[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"sanity-mxz5t0qkY1cguXJoe2dqBzQorb0R1tEmHEDrf12grYI":3,"sanity-zesNQW2yr88pr4g5V3RGdL9vE9WKeAIjG9LcM-MLQcg":558},{"data":4,"sourceMap":-1},{"latestPodcast":5,"latestReleases":14,"post":39,"recent":533},[6],{"_id":7,"publishedAt":8,"slug":9,"sponsored":12,"title":13},"d81860b7-7b72-4ba5-8ad5-3b77fd9a8e9b","2026-07-14T07:40:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":11},"slug","your-ai-is-only-as-responsible-as-you-are",null,"Your AI is only as responsible as you are",[15,21,27,33],{"_id":16,"publishedAt":17,"slug":18,"title":20},"eb5b66eb-9410-4329-83bb-22bbff39402a","2026-04-28T13:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":19},"turn-scattered-knowledge-into-trusted-intelligence","Turning scattered knowledge into trusted intelligence: Stack Internal 2026.3",{"_id":22,"publishedAt":23,"slug":24,"title":26},"369c2401-b62e-4a37-8ff8-bf603023ecad","2026-03-02T15:03:00.988Z",{"_type":10,"current":25},"what-s-new-at-stack-overflow-march-2026","What’s new at Stack Overflow: March 2026",{"_id":28,"publishedAt":29,"slug":30,"title":32},"5e9053a4-07ea-447c-91ea-29e0b6228537","2026-02-02T15:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":31},"what-s-new-at-stack-overflow-february-2026","What’s new at Stack Overflow: February 2026",{"_id":34,"publishedAt":35,"slug":36,"title":38},"a1b538eb-a8a6-46d0-80a1-ac70ec9bb935","2026-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00",{"_type":10,"current":37},"what-s-new-at-stack-overflow-january-2026","What’s new at Stack Overflow: January 2026",{"_createdAt":40,"_id":41,"_rev":42,"_type":43,"_updatedAt":44,"author":45,"body":59,"comments":492,"dateUrl":493,"excerpt":494,"image":495,"legacyBody":497,"product":12,"publishedAt":500,"slug":501,"sponsored":12,"tags":503,"title":532,"visible":492},"2023-05-25T09:37:04Z","wp-post-4776","9HpbCsT2tq0xwozQfloEqV","blogPost","2023-08-30T11:54:50Z",[46],{"_createdAt":47,"_id":48,"_rev":49,"_type":50,"_updatedAt":51,"avatar":52,"employee":54,"name":55,"role":56,"slug":57},"2023-05-23T16:27:18Z","wp-author-87","07ZbrKPSUrjrV4wQ6gpsbB","blogAuthor","2023-08-30T11:54:19Z",{"_type":53},"image","former","Aarthi Devanathan","Community Manager",{"current":58},"aarthi",[60,220,225,241,245,264,268,276,280,288,292,301,320,324,328,388,396,404,436,465,473],{"_key":61,"_type":62,"children":63,"markDefs":200,"style":219},"782f27a36139","block",[64,69,74,78,83,87,92,96,100,104,108,112,117,121,125,129,134,138,143,147,152,156,160,164,169,173,178,182,187,191,196],{"_key":65,"_type":66,"marks":67,"text":68},"782f27a361390","span",[],"So. We've torn through the advent calendar, tossed aside all the wrapping paper, and (hopefully) obsessively screencapped our gravatars wearing various kinds of silly hats. As of last Friday, ",{"_key":70,"_type":66,"marks":71,"text":73},"782f27a361391",[72],"d90bfdacb657","Winter Bash 2012",{"_key":75,"_type":66,"marks":76,"text":77},"782f27a361392",[]," is officially over! This event was ",{"_key":79,"_type":66,"marks":80,"text":82},"782f27a361393",[81],"em","awesome",{"_key":84,"_type":66,"marks":85,"text":86},"782f27a361394",[],". We had a total of ",{"_key":88,"_type":66,"marks":89,"text":91},"782f27a361395",[90],"strong","46,710",{"_key":93,"_type":66,"marks":94,"text":95},"782f27a361396",[]," users participating across ",{"_key":97,"_type":66,"marks":98,"text":99},"782f27a361397",[90],"76",{"_key":101,"_type":66,"marks":102,"text":103},"782f27a361398",[]," sites, and we gave away ",{"_key":105,"_type":66,"marks":106,"text":107},"782f27a361399",[90],"108,924",{"_key":109,"_type":66,"marks":110,"text":111},"782f27a3613910",[]," hats total. The most common hat was the ",{"_key":113,"_type":66,"marks":114,"text":116},"782f27a3613911",[115,90],"55423708691d","And I Feel Fine",{"_key":118,"_type":66,"marks":119,"text":120},"782f27a3613912",[]," hat, which ",{"_key":122,"_type":66,"marks":123,"text":124},"782f27a3613913",[90],"23,171",{"_key":126,"_type":66,"marks":127,"text":128},"782f27a3613914",[]," users earned for activity on December 21st. The least common hat earned was ",{"_key":130,"_type":66,"marks":131,"text":133},"782f27a3613915",[90,132],"b7532f7af163","I Do Say",{"_key":135,"_type":66,"marks":136,"text":137},"782f27a3613916",[],", which was obtained by ",{"_key":139,"_type":66,"marks":140,"text":142},"782f27a3613917",[90,141],"d62dcbf9977c","Bohemian",{"_key":144,"_type":66,"marks":145,"text":146},"782f27a3613918",[],", on Stack Overflow, and ",{"_key":148,"_type":66,"marks":149,"text":151},"782f27a3613919",[90,150],"5b7041896b47","kalina",{"_key":153,"_type":66,"marks":154,"text":155},"782f27a3613920",[],", on Arqade for posting an ",{"_key":157,"_type":66,"marks":158,"text":159},"782f27a3613921",[81],"epic",{"_key":161,"_type":66,"marks":162,"text":163},"782f27a3613922",[]," 30 up-voted questions. Lots and lots of us were able to find all 7 unlockable ",{"_key":165,"_type":66,"marks":166,"text":168},"782f27a3613923",[167],"8980bd1348d6","secret hats",{"_key":170,"_type":66,"marks":171,"text":172},"782f27a3613924",[],", and a few even found an ",{"_key":174,"_type":66,"marks":175,"text":177},"782f27a3613925",[176],"542170ea2a07","eighth",{"_key":179,"_type":66,"marks":180,"text":181},"782f27a3613926",[],". Well done! Sadly, all good things must come to an end. We've packed up the hats (and archived the JavaScript) until next time. For now, you'll be able to see the hats you won (and Jin's excellent artwork) on ",{"_key":183,"_type":66,"marks":184,"text":186},"782f27a3613927",[185],"d419dfa423f8","http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh",{"_key":188,"_type":66,"marks":189,"text":190},"782f27a3613928",[],". If you're curious to see what hats other people earned, check out ",{"_key":192,"_type":66,"marks":193,"text":195},"782f27a3613929",[194],"6b170e5394ba","the leaderboard",{"_key":197,"_type":66,"marks":198,"text":199},"782f27a3613930",[],".",[201,204,206,208,210,212,214,216,217],{"_key":72,"_type":202,"href":203,"reference":12},"link","http:\u002F\u002Fblog.stackoverflow.com\u002F2012\u002F12\u002Fwelcome-to-winter-bash-2012\u002F",{"_key":115,"_type":202,"href":205,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fand-i-feel-fine",{"_key":132,"_type":202,"href":207,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fi-do-say",{"_key":141,"_type":202,"href":209,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F256196\u002Fbohemian",{"_key":150,"_type":202,"href":211,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fgaming.stackexchange.com\u002Fusers\u002F27134\u002Fkalina",{"_key":167,"_type":202,"href":213,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.gaming.stackexchange.com\u002Fquestions\u002F5653\u002Fwhat-are-the-secret-hats-for-2012",{"_key":176,"_type":202,"href":215,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F159782\u002Fthe-mysterious-epic-punyon-beard",{"_key":185,"_type":202,"href":186,"reference":12},{"_key":194,"_type":202,"href":218,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fleaderboard","normal",{"_key":221,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":222,"markDefs":12},"72e8e4a708c2",{"_ref":223,"_type":224},"image-4003eb293537e5fcb6a2a283a521f9e9af5975e0-650x576-png","reference",{"_key":226,"_type":62,"children":227,"markDefs":240,"style":219},"6c82364c8687",[228,232,236],{"_key":229,"_type":66,"marks":230,"text":231},"6c82364c86870",[],"I really loved seeing how you all got creative in making your gravatars work with the hats -- some of which were comically large! Below are a ",{"_key":233,"_type":66,"marks":234,"text":235},"6c82364c86871",[81],"very",{"_key":237,"_type":66,"marks":238,"text":239},"6c82364c86872",[]," small number of the hats I enjoyed seeing. There were just too many hats I liked; I have tons and tons of screencaps of users wearing hats in fun, funny, cool, and\u002For