We have a confession to make: We haven't been awarding the Warm Welcome badge as consistently as we should have been. But we're fixing that, starting now!
We're officially bringing back the Warm Welcome badge, and we're more committed than ever to recognizing the incredible community members who make DEV such a welcoming place.
How It Works
Every week, we'll select a handful of individuals based on their participation in the Welcome Thread.
Both new members and existing members can receive the badge:
New members: Introduce yourself in our welcome thread and really give us a sense of who you are and/or why you've joined the community.
Existing members: Leave warm, helpful, or supportive comments that welcome new users. Show them what makes DEV special by offering thoughtful responses to their introductions.
Badge Details
The badge stacks! Each week is a new opportunity to be awarded, so this isn't a one-and-done situation.
Pro tip: Leave more than one comment to increase your chances of receiving the badge, but remember that quality matters. We're looking for authenticity.
Thanks for helping us make DEV the most welcome community for developers! ❤️
Top comments (6)
Certainly a nice way to encourage more people to welcome newer members to this wonderful community!
The Welcome Thread is one of those small things that quietly sets the tone for the whole platform. When someone’s first interaction isn’t “RTFM” energy but actual humans being decent, it sticks — and it’s usually why people stay.
Also appreciate that this isn’t framed as “post once, get badge, disappear.” Rewarding consistent warmth and real engagement matters way more than drive-by comments. That’s how culture actually forms, not through features alone.
Glad to see DEV leaning into the human side again. This kind of stuff doesn’t scale automatically — it needs intention.
Well said, Peace. It was attitudes like RTFM that put Stack Overflow in the current mess it's in (I am paraphrasing but I'm sure you know what I mean).
This is honestly one of the reasons I’ve stuck with DEV. The culture here feels more human than most platforms. Glad to see initiatives like this coming back.
By way of a follow up comment @jess, are badges such as Icebreaker still actively being given out? If so, do they stack or are there plans to make them stack?
👍👍👍
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