out of 10 possible page view milestones. The various milestones range between 500 and 1 million page views.	+5 to +2500
	The article you edited reached one out of 10 possible page view milestones. The various milestones range between 500 and 1 million page views. You are eligible to receive a portion of an available set of points, depending upon your edit quantity and the milestone reached.	+1 to +2500
Blogs	You published a blog post.	0
	You commented on a blog post.	0
	You rated a blog post.	0
	The blog post you authored reached one of eight page view milestones. The various milestones range between 500 and 1 million page views.	+5 to +5000
	Your article receives a 5 star rating.	+10
	Your article receives a 4 star rating.	+5
	Your article receives a 3 star rating.	+2
	Your article receives a 2 star rating.	-2
	Your article receives a 1 star rating.	-5
Galleries	You published a contribution to the gallery.	0
	You rated a gallery contribution.	0
	You started a new discussion on a gallery contribution	0
	You replied to a discussion on a gallery contribution.	0
	You reviewed a gallery contribution	0
	Your gallery contribution was downloaded 20 times.	+20
	Your gallery contribution was downloaded 50 times.	+50
	Your gallery contribution was downloaded 100 times.	+100
	Your gallery contribution was downloaded 1,000 times.	+500
	Your gallery contribution was downloaded 10,000 times.	+2000
	Your gallery contribution was downloaded 100,000 times.	+5000
	Your gallery contribution receives a 5 star rating.	+10
	Your gallery contribution receives a 4 star rating.	+5
	Your gallery contribution receives a 3 star rating.	+2
	Your gallery contribution receives a 2 star rating.	-2
	Your gallery contribution receives a 1 star rating.	-5
Translation Wiki	You contributed a proposed translation to the library or magazine.	0
	Your proposed translation has been approved for use.	+5
	Your proposed translation has been reported as spam.	-10
	Your proposed translation was selected as not best.	0
	Your proposed translation was reported as bad.	-3
	A moderator approved, modified or rejected a translation.	0

Can I lose points?

As you can see from the table above, it is possible to lose points if your contributions are considered poor quality so put your best effort forward and you’ll be richly rewarded!

 

How do I earn achievements?

Achievements are earned by participating in the community across our network of sites and applications. As described earlier in the FAQ, you can earn achievements at three (3) different levels.

• It should be really easy to earn your first few bronze level achievements. Complete your profile or download and rate a contribution from the Gallery and you’ll be rewarded with your first achievement.
• Getting silver achievements are a bit more work. They require you to both contribute and for others to acknowledge your contributions. They require you to use multiple features of an application or site. There is definitely a sense of accomplishment in getting any of these achievements.
• Finally there are gold achievements. These are rare. They take significant contributions to the community, require significant acknowledgement of your contributions and require investing deeply in applications or sites in our network. If you see someone with a gold achievement it’s worth your time to follow their activities and their leadership.

Below is a table that shows the achievements you can earn in the recognition system including what activities you need to complete to earn those achievements. While this is a comprehensive list there are a couple of achievements we have kept secret as surprises...