interesting ways.",[],{"_key":242,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":243,"markDefs":12},"ad3a87d0a306",{"_ref":244,"_type":224},"image-5abaed506efafa3716eed8a9606084f661912f93-650x625-png",{"_key":246,"_type":62,"children":247,"markDefs":261,"style":219},"104c35658de4",[248,252,257],{"_key":249,"_type":66,"marks":250,"text":251},"104c35658de40",[],"On some sites, even ",{"_key":253,"_type":66,"marks":254,"text":256},"104c35658de41",[255],"435e44a778cf","the Community ♦ user",{"_key":258,"_type":66,"marks":259,"text":260},"104c35658de42",[]," got into the spirit of things:",[262],{"_key":255,"_type":202,"href":263,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F19738\u002Fwho-is-the-community-user",{"_key":265,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":266,"markDefs":12},"39804cfb2f6b",{"_ref":267,"_type":224},"image-cc7d246c533ca5769b9b199da80fa3425a41e6b4-650x300-png",{"_key":269,"_type":62,"children":270,"markDefs":275,"style":219},"925d72edaf90",[271],{"_key":272,"_type":66,"marks":273,"text":274},"925d72edaf900",[],"The best surprise (aside from the little blue circle letting me know I'd gotten another hat!) was seeing users I didn't expect to enjoy hats sporting all sorts of interesting looks. Since Stack Overflow in particular tends to have a stronger \"professional\" focus, I tend to forget that folks who are passionate about their work get just as passionate about having fun now and again. Seeing some top users from all over the network equipping headgear, well, it caught me off guard and made me smile.",[],{"_key":277,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":278,"markDefs":12},"bd862c10b227",{"_ref":279,"_type":224},"image-b319f259313e1eda39c0484bc7a812cdcf3c8564-650x600-png",{"_key":281,"_type":62,"children":282,"markDefs":287,"style":219},"cf4e30a012ea",[283],{"_key":284,"_type":66,"marks":285,"text":286},"cf4e30a012ea0",[],"Several of you also found the \"easter egg\" on the Winter Bash site -- holding down Ctrl and collecting all the falling snowflakes revealed a snowy pink unicorn!",[],{"_key":289,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":290,"markDefs":12},"a5c1984d77e3",{"_ref":291,"_type":224},"image-fd6fe80c6996dbc73c1857237a66507b9357634e-650x253-png",{"_key":293,"_type":62,"children":294,"markDefs":299,"style":300},"f7dd0ad8c5b9",[295],{"_key":296,"_type":66,"marks":297,"text":298},"f7dd0ad8c5b90",[],"Real Data",[],"h2",{"_key":302,"_type":62,"children":303,"markDefs":317,"style":219},"a9cb05bd1ccf",[304,308,313],{"_key":305,"_type":66,"marks":306,"text":307},"a9cb05bd1ccf0",[],"One of the things I wanted to look into is how a temporary, high-profile badge can alter behaviors. While some users have mentioned that they stuck around more, was this true at large? The data are not really clear. Sites with a very high hats-to-users ratio saw serious increases in posts created during this time, visits, and general positive responses from traffic. Straw polls of the moderation teams would seem to indicate that general site upkeep (things like flags, edit queues, and other mod-actions) held stable. Anecdotally, the review queues seemed extra empty, though whether that was because fewer folks were around the sites or because everyone really wanted ",{"_key":309,"_type":66,"marks":310,"text":312},"a9cb05bd1ccf1",[311],"cee8e2dd4ab4","Le Magritte",{"_key":314,"_type":66,"marks":315,"text":316},"a9cb05bd1ccf2",[]," isn't clear.",[318],{"_key":311,"_type":202,"href":319,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fle-magritte",{"_key":321,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":322,"markDefs":12},"543a33e429ac",{"_ref":323,"_type":224},"image-953a2d19b6d3a6b93fc1fe242a6fadee878ef569-650x472-png",{"_key":325,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":326,"markDefs":12},"74729dbf04b7",{"_ref":327,"_type":224},"image-0097d5d248a449dd35be1411bcaed711abb2fdf1-650x472-png",{"_key":329,"_type":62,"children":330,"markDefs":379,"style":219},"f421fb067a25",[331,335,339,343,348,352,357,361,366,370,375],{"_key":332,"_type":66,"marks":333,"text":334},"f421fb067a250",[],"I