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I was taking a look at the list of badges, and I couldn't figure out why some badges are retired, while others are not. The retired badges are:

  • Analytical: Visited every section of the FAQ
  • Reversal: Provide an answer of +20 score to a question of -5 score
  • Tumbleweed: Asked a question with zero score, no answers, no comments, and low views for a week

I searched meta and encountered posts like this where there is a good explanation of why these kinds of badges exist. Other examples of similar badges that are not retired are:

  • Tenacious: Zero score accepted answers: more than 5 and 20% of total
  • Unsung Hero: Zero score accepted answers: more than 10 and 25% of total
  • Lifejacket: Answer score of 5 or more to a question score of -2 or less that goes on to receive a score of 2 or more
  • Lifeboat: Answer score of 20 or more to a question score of -3 or less that goes on to receive a score of 3 or more

So I can't understand why those badges are retired. The greater surprise for me is that there are badges which seemingly can't be awarded ever again, yet are not retired. Examples are:

  • Precognitive: Followed the Area 51 proposal for this site before it entered the commitment phase
  • Beta: Voted 10 times, added 3 posts score > 0, and visited the site on 3 separate days during the private beta
  • Constable: Served as a pro-tem moderator for at least 1 year or through site graduation

So what's the deal here? What makes some badge suitable for getting retired? Why are some "meaningful" badges retired, while there are "not meaningful anymore" ones not retired? Is there a systematic way for a member to ask the moderators (or whoever is in charge of matters like this) to retire/unretire some badge?

Edit:
For those who are interested in details about badges: don't miss @MartinSleziak's very useful comments under this post and the answer by @postmortes.

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Much of your question is answered by this blog post from 2019: https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/06/18/adios-to-unfriendly-badges-ahoy-lifejacket-and-lifeboat/

I believe, but am not completely sure, that badges are network-wide and not site-specific, so it's not possible to retire Precognitive, for example, because then sites that are in beta at the moment would lose a badge -- and given the badge does have meaning, a better reason than "Non-beta sites don't need it" would be necessary.

I couldn't track down the reason for retiring Analytical but Martin Sleziak could, so promoting his comment here:

"You have mentioned Analytical. The FAQ posts on badges says: "As of June 2013, this badge is retired due to the FAQ being changed to the Help Center all across the network. Those who earned it previously get to keep it." This text has a link to the following answer: Analytical Badge still showing “FAQ” "

Thanks Martin!

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    $\begingroup$ You have mentioned Analytical. The FAQ posts on badges says: "As of June 2013, this badge is retired due to the FAQ being changed to the Help Center all across the network. Those who earned it previously get to keep it." This text has a link to the following answer: Analytical Badge still showing “FAQ”. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 4, 2020 at 6:54
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    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak thank-you -- I've added that into the answer with accreditation so it doesn't get lost :) Feel free to edit it if I've misconstrued anything $\endgroup$
    – postmortes
    Commented Oct 4, 2020 at 6:58
  • $\begingroup$ Following links provided by @MartinSleziak, I found this comment backing the "I believe" part of your answer. I also found this post showing that suggestions by users on meta regarding badges have been taken seriously by the SO team, which answers the last bit of my question. I too added reference to Martin's very useful comments to my post. So again: thanks Martin. :-) $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 4, 2020 at 8:28

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