Bitcoin Forum

Hello. I was looking at this thread, where a guy asked what was the problem in keeping funds on Coinbase.

Many people gave the answers everyone already knew, but one answer was better (wasn't mine)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3404196.msg35637828#msg35637828

It could be very helpful if it was the first answer. If we could click a button"sort by top merited"

What do you think?

That is actually a great idea. It's a pain currently trying to browse and to find the most helpful answer on the thread in the sea of shitposts.
if such function existed, it would be possible to just skip all the unhelpful answers and then read only the best answer.

I have already suggested(I think it is similar but your thoughts) to make another column that shows how many merited post in a certain topic. And once we click it, merited post will only be filtered.

That would be a great solution to read usefull answers on a topic.

Edited:
This was my suggestion.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3375245.msg35438883#msg35438883

Yes, but how to do this? By reporting to mods the good activity too? For maybe the "best answer" to you is not the best for everybody.
It is a brilliant idea, now we just have to figure out how to implement it...

I think you refer to a system as Reddit voting system (https://www.reddit.com/wiki/voting).
Many people have armies of accounts that can be used to influence the system and make specific signatures appear first.
Merit points still mean a kind of excellence for the post/topic.
Personally, when viewing a lot of replies, I give merited posts a higher value.

The idea is good but the problem is the low number of merit sources at the moment and also the low number of threads that they patrol on. I believe if there was an option offered to the thread maker that "allow searching posts by top merits" when the thread would be active it would be a good thing to segregate the shitposts from quality posts.

However we need more exposure of threads from merit sources then.

O don't think merit sources are the problem. If there is only one merited answer it will be on top, and any user can merit.
Maybe we need more merit sources, (for sure better distribution, as many local boards don't have any) but this can be implemented anyway.

How I wish that it will happen soon in this forum but for now I don't think that it will be implemented by Theymos because the Merit system itself has its flows that needs to be solidified first before going to the next step. I think we all hoping the betterment of the forum, it's just a matter of time though. If only many programmers are available in improving this forum maybe the upgrading process will be much more faster than we expected but there are only few of them working on this.

Ahh!! I don't use reddit, but I understand now how it is about. Certainly, that's a great idea. It can save a lot of time, but, on the other hand, this can discouraged lazy people of reading the answers below.
What happends if the 35th answer is better and nobody reachs it because they think the first is the best? And... What  if the merited one is far to be a good answer?
 
In the other hand, remember that many topics are receiving tons of merits due to the farming instead of quality, so it can be useful for detecting farming or merit abuse, though.

Now, with the current system we still have this problem.
If the good answer is the 35th and there are already 50 answers, nobody will ever see it.

I don't find sorting by merit very useful because:
1. after one post is merited the others may not get read and may be valuable.
2. nowadays people still don't give out as much merit as they have for many posts.

Another flaw is that if we'd see sorted by merit we'd lose the flow/logic of the discussion.

Another idea could help more: merited posts could get special background colour. But that may have to wait until the new forum software is up and running.

I think the idea is fine, although I'm not sure we'll actually get to see it any time soon. It's true as NeuroticFish stated that we could lose the flow of discussion, and that is normally the way to go in most cases. But at times, when thread is long, time very limited, or just scouting to enjoy a good read, a sort by merit feature would come in handy as a secondary way to access posts.

Having a Merit count column on the Board (between "views" and "last post") may be nice too, basically when scouting better threads to read. It wouldn't be my primary method of reading through posts, but it would give way to a "leisure read mode" with less spam and better content.

the idea is good. but you may not get the conversation if important post are not merited.
for simple topics with a question that has a "simple" answer it would really be cool.

an other way could be to just highlight the amount of merits better. something similar to https://stackoverflow.com/

https://s7.postimg.cc/ue4cpq9d7/Screen_Shot_2018-04-26_at_22.15.49.png

and the OP could even highlight the post the solved the problem or helped him/her.

I am not sure if many posts that correctly answer the question asked are indeed merited. You could get merits for a variety of things which may not be related to the OP - a witty remark, a challenge to a previous solution, and so on and so forth.

Yes, something like reddit system.

But an army of accounts cannot do that in bitcointalk, as merit is totally differente than an upvote.
If you create an army of newbies, they have zero smerit.

That would be useful if implemented.  Not sorting completely but an alternative approach within the current system would be: Click "All" of "Pages: [1] 2 ... »  All" and then use the browser search by "Merited by".

I would advise looking into the filter bubble effect.  Basically you expose people with more merit to the masses which results in more merit and before you know it you have a number of power users who will always be in the top while newcomers posts just aren't seen.

Well sorting out comments could be a little of a hassle and what if there's a more "better" answer but it's not merited or not merited as much as that one?

Is that comment going to be filtered out as well? If  you ask me, better option would be like a marker (golden star or something) that would make that post stand out.

This is a great idea.. I'll be surprised if this isn't implemented... I like the gold star suggestion at the very least.

The overwhelming majority of posts do not receive merit, so very few posts would even be reordered if this was implemented.

Also, many posts are replies to what was said immidiately before a post was made, so sorting posts this way would result in threads being confusing as to the flow of the conversation

The idea is to be able to sort by merit by clicking a button if you want. If that's bad in a situation, you can just sort by date again.
I think it can be very useful.

Should I suggest in the new forum software? Is this the right place for the suggestion?

I completely agree with you, and i think, that new member could never received merit in that system, cause, nobody want to read newcomers

Instead of using the Merit system to identify the best post, What if we gave the OP a chance to select the best answer. This will not always be perfect but in regards to troubleshooting/setup or help; they can choose the answer that helped them the most. There could also be something tied into Merit to have as a second and third ranked post.

It's not perfect but it's an option.

Meta is the correct section to post such things. However I will help you by saving your time and suggesting you against this. There is currently a new forum software called epochtalk and it is being developed (?) or so for several years now. We do not know of any ETA on its implementation yet.

Seems like you have not yet visited the many different threads in meta where merit sources are giving merits to posters. Please dont draw conclusions from half knowledge and half truths. Merit sources are trying their best in finding posts to give merit to but then 99% of the posts in the forum are shitposts.

It's a good idea but need I remind you that not all merited posts are meaningful. And not all unmerited posts are meaningless. The thing about all this posting stuff if I'm asked is admins should censor posts and delete posts that have similar reply to one given earlier on. It will help those who keep answers and suggestions filter through quickly.

IMO, the flow of the conversation is more important right after a reply got merited. Other user's opinion about the reply that just got merited can also be merited by other users. SO if we sort the replies base on merits then the logic of the conversation may likely be too confusing. Also, sorting out the replies can leave other unmerited replies unseen by most of the users that will only focus on top merited posts.

I think this is a great idea too. Chosing the best answer that could be highlighted , and  keep the original order of the posts below.

Thanks. I feel generally OP will be in the best position to select the best answer.
It wouldn't even have to put the posts out of order it could just link you to the top post as selected by OP.  And like I said the other links could be based on the top merited posts.