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I don't know about you guys but these days i found myself ignoring unmerited responses in a topic and tend to only read the merited ones because they're "usually" more relevant to the topic and contain more valuable informations,and in big topics with multiple pages it gets difficult to sort them out.

I don't know if this was suggested before (sorry for repeating if it was) but wouldn't it be better if the replies with the most merites be shown at the top (instead of the most recent ones) and so on kinda like a reddit upvote system,or at least to add a sorting option to switch between these two display modes (by time of posting or merites recieved).

Is a system like this feasible,and can we see something like this implemented in the near future ?

Thanks for reading

If we don't read unmerited posts, then how are posters gonna get merits? Doesn't make sense :D

I guarantee you, take this into account and your problem will be fixed:
1. Almost every person who wears Chipmixer signature is a quality poster.
2. Persons who have high merits from global sections and not from Local ones, are usually good posters.
3. Use Ignore option on spammers.

I wasn't saying we need to delete all the unmerited replies just give them less exposure (kinda like reddit upvote thing).

Thanks for these tips,I knew about the ignore feature but im too lazy for it ;D

No it is not. A merited reply is not always the most informative response on a topic, it is possible that the post that contains the most accurate information goes unmerited. You shouldn't also read only merited replies, would that mean that you do not read threads that no merits were sent throughout the discussion, or that you wouldn't have joined the forum nor read any threads here if Theymos never introduced the merit system.
Quality posters are not judged by the signature they wear.
It does not matter the section you earn your merits, people mostly send merits to great posts, except the merit is bought, so if a member gets many merits from their local board it is because they are making great posts.

Yes, there is some truth to what you say here, merit is not a measuring stick for quality of posts, but it is a good indicator and will give you an idea as to whether the post you are reading is likely to be of good quality. I have observed, however, that there is no standard or clear guidelines that governs posts that generate merit. You will have to judge for yourself whether the post you are reading is worthwhile or not. For example, we have posts that have received a lot of merits but in reality, they are not so good and some that are truly crappy. It is important to be aware of that when reading posts. Don't take everything on face value. So, I don't judge posts based solely on merit, I consider the content quality as well as engagement.


No, I do not think something like this will ever be implemented on a bitcointalk forum. For starters, this would mean favoring posts from an elite group of members (high-ranking members usually get more merits than newcomers). Secondly, such a system could be easily manipulated in threads that typically do not attract a lot of merits. Thirdly, such a system would require an "us" versus "them" mindset, which is contrary to what bitcointalk stands for.

I think merits are meant to be subtle so they don't encourage people to look at them.

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Ranking posts by numbers of merits might miss out the context of the post you're reading and pressure other users (like merit sources) into spending their merit quota too quickly or wasting merits on posts that were good responses but may not be deserving of merits.

Sorry but I honestly don't support this , its not feasible for several reasons, which I believe a lot have been mentioned even in just a few posts...
most merited posts or replies on a thread does not necessarily mean that such post is the most accurate answer or reply to the topic or subject being discussed.
I personally have seen a lot of good posts, replies in the comment sections go unmerited most times, so this is to say that, if like you said, you've not been reading posts without merits, then I really wonder what you have been reading then, because according to my personal observations , not a lot of posts in the comment section gets merited most of the time, you sure would miss out on important information if you continue this way.
just a friendly advice.

Offcourse that I'm reading unmerited posts. Merits is just an extra factor. I decide which posts to read using other factors. First is layout of posts. If it's huge quote or wall of text without paragraphs, I usually ignore such posts. I also paying less attention to posts made by 1xbit and shitcoin bounty participants, but I can't say that I completely ignore it. Also, there is some member names stuck in my mind which I remember that's simply not worth to read their posts. But ignore unmerited posts, I don't do it.
But what I can say that I'm paying much more attention to posts which got a bit more merit.

Thats not true , and if you only read the merited posts what will be happend if there is a thread that have no merits ?
If everybody would be doing that , there will be no post found to merit it also.
Its also depends on what topic you looking and reading.

I also dont support this , and it only will be destroy the structure of replies to the post and the conversations in the thread.
Sometimes you will be find some nice posts that hasnt got any merit but it helps you for what you looking or something that you havnt known before.

Yes, I read unmerited post by other people, otherwise, how am I suppose to merit them?

Besides, even though this merit system is supposed to reward those who offer useful replies/information, the definition of useful may vary depending on the user that is reading.

In other words, you could find a post to be good and helpful while I don't see it to be worth of merits, it is a relative score.
If only read those post merited by others, I would be closing myself to read  information others believe to be good, dont you think?

So I read unmerited posts, however I admit merit scores on the top of a post tend to highlight it among others.  ;)

Usually, not always. Not all merited posts are high quality. Sometimes people dump 20, 30, 50 merits on a single post even it does not deserve it. It is common with merit sources when they see that poster has good quality and contribution in general, but the source does not have time to check post history of the poster and an easy solution is pick one of them, and make a huge merit dump.

