[TimBurr]

Have you thought about adding other types of phrase to the API, bound to different endpoints?

If the goal is to brighten people's days, a short joke or pun could do the trick. Or something like `fortune -s` (but fortune is usually multiline).

Personally, I like the kind speech idea. But a short joke might be more engaging in terms of cheering someone up, and avoids the authenticity issues.

[Nathanael]

Hey Tim! Thank you for your comment. I did talk about brightening people’s day as a possible benefit on this thread, however there is a deeper aspiration behind the project which informs the choice of content. My goal is to express (and make it easy for others to express) that we are all good enough as we are, or as Mr. Rogers put it, we’re special—-just because we’re us.

One thing I’ve realized based on yours and other people’s feedback is that this intention is not clear. In fact it’s not really explained on the Badges page. If the people using the badges understand and share this intention then I think it helps with the authenticity issue you mentioned. So that’s one action item for me.

I’ve also realized that some people don’t think it’s possible to communicate this message via an internet badge, and while I understand their skepticism I simply disagree.

So, to actually answer your question, I’m open to adding different types of phrases and endpoints, but I consider arbitrary jokes or puns to be out of the scope of this particular project at the moment, though I will keep the idea in mind. :-)

[TimBurr]

Thanks for the thoughtful response! Appreciate it.

I initially missed the distinction between affirming speech and speech designed to make the recipient feel good. Jokes can make people feel good, but don't affirm that they are enough, as they are.

The Manifesto page explains it well; the badges page doesn't have as much depth.

That's on me for not reading enough.