Apparently, it's one of the ways that Duolingo increases engagement on the site. In fact, on Duolingo, it's pretty tough to lose your streak. I think I finally lost mine when I didn't log in for like two weeks straight.
I don't know, though. It feels a bit weird. I like the strictness of JetPunk streaks. But maybe we could allow some streak freezing?
What do people think?
But how will we be able to get streak freezes ?
Also I had this suggestion for streaks in a message board post I made a bit ago where taking the Daily Challenge extends your streak, do you think it would be a good idea to implement this?
I'm sure Duolingo has reasons and research to back up their methods, but I vote for keeping it strict. Personal preference.
I do like what Maxibon said above: "The one many have suggested is getting a spotlight award which I think would be quite cool, though it would have to be received at a big milestone (ex: every 250 days)."
I think would be pretty cool, but I don't think people should be able to get until a certain streak number (such as 150 to start with). And then maybe after that do it every 150 days (150, 300, 450, 600, 750, 900, 1050 etc.).
Also, as a separate thought: It'd be pretty awesome if we could see other people's streaks on their public profiles.
However, in terms of increasing engagement and keeping new users here, which I think is ultimately what you're going for and I understand that, the important question is: Do streaks seem to increase engagement/traffic flow in the first place? If they seem to be helping JetPunk, then I imagine users that come back every day to keep their streak would be more likely to keep coming back if they see their streak didn't go away when they forgot about JetPunk for a day.
I don't like the idea of freezing the streak. The rigor required to keep the streak alive is good imho.
Not everything has to be easy, even if technology tends to pretend otherwise.