In another case, it falls to merit abuse. So sorting merited posts in a single thread, and displaying it according to orders does not make sense. First, not make sense about quality of post. Second, not makes sense about flow of discussions. It's awkward when you read a discussion and can not follow its flow of idea, discussion from beginning to ending.

You can suggested it for a new forum software, Epochtalk.

• New forum software (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=167.0). You can make your suggestion there.

If there are responses that I'd ignore, it's mostly those long responses that are really badly structured; you know, those with bad punctuation and have sentences that are all clamped up in one huge block instead of using separate paragraphs.

As for merited replies, I don't necessarily ignore them, but if a certain reply has merits I'll more likely take my time in properly reading it instead of skimming.

I think thats not good. The current version is more appropriated for the forum. Its not all about merit dude. Some unmerited topics are also good or sometimes not noticed but it doesnt mean its trash post. Thats why I think LoyceV created a thread of unmerited post ought to be deserving to be merited.

Sometime topics arent noticed probably not due to its quality but lack of right engagement. Kike you viewed a topic you dont know how to reply, how could you engage that? It doesnt mean its not good, cause probably people who able to see and understand will merit that not those who just visited and no clue whats that.

Most merited posts in relevant and solution for the topic/question, but the unmerited post doesn't always a shitpost or not relevant, perhaps their replies didn't really solve the question or just a common sense.

Not all thread is good to use sort by received merit, let's say the topic who had been since 2015 and the thread active until now, if you sort based on merit received you will confused since each users discuss on the different time and situation.

I think tl;dr is very underrated for many users in this forum, they're can create long post, but mostly it just repeating the previous sentence. I think a long posts will need tl;dr to sum it up for 1-2 liner for people who doesn't have enough time to read all replies.

Yea, I get really annoyed with those. I make a well-written constructive response, and then someone below me pretty much just spins and rephrases my answer.

Constructive posts are sometimes found on certain pages that are passed for merit especially on megathreads where such posts have been buried. However, at some point I'm kind of in favor of adding this feature to encourage anyone to at least be more objective about spending Smerit.

Someone who is really looking for relevant information can hardly miss any post and without changing the sort, merited posts will naturally get the reader's attention.

Of course I read them. I don't see much sense in what the OP raises: discriminate posts based on whether you see that they have received merit or not..

It's just that there are so many arguments that I don't even know where to start: just because a post has no merit doesn't mean it's not interesting. Maybe no one has given it merits yet, but it will, or maybe it has an argument that you can counter-argue in your response. Also if you are going to reply, you have to read the replies to make sure that if you reply you are not saying something that has already been said.

So, yes, I do read unmerited replies.

Pretty weird behavior for the OP. Your topic has not yet received single merit, and thus does not deserve to read and attention?
As for me, I read all the answers in full, because otherwise the meaning of communication is lost. But that's everyone's business, and also an indicator of the OP's laziness.

Merit helps against spamming but not all good posts are given merit, some are just left not merited. Some posts that do not worth to be given merit can be given merit at times, this can be rear but it do happen at times. If some posts that have valid information but that do not have merit are forced down the thread, that will not make any sense at all. I will not suggest this.

Just because the posts have no merit does not mean that they are no longer worth reading.  Maybe the replies are still on the topic but it's not just that it's more uplifting to be more noticeable to be given merits.  We also have our standards, as if we have our criteria for judging.  I also see posts that have been given merits for being funny or witty.

I know that there are members on the forum who have thousands of other members on the ignore list (all of whom have a pay signature) and supposedly it is very interesting for them to read the forum - and maybe someone could make a script for you (and those with similar needs) which would hide all posts that have no merits?

I see only one problem in that, and that is that not all good posts get merits, which means that you would miss a lot of good posts. In addition, any such measure is subject to manipulation - because someone who has a lot of alt accounts could give merits to themselves and thus make their posts more exposed.

Often someone gives merit is just because he agrees or he likes the post, not because it has something good to say.
Reading only merited posts means that the small group of members can skew your opinion. I think it's called "circle-jerk" in a more popular language.
If you want good readings/discussions, start by ignoring signature, rank, and merit.

Using your logic, that means we shouldn't read your topic? Merits are not always given to someone who's response may be worthy of receiving one. There are alot of good posters who get probably get overlooked for multiple reasons.

Long story short, you should always read the replies before posting so you aren't repeating what someone else has already said. I would recommend this for any thread 3 pages or less.

As already said, this question is a huge failure of logic. If people would do this, it would mean that no posts ever get merited.
I don't even know if this is a real question you had or you're just trying to bring the next part, which was already discussed, in a hope to fish for some merit.


Yes, it was discussed before. This is a forum, not a problem solving website like StackExchange. The posts can easily create together a discussion and then the chronology is important. Even more, it can happen that the best answer needs a small correction or completion and that one may get more merit.
All in all, not feasible, sorry.


Very good advice, which unfortunately far too few follow.

Thanks alot for all your inputs, Really appreciate you stoping by and sharing your thoughts on this matter.

I read all your replies (not only the merited ones :D) and I think all point of views were presented so I'm closing the topic now.