Processed Scott's feedback. Db endpoint slightly safer, some refactorings.

app/application.coffee

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ locale = require 'locale/locale'
 {me} = require 'lib/auth'
 Tracker = require 'lib/Tracker'
 CocoView = require 'views/kinds/CocoView'
+AchievementNotify = require '../../templates/achievement_notify'
 
 marked.setOptions {gfm: true, sanitize: true, smartLists: true, breaks: false}
 
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ Application = initialize: ->
   @facebookHandler = new FacebookHandler()
   @gplusHandler = new GPlusHandler()
   $(document).bind 'keydown', preventBackspace
+  $.notify.addStyle 'achievement', html: $(AchievementNotify())
   @linkedinHandler = new LinkedInHandler()
   preload(COMMON_FILES)
   $.i18n.init {

app/collections/NewAchievementCollection.coffee

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+CocoCollection = require 'collections/CocoCollection'
+
+class NewAchievementCollection extends CocoCollection
+  initialize: (me = require('lib/auth').me) ->
+    @url = "/db/user/#{me.id}/achievements?notified=false"
+
+module.exports = NewAchievementCollection

app/initialize.coffee

@@ -59,4 +59,4 @@ setUpChannels = ->
 
 setUpDefinitions = ->
   for definition of definitionSchemas
-    Backbone.Mediator.addDefSchemas definitionSchemas[definition]
+    Backbone.Mediator.addDefSchemas definitionSchemas[definition]

app/models/CocoModel.coffee

@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 storage = require 'lib/storage'
 deltasLib = require 'lib/deltas'
 
-class NewAchievementCollection extends Backbone.Collection
-  initialize: (me = require('lib/auth').me) ->
-    @url = "/db/user/#{me.id}/achievements?notified=false"
+NewAchievementCollection = require '../collections/NewAchievementCollection'
 
 class CocoModel extends Backbone.Model
   idAttribute: "_id"

app/templates/achievement_notify.jade

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 div
-  div.clearfix.achievement-body
-    div.achievement-image(data-notify-html="image")
-    div.achievement-content
-      div.achievement-title(data-notify-html="title")
-      div.achievement-description(data-notify-html="description")
+  .clearfix.achievement-body
+    .achievement-image(data-notify-html="image")
+    .achievement-content
+      .achievement-title(data-notify-html="title")
+      .achievement-description(data-notify-html="description")
 
-      div.achievement-progress
-        div.achievement-message(data-notify-html="message")
-        div.progress-wrapper
-          div.earned-exp(data-notify-html="earnedExp")
-          div.progress-bar-wrapper(data-notify-html="progressBar")
+      .achievement-progress
+        .achievement-message(data-notify-html="message")
+        .progress-wrapper
+          .earned-exp(data-notify-html="earnedExp")
+          .progress-bar-wrapper(data-notify-html="progressBar")

app/views/kinds/RootView.coffee

@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ CocoView = require './CocoView'
 {logoutUser, me} = require('lib/auth')
 locale = require 'locale/locale'
 
-AchievementNotify = require '../../templates/achievement_notify'
 Achievement = require '../../models/Achievement'
 User = require '../../models/User'
 
@@ -28,10 +27,7 @@ module.exports = class RootView extends CocoView
 
   initialize: ->
     $ =>
-      $.notify.addStyle 'achievement',
-        html: $(AchievementNotify())
-
-      # TODO Remove this. Allows for easy testing right now though
+      # TODO Ruben remove this. Allows for easy testing right now though
       #test = new Achievement(_id:'537ce4855c91b8d1dda7fda8')
       #test.fetch(success:@showNewAchievement)
 

server/users/user_handler.coffee

@@ -21,12 +21,6 @@ candidateProperties = [
   'jobProfile', 'jobProfileApproved', 'jobProfileNotes'
 ]
 
-parseLiteral = (literalString) ->
-  return true if literalString is 'true'
-  return false if literalString is 'false'
-  return number if (number = Number(literalString)) isnt NaN
-  literalString
-
 UserHandler = class UserHandler extends Handler
   modelClass: User
 
@@ -245,7 +239,7 @@ UserHandler = class UserHandler extends Handler
 
   getEarnedAchievements: (req, res, userID) ->
     queryObject = {$query: {user: userID}, $orderby: {changed: -1}}
-    queryObject.$query[key] = parseLiteral(val) for key, val of req.query
+    queryObject.$query.notified = false if req.query.notified is 'false'
     query = EarnedAchievement.find(queryObject)
     query.exec (err, documents) =>
       return @sendDatabaseError(res, err) if err?