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Right now it seems that a bug is affecting MO: reputation and badges are no longer displayed next to the users' names.

This happens both on the front page: enter image description here

as well as on pages of individual questions: enter image description here

Furthermore, the reputation pop-up is also not displayed when I hover the mouse cursor above a user's name.

This seems to be a MO-only bug, since it doesn't manifest itself on the other SE sites of which I am a user. This also doesn't manifest itself on Meta.

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2 Answers 2

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This is not a mistake. It’s an intentional change to the site that the board and moderators agreed on. We coordinated poorly and did not have a formal announcement ready when the change rolled out; apologies to those who are confused. However, given that the whole point is to minimize attention to points as a feature of the site, drawing a lot of attention to the change would have been self-defeating.

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    $\begingroup$ The fact that the bar initially loads then disappears draws quite a bit more attention to it than a meta post would. $\endgroup$
    – gparyani
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 2:01
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    $\begingroup$ So it seems like the bug is that the reputation info is breifly appearing when pages are loaded, whereas it should no longer appear at all. $\endgroup$
    – Dan Ramras
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 2:14
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    $\begingroup$ @gparyani I take your point, but I am not sure that it can be avoided. $\endgroup$
    – Ben Webster Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 2:45
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    $\begingroup$ @Dan: Yes, there are a couple of bugs we could not anticipate, due to the integration of the script into the SE system. We hope they will be resolved shortly. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 8:07
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    $\begingroup$ I have no preference regarding showing the reputation or not. I am a bit surprised, though, that this decision has been taken in secrecy by a small group of users and does not follow from some large consultation of the MO userbase. While it may turn out to be a good choice, it is definitely a loss for democracy and transparency. (My bet: the change will have no consequence on the behaviour of users, things at large will stay almost the same.) $\endgroup$
    – Alex M.
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 8:39
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    $\begingroup$ Expect a dozen or more "bug" reports incoming on various places on the network I guess. I personally think that it is a very poor choice to fall so out of line with the rest of the appearence of the SE network, even though you are able to. $\endgroup$
    – Luuklag
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:21
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    $\begingroup$ @Luuklag: We also don't display the HNQ on the site and instead have the recent badges awarded. I don't hear any complaints about that. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:58
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila, well that's mainly because the HNQ isn't all that visible for most people, and those can be turned off by default already under a users preferences. $\endgroup$
    – Luuklag
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 12:00
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila: Luuklag's answer is correct: I had deactivated HNQ in my profile a looong time ago, so that I wasn't even aware that it existed. $\endgroup$
    – Alex M.
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 12:02
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    $\begingroup$ Alex: MathOverflow exists independently on SE. I don't see the importance of us keeping the same appearance as the rest of the network. There's a reason why individual sites have individual themes, individual looks. Nobody complained when we had the citation script running and the rest of the network didn't. This is a change, I get it. People don't like change. I too get riled up when SE releases a new GUI feature. But you get used to it, and then the old one seems weird. We will fix the bug, you can opt-in and see reputation points again, and we'll all move on. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 12:04
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila: Agreed. I'm neither complaining, nor planning to make a fuss about this minor issue - we are grown-ups. I would only like the next such significant change to be discussed with the community in advance, though. Change can be good or bad and can rarely gather a consensus, but it is ethical to be discussed in the open before committing to it. $\endgroup$
    – Alex M.
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 12:50
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    $\begingroup$ I agree with Alex M. Some changes are major and others are minor. Minor changes don't need a lot of public discussion. This change strikes me as a major change; evidently the moderators did not think so. That's fine; moderators have to make judgment calls. However, if users give feedback saying that they regarded a certain change as major, then I don't think the moderators should just brush off that feedback by saying, "This is a change, I get it. People don't like change." The point is that good leaders try to stay in tune with public opinion. Too much divergence is a recipe for trouble. $\endgroup$
    – Timothy Chow
    Commented Jan 13, 2022 at 18:13
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    $\begingroup$ In particular, the question isn't whether the change is good or bad, but whether it's the sort of change that users think should be publicly discussed ahead of time. So I think the appropriate response should be something like, "We didn't think that this was a major or controversial change. We hear that some of you think it should have been discussed publicly ahead of time. We'll take that feedback into account the next time we contemplate making a change." $\endgroup$
    – Timothy Chow
    Commented Jan 13, 2022 at 18:15
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    $\begingroup$ I've posted an announcement here: Viewing reputation and badges is now opt-in and compatible with the new front page. I do apologize about the slightly botched roll-out. A fair amount of it is my fault for reasons too dumb to recount. I hear the points above; obviously a more significant change the site, especially one that wasn't easy to opt out of, would require quite a bit more discussion. Certainly, any future experiments will be more carefully synchronized with an announcement of what we are doing. $\endgroup$
    – Ben Webster Mod
    Commented Jan 16, 2022 at 1:57
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    $\begingroup$ @BenWebster I love what you've done here in terms of making the display of rep+badges opt-out. Although I can certainly see drawbacks, I believe in general that this is a great idea. I am, in particular, extremely jealous of the fact that your site has an arrangement with SE that allows you to request custom JavaScript code be added at the mod team's discretion. (I'm a moderator on Stack Overflow, and we definitely cannot do this. Getting staff to add/change anything is very difficult.) $\endgroup$
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Feb 10, 2023 at 5:25
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For users with an ad-blocker who want the old behaviour back: it seems adding https://cdn.sstatic.net/Js/webpack-chunks/8844.6aa9de60ac9aca9f14f4.en.js to your block list is sufficient to circumvent it. (For now; the filename might change with future deployments.)