know ",{"_key":336,"_type":66,"marks":337,"text":338},"f421fb067a251",[81],"I",{"_key":340,"_type":66,"marks":341,"text":342},"f421fb067a252",[]," consider this event a real success! It's been a pleasure seeing everyone get excited, wear silly headgear, and just generally loosen up a bit as the year drew to a close. Special thanks to Stack Exchange developers ",{"_key":344,"_type":66,"marks":345,"text":347},"f421fb067a253",[346],"3eeb9988e254","Emmett",{"_key":349,"_type":66,"marks":350,"text":351},"f421fb067a254",[]," and ",{"_key":353,"_type":66,"marks":354,"text":356},"f421fb067a255",[355],"4e007ad5e1df","balpha",{"_key":358,"_type":66,"marks":359,"text":360},"f421fb067a256",[]," for building this and keeping it running smoothly, to VP of Engineering ",{"_key":362,"_type":66,"marks":363,"text":365},"f421fb067a257",[364],"27a7f207b9ff","David Fullerton",{"_key":367,"_type":66,"marks":368,"text":369},"f421fb067a258",[]," for coordination, guidance and encouragement, and to the aforementioned ",{"_key":371,"_type":66,"marks":372,"text":374},"f421fb067a259",[373],"320b738a5725","Jin",{"_key":376,"_type":66,"marks":377,"text":378},"f421fb067a2510",[]," for the beautiful design work.",[380,382,384,386],{"_key":346,"_type":202,"href":381,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F2749\u002Femmett",{"_key":355,"_type":202,"href":383,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F115866\u002Fbalpha",{"_key":364,"_type":202,"href":385,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F91687\u002Fdavid-fullerton",{"_key":373,"_type":202,"href":387,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fgraphicdesign.stackexchange.com\u002Fusers\u002F3\u002Fjin",{"_key":389,"_type":62,"children":390,"markDefs":395,"style":300},"5eb3b0405453",[391],{"_key":392,"_type":66,"marks":393,"text":394},"5eb3b04054530",[],"The Future of Hats",[],{"_key":397,"_type":62,"children":398,"markDefs":403,"style":219},"f72a05a93601",[399],{"_key":400,"_type":66,"marks":401,"text":402},"f72a05a936010",[],"I definitely want to try for some things for the next time:",[],{"_key":405,"_type":62,"children":406,"level":429,"listItem":430,"markDefs":431,"style":219},"36b2f94a7f19",[407,411,416,420,425],{"_key":408,"_type":66,"marks":409,"text":410},"36b2f94a7f190",[],"Hats in chat has been ",{"_key":412,"_type":66,"marks":413,"text":415},"36b2f94a7f191",[414],"bec4912f5c8e","requested",{"_key":417,"_type":66,"marks":418,"text":419},"36b2f94a7f192",[]," ",{"_key":421,"_type":66,"marks":422,"text":424},"36b2f94a7f193",[423],"d9096b284efa","before",{"_key":426,"_type":66,"marks":427,"text":428},"36b2f94a7f194",[],". I'd like to push for this for next year.",1,"bullet",[432,434],{"_key":414,"_type":202,"href":433,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F159194\u002Fcan-we-wear-hats-in-chat",{"_key":423,"_type":202,"href":435,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fchat.stackexchange.com\u002Ftranscript\u002F35?m=7340012#7340012",{"_key":437,"_type":62,"children":438,"level":429,"listItem":430,"markDefs":460,"style":219},"232523a44e53",[439,443,448,451,456],{"_key":440,"_type":66,"marks":441,"text":442},"232523a44e530",[],"Site-specific hats would be super cool. Some sites unofficially got a hat -- ",{"_key":444,"_type":66,"marks":445,"text":447},"232523a44e531",[446],"a1b2082fa62e","Seasoned Advice",{"_key":449,"_type":66,"marks":450,"text":351},"232523a44e532",[],{"_key":452,"_type":66,"marks":453,"text":455},"232523a44e533",[454],"a27f7bd10b31","Home Improvement",{"_key":457,"_type":66,"marks":458,"text":459},"232523a44e534",[]," -- but I'd love to see more sites get their own bespoke