Bitcoin Forum

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

The answer is up to you.

You can report the user in Reputation section for begging, other DT members might leave negative feedback to the account or you can do that by yourself.

You can also report his PM as unsolicited message, click "report to Admin".

Not required, but encouraged.

I could reply to him with a link to this thread.😀

Nobody is demanding anyone to report a thing here and I would say just ignore him!
If he is farming accounts he will just get a 7-day ban at maximum on that one while spamming the forum with other accounts, is just a whack-a-mole thing at this point.


That rule is for money, not merit!

This is personally down to you, if you don’t like what he did and would wish others to be wary of him then it is your choice to create a report which I think will lead to some DT tagging him. Or you can just ignore his posts, PM and probably reports his PM again as unsolicited.

I haven’t read about a laid down punishment for this act just account buying it is frowned upon and the punishment to the offender lies on your own hands.



Here is theymos’s own link warning against it

Lol he said "do not beg for merits excessively" which means  there are some rooms for begging.  I think you are mature enough to let such actions slide as if they are some cheeky neighborhood kids running around asking for some candy from time to time. IMO, you should let everything slide unless it's something causing damage to you or other people.😉

I like their style though, "free" some people want everything to be free, as if they would give anything out for free themselves.

It doesn't happen often, but when I receive such a PM, I leave neutral feedback.
Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3579580

Kind of happy I don't get these DMs, at least not more than 1 per year. I think its because people don't want their alt accounts found out.  :D


I suppose everyone gets one free beg in that case... two if you play your cards right.


This is true, they would not. They'd sooner have to earn their own merit than give something away for free.


There's a 50% chance its the same person under a different account.

 This goes to show some users don't bother to read some rules a oit the forum before beginning their journey, they just dive in and when they get stuck they begin creating threads to solicit help from others and it seems the user who PMed you must have tried all means possible and decided to try that out.
Honestly even without reading the rules and regulations in the forum, I don't thing you need someone to tell you it's improper to beg for merits. What happened to making good posts and contributing to the forum? Well I doubt there'd be a need for that if we all begged our way through to where we are now, right?
 Well if you ask me I'd suggest you let the matter slide, try to observe if such will repeat itself again, because if you report the account and it gets banned or tagged, who knows how many alts the user has.
I wonder if there's a way to know when such useless PMs are being sent so that you can easily delete before reading. Maybe this is where attaching a title to your PM comes in handy.

I remember that I received at least two such PMs by merit beggars in the past, but I didn't do anything about it. Just ignore them. I would only take action if they became annoying and sent multiple PMs asking for the same thing over and over again. I think that in my case, both users were bounty hunters looking for one merit to upgrade their account to Jr Member, which was probably a requirement to take part in another bounty campaign. A quick post history revealed hundreds of bounty reports. ::)

Ultimately it depends on your personal decision.

There is no specific rule for this type of case. Just some recommendations, for those thinking about asking for merit, nothing for those who receive the requests. Furthermore, I think that this type of request should not lead to any type of punishment. There are worse things than asking for merits.

There are users who like to be asked for merits, they even create topics for these requests. Others prefer not to be bothered about this matter.

Therefore, ignoring these requests may be the best solution. But if they really become bothersome, then there are already valid arguments for reporting - not for the request, but for bothering.

That's different. I had such threads as well, and the rules clearly state don't PM me asking for anything in private. So if I see someone who is not only incapable of receiving the one merit they need/want and can't even bother to read my thread to understand how to apply, it makes me angry. I don't feel like talking with that individual at all, let alone help them.

I receive some of these messages, but I look at the user’s posts. If they look like account farming, I add them to the ignore list. If they are a beginner, I will inform him nicely or send them some Merits with a warning.

I don't know, but I fail to read the rules in other forums, and therefore we all make mistakes in the first days, so it is varies from one case to another.

Of course you know better what to do, but if I may give an opinion, it's better for you to tell him that asking for merit is prohibited, or just ignore him. But if he asks multiple times, maybe you can create a thread on the reputation board

Funny you should bring that up; ever since I announced that I'm no longer including the gambling section in my post history review offer (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5426440.msg62964463#msg62964463), I've been getting way fewer requests--and the reason I'm excluding posts there is because I strongly suspected I was doing reviews for a bunch of alt accounts even though I don't have enough proof to connect them.

OP, if I got a PM just asking for merits without having to look at the member's posts I might report the PM to the mods depending on my mood (which has been as sour as a rotten lemon as of late).  But if I were to take the high road, I'd just put that member's PMs on ignore and be done with it.  If he's PMing you, he's probably PMing other members and somebody's likely to report him anyway. 

