Bitcoin Forum

Tell me again that it's not possible to rank up. After hugablack (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3166903.0) now it's my turn.
Two months, 92 merit for a guy that had no idea what blockchain was 4 months ago.
Thank you people for sharing your knowledge and being nice to me answering all my questions. Thanks for giving me the chance to learn. I have a lot more to learn but I promise to share what I know with the newcomers.

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To all the newbies redirected to this thread: I don't know who started quoting this thread but I think he was refering to this two comments

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3174862.msg32933862#msg32933862

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3174862.msg33090303#msg33090303

Congrats, man! So, there are 2 guys now, who ranked up on this forum  ;D jk

I also caught the implementation of the merit system as a Jr Member thus having 0 merits and managed to rank up to Member in the mean time.

I'm not really sure how I will get the additional points to get to the Full Member rank, not that the merits are sooo important but it would be nice to be able to use all of the features on this forum, like adding an avatar for example.

So, how did you do it, what pointers do you have for me? Did you get merits on posts naturally or did you had to work extra for them like in merit review threads and what not (or maybe something else)?

Just be yourself. Be nice. Help others. Contribute what you can. Return sMerits when you think they are deserved. You shouldn't have to work at it. It should just happen if your posts are actually useful and sometimes just funny as well. I merited a number of people for things that literally make me laugh out loud! There is no secret system here, just contribute and learn as much as you can. ;)

Cheers

I haven't looked at your posting history, but it looks like I gave you a merit a while back so you're probably a good writer.

What a lot of shitposters don't realize is that when you're writing here, everything counts (I speak for myself, of course, but this is true to an extent in general):  grammar, spelling, punctuation, extent of vocabulary, wit, and a bunch of other things that go into making something that's worth reading.  So you obviously have a lot of those bases covered, and congrats on ranking up. 

This is the merit system in action, being how it was meant to be, allowing good posters the chance to advance in rank and keeping the shitposters at the bottom of the food chain where they belong.  Props to you, OP.

Congratulations, man. You have made very constructive threads and topics after the launch of merit system. Finally, you ranked up as sweet fruits for what you have done. You are one of the most intrigued case study for newcomers in the forum, that newbies and other user ranks can move up to higher positions. It is possible challenge and constructive users can surpass it.
However, real constructive users seem not pay too much attention about ranking up; they mostly focus on what they love, including contributing to the forum, help others, etc. Ranking up comes as causal output for what they did.

Again, congratulations and keep contributing.

Congratulations, finally you ranked up.

I find really hard to get merits. I try to do my best (answer users questions, write only quality posts etc.) but still no merits for me. People are quoting my posts very often and are engaging in discussion with me but still, nobody tips merits. Of course, I don't ask for a tip but sometimes I think I should. I like to see that you are successful because this gives me a little hope to rank up some day. Merits system was introduced few days before my next rank. I am just always too late.

Congrats to you op. This goes out to show that one can actually rank up with the new merit system unlike how I perceived it to be something beyond  reality at it's initial stage. More new ranks to attain by more members soon.

Congrats to you i start now @ 0 merit but my soul is burning up because seeing someone rank up in this forum is possible. So if you can I can

Congrats man, 2 guys ranked up in merit system, that is a good news and prove that someone worthy can rank rup in this system. I saw your post and i think it is good for a member, i hope we can continue to contribute for this forum.
I am waiting for my activity points too for now, maybe it will take about 6 weeks again before i get the activity for sr member rank, wish me luck guys, hope i can get more merit.

That's what old members do for newbies, but I saw a lot of legendary accounts that more likely bullying newbies with newbies attitude!! hahaha

Old ranking system created shitty Hero, Ledgendary (part of those high-ranked members), but in the future, we will have less opportunities to see such shitty high ranked members due to strict rules of merit system and related ranking requirements. I think that in the forum, most of ranked up users since January of 2018 are deserved ones (Senior and higher ranks in particular). It's hard to buy/ sell/ exchange merits to rank up to Senior members and higher  without radars of moderators, merit sources and active users. So this probability of shitty high ranked members is extremely low due to amazing effects of merit system.