Achievement	Description	Medal	Activity Count		Activity
Better Galleries Together	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to making the galleries better for all.	Gold
			5	x	Published a Contribution
			1500	x	Gallery Contribution Download
			30	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
			10	x	Replied to a Gallery Discussion
Blog Commentator III	On-going contributions of comments to the blogs.	Gold
			125	x	Blog Comment
Blog Party Starter	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to content contribution which inspires high levels of community engagement.	Gold
			150	x	Received Comment on Blog Post
Blogger III	On-going contribution of quality posts to the blogs.	Gold
			50	x	Publish a Blog Post
			20	x	Blog Post Receives 500 Page Views
Blogs All-Star	Awarded to bloggers who publish an incredible amount of blog posts.	Gold
			500	x	Publish a Blog Post
Code Answerer III	Provided many forum answers with code.	Gold
			100	x	Answered with Code Snippet
Forums Answerer IV	Provided multiple answers to questions in Forums.	Gold
			500	x	Answered A Question
Forums Curator III	Identified valuable content for Forums users.	Gold
			1000	x	Identified a Forums Answer
			100	x	Voted Post as Helpful
Forums Replies V	Replied multiple times to Forums.	Gold
			5400	x	Forum Post Reply
Forums Replies VI	Replied multiple times to Forums.	Gold
			15000	x	Forum Post Reply
Gallery Contributor III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to share quality contributions to the galleries.	Gold
			10	x	Published a Contribution
			3000	x	Gallery Contribution Download
Gallery Rater III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to rating contributions on the galleries.	Gold
			100	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
Gallery Reviewer III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to reviewing and rating contributions on the galleries.	Gold
			10	x	Reviewed a Gallery Contribution
			25	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
Gallery Storyteller III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to keep the discussions going on the galleries.	Gold
			50	x	Replied to a Gallery Discussion
			15	x	Started a Gallery Discussion
Proposed Answerer III	Provided many proposed forums answers.	Gold
			2000	x	Contributed a Proposed Forums Answer
Ratings Board President	Awarded to those who have taken the time to rate multiple blog posts.	Gold
			100	x	Rated a Blog
Thread Mover III	Helped users get answers by moving their questions to the right forums.	Gold
			100	x	Moved Thread
Wiki Commentator III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to participation in the Wiki community.	Gold
			100	x	Wiki Comment
Wiki Community Editor II	Demonstrated an on-going dedication to the quality of the Wiki through multiple edits with comments.	Gold
			50	x	Revision Comment
Wiki Contributor III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to high quality Wiki contributions.	Gold
			50	x	New Wiki Article
			20	x	Wiki Article Receives 500 Page Views
Wiki Editor III	Demonstrated an on-going commitment to providing meaningful revisions to the Wiki.	Gold
			100	x	Edited Wiki Article
			20	x	Wiki Article Receives 500 Page Views
Wiki Ninja	Demonstrated an uncanny commitment to the success of the Wiki. Thank you!	Gold
			500	x	New Wiki Article
Wiki Ninja Master	Demonstrated a superhuman commitment to the success of the Wiki. Amazing!	Gold
			1000	x	New Wiki Article
Wiki Ninja Supreme	You are the Ninja Supreme of all that is Wiki. Simply incredible!	Gold
			2000	x	New Wiki Article
Blog Commentator II	Contributed multiple comments to the blogs.	Silver
			50	x	Blog Comment
Blog Conversation Starter	Contributed content in such a way that inspired outstanding community engagement.	Silver
			50	x	Received Comment on Blog Post
Blogger II	Published multiple, quality posts to the blogs.	Silver
			10	x	Publish a Blog Post
			4	x	Blog Post Receives 500 Page Views
Code Answerer II	Provided many forum answers with code.	Silver
			10	x	Answered with Code Snippet
Forums Answerer III	Provided multiple answers to questions in Forums.	Silver
			150	x	Answered A Question
Forums Curator II	Identified valuable content for Forums users.	Silver
			50	x	Identified a Forums Answer
			20	x	Voted Post as Helpful
Forums Replies III	Replied multiple times to Forums.	Silver
			250	x	Forum Post Reply
Forums Replies IV	Replied multiple times to Forums.	Silver
			2000	x	Forum Post Reply
Gallery Contributor II	Published multiple contributions to the galleries.	Silver
			3	x	Published a Contribution
			500	x	Gallery Contribution Download
Gallery Rater II	Rated multiple contributions on the galleries.	Silver
			25	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
Gallery Reviewer II	Reviewed and rated multiple contributions on the galleries.	Silver
			3	x	Reviewed a Gallery Contribution
			10	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
Gallery Storyteller II	Started and replied to multiple discussions on the galleries.	Silver
			10	x	Replied to a Gallery Discussion
			5	x	Started a Gallery Discussion