Looks like merits are becoming more popular than they seem to have been for the past year or so.  I was beginning to wonder why members weren't as obsessed with ranking up like they always were.

I think that members finally realized how easy is to farm merit after theymos did merit readjustment ~2 years ago (before that it was much harder to get merit) so they started creating alts and submitting their "work" in those merit topics on a more massive scale than before.

You can report with reason such as "unsolicited/unwanted PM". If that user send such PM to many user and he got reported by few users, it's likely he'll get temporary ban.

Maybe a new generation is discovering how to make some easy BTC or BUSD here and the competition is getting a little bit more fierce. But not too much though...

I have been seeing a lot more bought accounts waking up to participate in certain campaigns that I guess are deemed lucrative. I don't know when or how they were acquired by their new owners, but a lengthy pause followed by an abrupt change in writing style is often a good indicator.

IMO, not required but it's up to you.

I also received a PM similar case in the last few months, ain't sure it was begging merit but as I understand it was asking merit of the shitpost he made.  I quickly checked his post history but I found he is not worth having even a single merit.

I simply declined the request in a polite manner and explained to him how merit distribution works which is only for a quality post.
I told him that one day when I find something worth it from his post or a quality post I'll not hesitate to give him a merit once I see it improves.

I think they might be confused about the merit system since they're new in the forum and how to get it (I assume they're new in the forum, not those account farming).  So give them a chance and explain to them politely the right thing to do.

You can ignore the request or decline the request, it depends on you aside from leaving neutral feedback.
As commented above, I tend to agree that reporting as an unsolicited PM might accurate one.

If someone just asks merit without any further explanation, then I would personally report such a message to the administrators, if nothing else then that user should get at least a temporary ban and that way a message is sent to him that what he is doing is not something people on the forum approve of. As far as can be seen from the answers in this topic, the majority have not done anything or will not do anything, and this only encourages those who want to get the merits the easy way.

Of course, there are also users who have publicly offered to send them requests in which they then check the post history of a user and assign merit to the posts they consider worthy of it. This means that there can be two approaches of those who send such PMs, some are ordinary beggars, others still want someone to look at their post history.

I don't think I'd do anything about it personally except maybe send him a friendly heads up that hitting people up for merits aint really the way we do things around here.  I might even skim through his posts to see if he's contributed anything worthwhile.  But if he's bugging me over and over and it starts feeling harassy, then I'd bring the mods into it.   

I don't think we've got a hard defined rule about this kind of thing.  And it's possible it was an honest mistake if the guy is new and doesn't know the norms yet, so I don't think asking for merits has to be punishable and  like someone said, there's worse things than asking for merits.

Of course, totally agree. Personally, I don't think it makes any sense to ask for merits, I've never done it and I have no intention of doing so.
^{At the very least, I leave indirect hints... lol}

So I said, the best solution is to ignore it. And if the person insists, report it as abuse.

Oddly enough I have never gotten a message asking for merit that I can remember.
Guess I am enough of an ass that people know not to bother.


I always thought that was for everything.
Yes, merit came out after that rule. But no begging for BTC, no begging for project support, just ask don't beg.

-Dave

It just doesn't happen often.

I wouldn't bet against human stupidity. I literally wrote the topic on banning plagiarism, and still people copy my posts.

Based on this quote I replied to his pm with a link to this thread.



here is what I sent to him:

since it is my pm I can reveal my answer:

"okay no merit gifts for you.

please read this thread it may help you out.



https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5473781.msg63143588#msg63143588"

---

I sent that and started this thread because
I rather a newer person learn than have them banned or tagged.

I have the same case received a PM from a newbie asking for merit I just ignored them but I give sometimes if the thread or the post he made is helpful.

Why not tell us the username of who PM you?
I'm sure after he read all the posts here he would stop begging for merit.

I will keep an eye on what he does maybe he learns.

You are free to do whatever you want, but if I was at your side I would have replied to him and told him that Merit begging is not allowed and give him a warning. I know some people will say that we should give neutral or expose them as they may be account farmers etc but out of goodwill, sometimes a person may not know the rules and genuinely make a mistake. Giving him a warning should be the way to go.
If he continues doing so, then ofcourse he will have to bear the consequences.

