Bitcoin Forum

I see too many new implementations that changed the forum a lot.
Like, the Merit system introduced, trust system changed, don't know how DT works now.

Can anyone make a list of changes implemented on the forum in the past two years?

I'm struggling to catch-up the things. Didn't get time to dig up things till now.

Here are a few important links from theymos' profile - from new to old (I hope I didn't skip any).

Bumping changes (new bump button) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5183553.msg52420076#msg52420076)
Trust flags (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5153344.msg51435911#msg51435911)
Minor selfmod enhancement (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5099378.msg49306293#msg49306293)
DefaultTrust changes (new DT) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5095156.msg49140832#msg49140832)
Recovering hacked/lost accounts (new account recovery procedure) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5089777.msg48896084#msg48896084)
FYI: "ownership change queued" (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5084632.msg48656204#msg48656204)
Captcha bypass (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5042674.msg46447159#msg46447159)
Enhanced newbie restrictions & requirements (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5030366.msg45810047#msg45810047)
Merit & new rank requirements (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.msg28856522#msg28856522)
Newbie PM opt-in (blocking PMs from newbies) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2728840.msg27932988#msg27932988)
Two new no-signature boards (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2716647.msg27795415#msg27795415)
New PM limits (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2536728.msg25872334#msg25872334)
Newbies can now pay a small fee to enable images (Copper Member) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2385104.msg24371150#msg24371150)

Thanks, Ninja
It will be quite helpful to catch things up quickly. I'll read them all next weekend.

TryNinja's post is probably going to be the most helpful here, but I'd like to add that the merit system was probably the biggest thing to come along since you've been away (I assume you've been away).  The garbage posting due to signature campaign shitposters was getting so out of hand that Theymos felt he had to implement it.  

Because of it, it's much much harder to rank up nowadays, and this kills at least two birds with one beautiful stone:  new members can no longer expect to earn much in campaigns, and it's almost impossible to be an account farmer who creates a bunch of accounts and ranks them all up in order to sell them.  It's an elegantly-designed system and one which I'm grateful we now have.

The DT system has gotten kind of weird lately, and I haven't even been following the list anymore.  There's been a ton of drama since at least December of last year about certain folks being on it, and I think Theymos felt he also had to act on that.  And then the flag system....not sure if it's an improvement or not, but that's one of the most recent changes.

Hey--two years gone, and I bet when you came back you were expecting the new forum software to be up and running, right?  Right?  lol

Edit:

I do like the SMF software, though!  As far as the donations and what you call bounty, that's not for me to question since it doesn't represent any of my money and I don't have a clue what the forum does with that money.  There's got to be something in development, eh?

 Don'tcha love SMF though  ::)? Still amazing how much bounty was paid to non-existent forum software.

I do like the current forum, at least its user interface, that is simple and neat.
I visited and created account on the Epochtalk-based forum: www.cryptos-currencies, but I don't like it too much, honestly. Of course I don't dig deeper and try to use modify options, but default ones are not simple and neat as the forum we have used for years, that I am familiar with and fall in love.
There are at least two trial forums that use Epochtalk's source codes, please read (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5186569.msg52524108#msg52524108) (if you have interests). The one above and the rest one comes from Cryptios team.

---

For OP,
Merit system has two phase:

• Initial one: Merit & new rank requirements (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.0)
• Enhanced one: Enhanced newbie restrictions & requirements (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5030366.0)

For their one year anniversary and their effects, please read:

• One year anniversary of merit system (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5101718.0)
• One year anniversary of enhanced merit system (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5186633.0)

There are likely more changes to come, with lots of things in to-do list of theymos. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4893744.msg44432901#msg44432901)

There are more significant changes:

• Plagiabot (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5141807.0) that caused wave of permanent bans (the community-built bot indirectly triggered massive bans) *
• Second chances (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5056278.msg47256371#msg47256371) for permanent banned users with higher power for global moderators (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1935179.msg51065857#msg51065857)

* Forgot to mention about it in original post, thanks @joniboini.

I don't think this is a forum change thing. It's just that a member found a new & effective way of fighting plagiarism.


There's no change in plagiarism rule too.

I'm working on a list of all the changes in the forum from the beginning of it, but because of limited free time at the moment I haven't finished it yet.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5151363.msg51367933#msg51367933

I can give you my hands.

Firstly, I have my threads:
Merit sytem
(1) History of bitcointalk.org's rank system (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5170032.0)
(2) One year anniversary of merit system (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5101718.0) (you can find information on history of merit system, initial version, enhanced version, and more minor changes.
If you want to have one year anniversary of enhanced merit system, there you go: One year anniversary of enhanced merit system (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5186633.0)
(3) Merit source observations (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5180975.0)
Trust sytem

---

Additionally, there are lots of other historical threads by others, that I bookmarked for my personal reference.
By the way, please let me know if you feel you can not manage your time to finish your thread, then I will take it over. To be honest with you, I have nearly same ideas, from which I collected those things weeks ago. :D

Thanks for the input. I'm planning to make it happen soon because it takes quite a lot time for to make it complete from the day 1 of the forum. I don't want to miss anyting so that's why I'll strictly follow themoy's timeline of events. So that's why I have puted it to the archive.

It does not contains enough changes over years, but I actually started to do it.
Bitcointalk's historical important changes (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5186820.0)