Goodbye, you've been promoted to full member.
Your luck is not like my bad luck, it is very difficult to get the reward for the rankings, I can not do anything, my intelligence is not like your intelligence, that's why I almost do not get the reward, I give up and wait for good

Congratulations OP, whilst it’s great news for him & the other guy who have managed to rank up via the Merit system it does prove how difficult it is to do so learning that only 2 people here have ranked up since the Merit system was implemented.

Whilst great news for us OG’s it is obviously really tough to rank up these days, glad I’m not a noob. I don’t think I’d be a good enough poster to ever see Hero/Legendary status the new way.

I disagree fella, you have achieved 28 merits, and I assume you have just continued posting as previously. so what are we 8 weeks into the new system? you are averaging the equivalent of 50% of the previous ranking system. now imagine if you had put some effort in?

once the shitposters are gone we will see less posts and therefore people will be handing out merit more freely

Yes, it's true, ranking up is a lot more difficult nowadays compared to what it used to be.

I see you have sent a lot of merit to people doing good posts so, you're on a good track.
Although, I have seen a lot of legendary members (that weren't affected by the merit system implementation) which are not involved at all in the spreading of merit. This is just sad.

dont worry, i think merit is leading this forum to death, i can hardly imagine a forum can survive that people can get profits from the rank up while its difficult to get a rank up, people are losing hope now, especially those who have much activities who make a great contribution to the forum, i think merit must be changed asap

nope - lies.. Shitposters will die and the forum will flourish with less time wasters like you

That's a very good point. If you look at the time it takes to get the activity to rank up then anyone getting an average of 1 Merit a day will still rank up on the same schedule and others will just do it a bit slower.

Looking at the latest data from LoyceV https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3078328.msg32604134#msg32604134

Taken after 56 days 294 people had gained 56 or more merits and going down to half there are 738 with 28 Merit. A total of 11775 had gained at least 1 Merit.

Agree with you, TheQuin. I think that merit system can not stop or slow down the ranking progress of bitcointalk users. For example, to reach Member rank, users need only 10 merit points and 60 activities. That means they need 10 weeks to reach 60 activities and I really believe that 10 weeks is long enough to earn 10 merits. To reach Full member rank, users need to collect 100 merits during 5-6 months, I think it is possible too. Only sort of spamming users be stucked due to merit system.

Does only two members being able to reach full member after the merit system supports your claim ? I am not saying that merit system is bad and it should be taken back, but there is a lot of scope for improvements. It is good that the admin has focused on reducing the spam in the forum by introducing the merit system. But do we have enough merits to reward good posts as well ? If merits are less in circulation, it will still serve the first purpose (discouraging spam on the forum). But what about encouraging new members making quality posts ?

Firstly, I'm not sure if that statistic is accurate. Secondly, the old activity based system requires 120 days to get to Full Member and the system has only been in place 56 days. So however many have managed it they have done extremely well. We'll have a better idea how it is working in another couple of months time.

120 days and 100 merits, constructive users can surely get them. Of course, user can not get one merit each day, some days get, some days don't, but in general they will get 100 merits or more over 120 days if they are really construcitve users in the forum.

Merit system is no joke. It reminds me of stackoverflow where you get rep for good answer/question.
Congratulation to OP :>)

That's really good man !!
I didn't see that coming so soon to be honest ! I just check your post quality and its is definitely good and you deserve every inch of your success . With all the merit abuses going on I thought that this would get difficult for smaller ranks to get the level up . But that is incredibly good . I See the hope for myself now !!  ;D

First of all, congratulations bro. Looks like you were given what you really deserved. There's no doubt that you're a good poster. I checked your posts and I'm amazed by your posts (very informative posts) and makes me feel so sad and jealous. I don't have working brains like yours to make posts with such a very informative posts. That's why I felt jealous, if you will look in my posts all you can see is trash compared to yours. I'm already a Full Member but I believed that my posts activities are the reason why I ranked up. If merit system has been implemented long time ago. I will never made it to Full Member. I know I can, but it will take a long time before it happens.

But, although my posts are not good as yours. I never spam (did I?). Because whenever I create a post. I always assure that I'm not breaking any rules. Hehe sorry, My emotions brought me here. By the way, all I'm trying to say is Congratulations and I really admired you. Keep up the good work bro. I'm pretty sure that you will reach Senior Member rank and up in time. :)

When the merit system first started, people were giving them out freely. I rarely see posts with merits on them anymore though - I guess most users have distributed everything they had to give and they've run out.

