Bitcoin Forum

I haven't been much around the last couple of months and all of a sudden a Merit system has been integrated. I think it works fine. If I compare the quality of posts in main boards, now it's much more helpfull than it used to be.

But it looks like the spam moved to the local boards. If I take a look at the Dutch boards, lots of s****y projects are posted there. I also see a lot of spam and discussions that, in my opinion, don't belong on Bitcointalk. Also I see a lot of bounty hunters over there, posting things you can't take serious.

Can we do something about this and introduce a Merit system for local boards only? So that it is also needed to post quality on those local boards and prevent people from posting spam and worthless content?

Or is this just a problem for the local Dutch board?

It's a problem specifically for each local board more or less.

You may want to begin actively using the "report to moderator" function. I see there isn't a dedicated moderator there, so I'm not sure who would handle the reports. Best to make sure you clearly explain the issue with each post you report.

You could amend this topic to request a Moderator be assigned to the board. Best way to do this is to nominate some of the more active users on that board you/board community feel may make a good moderator. Report enough posts properly and it may even be you some day.

Just don't expect things to move quickly, good luck.

Shitty (it's okay to type that word here) projects are not against the rules.

I barely visit the Dutch board, but I assume you mean the Dutch bounty/altcoin boards, right? Those have heavy spam all over the forum, not just in Dutch.

The Merit system works on all boards, what do you mean by introducing it for local boards?

I think he is talking about merit source. Can't remember anyone has applied for being merit source in Dutch Local Board.
Anyway, I think there is some members who are giving sMerits to quality posts.
For example-
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3494821.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5030464.0

@OP
I wish theymos recruites merit source for each and every local board (Although depends on availability)

Interesting.  I'd always assumed that the vast majority of spamming/shitposting occurred in the English sections because most signature campaigns only pay for posts in English--and I don't visit any of the local boards so I'd have no way of knowing about any spam problems there.

I don't think the local boards need a special merit system.  When you come across garbage posts, spam, or whatever, just use the "report to moderator" button as Steamtyme suggested and hopefully if there's a moderator on the Dutch boards (I don't know anything about local board moderation) they'll take action. 

Spam is a problem all over bitcointalk it seems.  The merit system helps but isn't enough, and other suggestions have been proposed in Meta but nothing except for the 1-merit requirement for Newbies to reach Jr. Member rank has been implemented yet.  Theymos will probably make more changes if the spamming doesn't improve (or gets worse, heaven forbid), but he's slow to act--and that's not a criticism of him.  He's said that even small changes can have wide-ranging and sometimes unpredictable effects, so it's best not to implement a lot of changes all at once.

I don't believe so. I think they are looking for the benefits of reduced spam and shit posts that some boards seem to be benefiting from since the merit system was introduced. This is why I suggested seeking a moderator, as I don't think a merit system will have the same effect on local boards, considering many signature bearing campaigns do not pay for local board posts.

---

I scrolled down to see and it didn't look like there was a dedicated moderator, hence the suggestion of requesting one.

I guess this isn't only happen on Dutch Local board but on some local boards as well that has little supervision or moderation or should I say a local board that's been nested by spammers too even there's a moderator. Steamtyme and The Pharmacist gives you a tip on how to moderate those shitposts base on your judgment.

There are some Dutch speaking Merit sources, myself included. I just don't visit the Dutch board very often, so I'm not much good to them.

You're welcome to apply as a Merit source :)

Mitchell (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=113670) used to be Mod on the Dutch board, but that ended a couple of months ago. I don't know why.

Local boards are like small streets. One traffic policeman can enforce the system.
Since it is difficult to determine Spam in those boards, it is better to have more than one active manager or add more in the case of many unhandled reports.
A merit system needs a lot of members to ensure its idealism.

I think it's in the users hand to bring good quality posts in the local boards, In the past months i have been making some good quality posts in the Spanish boards, sometimes i start discussions just to try to get people more involved and even i make a giveaway with a post talking about brainwallets. So, not only sharing the knowledge, i'm doing that on a dynamic way.