hats.",[461,463],{"_key":446,"_type":202,"href":462,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fsoup-du-jour",{"_key":454,"_type":202,"href":464,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fgit-r-done",{"_key":466,"_type":62,"children":467,"level":429,"listItem":430,"markDefs":472,"style":219},"6d457c83fe99",[468],{"_key":469,"_type":66,"marks":470,"text":471},"6d457c83fe990",[],"More hats! Secret hats seemed to get people the most excited -- adding more of those to the batch next year strikes me as a very good idea.",[],{"_key":474,"_type":62,"children":475,"markDefs":489,"style":219},"65de0bb1d2e8",[476,480,485],{"_key":477,"_type":66,"marks":478,"text":479},"65de0bb1d2e80",[],"If you have suggestions or feedback about Winter Bash, ",{"_key":481,"_type":66,"marks":482,"text":484},"65de0bb1d2e81",[483,90],"12c621c78990","please feel free to answer this post",{"_key":486,"_type":66,"marks":487,"text":488},"65de0bb1d2e82",[],". I'm going to keep an eye on it, and gather ideas and improvements for next year from your responses. When we first tried out this idea on Arqade, it wasn't entirely clear this would be well-received elsewhere. But, based on what I've seen these past few weeks, I don't think we've seen the last of Hats on Stack Exchange.",[490],{"_key":483,"_type":202,"href":491,"reference":12},"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F161188\u002Fwhat-do-you-think-of-winter-bash",true,"2013\u002F01\u002F08","",{"_type":53,"asset":496},{"_ref":291,"_type":224},{"code":498,"language":499},"So. We've torn through the advent calendar, tossed aside all the wrapping paper, and (hopefully) obsessively screencapped our gravatars wearing various kinds of silly hats. As of last Friday, \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fblog.stackoverflow.com\u002F2012\u002F12\u002Fwelcome-to-winter-bash-2012\u002F\">Winter Bash 2012\u003C\u002Fa> is officially over!\n\nThis event was \u003Cem>awesome\u003C\u002Fem>. We had a total of \u003Cstrong>46,710\u003C\u002Fstrong> users participating across \u003Cstrong>76\u003C\u002Fstrong> sites, and we gave away \u003Cstrong>108,924\u003C\u002Fstrong> hats total. The most common hat was the \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fand-i-feel-fine\">\u003Cstrong>And I Feel Fine\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa> hat, which \u003Cstrong>23,171\u003C\u002Fstrong> users earned for activity on December 21st. The least common hat earned was \u003Cstrong>\u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fi-do-say\">I Do Say\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong>, which was obtained by \u003Cstrong>\u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F256196\u002Fbohemian\">Bohemian\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong>, on Stack Overflow, and \u003Cstrong>\u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fgaming.stackexchange.com\u002Fusers\u002F27134\u002Fkalina\">kalina\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong>, on Arqade for posting an \u003Cem>epic\u003C\u002Fem> 30 up-voted questions. Lots and lots of us were able to find all 7 unlockable \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.gaming.stackexchange.com\u002Fquestions\u002F5653\u002Fwhat-are-the-secret-hats-for-2012\">secret hats\u003C\u002Fa>, and a few even found an \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F159782\u002Fthe-mysterious-epic-punyon-beard\">eighth\u003C\u002Fa>. Well done!\n\nSadly, all good things must come to an end. We've packed up the hats (and archived the JavaScript) until next time. For now, you'll be able to see the hats you won (and Jin's excellent artwork) on \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\">http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u003C\u002Fa>. If you're curious to see what hats other people earned, check out \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fleaderboard\">the leaderboard\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fleaderboard\">\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002F7MLht.