Making Galleries Better	Participated in multiple facets of the galleries through publishing, rating and discussing contributions.	Silver
			2	x	Published a Contribution
			250	x	Gallery Contribution Download
			10	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
			5	x	Replied to a Gallery Discussion
Proposed Answerer II	Provided many proposed forums answers.	Silver
			500	x	Contributed a Proposed Forums Answer
Rated 'A' for Awesome	Awarded to those who have taken the time to rate multiple blog posts.	Silver
			25	x	Rated a Blog
Thread Mover II	Helped users get answers by moving their questions to the right forums.	Silver
			20	x	Moved Thread
Wiki Commentator II	Contributed multiple comments to Wiki articles.	Silver
			35	x	Wiki Comment
Wiki Community Editor	Revised multiple articles and contributed comments for your revisions.	Silver
			10	x	Revision Comment
Wiki Contributor II	Published multiple, quality Wiki articles.	Silver
			10	x	New Wiki Article
			6	x	Wiki Article Receives 500 Page Views
Wiki Editor II	Made multiple edits which contributed to continued community engagement.	Silver
			25	x	Edited Wiki Article
			10	x	Wiki Article Receives 500 Page Views
Code Answerer I	Provided first forum answer with code.	Bronze
			1	x	Answered with Code Snippet
First Answer Confirmed	Confirmed a reply to your question as an answer for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Asker Confirmed my Answer
First Forums Reply	Replied to a forums thread for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Forum Post Reply
First Forums Spam Report	Reported first forums SPAM post.	Bronze
			1	x	Reported SPAM Post
First Helpful Vote	Voted a post as helpful for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Voted Post as Helpful
First Marked Answer	Marked an answer to a question for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Identified a Forums Answer
Forums Answerer I	Provided multiple answers to questions in Forums.	Bronze
			3	x	Answered A Question
Forums Answerer II	Provided multiple answers to questions in Forums.	Bronze
			20	x	Answered A Question
Forums Curator I	Identified valuable content for Forums users.	Bronze
			10	x	Identified a Forums Answer
			10	x	Voted Post as Helpful
Forums Replies I	Replied multiple times to Forums.	Bronze
			25	x	Forum Post Reply
Forums Replies II	Replied multiple times to Forums.	Bronze
			100	x	Forum Post Reply
New Blog Commentator	Posted your first comment to the blogs.	Bronze
			1	x	Blog Comment
New Blog Rater	Gave your first rating to a blog post.	Bronze
			1	x	Rated a Blog
New Blogger	Published your first post to the blogs.	Bronze
			1	x	Publish a Blog Post
New Gallery Contributor	Published a contribution to the galleries for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Published a Contribution
New Gallery Rater	Rated a contribution in the galleries for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Rated a Gallery Contribution
New Gallery Reviewer	Reviewed a contribution in the galleries for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Reviewed a Gallery Contribution
New Gallery Storyteller	Started and replied to a galleries discussion for the first time.	Bronze
			1	x	Started a Gallery Discussion
			1	x	Replied to a Gallery Discussion
New Wiki Commentator	Posted your first comment to a Wiki article.	Bronze
			1	x	Wiki Comment
New Wiki Contributor	Published your first article as a Wiki contributor.	Bronze
			1	x	New Wiki Article
New Wiki Editor	Made your first revision to a Wiki article.	Bronze
			1	x	Edited Wiki Article
Profile Complete	Completed all aspects of your profile.	Bronze
			1	x	Change Avatar Image
			1	x	Change Website
			1	x	Change About Me
			1	x	Change Company
Proposed Answerer I	Provided first proposed forums answer.	Bronze
			3	x	Contributed a Proposed Forums Answer
Thread Mover I	Helped users get answers by moving their questions to the right forums.	Bronze
			5	x	Moved Thread
Translation Contributor	Submitted first translation to Translation Wiki.	Bronze
			1	x	Proposed Translation
Translation Moderator	Submitted first moderator activity to Translation Wiki.	Bronze
			1	x	Moderation
TW Contributor I	Multiple submissions to Translation Wiki.	Bronze
			25	x	Proposed Translation
TW Contributor II	Continued submissions to Translation Wiki.	Silver
			50	x	Proposed Translation
TW Contributor III	High volume Translation Wiki submissions.	Gold
			100	x	Proposed Translation
TW Moderator I	Moderation of multiple translation submissions.	Bronze
			100	x	Moderation
TW Moderator II	High volume Translation Wiki submissions.	Silver
			500	x	Moderation
TW Moderator III	High volume community moderation.	Gold
			1000	x	Moderation
TW Superstar Moderator	Ultimate moderation skills.	Gold
			2500	x	Moderation
TW Superstar Translator	Ultimate translation skills.	Gold
			500	x	Translation Approved
TW Translator I	Submission of multiple, quality translations.	Bronze
			25	x	Translation Approved
TW Translator II	Continued dedication to quality translation submissions.	Silver
			100	x	Translation Approved
TW Translator III	Outstanding translation quality and high volume of submissions.	Gold
			200	x	Translation Approved