This subforum is pretty much the only place still giving merits out.

You nailed it. You made a lot of constructive and useful posts. It seems like ranking up now isn't easy like when it's my first time here. Merit helps me to become a good poster. I need 9 merits to become member? That's it?

Congrats! I've been telling people here to not post just for the sake of merit and to unleast read once what they've wrote to see if it makes sense and merit will make it's way to you.
You will get merit if you deserve it and if there are posts that do deserve merit but did not get merited, that's good because that shows that you can write quality posts. Cheers!


Well that's because there's the least spamming and nonsense posting in this section. Just compare it to the Bitcoin Discussion section and you'll see.  ;D

At least I know that not only Nullius ( the Genius ) is lined up for a promotion ( not being sarcastic ). Since we all knew him for quite sometime, I thought he is the only one who can only Go rank just by waiting his activities to follow.
Good for you and it is a good fuel for some of us to continue what we have started here, thanks bud. I may tell you that it is quite longer for the next line but let us make this journey worth it not just for our own but also to this forum. I am loving the forum just like I love my home now. Hopefully, I can stay longer here until I turn into a beautiful butterfly. Hoping that this molds me well.


Of course we are unique individuals and that what makes us more valuable. You just have to express it in your own way. If you are really into cryptos, I think you could put up your own motivation to make your own journey here as exciting as you can. I am not that good of a writer too and I don't get rewards as frequent as others and that is because I have School days and classes on weekends, I lack knowledge and time. But I expess my interest as hard as I could, not just to get rewards but to actually be a part of something big and it feels good to be here.

I've been away today and I am surprised to see the thread so active.

No need to answer to every each of you but I'll try to summarize what I think after reading all those comments.
First thank you guys for the support.  For those who think that only two guys manage to rank up, I will disappoint you. While looking for merit abusers found at least two more guys already ranked up to full members, unfortunately I don't remember those names so I have no proof, just my word.

There are many new Members, tho. I guess you will say that 10 merit is not so big obstacle, well it is for most of the newbies, trust me. When you see a newbie or Jr.Member with 0 Merit you won't pay so much attention to his comments as if he had 1 Merit. I've already seen this and I'm trying to change it. Getting your first merit is not easy, especially if you are posting in sections like Mining and Pools. Well, I see that the situation there is a bit better now, you see some merited posts from time to time.

Some of you are asking for tips or how I did it. I was a bit surprised when I joined here. It took me quite some time only to get oriented in the forum structure. Asking for help, got couple of posts deleted as spam and then I started reading. I learns about the bounties /did't knew when I joined/ and got involved in a scam project. Learned my lesson and moved on. Been reading a lot only to get to know the system in the forum. Then you meet some hero/legendary commenting around and it start to be more interesting.

As you go deeper also in the history and you find satoshi, Hal Finney, Gavin and many other founders /reading a lot/, and you see the forum is just one big family, DTs (DT1 and DT2) gather in camps and fighting in between, some accusing others of being scammers, pedophiles, being on pills,some extortion attempts or some sort of this, everyone keeping their interests, it is really colorful here / especially reading nullius posts, damn he has sense of humor and quite some knowledge/. Then you see the other side, the quite shitposters gathering activity in the dark corners of the forum /the off-topic and the bounties, quoting every week report just to provide better life for their families, sir/. They are just silent participants in the ICO generator machine spitting new and new useless coins and tokens /well,some can be useful for sure but this is very rare/ unaware of the merit system, they pop-up from time to time in the Meta with their broken English(*) to ask why they are still Jr after they reach the activity, and finally how the merit system broke their life.

Then you start understanding how everything is working here, you start find things which you think are not right, missing or just not logical. You ask why this has to be like this, and how to make things better, is there any way for me to help to improve this ecosystem here? How can I help with what I do? Then you reach the point of being a member in the real meaning, a member of this crazy family. The merit will come eventually.

This is what I have been trough for those :  
And I don't regret a single second that I spent with you guys.

Ups,I’m afraid I got carried away! (*) Apologies for my English tho, I'm just an NNES.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

I'm mainly posting in the altcoin mining boards so, this may be a reason why I am seeing such low merits being sent around there.
Maybe things will improve after a couple of merit sources are assigned there.

What about the merit distribution? Did you get merit naturally for your posts or did you "hunt" for it by posting in review threads?