I think giving out one or two merits won't do any harm (of course he must have the minimum post quality to have merits). You can't just give merits to spam posts. But if one excessively asks for merits and PM you several times, then you should just add him to your ignore list. I have seen many cases of asking (not begging) for merit on my local board. Like when a member is close to full rank, 80, 85, or 90 merits, he would send PMs to our senior members. Some even posted directly in the thread for the help of our senior members. So that he can rank up. So that's common. Even today, I saw a member doing this, i think he had 87 or 89 merit. In this case, giving merit should be understandable. Everyone has different opinions, of course, but it's mine.  :)

That is left for you to decide on what to do. The person should have asked humbly by maybe saying; he/she wants a review of their post and share them some merits if they are worthy of it. That might have sound more appropriate than just begging or asking for it for free.


The thread is enough for him/her to learn from, exposing the user  won’t undo what he/she has done and might be frightened as a newbie he/she may be. If he/she wants to do something like that in future, the replies he/she sees from this thread will guide him/her on whether to go on or not.

When someone asks for merit by personal message it means he doesn't deserve merit for his any post because he always posts shit. so I don't think reporting such shit posters would be a crime  :D
Whether you report him or not is entirely up to you.  But if it had happened to me, I certainly wouldn't have ignored it without reporting it

Haha ;D Haha ;D buy merit from you! ;D ;D

He may not know what you can do to him!  ;D ;D ;D

It is why I kind of wanted to be nice and not tear him up.  I do wish you could know if he is a single new person or a farmer with 5 accounts.

I get begging pms here and there. At worst report them to admin where you can in the pm. Least they're only begging for merits, I have pms from people begging for btc, merits, votes in contests, and removal of feedback. Some even from reputable members. I have decided not to report or chastise the users for the most part and let it go.

I have never received a message like that, to be honest. I have received some shady stuff, but nothing as direct as merit begging.
If I had to guess, it would say there is a 70% of chances that user is part of an account farming operation, I do not have any proof of it, just what my gut says to me.
Whether you wish to invest some of your time monitoring their activity to corroborate whether it is or not worth of tagging is up to you, though you should also consider you may not be the first person they messaged for merits and you will likely not be the last one.
You just happened to be the one do decided not to ignore the DM and open a thread about it. If such person decides not to stop it eventually they will get a red tag for merit begging.

Also catches my attention that the administrator did not mention all degree of merit begging is frown upon, but Instead let a certain margin for people to "beg reasonably" to get merits.
If more people knew about it, they would have likey started their Bitcointalk journey by begging a bit, and not learning how to post content of quality and which appealed to the average merit source.
The more you know... ;)

If that person asked you to review his/her posts then that's okay because you can review his/her posts and if they aren't merit worthy then tell him/her directly that his/her posts aren't good enough to receive any merits from you. I don't think that it would make anything good by reporting a person like that who's asking for merits as we know everyone wants to grow their account to max level which is legendary and some newbies who aren't good at posting often make such PM's to get some free merits.

@The Sceptical Chymist offered his post history thread to the members who contribute good information on forum and I'm quite sure he might get so many PM's because of that offer. The legit members who made good contribution on forum might have received some merits from him while the ones with low-quality to no-quality posts didn't quality to get any merits from him.

I recommend you to ignore that message and don't report it but still you want to report that member for merit begging then report that member to a moderator or make a thread in reputation board and share details of the PM with others. But, still I think it's way better to avoid those PM's or those members who ask for merits rather then reporting them.

I love your mature response my friend and I wonder why some people take this life as if it's so difficult and as a big deal. Asking for merit is what I see as the least offence anyone could commit in this forum and towards any user in particular and it's your choice to oblige or not. It's as simple as that.

I believe the OP just asked for asking sake, not even seriously, but how some people took it so seriously to the extent of tagging the person is what baffles me on how people could be cruel on vanity.

If anyone asks me for merits, I will certainly go to his profile and see if such deserves it or not. Giving a few to a person truly deserving of it is never a bad idea. Afterall, the merit system is not perfect.

It could be that the user doesn't know that it is against the forum rules to beg for merits.  Although theymos said excessive begging for merits is not allowed,  which means there is a room for normal or minimal begging for merits  ;D
What a nice reply. Reading this thread and you not being harsh on him might encourage him to do more. However, if you have some smerits you could check his post history to see if there is any quality post you can drop some merits on.

Besides, The Sceptical Chymist runs a thread that he urges people to send him a pm to review their posts and  offer merits. Although you are not him. And the way you treated the matter might be the best way.

To me if someone pm you or you didn't create a topic that says pm for post review then I will say is very bad all less you give a room for that just as few users do give a room to pm them for post review. Don't be surprised if you released merits to them you will end up receiving unsolicited pm from random users because the already given user will go tell their friends who is lacking merits to also send you pm to have some free merits, so my suggestion is that no need to report them neither do they qualify to receive any from you and if you released to them watch out before 7 days to 2 weeks times you receive countless of pm from users you don't expect to beg for merits because you already opened the door to give the first person who asked already so it's upto you to ignore such user or not.