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Fa>\n\nI really loved seeing how you all got creative in making your gravatars work with the hats -- some of which were comically large! Below are a \u003Cem>very\u003C\u002Fem> small number of the hats I enjoyed seeing. There were just too many hats I liked; I have tons and tons of screencaps of users wearing hats in fun, funny, cool, and\u002For interesting ways.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002F4Vdij.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\n\nOn some sites, even \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F19738\u002Fwho-is-the-community-user\">the Community ♦ user\u003C\u002Fa> got into the spirit of things:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002FcUXu9.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\n\nThe best surprise (aside from the little blue circle letting me know I'd gotten another hat!) was seeing users I didn't expect to enjoy hats sporting all sorts of interesting looks. Since Stack Overflow in particular tends to have a stronger \"professional\" focus, I tend to forget that folks who are passionate about their work get just as passionate about having fun now and again. Seeing some top users from all over the network equipping headgear, well, it caught me off guard and made me smile.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002FturAN.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\n\nSeveral of you also found the \"easter egg\" on the Winter Bash site -- holding down Ctrl and collecting all the falling snowflakes revealed a snowy pink unicorn!\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002FtVSGQ.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\n\n\u003Ch2>Real Data\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\nOne of the things I wanted to look into is how a temporary, high-profile badge can alter behaviors. While some users have mentioned that they stuck around more, was this true at large?\n\nThe data are not really clear. Sites with a very high hats-to-users ratio saw serious increases in posts created during this time, visits, and general positive responses from traffic. Straw polls of the moderation teams would seem to indicate that general site upkeep (things like flags, edit queues, and other mod-actions) held stable. Anecdotally, the review queues seemed extra empty, though whether that was because fewer folks were around the sites or because everyone really wanted \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fle-magritte\">Le Magritte\u003C\u002Fa> isn't clear.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002Fg3BWR.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.blog\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2017\u002F02\u002FweBRS.png\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\n\nI know \u003Cem>I\u003C\u002Fem> consider this event a real success! It's been a pleasure seeing everyone get excited, wear silly headgear, and just generally loosen up a bit as the year drew to a close.\n\nSpecial thanks to Stack Exchange developers \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F2749\u002Femmett\">Emmett\u003C\u002Fa> and \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F115866\u002Fbalpha\">balpha\u003C\u002Fa> for building this and keeping it running smoothly, to VP of Engineering \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fstackoverflow.com\u002Fusers\u002F91687\u002Fdavid-fullerton\">David Fullerton\u003C\u002Fa> for coordination, guidance and encouragement, and to the aforementioned \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fgraphicdesign.stackexchange.com\u002Fusers\u002F3\u002Fjin\">Jin\u003C\u002Fa> for the beautiful design work.