(Context: I need that information for a userscript to help with blatantly off-topic questions to work properly.)

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    $\begingroup$ There is an opt-in feature, by the way, but it stopped working when we integrated the script into the system for some reason. We hope to resolve this quickly. So there is no need to use ad-blockers for this. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:26
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    $\begingroup$ No, it's in the achievement menu. You can see it already, it's just not working for some unclear reason. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:33
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila There isn't anything there for me: i.sstatic.net/kCCeZ.png $\endgroup$
    – Luuklag
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:56
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    $\begingroup$ @Luuklag: The script is not active on meta. You're on meta. (As I said, that feature doesn't work at the moment anyway, and once it's resolved we'll make a more orderly announcement with screenshots and explanations.) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:57
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila it doesn't show on the main site either, at least for me. But I'll be patient :) $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 11:58
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    $\begingroup$ @Luuklag I see there "privileges", "badges", "show rep": i.sstatic.net/Jp26e.png $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 15:36
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    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak I still don't. It's either a caching issue, or perhaps tied to reputation? $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 15:38
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    $\begingroup$ For me it shows up on the main site, and it kind of works, in that clicking it makes reputation appear in all user cards on the current page, but the setting is not permanent (going to another page, or even just reloading the current one, makes reputation disappear again). That’s not very useful: I can as well click on the relevant user links to see their reputation with much the same effort. Not to mention discoverability (this is just about the last place where I’d expect this setting to reside, it’s completely counterintuitive). $\endgroup$
    – Emil Jeřábek
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 15:39
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    $\begingroup$ @EmilJeřábek ah, of course, I'm a victim of my own workaround. After removing the ad block rule, I see it too, but it's broken, just as you describe. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 15:45
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    $\begingroup$ (As I keep saying... some unexpected bugs came up when we integrated the script into the SE code.) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 16:09
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    $\begingroup$ @Glorfindel: Hoisted with your own petard, I see. :) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 16:10
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila looks like the opt-in switch is simply not remembered? That's going to be difficult with just JavaScript, it can store something in local storage but that only affects a single page. (But again, I'll be patient :)) $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 16:14
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    $\begingroup$ @Glorfindel: Yes. It's not true that local storage only affects a single page. In the tests we had using a userscript, it worked fine throughout the site. I am guessing that something in the SE code structure throws a wrench into the design of the script. And it makes sense, since userscripts are overlays, and this is more of a "built-in patch". So, something causes a reset of the variable almost instantly, which means that the setting is not cached into the local storage correctly. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jan 11, 2022 at 16:16
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila, that is one of those "peace in/for our time" phrases: actually it's "hoist with his own petard". $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Jan 12, 2022 at 22:06
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila Whatever the issue was, it seems to have been resolved now (at least for me): hitting "show rep" correctly makes the setting stay that way after changing pages. $\endgroup$
    – Wojowu
    Commented Jan 12, 2022 at 23:32

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