Bitcoin Forum

I will explain in chronological order.

First I see this thread opened in the Serious Discussion board: What is merit? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5325317.0) I've been about to report the thread because the subject has been discussed many times and I don't think it's suitable for that board. OP should have done research before opening the thread. If that's a newbie in the Newbies and Help section it's OK I think but not there for a junior member.

But then I go and see his profile (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=839918) and I see the account whas created in May, 2016. It wrote only one post then and the account was not used until last December when it started to apply for bounty campaigns.

Then, I check the trust but there is no feedback whatsoever.

But finally, I look at the merit and I see he was given 10 merits in a short period of time by the same guy (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=46273) who has been given negative trust by @marlboroza:

   " March 08, 2021, 09:49:30 AM: 3 from Hobo66 for (Deleted/Off-limits/Ignored)
    March 08, 2021, 09:48:53 AM: 3 from Hobo66 for (Deleted/Off-limits/Ignored)
    March 08, 2021, 08:55:29 AM: 4 from Hobo66 for (Deleted/Off-limits/Ignored)"

To me this smells like a sale of an account and that the same guy who sold him the account has given him the merits to rank up. I have no way to prove it but it looks very suspicious to me.

What do you think?

It's very much possible, and I think the mods should reverse those merits if possible, it's not even showing properly for which posts the user recieved merit for so I guess that the topics were deleted to bury the posts. To be honest, these things aren't rare, but very common, account sales etc, I have seen in past in some sites demanding bucks for btctalk merits lol. I guess there should be more evidences to prove account connections before tagging for it as simple merit sending might not be that much of an evidence. 

Using LoyceV's Search Tool for Deleted Posts/Replies
I got these:

[1] (https://loyce.club/archive/posts/5651/56516018.html)

[2] (https://loyce.club/archive/posts/5651/56516003.html)

[3] (https://loyce.club/archive/posts/5651/56515938.html)

These posts are all merited by the user you mentioned, but was deleted for some reason.
Not sure if sold account, as I don't think there's point in selling a Newbie rank if he/she only posted a single reply in 2016 or I could be missing some lines in here.

It looks a bit sus from the merits though, in my opinion. Those posts ain't worth 3-4 merits.

AFAIK, merits given are not reversible, not even by the mods. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Or no sale, just someone sending merits to rank up their sockpuppet because their main account is red-tagged.


Admins (or maybe just theymos himself) can reverse them but it's only done in very rare cases - I know a couple of examples, one was abuse by a merit source, another one was a hacked account. This is probably not one of such exceptional cases. In the long run these few merits won't matter. This user is unlikely to get any more.

Can one know if post was deleted by himself or mods? If himself (posts look of good quality), it would prove the point.

I don't think that's the case here because he's opened a stupid thread asking about what merit is in the serious discussion board. It looks to me as someone who bought the account and is lost. Moreover, the other account was red tagged almost three years ago.


Txs, I didn't know that.


Good idea.

It still accusation and it will be that hard to prove. I know what you have been thinking because in my mind too this is something unusual and I can also smell something fishy in both account.

It could be that the guy own the same account and wishes to get back in the forum bounty hunting and instead of creating new account he then just remember the old account and get it active so that he can use it like whatever purpose it may be.

Second, the account was sold and has been provided with merits as part of the of the sales.

Whatever the purpose of doing it there will time for that guy to become busted by the wrong doings. It might not be now but probably in the future. There will be always be time for that when he becomes completely unaware and does courageous things violating forum rules and regulations.

For now, all we can do is to observe both users and report when there will be something that can point out their wrong doings that if the both users still completely unaware of this post.

In addition two of them were plain copy paste (added sources).
If loyce.club can be considered trusted source then we have a proof of plagiarism.

Obviously these merits to user fortune1002 were bought or exchanged for some service and posts were made solely for such purpose.
IMO some merit seller requires making any posts that looks like informative/usefull but also has a condition to delete it after (to sweep the tracks).

All of them were copy paste, as this one came from this article as well.
https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/09/where-can-i-buy-dogecoin-for-the-best-price-14042867/

But we don't know if either of them deleted those posts, do we? I take it it was one of them, otherwise @fortune1002 should have been banned.

