Off Limits – The locked profile section

There is a portion of your user profile that is automated and not editable. This section is for your user achievement badges. It is a feature that has quietly been rolled out and slowly more will be coming It is not editable because it based on your interactions with the website, and these are official arrlstx achievements that can only be earned. Once earned they are essentially bragging rights.

In the future some may even become a portion of your eligibility for contest entries or gifts! These badges are not time based but are calculated on your actions from the day you joined. The first of these that rolled out is called the Fire Badge. That badge is awarded for users that have logged into the site 7 consecutive day in a row. So far 1 user has already been awarded this badge. On August 1, 2026 user Matt K5LJC was awarded the Fire Badge, be sure to congratulate Matt!

Matt has no way to remove it, but more importantly no other user can fake it and add it to their profile if they have not yet earned it. There will be more badges introduced soon and the great thing thing is they are all retroactive, meaning any activity that a user might have done in the past will be calculated for. So as these other badges are introduced many of you will automatically be awarded these achievements and the badges earned will automatically be placed in the user profiles.

A few of these badges that are coming:

Clear Signal – Earned when 20 of your comments are liked by other users.

Solid Copy: Earned when you give 20 likes to comments posted by other users.

Relay Station: Earned when you tag or mention other users 20 times in comments or posts.

High Gain: Earned when you upvote 20 articles across the website.

Each badge increments to 2X, 3X, etc., for every additional 20 actions completed. What’s more is with each incrementation, you also earn an additional 10 point bonus multiplier for leveling it up! All these new badges will be coming out this week. In addition to the virtual badges, we are considering producing custom embroidered patches, duplicating these badges.