Is easy for all to complain about the post quality and spam, and after chewing it a lot, I think the best thing to do is to fix things with our own hands, and give an example to the newbies about how it should be done.

So, if your local board is filled with spam, bring them a nice post, for sure you can do it.

Merit sources are specially needed for local board. Right now, I think it's enough for global (English). It's sad to say that we don't even have our own seperate section.

Also,
I am still not an established member.

and
The history should be quite long  :D

Definitely the problem isn't synonymous to any local board nor the Dutch board,every section of this forum gets infiltrated with its own fair share of spam/low contents topic/reply
I actually think your board should be a whole lot better than the Altcoin discussion board

The new merit system spreads across to all sections of the forum. Except of course you're requesting for stricter restrictions as regards merit to rank up

Actually every local board does not need a merit source, since not all local boards have a lot of activty. Mine local board or to be exact - thread , has little activity and does not need a sperate merit source.

I don't have data to support this but I'm afraid that spams shifted to local boards for a few reasons
first, there will be less people checking and reporting because language barrier
second, it will easier to post in their own native languages and get merit from their own countrymen (nationalism)
third, less likely to get caught and banned by conducting plagiarism-by-translate in local boards

It is just the same with my local board.  People are taking advantage of the language barrier in order to spam the forum.  The function "report to moderators" is usually used to report posts mostly in english language.  Psychologically, it is understandable because you will prefer not to report someone who has the same nationality with you, right?


I think he/she is encouraging to increase the merit distribution in the local boards.  By increasing the merit regulation and distribution in local boards, we can increase the quality posts and decrease the spam.  How about encourage members to apply as merit sources and focus on finding meritable posts on their local boards?

That's not true at all. I have reported 32 posts and of course, some of those are from my local thread.
I really prefer to report spam posts from my local thread because I want to keep it free from spam.

What have you meant my members? Rank or Everyone?
If rank, everyone can apply for becoming merit source.
If you referred overall members of the forum, well, that depends on people. Why should it be encouraged? If someone is willing to become merit source, s/he is welcome to apply.

The local Dutch Board, as many others, is not one that proliferates on merit. Awarded monthly merit has been as follows on that board:
October (7), September (4), August (20), July (40), June (27), May (36), April (19), March (41), February (116) and January (35).
The aggregate monthly amount is therefore measly, more so as of recent dates.

On the other hand, the number of monthly posts in the Dutch Local forum seems pretty small too: The average over the last three months is of around 21 posts per day, but just on the Altcoin section it is around 17 per day (*).
(*) Data derived from the board official post count today and contrasting to archieved date over the last months (deleted post/threads could impact the provided data).

The issue seems to be that there is not much activity going on the Dutch local board, be it due to awareness of the forum, size of crypto community, lack of merit incentive, lack of good topics, or a combination of all. The major activity seems to be driven to the Altcoin childboard (which I think combines Altcoin Discussion, Ann, Bounties and so on in a single childboard, as happens in most local boards).

Probably OP wants to introduce another sub merit system for their local board allowing only good users to post on their section. The discretion and the decision to allow good users to post will be managed by the moderators on that board. The moderator/admin will set a sub merit system to allow only users that reach the least certain amount of merit to be qualified to join in the local board. This may be a good idea because spamming in their local section will be reduced.

Yet, if post is to be reduced on local board then probably the shit poster will then return to spam on Super Mega Thread section. The problem could be solve on local board but the problem will go overboard on other section especially the SMT.

Besides, suggesting for a sub merit system in the local boards will limit only to higher ranks or to those who are qualified to post in the local boards and the newbies with great and brilliant minds will be limited to this. Probably this will create another problem on OP suggestion.

As the legend says since we had a lot of differences here in the forum due to our culture and values it may be good to follow what the forum has offered. We should adapt how the admin run the forum instead of complaining and suggesting an idea that will only allow to create another form of problem. So, I must say to follow the forum, respect begets, and love the users here instead of complaining. LOL

There's a more obvious explanation:
Short summary in English: we Dutch speakers easily join threads in other languages (mainly English), so we don't have to stick to the Dutch board.