Where can I see my achievements?

When you earn an achievement you’ll be able to see it on your profile. Your most recent achievements are shown below your activity feed:

Let’s look at this in more detail:

• Count of Achievements earned (e.g. 101 Gold, 158 Silver, 230 Bronze) - These are the total achievements earned in each achievement level.
• Recent Gold, Silver or Bronze achievements(2,500 Wiki Articles, 5 Wiki Articles etc.) - Each column will show the four (4) most recent achievements earned. The title of the achievement is displayed.
• Show All - This link will only appear if you have more than four (4) achievements in a single achievement level. Clicking this will reveal all the achievements you have ever earned.
• Achievement Popup - If you hold your mouse over an achievement, additional details about the achievement will be shown including the date the achievement was earned and the detailed description of the achievement.

Note: You will also see the achievement count in your Recognition Bar at the top of the profile page.

In addition to the achievements section in your profile, an achievement may be logged into your activity feed. That lets you and those following your activities know about your achievements as they are earned!

 

Do Achievements have any effect on my Recognition Points?

Potentially they do…

• First, in your progress to completing an achievement you will likely receive recognition points as other acknowledge your contributions.
• Second, when an achievement is earned there can be points associated with that achievement. These should be considered bonus points and are not given for every achievement.

On the flip-side, recognition points do not directly contribute to earning achievements.

 

Do I ever lose the achievements I’ve earned?

Unless we discover you cheated your way to it, then no, you’ll never lose the achievements you’ve earned. Even if the requirements to earn an achievement change you’ll always keep what you’ve earned.

 

What can I do with the points and achievements earned?

Today, you can use them to demonstrate your contributions to the community. Points will also be used as we add to the recognition system for leaderboards, statistics or area expert recognition.

In the future your recognition status may also be used for opening up more functionality on a site or receiving special invitations to programs such as the MVP or MCC programs.

 

What should I do if I’m not seeing the points or achievements expected?

We’ve designed the Recognition System to be as real time as possible; however if things get busy it may take up to 24 hours to process the points and/or achievements.

If you do not see your updates after that time, please click the Site Feedback link at the bottom of this page. Please include any information you can to help us identify the missing points or achievements.

 

How do I display my Profile and Recognition status on my own blog, website etc.?

We are currently working on implementing a widget framework and embeddable user card that can be self-hosted on your own site. Stay tuned for more details.

 

System Requirements & Issue Reporting

What browsers are supported?

We test our profile and recognition system across a series of browsers based on the traffic our metric system reports. At the current time that includes:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, 10, 11 and Edge
• Mozilla Firefox (latest version only)
• Google Chrome (latest version only)

Other browsers may work but some features may not be fully functional. Please note that Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is no longer supported.

 

What are the recommended screen resolutions?

A minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 is recommended. Lower resolutions may work, but some features may not be fully functional.

 

I have found a bug. Where do I report it?

Please click the Site Feedback link at the bottom of this page and include any information you can to help us reproduce the problem. Thanks in advance!

 

I have a suggestion for a feature, or a question or concern that is not answered here. Where do I report it?

Please use the Profile and Recognition Forum located at https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/Profile/threads. The forum is monitored daily by the engineering and support teams.