\n\n\u003Ch2>The Future of Hats\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\nI definitely want to try for some things for the next time:\n\n\u003Cul>\n    \u003Cli>Hats in chat has been \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F159194\u002Fcan-we-wear-hats-in-chat\">requested\u003C\u002Fa> \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fchat.stackexchange.com\u002Ftranscript\u002F35?m=7340012#7340012\">before\u003C\u002Fa>. I'd like to push for this for next year.\u003C\u002Fli>\n    \u003Cli>Site-specific hats would be super cool. Some sites unofficially got a hat -- \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fsoup-du-jour\">Seasoned Advice\u003C\u002Fa> and \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwinterba.sh\u002Fgit-r-done\">Home Improvement\u003C\u002Fa> -- but I'd love to see more sites get their own bespoke hats.\u003C\u002Fli>\n    \u003Cli>More hats! Secret hats seemed to get people the most excited -- adding more of those to the batch next year strikes me as a very good idea.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\nIf you have suggestions or feedback about Winter Bash, \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fmeta.stackoverflow.com\u002Fquestions\u002F161188\u002Fwhat-do-you-think-of-winter-bash\">\u003Cstrong>please feel free to answer this post\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>. I'm going to keep an eye on it, and gather ideas and improvements for next year from your responses.\n\nWhen we first tried out this idea on Arqade, it wasn't entirely clear this would be well-received elsewhere. But, based on what I've seen these past few weeks, I don't think we've seen the last of Hats on Stack Exchange.","html","2013-01-08T17:00:00.000Z",{"current":502},"boxing-day",[504,512,517,522,527],{"_createdAt":505,"_id":506,"_rev":507,"_type":508,"_updatedAt":505,"slug":509,"title":511},"2023-05-23T16:43:21Z","wp-tagcat-background","9HpbCsT2tq0xwozQfkc4ih","blogTag",{"current":510},"background","Background",{"_createdAt":505,"_id":513,"_rev":507,"_type":508,"_updatedAt":505,"slug":514,"title":516},"wp-tagcat-community",{"current":515},"community","Community",{"_createdAt":505,"_id":518,"_rev":507,"_type":508,"_updatedAt":505,"slug":519,"title":521},"wp-tagcat-company",{"current":520},"company","Company",{"_createdAt":505,"_id":523,"_rev":507,"_type":508,"_updatedAt":505,"slug":524,"title":526},"wp-tagcat-stackexchange",{"current":525},"stackexchange","Stackexchange",{"_createdAt":505,"_id":528,"_rev":507,"_type":508,"_updatedAt":505,"slug":529,"title":531},"wp-tagcat-winter-bash",{"current":530},"winter-bash","winter bash","Winter Bash 2012 Conclusion: Boxing Day",[534,540,546,552],{"_id":535,"publishedAt":536,"slug":537,"sponsored":12,"title":539},"76c9771b-34e6-4d98-8641-ecefc711f0ef","2026-07-06T15:23:34.559Z",{"_type":10,"current":538},"when-the-sensor-starts-thinking-snortml-agentic-ai-and-the-evolving-architecture-of-intrusion-detection","When the sensor starts thinking: SnortML, agentic AI, and the evolving architecture of intrusion detection",{"_id":541,"publishedAt":542,"slug":543,"sponsored":12,"title":545},"28e560af-f0aa-4d46-bd90-f435ad604aa7","2026-06-26T14:00:27.102Z",{"_type":10,"current":544},"paging-charity-how-can-engineering-leaders-avoid-becoming-bond-villains","Paging Charity! How can engineering leaders avoid becoming Bond villains?",{"_id":547,"publishedAt":548,"slug":549,"sponsored":12,"title":551},"4b22c2a3-3779-4966-93eb-5230391dbdce","2026-06-23T14:08:58.595Z",{"_type":10,"current":550},"your-ai-shipped-a-backend-that-boots-that-is-the-whole-problem","Your AI shipped a backend that boots. That is the whole problem.",{"_id":553,"publishedAt":554,"slug":555,"sponsored":12,"title":557},"5cf362e1-fe7b-45af-b69c-914731c6a052","2026-06-23T14:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":556},"the-2026-developer-survey-is-now-open-for-human-developers-only","The 2026 Developer Survey is now open (for human developers only)!",{"data":559,"sourceMap":-1},{"count":560,"lastTimestamp":12},0]