That would mean a new user who doesn't speak English can't post anywhere, and thus can't earn Merit either.

Sorry but the quality of posts on the Dutch board is crap.

Most just a couple of lines or promoting something.

Last time I looked I had trouble sending one merit there. A merit source for there would be unemployed.

Threads talking about merit there:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3494821.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4171472.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2831103.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4894433.0

I've even said it there.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3494821.msg39332168#msg39332168

Indeed and that would be a real trouble for newbies. LOL. Actually I have thought of this so this could be a another problem if OP's demand will be granted. Struggle is real for the newbies in their local board and that is not how the admin would want to happen. Administrator are more considerate than to what I expected. Probably, the problem will not be addressed or resolve by creating sub merit system for their local boards. It is in their local board has the problem and not the forum itself.

Isn't the merit system introduced to reduce spam and increase quality? Having merit source on particular board will definitely increase that quality of that board, IMO. The current posts may be not enough qualitative, but if someone starts to encourage sending sMerits on good posts, others will also think of posting something constructive, helpful.

There are plenty of people that go there that have merits available and that speak the language. Including some of the merit sources.

That too is a factor, since there are countries who’s population has way better command of English than others. For example, there is an abysmal difference between Mediterranean countries (lower) and north European countries in general (much higher).

Last time I checked in September (see Analysis - Ranked-up Users – Section/Subsection profile (& Local Boards) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5020761.msg45296625#msg45296625)), I counted only 2 people who has managed to rank-up at least one level (>=Member) under the Merit System in the Dutch board, purely receiving all the required sMerit on the local board. An additional 5 that had done so receiving the required sMerit both on the local Dutch board, and other general English boards. Of course I do not have a reference to those that post and get merited solely on the English sections of the forum.

I just had a look and found most Dutch local board users that had received merits received them on the German board and Main board.

Most Dutch people have learned English, German and French in addition to Dutch.  Spanish and Italian is relatively common too.

I think it should be a problem with local boards individually. I haven't seen the same problem on my board, however, it's less active than others. Anyways, it's a pretty good idea. In my opinion admins should really think about it.

I think it's not necessary to introduce local merit since it would add more confusion and complexity. In my opinion, problems related to the local board should be addressed internally, I mean with more engagement, such as more discussions, reports, and stuff. If a local board looks neglected then it's a signal that the board should be merged or refreshed or something serious has to be done.

In my local board, after the merit system introduced, spam posts were more contained and significantly reduced.

Month	Topics	+Topics	Posts	+Posts
Aug	10,612	N/A	941,443	N/A
Sept	10,875	263	965,461	24,018
Oct	11,279	404	985,052	19,591

Source: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4932482.0

Sept-Oct shows that users created 53.6% more topics and 18.43% fewer posts. Perhaps, users desperately create more threads to get some merits and at the same time decreasing spam posts. I expect both thread and post count would continue to decrease at the next "table" update.

This improvement not only because of the merit system but also because of the community participation as a whole. We have more patrollers, educators, and "good trollers" in the last two or three months.

Many campaigns allow and even encourage posts on local boards, but they also require a report with the translation of these comments into English. Therefore, a huge number of bounty hunters are spamming in these branches. At the same time moderation usually isn`t so responsible and tough there, so spam has every reason for extension. In addition, there is a widespread opinion that the English branches have stricter rules and requirements, whereas in local boards everything isn`t so severe. In the English branches the "elite" of the forum is concentrated, which keeps order (in addition to the main moderators). Therefore, participants apply much more efforts to write quality posts, whereas in local branches comments are usually written for quantity.

Spam happens to be on all boards of the forum,be it the normal board or the local boards..
And I am kinda lost with the OP's suggestions,are we to introduce a specific merit system that differs from the normal one on his local board??

That's asking theymos for too much and I doubt if it'll ever be implemented,you can help keep your board clean by reporting spam to the moderators on sight