That's it. That is what newbies should do first when they join the forum

Another reason why newbies or even Junior members (who are not experienced, knowledgeable enough) should stay away from bounty board.
Yeah, the forum is a good place for learn-by-mistakes learners.
Exactly! There are lots of knowledgeable, generous, active higher ranked members who are readily to share their knowledge, skills, experiences to forum's newcomers.
Like this one:
BBcode Lessions & Tutorials (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1727100.0)
Lots of shit posters complained that merit system only supported by higher ranked members due to the system mainly protect priviledges of higher ranked members. I don't think so, and the above topic demonstrates that fact. They are readily to help lower ranked members to move up, to get money legally, and to make the forum better place.

You deserve to be a full member since you helped many people in this forum already with your high quality posts. This is the proof that we can rank up too just like other people. We just need knowledge and effort to do high quality posts.

To all newbies who are reading this, make @iasenko a model and think that you can rank up too just like him. :)

I have also observed this and I am not sure what has happened to merit sources. I rarely see posts getting merits in meta now. As per my experience, if 10 merits were being given in an hour when the merit system was introduced, now only one merit is being given per hour. I am talking about the meta section specifically. Other sections like bitcoin discussion always got less merits. 

Congrats anyway, you have done a great job but I would poing out one thing. hugablack recieved a good part by participating on different forms of merit giveaways. Also a good part of your merits is also coming from merit related posts and threads. Ofcourse you have probably done a good job but it doesn't really contribute the forum discussion. Implementing a merit system to let people talk about merit, throw merit for that talks, look for merit abusers, get rewarded for that stuff etc. doesnt seem like a great achievement and a significant forum improvement.
P.S. Sometimes it feels like I can create a new thread with my own analysis of pros and cons of merit system (there will be too much to let them drown in spam of already existing threads) but this section already got too much merit talks. Most of them are baseless and people woll hardly take serious anything new.

You are probably right, I was rather new when the discussions about the new changes stated. I was still unaware of the whole system here but I saw some flaws /well, at least for me as a newbie/ and  decided to give my opinion.

Back then I was thinking like "hey, I can tell theymos what it can be changed so the forum can do better" and for me at that time he was like, you know, he is The Guy - "hey me and Satoshi were drinking coffee together every morning for more than two yeas or so." /that's how a newbie thinks, I guess/. So I got involved in this pre-merit discussion, It was very interesting for me but I did't had the knowledge to be more helpful /I'm still faaaar from what I want to be, but it's a log way ahead/ so I started coming with ideas of what I, as a newbie, can do to help the others. I saw many people were asking the same questions about the activity and ranking and I made the activity calculator, which I was thinking that should have been done years before me and tried to make it more popular so the newbies can stop asking the same questions all the time. Had some other ideas how to list all the bounties and browse them by different criteria,but by being more familiar with the system here I saw that this was a lost cause.

After a few weeks came the Merit system. I was already aware that there's gonna be some changes, but no one knew what will happen /well except theymos/. Then everyone stated discussing how the system had to be adjusted, I was also enthusiastic about it, reading and suggesting. Then I stated collection points from some Legendaries and it was like WOW, I'm just nobody here but hey some Legends do appreciate what I'm trying to do and it's so great/well noob thinking again, I know/. That gave me more enthusiasm to continue and I did. Well, I "grew up" in a way and my perception for the forum did change too.

I did't help much for the bitcoin development, it's true. I got some people involved in crypto and help them to open wallets and buy some btc so I can say that I tried to popularize it, tho. I'm trying to do what I can and learn in the mean time. I have family, kid and full time job / plus a "new" old house, which I renovate at the moment so we can move in hopefully in April/ so I'm pretty short in terms of free time, but I'm still attending a free course for blockchain on edx. Hope will improve my understanding of the all the aspects of the blockchain system and be more productive here.

Meta is where everything started. If everyone was informed with a PM about the changes, things could have been different. All the sMerit I got, I distributed to newbies and people deserving it. I think I walked a long way to this rank, and the honor to wear an avatar. I'll continue doing what I like, reporting rule-breakers and learn.
https://i.imgur.com/ssVKk91.png
Enough said.
Cheers!