It's a decision you should have taken on the inside without even having to put it up in public. I am of the same opinion as Lucius; you can either report the PM as an unsolicited PM, and the user will probably get banned. If you get so upset about the PM,you can also put the person on your PM ignore list. Personally, I like to give people a second chance because, on a normal basis, I know that sometimes people take some crazy decisions to carry out some actions. It's only when the result of their action is not productive but perhaps hurts them that they realize they made a mess. You could receive the PM and just ignore it, but when the same user keeps getting on your nerve by sending the same PM repeatedly, you will have enough reason to even tag the person by yourself.

Those who do this are probably newbies, I will do the same, I know the feeling of coming out with what you think are good posts but not getting the merits they deserve, if there are really good posts then I will give them, if I have merits but I will also warn them that about begging for merits and sending unsolicited messages could harm their account, he may not aware or missed about these rules and this will harm his account.
Maybe this newbie will become a good and reputable member of this forum if given the right guidance coming from higher-ranking members.

The hardest thing is sorting newbies from farmers.

This particular guy that posted may be a newbie and not a farmer 🧑‍🌾 so I tried making a thread that would help him and not hurt him.

well at least he has a chance to get better.

How much can the user offer someone like you @philipma1957 to get free merit 😁?

---

Well to me, since it is known that you need to get merits to rank up to the next level I feel it has become an obsession to many members in the Forum, asking for free merit doesn't show how serious you are on your work or how determine you're in the Forum, is like you need a free passage to the top, which is not how it works.
OP, to me I'd say you forget about reporting the user since it hasn't happened more than one (has it🤔?). If such get to happen I think you should reply to "caution" him or her and you might as well ignore the PM if you choose to and you can also keep an eye on that user (you know we have the good, the bad and the ugly on this Forum), it saves you the stress of thinking of what to do next. Ignore those messages.

I believe a simple checking of the profile will fix this.

One thing that is sure is that one can't know alts for sure though I get to suspect them, but for farming, I think it's very easy to know since most of these farmers just write cabbages and for me to deem it fit to appreciate a newbie with merits, then the account must truly worth it. That's how I satisfy my conscience in this regard.

My take: a new person wouldn't ask for Merit. Why would he care? And why would he ask you?

Compare it to Youtube: millions of videos say "please click like and subscribe". For Youtube, it's a business model. For the viewer, it's a waste of time. I wouldn't want to waste my time reading "Please Merit my post if you liked it" on every post.

The best thing that OP can do because of how light the consequence is for the offender or if OP is in a better mood and feeling a bit energetic and thoughtful, maybe help that merit beggar to learn how to earn merit in an honest and deserving way, so as cliche as it sounds since it's been said already in the thread, it's always up to OP.

At least you did not name him I'm sure he will be aware of this and if he is a newbie he will take this as a lesson and if he is a farmer and there's another report about him, we can tag him for abuse, if he is a farmer its likely that he has done this to other high-rank members of this forum and the other member may communicate this to you for verification or post it here.
It is good that you open this, so newbies or even farmers will be aware of what could happen to them if they beg for merits

I agree with you on that, because how can a newbie know who @philipma1957 is to go straight and ask for merit? That's just an indication that it might be one of those merit or account farmers. If it's so then that account need to be monitored until proven otherwise.

Philipma post a lot on daily basis as regular posting habits. He is easy to notice if you are regularly browsing on mining board and wall observer thread. Probably this user is just trying his luck on asking merit to Philipma since he seems so approachable and friendly on most of his post.

We are not sure too if this user only ask to Philipma or to other user too with high merit count.

It is definitely true that a new member should never ask for merit by pming anyone. Because a new member usually doesn't know how merit works. Who is the merit source and who has sufficient merit and from whom merit can be sought. But he is an old member but a pure shitposter

Ha ha your point is funny but logical. People who do that still live in fools paradise and are the ones spamming this forum. so better to report them

ive had pms from merit beggers. they just go right into my ignore list.

I usually sound like a soft touch most of the time. But I am not really that soft. If anything I have seen so much here on bitcointalk I am tired of repeated cons.

This just happened to be the first person to ask for free merits in a pm.

Hell I have had a lot of shit asked of me in pm's. Just never had someone ask this.

locked thread and gave all posters 1 merit for each post they made.