Bitcoin Forum

Because the merit system is a hot topic on this forum since the introduction of it I was thinking that the "Merit summary" page for each user can be improved a bit with some additional stats/features:

1) The total amount of merit sent/received in the last 120 days should be displayed on the same raw after "Sent in the last 120 days"/"Received in the last 120 days" in parentheses;

2) A mini sMerit rank system will make the Merit system/Merit page more interactive and maybe the users hoarding sMerits will also have a reason to use them (not that now they don't have any reason);
The sMerit mini-rank system can be based simply on some stars from 1 to 5 (*, **, ***, ****, *****) near the name (showed only in the Merit summary page) or more interactive with rank names such as: ("hoarder", "skimpy", "dutiful", "sumptuous", "philanthropist") in parentheses or maybe both if another raw "sMerit rank" is added under "Merit: xxx" which by the way, can be changed to "Total merit: xxx".
I think this can be easy implemented since the calculation is very simple (the percentage of sent merit/half received merit in the last 120 days).

3) At the page bottom (after all the stats) a link pointing to the user's https://bpip.org/ profile for more stats, would also be nice.

If you have more ideas, please leave a comment below.

It complicates things, the merit system we have right now is, in my opinion, well done. To introduce a system like what you've mentioned will most likely clutter the frontend and backend with additional data. The rank system would most likely create a needless pissing contest.

You can just use 3rd-party applications like the site LoyceV made. For example, here (http://loyce.club/Merit/history/2504426.html) you can check out your merit stats with a little more detail than what we have on the forums which is awesome, albeit the update is not that fast.

People do hoard sMerit, you can't really just force them to use it. Maybe they'll be... decayed in the future. If theymos decides it that way.

This is what I agree with.
Sent in the last 120 days: 20
Received in the last 120 days: 100

or
Sent in the last 120 days (20)
Received in the last 120 days (100)
It is very complicated, like @Deathwing wrote.
I have one more point to add and to show why I disagree with this one. All users have rights to hoard their sMerits if they want. Therefore, the term mini-rank system is not needed. In reality, the term is incorrect too. Merit system is very different from rank system so it does not make sense to add a new mini-rank system based on smerits.
The percentage of merit earned/ merit sent is available on BPIP (but for the whole history of users, not for last 120 days).
Having available sMerits of each users might raise some annoying things for them. Merit beggars might spend more time to make replies to posts of users who have significant sMerits.
BPIP is not official page of the forum, it is a third-party website, built by @Vod. I don't think admin will add link to third-party website for basic stats of the forum.
Let's imagine what happens if BPIP shuts down/ crashes or compromised, something like that.

Yeah, this just complicates things. The merit system has largely been a success in my eyes, and doesn't need any tweaking except for adding merit sources occasionally, and removing inactive ones. The only improvement that I would suggest would be a direct button to the merit statistics (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats) as I don't think that's as intuitive as it could be for some interesting statistics.

In my opinion, this places too much emphasis on the merit system. And would lead to a flood of posts on Meta asking about a certain feature or complaining a out some other.
The merit summary page should be improved cause of necessity and not because it is a hot topic

But why? It's not a value that helps the forum at all. The only thing I can think of, is campaign managers who ask for it. But that shouldn't be handled by the forum.

So you're saying give Merit sources 5 stars?

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If anything should change, it's how far I have to scroll down to see who sent me Merit :D
/just Merit source problems :P

TryNinja made it. That one can be solved by the userscript.  ;)
When you use the userscript, results will be like this:

These aren't bad suggestions from OP necessarily, and I gave him some merits for at least writing them thoughtfully and coherently--not because I totally agree with them. 

I do think the way sent and received merits is presented now is pretty good, but IMO it could use some cleaning up, maybe something that reduces scrolling somewhat.  BPIP is a great website, but I don't visit all that often and I'd rather have a nice(r) summary under a member's profile.

Ah, I read this after I wrote my above comments.  Nice to know the scrolling issue isn't just in my head.  Something like a table would be nice, because often members send merits to certain members repeatedly and the current method of displaying merits doesn't reflect this efficiently--you just have to scroll through everything.  Not a serious problem, of course, just a minor annoyance.

I appreciate your opinion. My suggestions were not for the merit system itself, but for the page showing the stats. As for the 3rd-party apps, this is exactly what I want to avoid, going to other place to see additional stats when I check a user Merit page.

Like I said I want to avoid going to other place to see some additional stats. As for the availability of the sMerits, well this can be already calculated for the last 120 days for each user, from the current stats (you count the merits received, divide by 2 and subtract the sent merits = sMerits left) - this doesn't apply for the pre-merit accounts/merit sources.

Here I have to agree with you :)

Merit source can just get "Merit source" tag :P


Maybe what I ask is very complicated indeed and unnecessary, but just looking at the Trust page and how many features and stats is having, makes me still think that some additional info would be nice. Like @The Pharmacist said, "a nice(r) summary under a member's profile" could be enough. Or maybe is just me.. anyway, thanks for your thoughts!

Sending Merits is an individual behavior, especially for the merit sources "because you get them for free" so spending them should not be considered an advantage "This will be unfair to others."
Granting more privileges to the Merit sources may prompt some to distribute them indiscriminately.

Generally, it may be a good idea if all sources refrain from sending.