I think you're right about the potential in getting new people to start speaking up, which will lead to new relationships developing in our little community. I've already noticed that I'm talking to a different group of people with ~HealthAndFitness than I had been.

I wonder if somehow your expertise idea could be rooted in the territories. For instance, @denlillaapan earns a ton in ~econ, so maybe that could give him an ~econ badge. I'm not sure exactly how that should work, but there might be something there. Maybe it could be the top 1% of stackers in each territory gets a badge.