And the negative feedback I'm in the process of deleting.  There is a lot of it and I am changing all the "garbage shitposter" feedback to neutral--and I started doing this after Theymos gave that guidance.  

I'm not looking to fight with any DT members here.  My battle is with the scunts that sullied this forum with garbage posts, account sellers, and assorted scammers.  My opinion is that the negs I've left would do a lot more good if they had the strength of a DT member.

My suspicion is that not only your exclusion, but Tomatocage's too, have another motivation behind them, though I obviously don't have proof.  I don't even know what that motivation is, except your ongoing beef with Lauda, which is not my beef, nor am I an alt of Lauda (which Quickseller has repeatedly stated).  And I do respect your decision; it's just puzzling to me.

Even more puzzling is the Tomatocage exclusion.  I thought he'd disappeared altogether.

That is a good point, and one I've made in other threads.  Though I don't have hard numbers, I suspect the drug trade (and other illegal dark market stuff) accounts for a big part of the bitcoin economy--but I could be wrong.  My thought is that some other coin might take over, maybe something with more anonymity.  I'm actually kind of surprised that Dash or some other coin that's harder to trace hasn't been the coin of choice for ransoms and the dark market transactions. 

This most recent crash could just be the huge correction that a lot of people, including myself, have been expecting.  We just rose too high, too fast, and this was not only expected but inevitable.  And I think we'll be rebounding pretty soon.  This is bitcoin traders taking their profits off the table, which happens in every market.

Bingo.  That's why you should really just shut the fuck up.  Another reason why is that no one on this forum aside from yourself gives a fuck.  Would I care if Theymos himself had a drug problem?  Nope.  And I can't think of any reason why I or anyone else should.  It's not your forum, it's not mine.  Any member's drug use is not anyone else's concern. 

It is other behaviors that are of concern, namely scamming, shitposting, account sales and farming, and the like.  Sure, drug use might play a role in motivating such behavior (or not), but I don't think it ultimately matters.

What is crystal clear is that QS is using this bullshit as a reason to smear Lauda, with whom he bears a well-known, long-standing grudge.  It's childish and tiresome.

The OgNasty thing.  I'm still wondering why he excluded me from his trust list.  Tomatocage as well.  You would almost surmise that they endorse scams.  The politics here are just bizarre to me.

I have an alt account, with merit to give, and I haven't "experimented" with it.  I figured out how the merit system worked by giving merits to posts I thought were worthwhile reading.  So don't give that tired old excuse that everyone is commiting murder, so why am I the only one on trial? --it won't hold any water on bitcointalk.

Are you kidding?  It would be huge.  That's why signature campaigns still exist, because they generate a lot of revenue for themos et al.  So even though the campaigns incentivize shitposting and have driven down the quality of discussion here, they haven't been banned.  Even though I've been participating in campaigns since late 2015, I would not be crushed if Theymos did ban them.  It's pretty obvious they're subsidizing lazy 3rd world scunts who care nothing about this forum and are more than willing to wreck it, so long as they get paid.  I would love to see such individuals have to go out and get a real job...but I seriously doubt it's going to happen. 

Also, I'm not sure where OP read anything about this, as I've not seen any recent posts where theymos or anyone else was seriously considering it.  But I'll admit I could have missed it.

I am not a merit source and do not wish to be, but I'm trying to use up all the merit points I have on members who are below legendary rank.  In the beginning I think I gave out quite a few to legendaries and then sort of realized that they don't need them as much--except recently I realized members like DarkStar_ are using merits to judge post quality for sig campaigns.  That makes sense, and I tend to find that higher-ranked members have survived long enough to achieve that because of good post quality.  Not all of them, but a good majority.

Also a notice to the lower-ranked members I give merit to:  You don't have to reciprocate.  That's happened recently and it gives the appearance that we're trading merit, and that isn't the case.

Yah, I definitely report fewer posts now that we have the merit system, but I'm not reporting zero. 

I'm of the mind that shitposters are eventually going to get the message that it's near impossible to rank up without buying merit points, and that they'll give up.  That might take some time, and I'm not even 100% confident that's what will happen, but I'll be patiently watching.

I was furiously reporting posts prior to the merit system being introduced, as I was just so frustrated at how many there were.  After that I started tagging the shitposters.  Now that it takes so much work to rank up, I've kind of developed a sense of serenity that only comes with the knowledge that the shitposter issue will resolve itself naturally. 

I'm hoping that's what's going to happen.  And although I'm still seeing idiotic pajeet shitposts, I'm definitely seeing a lot of users making longer, more coherent posts that obviously took more effort than is normally put into posting here.  That's a joy to see.

That isn't true--I customized mine long ago.  Though I was briefly on DT, I find that system to be extremely flawed, especially when I was excluded by two members I've never badmouthed or even had contact with.  And my opinion on this is that it happened because I did choose a side, and it was that of Lauda, actmyname, Vod, TMAN, and some others.  If you could even call that a side.  I just happen to share their opinion on a few forum issues, including shitposters and account sales and I respectfully disagree on other matters.  And also that I think Quickseller is a total troll and scammer. 

Scams aren't moderated here, but people tag them.  Same thing with account sales.  Same thing with shitposters.  If you're appealing to Theymos for assistance, good luck with that one.  He excluded actmyname from his trust list because actmyname was too harsh?  Actmyname was trying to clean up your fucking mess of a forum, Theymos, which is only a mess because you benefit from shitposters and scams in the form of increased traffic. 

I'd advise everyone to modify their trust list, but I'd also argue that it serves a purpose in so far as red trust affects shitposters' ability to join campaigns, and thus I'd say actmyname, Lauda, and the other bullshit-fighters should be kept on it.

