➥ To Badge or Not to Badge?

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed many web3 content creator peers wearing affiliate badges in their profiles.

I think this approach offers great visibility benefits for both projects and content creators, but it also comes with significant risks:

➠ Once you accept an affiliate badge, you can't revoke it yourself unless the project removes it for you.

➠ This becomes a negative situation if the projects you supported turn out to be unreliable, engage in slow-rug schemes, or get involved in suspicious activities. If they refuse to remove your badge, you become unofficially complicit in their actions.

➠ In one extreme case, a project demanded payment of up to five figures as compensation to remove the badge.

➠ There have been account suspensions on X that also affected their affiliates through a widening suspension effect. You don't want to wake up to an email from X about your account status.

---

Personally, I've received several offers to wear badges, but aside from the risks mentioned above, I want to remain impartial so I can support projects in an objective way.

Here are some alternatives you can consider:

➠ Instead of wearing the badge, you can put it in your bio section.

➠ Include clauses in your agreement or contract that require the project to remove the badge if you request it. If they can't grant this request, that's definitely a red flag, and I suggest not supporting them further.

➠ Only put badges for projects that you truly understand inside and out. You can request video calls with the team, etc. This won't eliminate the risks entirely, but DYOR has saved me many times.