They don't really like doing options, because it makes things harder to support. With that said, I have a browser add on that made the badges clickable + take you directly to your user profile. You could find an add-on like that and modify it to suit your needs, assuming this isn't something the developers can actually fix, that is.

Good point! It's not just 10k+ users who can help with this but anyone with edit access. Furthermore, even users without edit access can and should still flag the answer for a moderator. :)

Does it also use the same stylesheet as the SO blog?

Thanks for the tip. I'll monitor communications in that room :)

Congratulations All! How long was the blog running before this turning point where it took off and skyrocketed? How many people in the community can write blog articles? I'm asking because I was thinking about something similar for other SE sites.