I support dissenting opinions and wouldn't neg anyone for saying bitcoin sucks, and I've never seen mods censor those opinions here.  It's just not a popular theme on bitcointalk, as you might expect.   But please don't play the martyr card, especially if it's untrue.   You're not going to get any sympathy from anyone and it's not going to help your case.

Oh I'd say not only is he a rarity, he's unique.  Several orders of magnitude above posters his rank.  It would be wildly unfair to use him as a standard, because even the above-average user won't be able to rise to nullius' s level of effort and talent.  I do find it hard to believe he's really a noob, but I've seen stranger things in life and I've been deceived many times before.   Thus I'll take his existence and quality of posting at face value until someone shows otherwise. 

Happy to give this dude merit, because he deserves it.

Go to your profile, and let your mouse hover over "Show the last posts of this person" and you'll get something like this:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=487418;sa=showPosts

My user ID is the number in u=487418, i.e., 487418.  

Your user ID is 1826408.

You are a tool, sir.

I didn't; I think I got extremely lucky--I turned legendary pretty much right before the merit system was put into place.  On the other hand, I had to wait for 1014 activity or whatever it is, the second to last possible activity before legendary is guaranteed at 1025. 

If you're not in a campaign that pays more for legendary status, who really cares about this?  There's no other reason I can see for getting a stiffy for it.  I mean come on, ultimately however much we bicker and fight and everything else, this is just an internet forum and the rank is kind of silly.  There are some campaigns that actually pay more for legendaries but I think hero & legendary are usually treated the same.

The only members I feel bad (and I use that phrase very loosely) for are the really good posters who were at hero member status when the merit system got implemented.  But those individuals should have no problem waiting and if the posts are good enough, they should get the merit points with no trouble.  If the motivation to achieve a higher rank is for more income, then I have no sympathy for their overblown, overwrought plight that exists only in their greedy little, money-grubbing, no speaky-de-Engly heads.

Newcomers shouldn't be anxious about merit.  Why would they?  When you join a forum, it's to read and contribute unique insights, right?  Right?

But yeah, we all know why people really come here and why most noobs are freaked out and frustrated with the merit system:  They came here to earn money, and having a low-ranked account is a hindrance to doing so.  In the old days (a month ago), some silly sapsucker could come here and rank up by posting one-line zingers.  That's all he would have to do.  Now?  It's a different game altogether.  Now you have to sing for your supper, relying on the graciousness of others for your merit points.

It's a pretty damn sweet system, I have to say.  I'm consistently and thoroughly aroused reading these piteous cries from would-be noob shitposters.  It's something that's probably never going to get old.

That's a good idea, though I'm not sure if that's going to help.  But at worst, it'll leave you feeling psychologically satisfied.

Better idea would be to put that whole section on ignore like I do (along with altcoin, bounties, ANNs).  That way you'll never have to see those idiotic threads and you won't be fuming about it.  I'm actually surprised it's still that bad, since there's really no reward these days for posting in politics & society and off-topic.  Is there?

That's not a hero account, so I'm not sure why you copy pasted that.   What you ought to do is start up your own thread and not pursue any appeal in this one.

I know it's frustrating, and I know it's easy for me to say this having been grandfathered 1000 merit points, but it's supposed to be difficult to get merits.  The whole point of introducing this system was to make people work hard in order to rank up, to weed out all the shitposters who want everything handed to them on a golden shitposting platter.  It's not supposed to be easy for noobs or anyone else to rank up, and you have to be patient in addition to upping your writing quality. 

Also, I don't think any of these threads complaining about the merit system are going to do a lick of good.  It took a whole bunch of chaos and time for Theymos to finally do something about the influx of idiot posters, and I seriously doubt he's going to fine-tune this in order to placate a bunch of newbies.

Sort of on-topic about Quickseller:  Do you guys think someone (like QS) has control of the Tomatocage account?  I've never had dealings or even words with Tomatocage, and I'm interested to know why he excluded me from his trust list.  If it was for being abrasive or racist, I sort of could see that, except I would think that my efforts to combat shitposters and scammers would outweigh this.  I've never said a bad word about him or OgNasty for that matter.  I am not upset about not being on DT anymore, just a bit puzzled.  I haven't scammed anyone--that's number one--and I have tried to help the forum as a whole, and I'll continue that. 

I have called Quickseller out for being a troll and selling accounts, and for the escrow scam that he pulled, and that's why I asked if he might control the Tomatocage account.  I'd be interested to know all of your opinions.

Pills!  Just say no to drugs, kids!

Not for nothing, but it should surprise no one that people are into crypto to make money--and that includes folks who ONLY want to make money.  It's not a bad thing at all that there are such people.   They make the market liquid and sustain interest in it.  It certainly doesn't mean bitcoin's going to shit.  We're still above $8000, whereas when I got started we were at $300.  That's freaking amazing, and there's no denying that.

That's because it wasn't a back injury, it was a scam.  That's why both of you got negged, in case it slipped your mind.   

Gameristo is too trusting,  but I've done Paypal deals with him several times since then, and he's solid.

I, too, would like to see an updated reporting report.  Before the merit system was introduced, I think I was spending more time searching for shitposts than actually posting here.  And as you can imagine, the garbage posts were not hard to find.  They were (and still are to some extent) everywhere.  My report count is now something like 3000 with an accuracy of 98%, I think. 

Hilariousandco handled a lot of the spammers I reported, and I am grateful for that.  It's nice when you suddenly see someone get busted back down to brand new because a mod deleted all of their shitposts.  I've been reporting a lot fewer posts now that we have the merit system--and I feel much less stress these days, too. *Whew*