After this, I take it that some mod is going to ban @fortune1002 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=839918), for copy-pasting but I am not so sure if they are going to do anything with Hobo66 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=46273) because we lack evidence. I've tagged both of them.

Please Don't do anything. So I can banned. Please I am a bounty hunter so I bought Merit for Earning not for any other purpose. please don't Report me .
Please.
I hope you understand my feeling.

---

I only copied my first 3 posts which were deleted. Because I was newbie i did not know what have I to post for merit. That's why I copied from site. But Now I understood What I have to write So you can now see my all Posts are not copied from anywhere all are Written by me.

---

Please sir close this topic and let me go.
I already told that I am a bounty hunter so I bought merit for doing work on signature compaign. Please let me go

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

How great you thought of everything. You are not only smart but also cunning. Very, I will say fast speed. Someone tries and earns merit, and you decide to buy everything. What have you bought so little? It was necessary to immediately buy a legend, and go spam.
Tagged.

What have I done wrong? Please let me go I am very poor so I want to earn money. That's why I am working on bounty. Is this my mistake that I bought merit? But it's not big crime.

---

I apologise to you all for my mistake. I promise I will not repeat it. You can check after that I tried my best to answer all questions properly in threads. Now I understood About Bitcointalk.
Please Now let me go. If from Today You See me in doing any spam activity than you can direct Report me.

I apologise to all

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

Show me the rule that allows buying merits, and I'll let you go right away. ::)
If the purchase of merit is allowed on the forum, then you probably would not be the only one who would take advantage of such opportunities.
Alternatively, you had to read the rules and buy a copper member

I already Apologized for my mistake mate. And I also said that now I will not repeat this.

you may have had apologized but the negative tag will certainly stay. you could've just put a little effort into contributing to the forum then you would've to have earned merits. not sure if bounty campaigns accept an account with a negative tag but I hope they don't.

Please don't do this

I changed my first negative trust to neutral. I thought maybe I shouldn't ruin your reputation after all but now I see that you are still broke all possible standard rules of conduct here in the forum. Plagiarism, merit trading...


how do we decide what is small and what is a big crime? I'm pretty sure you knew what you were doing when you bought the merit or copy/paste your posts.

I really didn't know. It is right or wrong. Now I knew that it was wrong. So Now What Can I do For solve my mistake.
Please Don't give me negative trust. If you give me negative Trust then I will not be able to participate in any bounty. Is there any other solution of this problem? If yes please tell me I will agree for that.

I do not know exactly whether the case of buying and selling merit can be forgiven earlier in the forum. But I firmly believe that the case of copy and paste (Plagiarism) will not be forgiven and maybe you should give up this account to get banned permanently by mod.
I think the rules are pretty straightforward, but you've ignored them just because you were too focused on making money.


Explanation of why it is banned.


While forum do not prohibit users from making money from bounties, if you are only focused on making money without any contribution then this forum is not for you. Think about that twice as much.

Promise yourself not to repeat the same mistake, and you should read the embedded forum rule. So far none of the solution have worked for you because you completely broke the rule.

Okay I promise that I will not repeat this. You can Check there is no any copied post after that.
I posted copied post because I didn't know that it is forbidden. You Can Check After 11 March there is no any copied content. All content has been written by me. So Please give me a chance.

At least you confessed and now we can mark the merit seller as well.
Lesson learned.

Now you have two negative tag for your mistake (merit sale and plagiarism). It is good that you admit to the mistake you have made, and I think you should really make this matter a forever valuable lesson.

Someone please look what I found here. A Newbie is also caught doing plagiarism.

Risk Warning To The Beginners Before Investments. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5325454.msg56619583#msg56619583)

Please remove negative tag please. I promised that I will not repeat this mistake

To be honest, I feel a little sorry for you but what has happened here is that you have chosen the fast way, cheating. Once I discovered this and brought it to the attention of the community, there is nothing more I can do. It is up to the moderators to ban you and to the DT members to give you negative trust.

Really, dude? What's wrong with you?
Don't you know what plagiarism is?

You are free to ask about anything you want. This community is welcoming to newcomers.
But, at the very least, show some respect for the community you're joining.

I am working on many bounties. I have made Videos and submitted. If I have negative trust than they will reject me
 Than my work will be ruined.so please I am requesting you to remove negative trust.