Don't Bash The Badges!

I recently read @jongolson's post in which he talked about the CTP badges and their history.

From a personal point of view, I'd like to tell about my experience.

On CTP's re-launch day in 2019, I logged in and headed directly to the menus in search of my badges. After all, I had collected over 80,000. Clicked on DASHBOARD first looking for my Profile. That's where the old ones used to be. Not there. I sat staring at the screen for about 5 minutes. So it was true! Our badge collection didn't follow us. After confirming with CTP that our badges didn't make it on the trip, I struggled to reconcile this knowledge.

Then, in another post entitled "Goodbye", @kirkoliver, another member of CTP and CTP teammate, stated that he was glad the badges were gone. Now, I know @kirkoliver, and I believe that this was a temporary moment. I do forgive him. It's the only way I can move forward and still call him "friend."

Now those of you who collected the same badge amount or more will understand. Some members collected more than 100,000. I thought about all the years it took me to amass my collection.

I collect antiques, so those of you who are also collectors how I feel. Many of the sites I collected badges from are no longer in business. Those badges hold a special place in my heart. Not knowing I wouldn't see them again, I didn't take a screenshot or print them.

Every time I think about my 80K badges, the 1968 lyrics of Mary Hopkins' (1) come to mind:

My words are, "We'd click and save forever and a day!"

My heart is heavy, but for healing, I'm going take one last trip down CTP memory badge lane:

Image made in Canva utilizing free clipart from Clip Art Portal

Laugh, you will. No matter how many new badges I have thus far collected or will collect, my special 80,000 badge collection will always be in my heart and thoughts. For those fellow CTP members who understand my pain, just give me a Thumbs Up!

In the words of Gloria Gaynor (2) in her 1978 song, "I will survive"

Thanks,
@justclickindiva

SOURCES:
a) JustClickin logo created at CoolText.Com
b) Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken by me with my (i) Samsung Galaxy 10' Tablet, (ii) FUJI FinePix S3380 - 14 Mega Pixels Digital Camera; and (iii) Samsung Galaxy Phone.
c) Purple Butterfly part of purchased set of Spiritual Clip Art for my Personal Use
d) All Tribe logos used with permission of Tribe Discord Channel admins.
1 Mary Hopkins. "Those Were the Days". Song. 1968.
2 Gloria Gaynor. "I Will Survive". Song. 1978.

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