Here is my approach to earning badges:

I just keep using the site, ask questions, answer questions, vote on stuff I like, edit, flag, ... and much much more.

Over time badges came in, one after the other. Mostly they were a real surprise. I had [to look up what I got them for][1]. For some of them I did not even know they existed. Some were introduced later and these were awarded to a lot of people all at the same time.

Only rarely I deliberately changed a bit of my behaviour in order to earn that badge: [Altruist][2], [Sportsmanship][3] and [Vox Populi][4] are such examples.

But each except [Tumbleweed][5] made me a bit happy. I believe this is the main purpose of badges.


  [1]: https://askubuntu.com/help/badges
  [2]: https://askubuntu.com/help/badges/48/altruist
  [3]: https://askubuntu.com/help/badges/61/sportsmanship
  [4]: https://askubuntu.com/help/badges/79/vox-populi
  [5]: https://askubuntu.com/help/badges/40/tumbleweed