That's right. That is the way users in the forum should focus on to improve themselves before thinking of earning merits to rank up. They will probably hard to get merits if keep showing their shit show here. Even if they can rank up with bought / exchanged merits, it doesn't make sense at all, because they will not contribute anything useful to the forum. They only consider the forum as their landfill to dump their shits, hence they will be ignore by other users, campaigns' managers, merit-give-away users, etc. Consequently, they will be eliminate out of the forum somehow and sometime in the future.
Yeah. You are right! Merits will automatically come to helpful, constructive users. No need to beg for merits. That's what you have got, very impressive.
Congratulations, iasenko!

Though there are struggles in getting merits by members, it’s good that you ranked up with merits and shown a positive path to the rest. Yes, though it takes time to get merit, it’s satisfying when a quality post is made from one's end. The work fulfills the day you work. Just keep contributing more to the forum and to the crypto community. Let’s take this merit system positive accepting why it was implemented. To say the fact, its seriously a good move from the moderators to fill the sections with accurate and needed information which is really contributed from us via quality posts. Let’s keep moving positive.

Next rank-Sr Member. By the way, just have to say thanks for including my thread at your topic.

Learning more with the help of merit system would really make us challenge our self to improve. We have a long way to go, lets just enjoy the forum.

I still haven't 0 merits. Can you guys share with me the way you earn merits?

Have a look at the OP's post history and then compare it to your own. Also visit https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=recent regularly and have a look at the posts that get awarded Merit.

This topic should be removed from here, the same like this one was https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3166903.msg32743421#msg32743421
If every one will post here topics of their ranking up the board will turn into trash.

Definily a lot more pople ranked up, but a lot of them are abuser. I've personaly reported around 10 people for ranking up abusing the system.

Congratulations for ranking-up due to your hard work! The beginning is always the hardest on this adventure but all efforts paid-off in the end! Well your journey towards ranking-up are just getting started and you must continue what you are doing to achieve great heights. I remembered that people criticized the implementation of the merit system as they find it prejudicial and bias to the existing accounts. Well my only comment was they were too fixated on the simple way of ranking-up. Making trash/meaningless posts which makes detriments the reputation of this forum.
Nevertheless, just continue what you are doing and be the living example that people should look-up to. Cheers!

Relax

Just find a way of eating a forbidden fruit. You would have that knowledge...

Congratulations, OP!
You surely deserve what you have achieved, and seeing the progress of a few members of the community, the ones criticizing the system since the day it was implemented, should now understand that the system is actually for the betterment of this forum as only the ones who are capable enough are allowed to get higher positions.


That is not true. Maybe they are just the two people who managed to reach Full member rank from Member, but there are more users who managed to rank up from Newbie to Member earning Merits. And I'm one of them as well.
When the system was implemented, I was a Newbie, so I didn't get any Merits initially, but I did not end up complaining about the system that it is unfair and all, but I tried my best to be what the system wants us to be, and I earned enough Merits to reach Member rank successfully without cheating. Now I'm hoping to get enough Merits to reach Full member like OP and a few others, but that is still a long way to go as it seems. I'm hoping for the best, though.

Congratulations to those who have ranked up! I've been curious about the new merit system and if it's working well to accomplish the goal of cleaning up the forum and improving the post quality. It's looking more and more like the merit system is accomplishing exactly what it set out to accomplish.

I guess I already enough acknowledge about the world of bitcoin or cryptocurrency, especially in trading and mining. But my problem here is about the language. I'm afraid to join in the main forum because I have bad English. I only earn merit from the local board. Besides, in the local forum, there are a few people who give merit for my thread. If there, only 1 and max 5 merits can I earn  :D What should I do to rank up except learning English? I still trying to learn English from this forum because of this forum too.

In this world it all depends on you. There would be a desire and aspiration. Many complain about the new system of merit and do nothing for society.

This is a valid proof that the merit system is going swimmingly. Congratulations! Now people can stop whining about how the merit system will not work. If you want to do something and believe in it, you will do it as long as you have a willpower. Just a little bit of efforts, and you will be able to achieve what you aspire. Thank you for contributing to this community, and I look forward to giving you merit points. Stay positive!

2018 post >
I had to lock this thread long ago. I have spread the word already so now it can be used only for reference.

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2020 edit. The last one.

Today the climbing of the ranking ladder for me is over. It was a great pleasure and quite emotional to go thru all this. Thank you guys.